[Story] Sapere Aude - Released Again

Some of you may remember this: Sapere Aude / The Werfeirverne Saga Information Thread. It obviously has not seen updates in a while. Server moves and progression has seen the site lost into the annals of time ( it has already been 4 years, if you can believe it )...

Many people have requested the story be made available again. I'm finally comfortable with realizing that I will not finish it. I am plotting a new tale, but it will not be in Felarya and it will not involve the characters in their current forms. Some attributes of them may remain, but names / designs / et cetera will not be moving over to the story I will write in this one's place.

The story website data is lost. Thus, what I will post here is an archival backup from my old dA account prior to its shutdown. It is not edited or corrected from that form, and does not contain the site updates - this is literally the format of the original story Sapere Aude and not the revised The Werfeirverne Saga. Additionally, it is written in HTML markup, converted using machine translators to support forum BB code. It sports heavy cliffhangers and will probably let you down and leave you wanting more that will never be fulfilled. Consider yourself adequately warned should you impart yourself upon nostalgia lane.

Real life intervenes and prevents me from getting much work done. I'm not in the same position these days as I was previously, and thus my ability to commission artists has ultimately tanked. For the commissions that are available in some form or another, including some from TWS that were not publicly released before ( as I was waiting until their appearance in the story to give the green light ) you may find them here ( link ).




Upload Complete.


=================

Edit: So, I in digging around the old word documents I found a backup copy of the site and the site's SQL. After a few hours of piecing things together, its back up more or less and should work okay for everyone. No need to register, just use the username and password below to access the site. Why a password protected site? Because it's Wordpress from 2011 and is very outdated. I'm not going to bother with trying to maintain it, but it should work just fine regardless ( tested on latest IE, FF, Chrome... no promises about the future though. May not look great on mobile devices but works on my iPad ). This will hopefully keep the script kiddies out of it, since the password protection forms are provided by my WAF.

Restored Sapere Aude Story Site ( link )

• Username: ansareader
  
• Password: TupKTbSLqfzB53Y\Mtbc?VX*JCR_6AxX
  
• Hit Enter on your keyboard / Hit Go on your Mobile device
  

Skip past the story posts link - goes directly to additional thought posts and spoiler posts

Takes you past the story and directly to the after information

It was cold.

Reya shivered, pulling her legs closer to her body and hugging herself with her arms. As she lethargically did so, a cacophony of screeches met her ears, alighting her mind with a single thought that stirred her from the warm and inviting realm of her sleep, demanding her attention.

Her legs had never made a sound like that before. And soil wasn't this hard.

Reya's duck blue eyes fluttered open, her mind still shaking off the wisps of the sleep realm. Once her eyes were fully open however, she slammed them shut again, squinting them closed as her heartbeat picked up. This must be a dream. She counted to ten in her head, settling her breathing and heartbeat, knowing for certain that when she opened her eyes again the alien view would be gone, replaced with the familiar view of her home.

Unfortunately as she reopened her eyes slowly and peered about, the same alien view met her eyes. She was in a large room, with hard surfaces that joined in perpendicular angles, in some sort of cage. Her mother had spoken of this before... what was it again? The explanation escaped her mind as her senses tingled to life, involuntarily filling her mind with information regarding this new and alien environment.

A slight breeze could be felt against her skin, catching in the fine hairs covering her body. It whirled about her, coming from no singular point or direction. The air was stale, and seemed to bring forth a funny taste to her tongue if she breathed through her mouth. Some sort of additive? It isn't natural, she thought. Light, irregular vibrations could be felt beneath her chitinous limbs, as if the floor itself were alive and murmuring to her. Curious, Reya rippled her legs gently against the material of the floor, rewarding her ears with a metallic clinking sound. A-hah~! Metal. That was the thing her mother had spoken of before. The smaller races used it to construct their homes and weapons. She couldn't imagine why they would choose to use such a material though - it was cold and hard pressing against her. The tiny claws of her legs could not find grip on the smooth finish, sliding across it more often than not. And this noise! She could not imagine having to get used to hearing the clinking sound every time she moved.

All that aside, however, this environment was most probably not intended to be comfortable for her. After all, they wouldn't have caged me if they were trying to be friendly. Reaching out with one hand, she tested her strength against the bars. The metal did not yield, illustrating that it had been designed for dealing with large or strong inhabitants. She pursed her lips at the discovery - that was unfortunate; for the time being she would be resigned to waiting. Letting her mind wander, she questioned just how long she could have been in this place and how she could have arrived without having noticed it. Was it possible that she had experienced one of those dimensional rifts her mother had described? Was she now in another world, isolated and separated from her home? What would her mother and sisters do when they woke to find her missing?

Sighing to herself, Reya quickly put an end to those lines of thought. They wouldn't be conducive to figuring out what happened and it was just upsetting her. Curling her legs underneath her body so that an entire segment of each leg up to the joint, identified by a circular light-gray band separating them from the dull black of her segmented legs, pushed against the floor, she raised herself up. At least only my legs will be cold this way. She wouldn't be able to stand up to her normal height, but at least she no longer need worry about grip.

On second thought... why be cold at all?

The thought took her by surprise. Of course, she didn't actually need to touch the floor. She puzzled over the idea for a moment, attributing the lack of the idea beforehand as the result of the strange environment and her own sluggishness from just waking. While I'm waiting for something to change, I can do something with this cold floor, she thought. Raising her dull yellow abdomen up slightly higher than how she carried herself normally, she began releasing a modestly thick non-sticky thread from her spigots, pulling it forwards with her aft-middle pair of legs to her pedipalps. At least some things are still familiar to me, she thought as she focused her attention on covering the floor adequately, keeping her senses aware to any change of her new environment that might help explain what had happened to her.

This is trying my patience.

Reya sat hunkered down in one corner of her cage, having now covered a large portion of the uncomfortably cold metal with her own silk. With one hand she idly teased a lock of her dirty blond hair, using the other to loop a set of thinner threads from her pedipalps. At least this is somewhat more comfortable. She normally prided herself on her patience, able to outlast her siblings by days when she put forth her best efforts in their hunting competitions.


But this place is so empty, and I have no room. There were no trees here, no subtle breezes or leaf dances to distract and occupy her. No animals or creatures prowling the area around her, testing her camouflage or stillness. Nothing to test her mind against, prey or predator. Not to mention that her cage was hardly large enough for her to find a comfortable position.

Of course, the lack of mental stimulation was only part of the problem. Her stomach had been growling impatiently for some time now. Reya sighed to herself. She brought up her silk covered hand near her face, licking the strands and teasing out the end of thread to slurp up. Reya knew that she wouldn't be able to do this indefinitely however, for one she needed to preserve her silk - but more importantly it wasn't very substantial. Her stomach was becoming more forceful in reminding her of this fact as time passed.

I really wish something would change already. Anything to give me something else to do. As she finished off the silk wrap of her hand, her stomach let forth yet another murmur of displeasure. Some food would be nice too, Reya added to her melancholy thoughts.

So when the air currents around her drastically altered, the young dridder couldn't help but to whirl around facing this change to her sterile environment. Her eyes locked onto the shapes passing through the now opened far wall, watching them intently while feigning disinterest. At first, she mistook the creatures approaching her cage as humans. However, upon further examination as they closed the distance, she noted that their bodies were more gangly than a typical human, with well defined muscle mass and beastial faces. Their black eyes were sunken into their heads, and the general impression Reya was left was that of a fish.

Despite how odd they looked, she couldn't help but salivate a little. They might not be human, but they certainly look tasty. That or I'm really hungry. A little voice in the back of her mind told her it was the latter, as the smells she was picking up from the wind now blowing from the opened wall were not very pleasant. I think I can even smell death in that air.

A total of ten of the creatures had entered the space in which her cage was being kept, with the wall whisking shut with the entrance of the last. They carried some sort of long device with a clawed tip that arced and lanced with a sinister red spark. Reya focused her senses on what she supposed were weapons, congratulating herself on recognizing the sparking effect of the pole as some sort of electrical current, similar to lightning. Unfortunately, her mother had only spoken in passing about some of the weapons that humans had been known to use, and her own sight-based investigation had revealed little else about their... lances, she decided. The word popped into her mind, and for some reason felt right.

As they approached her cage, the creatures chattered back and forth to one another in what she supposed was their language. The fact that I cannot understand them however only seals the realization that I'm no longer on my world, she thought sadly. Reya could recall her mother telling her that their world's properties would allow them to understand others regardless of their language, so if she could not understand these creatures there was a good chance she would have to accept that she probably wasn't on her world anymore. The sudden cessation of motion in her field of vision brought her attention back from her own thoughts to the present.

Eight of the creatures had arranged themselves in a crescent formation around her cage, with two approaching right up near the bars. They continued to holler back and forth in their own language, waving their hands and gyrating their bodies. Making this much noise they certainly wouldn't have lasted long where I'm from. Once they were within what would have been arms reach for Reya, she lifted her body up onto her legs, looking down on the two creatures outside of her cage. Reya had been the tallest of her siblings, and now standing up fully her head was just shy of the roof. Compared to a normal human, her height would have been around five times as great - and she still had plenty of room to grow. Secretly she hoped she'd one day be able to rival her mothers own size as one of the larger members of her species. Compared to those in front of her currently though, she was only about four or so times their height. Crossing her arms across her chest to protect the more sensitive skin of her breasts with her armoured forearms and so that she could rapidly cover her face if need be, Reya imagined she presented a rather stoic presence to her new guests.

Doesn't seem like they care at all being this close to me, she thought. They continued with their antics outside of her cage, with one of the two up front becoming increasingly animated. Soon he turned to look up at her, and with a grin thrust the lance he was holding at her, sending the clawed and sparking end close to her body. She continued feigning her disinterest in their actions, but inwardly her muscles were tensing and bunching up. If he hits me with that thing...

As if on cue, the creature let out a rasping howling sound and thrust the lance once again at her, alighting it on one of her legs where the spark became an arc against her body. For his efforts, the creature was rewarded with a startled yelp followed by the loud clang as the leg the lance had brushed against involuntarily lashed out against the cage. The creature withdrew his lance almost immediately afterwords, continuing to howl and prance about, drawing out further excited replies from his comrades. Growling to herself, Reya hunched down and back slightly in her cage. Obviously my height advantage didn't help. But let me see you try that again you rascal. As her eyes now locked onto and followed this new threat, she subtly pulled a sticky thread from her spigots to her pedipalps and waited.

She didn't have long to wait, either. The other creature near her cage, now apparently emboldened by his comrades actions, took a step closer to her cage and moved to swipe at her with his own lance. This one's motions were more clumsy than his partners earlier strike, and with a swift motion of a forward leg she disarmed her opponent, simultaneously pulling him right against the cage's bars with her pedipalps and lashing him to the bars with the thread she had pulled forth just prior. While she couldn't get a real leg through the spaces between bars, her pedipalps were just small enough to do so. Settling back again she smirked smugly at the creature, his eyes now wide with surprise at his new predicament. He began to cry out, a loud warbling sound that alternated between a few tones. His body also thrashed and shook against the thread capturing him, however what Reya considered a strand of silk was more likened to a hawser for her captive.

For a few minutes the other creatures seemed content with leaving the one Reya had tied up to his own devices. They made sounds similar to the rasping of leaves rubbing against each other, pointing at and making more gestures with their bodies. It almost seems as if they are... laughing at him. Do they really consider this a game? This rather odd behavior puzzled her, as usually when groups of people came under attack by predators they would typically stand and defend each other. At least that was how it had been described to her, she didn't engage in active hunting that often though, preferring to capture her prey through more subtle means. When the original lancer-antagonist approached her cage again, she decided to test the theory, waiting for him to turn his attention from her to the thread wrapped around his companion's body before lurching forward and knocking him back several paces with a pedipalp. A-hah~! Now they're paying attention. She couldn't help but let a girlish giggle slip past her as the shocked expressions of the others suddenly became expressions of intent. Perhaps it hadn't been the best course of action considering their lances, but the drastic change in behavior to something that was more familiar had eased her nerves. This is something I can understand.

Reya's eyes swept back and forth across the nine creatures that now spread out around her cage and leveled their lances at her. She wasn't sure if they were going to take the first action or not, but as it turned out it didn't matter anyway. As they approached her cage now as a unit, the air shifted about her again. Taking the chance to look up, she noticed another three individuals coming through the opening in the wall. They appear to be leader types she hazarded as the newcomers barked and hissed at the nine around her, causing them to cowl sheepishly. Their clothes are in better shape than this lot as well, she noticed. After a short exchange of more language she could not understand, the newcomers motioned towards the opening in the wall which caused the other nine creatures to start making way towards the exit.


Wait... what about this one? Reya quirked her head to the side, looking down at the creature that was still lassoed to the cage bars. He had been strangely silent thus far, but now as the others began to leave the room he became animated again. More howls and yelps were exchanged by the leader-types and the lassoed one. As the last of the non-leaders exited the room, one of the leaders made an abrupt motion across his neck, turning to leave, which caused the lassoed one to start struggling much harder than previously. The other two leader-types made the rasping-of-leaves sound as they exited, and just as abruptly as this chain of events had started, it ended. The wall whisked closed again, leaving Reya alone in her cage.

Well. Not completely alone. The one she had tied to the bars was now turning slowly to look up at her, his body shaking profusely. This was something she could understand as well. He is afraid... the smell of fear is palpable. Apparently that hasn't changed from what I knew either. There was only one reason for him to fear her when she was inside of this cage though. His companion's had abandoned him, leaving his fate up to her. Her stomach rumbled, alerting them both to her hunger - which caused the creature to commencing thrashing anew.


Stepping up to the side of the cage she had tied him to, Reya knelt down against the cage bars. Getting him inside with him thrashing like that would present a bit of a challenge, but not something that was insurmountable. Gently wrapping her fingers to hold onto the sides of his body and minimize his motions, she began pulling thinner strands from her spigots than the one binding him to the bars, sliding her pedipalps through the bars and with deliberate patience and care began wrapping up the creature. Unable to move much in her grip, he nonetheless made his displeasure with the situation very apparent with his loud warbling cries. There are no predators here for me to worry about though, she thought, continuing with her task.

After a while, she gently and carefully pulled her nearly completely wrapped package through the spaces of the bars. Her prey had apparently exhausted his voice, now no longer making any noise except for hoarse croaks. Despite their earlier behavior, Reya had no intention of being cruel though. She was grateful actually. As she gently sank her fangs into the flesh of his exposed shoulder to deliver her venom, she could at last look forward to satiating her hunger.

Reya sighed contentedly at her change in fortune. After injecting her venom, she had waited for the subtle motions of her prey's breathing to stop before unwrapping the silk from his body. She could have left him that way, but the sack would have been oddly shaped and gangly once her digestive enzymes were applied, so it had been more prudent to rearrange his body. Taking care not to bruise her prey, she arranged him into a fetal ball - a much more optimal position for her tastes, and encased him fully in her silk.


Once satisfied with her work, she knelt down again and sank her fangs back into her prey's body, this time injecting her digestive enzymes instead of her venom. The difference is really just a change in mindset and muscle choice, she reflected. Instead of the more firm clamping of her jaws and subtle constriction of her neck to deliver venom, she instead merely allowed her fangs to penetrate the body and coaxed and squeezed a set of muscles in her cephalothorax that would generate the pumping action to deliver the enzymes necessary to commence breaking down her currently solid prey into a delicious soupy concoction. Unlike the application of her venom, this process took significantly longer in order to deliver the required amount. It would also be a little while before she could partake of her meal.

So after completing her task, she ensured that the holes formed by her fangs and any loose areas were adequately sealed by cocooning the ball with another layer of thicker silk threads, placing the completed sack in the webbed corner of her cage. Settling down across from the corner, Reya yawned and relaxed. It'll do me no good to stay awake waiting, I'll just get hungrier. With this in mind, she closed her eyes and did her best to forget the preparing meal and embrace the dream realm once more.

 


[Some time later]

She had just finished off her meal and started to unravel the silk threads that had once encased her prey when the far wall whisked open again. The combination of the sudden change in motion and air currents drew her attention, and she looked up from the now-small ball of silk to investigate this change. Those are... the leader-type creatures from before. I still can't believe they would just abandon one of their own like that... its not as if I could have stopped them from taking him but they just let me have him.


The behavior of these creatures both intrigued her disturbed her... it wasn't something she understood, and as such was outside of her ability to accurate predict it. That concerned Reya, since without the ability to understand her captor's motives she wouldn't be able to properly generate a counter-stratagem.

Unlike the group that had paid her the first visit, these creatures didn't seem to be talking and certainly weren't animated. They walked determined to a position near her cage, two of the creatures carrying large boxes with the other carrying a long, large tube. Once they were within leg reach - had she been able to fit her real legs through the bars, that is - they stopped, setting down their respective loads and beginning to construct some sort of device. What are they planning?

Reya continued to watch their combined menstruations of setting up the tube-like contraption, growing increasingly tense. That thing looks disturbingly like a weapon of some sort. But why do they need it? And why use it now? She placed her body in the best guarding position she could muster with her limited room, hunkering down on her legs and shielding her body with her arms as she had earlier. This motion was noticed by one of the leader-type creatures, whereupon they began to confer with each other. They did not cease their operation however, continuing to assemble the device.

Finally, it seemed they were satisfied with their work. One of the creatures pointed at her, then back at the weapon and finally the large box like apparatus one of them had brought in. He then pulled out some sort of device that he spoke at length into, which seemed to not be directed towards his two companions. I remember mother speaking of such a thing... a - communicator - I believe she called it? Some sort of distance talking device. This just gets more and more curious.


After he finished speaking into the device, the leader-type barked an order that caused the other two leader-types to hurry over, lifting some sort of object that resembled the arcing lances the original visitors had carried, only this one didn't spark and had no claw appendage on the end. Instead, the end was terminated with a sharp point, behind which three clear spheres were mounted. She couldn't even hazard a guess at the design, but she knew the intent as soon as they loaded it into the cylindrical chassis of the weapon. How am I supposed to stop that? she fretted frantically.

The answer to her question was never answered though. As she wracked her brain in search of some sort of defense, the weapon fired with a loud whoosh-chunk sound. Her mind was wracked with pain emanating from her cephalothorax, and as she slowly turned to look down at herself her mind roiled in disbelief at what it saw. The object they had loaded had impacted against her carapace, piercing into her body a short ways. She plucked it out of her body, turning to look back at the creatures that had shot it. They... aren't... even.... paying..... me...... any......... attention.

As Reya's vision clouded over and lost focus, her mind grappled at anything it could to retain its awareness, but it seemed she was standing over a slippery precipice from which no grip could be obtained. She seemed to recall the open wall suddenly filling with the more ragged and scrappy creatures like those that had first visited her in this strange place, but her mind was unable and unwilling to process the information. Whilst her world faded to black and her body collapsed onto itself, the leader-type creatures continued on with their conversation as the grunt workers entered, paying no heed to the dridder's condition.

Reya awoke to the familiar sight of her cage surrounding her. I'm alive? The first thought struck her as odd, since if she were thinking then it would follow that she were still alive. Quickly, she turned to look at her cephalothorax, touching her body gently around the impact point of the object that they had used against her before. There was a fresh wound there, proving it was not a dream, those events really had occurred.

But for what end? Why was that necessary? As she looked up to reevaluate her situation, she gasped in shock. She was no longer in the large cold room that had been her landscape for the past... however long it had been. How did I not notice? While the cage was indeed the same, the bars had been overlayed now with a smaller mesh, too small for even her fingers to slip through. Compared to her new backdrop though, the mesh of the cage was the least of her concerns.


Her cage had been transported to some new location while she was unconscious. It was now placed upon a pedestal in a large square like area in between structures that were as tall as she was. Smartly dressed humans and humanoid creatures walked about her cage, examining her. Reya suddenly felt exposed, with so many eyes upon her.


As her mind whirled trying to make sense of all the changes she had noticed in the short time since her waking, her other senses seemed to suddenly all be clamouring for her attention, demanding that she heed them all. She could feel the vibrations of dozens... perhaps hundreds of feet as they walked nearby. The stale, false air that had been normal since awakening in that steel room was replaced with the freshness she was used to - but the smells and chemicals she sensed were unlike that of anything she had yet experienced. Reya could scarcely separate between all of the newness that surrounded her now.

I wonder... is this what a human city looks like? Are these buildings around me their homes, or do they serve some other purpose? What purpose do I serve here? Am I to be some show piece for them now? What are all these unique odors? How long have I been here, being watched by all these people? What happened to those creatures that put me in this cage to begin with? Actually, were they even the ones that did so? As if the sensory overload wasn't enough to deal with, now her mind was throwing in its own insensitive demands.


Determined to regain her composure, Reya closed her eyes and placed her hands over her ears, doing her best to ignore the vibrations she sensed since she could not block them out. She retained this position for several long moments, focusing completely on the sound of her own breathing, the simple and familiar rise and fall of her chest, the beating of her own heart. Once satisfied that she was once again in control of her body, she allowed her eyes to open and released her captive ears from her hands.

Standing up gingerly, she padded across the silk padded metal floor to once again examine and absorb her new surroundings. A short distance away she finally spotted one of her captors, the same creature that had made the neck chopping motion prior to her meal and had been talking into the communicator when they had built a weapon of some sort and used against her. Recalling the events again that led up to her unconsciousness, she thought back to their behavior. That one must be the one in charge... or at least the one most responsible for me. The others always seemed to follow his direction without question.

Still, without the ability to understand their language, the knowledge does me little good for now. Perhaps later though, with more observations, she could plan better for future events. Her legs brushed against the silk ball that had contained the meal that was now providing nourishment for her, and she reached down and retrieved it. The presence of the remains of the encasement led credibility to the belief that they had not entered her cage at any point. Which means the most likely reason for the attack earlier was merely to sedate me so they could put up this mesh without worrying about me.

Licking one side of the silk ball, she teased out a thread to suckle on, continuing now with the process of finishing the consumption of the silk that had been interrupted earlier. This seemed to attract the attention of some of the onlookers, who paused to watch her for a few moments longer than the average. Their voices wafted up to reach her ears, but just as before with her captors she could not understand their language. Its actually rather infuriating... if I could just understand what they were saying, maybe I could make more sense of this crazy situation.


As she continued to slurp up the silk ball, one of the humans pointed up at her, saying something with an animated expression on his face. This seemed to cause those near him to laugh, which for some reason annoyed the young dridder. Are they making fun of me too, just because of this cage? Do they feel safe? Maintaining her same stoic expression, she slammed one of her forward pairs of real legs against the cage mesh, causing the gaggle of onlookers to gasp and back away rapidly, before seeming to realize that there was no danger. Still, the shock seemed to have had the intended affect, as most of the pooling group now dispersed away from her cage.

Reya backed off from the walls of the cage, continuing to pace about in as best a circular motion as she could, drinking in the sight that befell her and absorbing the information regarding her surroundings through the changes in air currents, the vibrations of the surrounding area through her cage, and the varied smells that assaulted her senses. Now that she had had an opportunity to focus herself, the chaotic symphony of stimulations only served to provide her with information about her new environment, rather than overwhelming her with a sensory overload.

Eventually Reya finished the silk ball, leaving her with nothing to do or occupy herself with except sorting through the leagues of information she was currently accumulating. She prided herself on identifying the sources of the various stimuli to her senses, filing away the information for later collation should it prove useful to her.

In time, she noticed that one member of the crowd had not simply regarded her as a novelty and continued on. She turned to face the now-familiar sight of the creature that examined her much like she examined her environment. It had a build similar to that of a neko, only with more feline features and less human ones. It was still humanoid in appearance, standing on two legs vice four, but with much more fur than the nekos she remembered and a more cat-like face vice a human one. Slitted golden eyes watched her intently, memorizing her motions and studying her responses. The neko-like creature was also slightly taller than her fish-faced humanoid captors, though still only a fraction of her size. It wore a clean and eye-catching uniform of white with shimmering blue patterns that covered it's body from neck to foot, hanging loosely but still somehow revealing the neko's slender and muscular form.

Upon realizing that Reya was now examining it more intently, the creature's eyes lifted to stare back at her. I see intelligence and interest there. What is your purpose here, neko? she asked herself. The neko-like creature rocked on its heels suddenly, waving one of its arms at Reya, much like she had seen other humans do on her own world in greeting to another, before turning smartly around and stalking away. Yes, stalking indeed, she thought approving of her own opinion. You have a predator's motions, neko. And unless I'm mistaken, you want something with me. I wonder... just what that might be.

Warismat stared out of the bridge's view screens and into space idly, thinking over the assignment they had been given. Interestingly enough, the orders had come straight from the flagship, which had naturally piqued the elder Ti'Glath's curiosity. Warismat had served with the Ethereal Fleet for some time now, ever since the Halyi's Star AI wars.


Typically, orders to a gunship class vessel like the Adagio of Fate were handled by the squadron lead patrol ship commander. Even more interesting though was who had signed for the orders. The fleet's AI controller Nyselyn was the Commodore's personal asset - any orders from her were from Commodore Ion himself.

Though, if who had signed the orders had initially piqued his interest, the actual details contained within them led to some really interesting thoughts. The assignment given to the AoF was to detach from her patrol squadron and rendezvous with an allied trader outfit to acquire a pair of civilian bulk transport ships. Once complete, the AoF and her two newly received transports would set course for the Anistasia colony on world #57312, and participate in one of the Scrye Syndicate's auctions. The Syndicate was composed mostly of partial-chimeras and involved with a great deal of illegal trafficking - everything from drugs to weapons to people, they had their hands in it.

Selected members of the AoF's crew would be participating in the auction, with the primary goal to investigate the claim that the Syndicate would be auctioning a live Felaryan predator. If the claim was substantiated, the goal would then be altered to acquire the creature(s) by any means necessary - preferably nonviolent, as the Fleet did not desire to strain relations with the Syndicate. However, should that become an issue, the AoF would be on hand to lend fire support. The largest of the Syndicate's battleships were only as powerful as a patrol ship in the Fleet, so the gunship shouldn't have an issue with quickly ending any... military situations.

Warismat had heard a great deal of rumors regarding the Felaryan dimension, mainly revolving around its many riches and perils. Accessing it however was mainly a random event, though one portal did exist that connected to the world. Very few ever returned, but those that did spread their stories far and wide. The lucrative tales drew in many an entrepreneur and scoundrel intent on being the next to claim a piece of Felarya as a prize. On some rare occasions, entire cadavers of the Felaryan predators had been recovered during these excursions. This auction however would be the first recorded time anyone had ever managed to score a living predator specimen.

The Ti'Glath was on this assignment due to his studies in xenobiology, something he had picked up as a hobby initially that had become a new career during his waning years. Warismat had been alive for a few centuries now, and he was getting too old for combat line duty. Yet his honour and pride would not allow him to take a desk job, so becoming a technical specialist was the next best choice. He admitted to himself that getting to see such a creature and interact with it would prove to be quite the experience, but could not fathom why the Commodore would go to such lengths to do so. Detaching a gunship in and of itself seemed to be a bit excessive, and he had never really thought of the Commodore as the type to be interested in exotic and dangerous pets.

Then again, there is always the AI Nyselyn to prove that noone really knows what the Commodore is thinking, now isn't there? After the AI wars of Halyi's Star, the vast majority of the artificial intelligence constructs had been annihilated. Even higher ranking members of the Fleet didn't seem to know where Commodore Ion had acquired Nyselyn, though these days noone held reservations about the choice to use her. The AI had proven to be an extremely valuable member of the fleet - indeed, the Commodore had accredited her with the victory at Brwydr Camlan over the Lysenths after the bridge of his flagship had taken a direct hit, resulting in him being physically removed from the battle. Still, an AI is an enormous asset provided they don't go insane... just what does the Commodore hope to gain from a primitive creature from another dimension? What possible use could he have for a Felaryan predator?

"Hey! Warismat! Stop spacing out you old grizzly cat! We'll be making planetfall shortly. Go see that all the crap on this civilian barge is stowed for it!" The appointed captain, a cephalopod mollusk chimera by the name of Triela, chided breaking through Warismat's reverie. She followed her initial order with a teasing smirk and another acidic comment. "I thought you cats were supposed to be quick on your feet, yes?" Triela had been a romantic interest of his for a while, but he supposed the age difference between the two of them had kept anything from happening. She still flirted with him though. Assuming you can call being bossed around flirting, the old soldier thought with a grin.

As Warismat's assigned role on this mission was to be a xenobiologist and assist in tending to the creature they were sent to acquire, his current tasking aboard the transport ship consisted of being the sparse crew's task gopher. Until they had actually made contact with the creature(s) they'd been sent to acquire, there wasn't really any other role befitting for an old soldier like him. Clearing his mind of his wandering thoughts, Warismat headed for the cargo bays after a quick acknowledgment to Triela over his shoulder.

************

Planetfall turned out to be rather uneventful. Particularly for one such as Warismat who was still used to making them in hot landing zones. The cargo ships had landed in the ocean just outside of the Anistasia colony, making their way into port. Like most small colonies that had started as research outposts, the Anistasia colony had no dedicated spaceport, instead relying on an ocean port to serve the functions of one. It was for this reason that the civilian transports had been required, as the AoF could not make water landings.

Once the transports had anchored securely in the bay, Warismat had time to walk out onto the vessel's river navigation bridges to do a little whimsical daydreaming while waiting for the post-landing checks to be completed. Since the transport ships were designed for landing in water on planets, they shared more similarities with an oceangoing vessel than their space-faring brethren. The small, open roof platforms jutting out from the lead helm bridge located high aft on the ship's spine granted the viewer a fantastic field of vision, and Warismat did love to soak in the sights he had so often missed out on as a front-line soldier.

The Anistasia colony had a decent technical base, greatly aided no doubt in part by the vast quantities of money that the Syndicate shepherded through it. Still, the architects had actually gone for aesthetically pleasing shapes rather than the typical drab, syntheticrete, ground hugging buildings one usually expected to find in such a colony. Soon enough, he would be traveling on the ship's skiff with Triela and Mac - a saurian chimera who specialized in urban heavy weapons combat - to the location where the auction would be held. The civilian transports came with a secondary module, called a skiff, to aide in movement of material. Truly, though, the ship's skiff was really a large portion of the transport craft, but only capable of low atmospheric flight. The ships had been designed so that upon landing they could be broken down and separated between starship and airship, to facilitate landing in places where water and/or space was scarce.

The auction site was located further inland, past the outer reaches of the Anistasia colony located in the heartland of the continent, at the Syndicate's publicly open base of operations. It was not as if the colonial security divisions would have cared about the Syndicate's actions though, Warismat mused. Assuming there were any that weren't already paid off anyway. No, the real reason was rather apparent to his tactical mind. Outside of the colony the Syndicate could muster a small army to handle any... complications that might develop. Enough of a presence to dissuade all but the crazy or well equipped from taking advantage of the auction.

Warismat felt and heard the presence of another joining him on the bridge. Turning his head slightly, he could see that Triela had ventured forth onto the platform and was also taking in the sights of the bay with those pretty teal eyes of hers. Like him, she wore the dress uniform of the Fleet, a white uniform with sparkling blue patterns adorning the chest, sleeves, and legs. Well, for me anyway. Triela doesn't have legs. Triela was a nice sight, he had to admit. Her teal-blue skin reflected slightly in the sunlight, with deep blue hair sporting the texture and appearance of seaweed that fell loosely down to her shoulders and accented the blue stripes of the uniform she wore. Her body motions were smooth, fluid - a trademark of her spliced chimera genes, and the lack of a defined vertebra. One that she liked to use against him, since cats were also supposed to be characterized by their motions. Her body filled out the uniform well, her full breasts drawing his eyes to her chest occasionally. She seemed to notice him watching her, and turned away from the view to face him.

"Just what are you thinking about Warismat? You've seemed rather distant this entire trip. I hope you're not going senile on us." The last statement was said with her trademark sarcastic quip, complete with a faint smirk. Placing her hands on her hips and focusing her horizontal pupil slits on him, she posed herself, jutting out her chest slightly and allowing one of her tentacles to slither across the floor and pull lightly on his pant legs. "Or are you just enjoying the view?"

"The view isn't so bad," he replied, teasing her by refusing to rise to her baiting though he did like the attention she was offering.

"Oh? That's good to hear." Turning back to the view of the bay, her face took a more serious focus. "Well, the skiff will be separating from the hull soon. I'm going to have Mac accompany us with that peashooter of his, the rest of the crew will remain behind on the space unit. The other ship is lagging behind slightly, but we should be headed out to the auction site soon. Please be ready to go by then."

He nodded in acknowledgment to her as she turned to leave him to his own devices once again. Soon, he'd get to see for himself just how substantiated these rumors of the Felaryan creatures were. Still, he would need to maintain his senses about him... they were headed into a lion's den, to be sure.

The ride to the Syndicate's outpost was rather enjoyable, Warismat reflected. The ship's skiff required very little in the way of manning, which had allowed him to malinger a bit. His role on the flight from the bay to the outpost was to serve as a lookout during takeoff and landing. So far during the trip over Warismat had nothing to do except gaze out over the lush forests sprawling underneath them and flowing past them. In terms of a military dropship like he was used to the skiff was far slower, allowing him an extended period of observation.

It is rather nice to just relax and take in the sights of foreign worlds for a change. Rather than coming in hot and heavy behind a barrier and a screen of hyper-velocity missile barrages.

The Syndicate traffic controllers had directed their two cargo ships to land in a large flood plain outside of the outpost, where Warismat had taken notice of the vast array of ship's attending whilst serving as the landing lookout. Everything from civilian pleasure yachts to rival syndicate enforcer units were in attendance. This auction should be interesting, to say the least. The prize being as lucrative as it is... well. As they say, where you see smoke, you'll find a fire. At least the variety and number of attendees lent a sort of credence to the fact that they were to be auctioning off a live predator. Even if that meant having to spend more in the end.

After the landing, Triela and Mac had gone to serve the formalities necessary for attendance at the auction. He almost wished he could have gone with them with to see security's reactions to Mac's trademark weapon. Triela might call it a peashooter, but the massive thumper-style plasma cannon was something only the saurian could have handled as efficiently as he did. Even Mac could only carry three rounds, with one being chambered... but if it took more than three rounds Mac wasn't killing it anyway. The weapon was more a status symbol than anything else... try firing that in a humid environment like this world's more than once and watch the wielder get burned by the atomization of the water in the air to steam by the plasma discharges. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he refocused on the task at hand. Triela had asked him to go forth into the compound and see if he could get a look at the "merchandise" and determine whether or not this endeavor was actually worth their time.

As he made his way through the outpost, Warismat made sure to keep his attention focused on his surroundings. Wearing the Fleet's dress uniforms was a calculated risk on their part. There were quite a few of the puritan groups here who found the very existence of human chimeras a mortal sin, which made up a high percentage of the Fleet's membership as it had originally been created as a protectorate for the outlying colony worlds. As isolated as they were here some attendees might try to push the limits of their hosts - especially if the Fleet accomplished its own goals. Of course, coming as plain clothes civilians would have been difficult as well, since they would have had to establish credibility through some other, most probably illegal, means. Fortunately the AoF was so far as Warismat had seen the most firepower available to anyone in the sector, and associating themselves with the gunship was a form of security in and of itself.

Their uniforms also offered a form of limited protection to the wearer, something that few people outside of the fleet were actually aware of. The white and blue uniforms were made of myther and xynth, a white fabric and blue crystal respectively. Myther was an interesting material, lightweight and comfortable with a smooth texture similar to suede; what made it interesting was its response to temperature changes and the added properties obtained when bonded with xynth. Wearers could wear the same clothes - the long sleeved blouse and slacks - in a large temperature span, without experiencing the discomfort normally associated with wearing light clothes in the cold or a complete ensemble in the heat. They would not protect the wearer from frostbite or heat exhaustion found in extreme environments, but transversing a temperate world was well within the boundaries of the material. Xynth on the other hand is a dimensional crystal compound, reacting with the power provided from the entropic nature of the alternate dimension it interacts with. The crystal appears to glow a subliminal and light blue on the myther cloth. Xynth will attempt to oppose any intense force that acts upon it - for example projectile hits, concussive waves, energy beams, etc., thereby providing a limited shield for the wearer. It wouldn't stop a blade, nor could it stop a weapon with a high enough caliber or energy potential... but it was a hidden advantage.

Still, they were a paltry few in a sea of many... several of the groups had the firepower and training to equalize or nullify any advantages they had - with the only notable exception being the gunship. Still, the term interplanetary incident would accompany any action taken by the AoF, and due to its high orbit it would not be able to provide immediate response. Yet, even as his older soldier mindset toiled over these things, the newer thought trends and sense of wonder that age and his new career brought forth also struggled for their own place on the stage of his mind. The smells and sounds of the outpost clamored for his attention, causing him to slow his pace so that he could take it all in.

The Scrye Syndicate outpost design borrowed a great deal from Palladian architecture, Warismat noticed. Old Earth designs were always something of an interest to him, a bit of history that seemed lost and forgotten nowadays. The buildings were scarcely ever more than a few stories tall, with the technology inherent in today's society kept tucked away inside so as not to remove from the atmosphere. The outpost sprawled over a gentle slope in a valley between tall mountain ranges, further helping with the visage. The further into the complex he wandered though, the more he overheard people talking about an exotic creature kept in a cage in a plaza towards the peak of the hill, slightly off center from the outpost's core. Judging by the descriptions, this caged critter was probably the live predator being advertised as the keystone of the auction.

It didn't take long to locate the cage - it was quite the bussel of activity. And what was inside it... took the Ti'Glath's breath away. The creature was approximately 30 feet tall, based on his comparison with the surrounding buildings. The majority of her form was that of a large spider, with a human base starting where the head of the spider would normally be located. Her bulbous spider abdomen had several broad and blunt protrusions around the midline, with her frame being supported on eight thin and long legs. Two smaller legs, too short to touch the ground, she maintained tucked close to her body below her human hips. From the joint between human and spider, the human portion started at her hips, and worked its way up as one would expect of a human teenager - albeit giant - for the most part. The chitin armor of her spider half seemed to come through partially in her human half, with the forearms being covered something akin to an arm sleeve that terminated at her elbows in blunt stubs. Dirty blond hair messily fell and cascaded about her shoulders, ending somewhere between her shoulder blades. The paleness of her human skin clashed with the dull black and yellow of her spider body, yet not in a way that seemed to detract from her overall beauty.

She seemed to be playing with a white ball of something, sucking up strands of it like spaghetti. Whenever she licked another strand loose from the ball, her little fangs could be seen, longer than a normal human's incisors but the impression left him still thinking cute, rather than deadly. It took Warismat a few moments to realize the material was her own silk. She... can eat that?! He had never considered such a thing before - nor could he fathom why she would choose to do so. Unless the Syndicate's tenders hadn't fed her, and she was just making do with the situation. Now he wished he'd spent more time studying up on spiders. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it would've helped. Just because she looks like one doesn't mean that she acts like it. His mind reeled from all the implications. I feel bad about referring to her as a 'pet' now. She was her own entity, something completely alien, and he could feel his excitement gathering. He had some time before he would be required to rejoin Triela and Mac, so he decided to spend it studying and observing the exotic critter.

Her blue eyes, full of intelligence, continuously scanned the crowd of people around her cage, watching them as they watched her. Even in that cage she's a predator. She stalks them and learns from them without her quarry even realizing the danger. It was difficult to imagine her going about swallowing humans though, as the rumors of the Felaryan dimension would lead one to believe. Still, one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. A group of youths, apprentices for one of the civilian groups in attendance, approached the spider-girl's cage, pointing and laughing at her. Something about her having a huge ass and how they'd like to tap that. Hmph. Kids.

The sudden motion from the corner of his eye brought his attention back on the spider-girl. She had lifted one of her forward legs and held it poised in the air, like an ancient soldier in some remake holo preparing to throw a javelin. Her expression and features hadn't changed from before - she continued to eat the silk ball and watch those about the cage. He noticed that she was particularly focusing on the youths that were laughing and pointing at her though. When she slammed the leg against the mesh of the cage, the effect on the youths was immediate. They scattered. Even though his mind was amused and approved of the girl's choice, he was also a bit concerned. I never saw her leg move. It was at one position, then reappeared in another. Not even a blur. The motion was so automatic for her that she didn't betray it or hint at when it would occur with her other body language. Which was quite disturbing for the old soldier, someone who was trained to recognize and counter such things.

For nearly an hour, Warismat continued to watch over her, examining and noting her reactions to the crowd and to her surroundings. Over that time, he noticed that he'd stopped referring to her as it, or pet, or thing. Her intelligence was at least on par with those gawking at her. She didn't seem to be able to recognize the spoken language, and she didn't ever speak herself - but that didn't make her some dumb animal. He regretted having even thought of her in such a light. It did lead to interesting questions of just how the Syndicate had managed to capture her without harming her, though.

<Warismat, what have you learned?> Triela's voice penetrated his mind, breaking away his attention from the caged girl. It wasn't actually her voice, she wasn't currently located near him. The neural co-processor installed in his mind replicated it upon receiving her datatag and processing the message delivered by the personal hypercom that made up just one of many of the nanotech devices located in his body.

<Triela... we have to acquire the item. I'm already tempted to let the poor thing out of that cage she is in. They have her out on display.>

<Hehe, careful Warismat. Your white knighting is showing through. But I agree with your assessment - we will need to acquire the specimen. She's definitely what the Commodore is looking for based on our assignment.>

<How soon is the auction going to start?> Warismat asked. He would need to make sure that he could be there to examine her and ensure the Syndicate didn't try to pull a fast one on any prospective buyers.

<Soon. You should probably start heading over to the amphitheater now.>

<Understood. I'll start making my way there now.>

When he looked back up, refocusing his attention on the spider-girl in the cage, he found her deep blue eyes staring back at him. He couldn't help but gulp nervously. Her attention had locked on him, and he swore he could see the questions within their pools. I'll do what I can, he thought. Taking a breath to reorient himself, Warismat rocked on his heels, waving to her as he turned to walked away to the auction, full of purpose. As he walked away, he never saw the girl's eyes following him until he was out of sight, nor the gentle wave she mimicked to his back.

The auction seemed to pass by much faster than Warismat had expected it to. He wasn't really sure if that was due to his desire to go back out and see the creature - no, dridder, he corrected himself - again, or the disparity in people attending versus people participating. He didn't really know where the term dridder came from, but it seemed to be what the natives of Felarya called the spider-girl. Most of the organizations present at the outpost had come merely to observe the dridder and the ensuing power struggle to acquire her, rather than to try bidding for her themselves - not surprising, considering the opening price had been equivalent to some colonies total worth in property value, he reflected.

Thinking back to the opening ceremony at the amphitheater, the Syndicate had spared no expense in showcasing their capture of the five immature dridders in the forests of Felarya. As far as Warismat could tell, the fight had been fought solely with the mature adult, while the juveniles appeared to have already been tranquilized beforehand. Probably what got her attention in the first place. If Warismat had been impressed with the juvenile on display in the plaza though, a mature specimen was something from another league entirely.


He could tell she was giant, easily towering over those attacking her, but the array of movie clips didn't allow for any good perspective shots to accurately determine her height. The adult had lightly tanned skin, green eyes, a black and yellow body with speckled patterns on her abdomen - that was also adorned with a half dozen giant spikes that extended out from her. She used her entire body in fighting, striking with blindingly fast and accurate jabs of her legs while her arms swiped across the ranks they tried to form in fighting her. Classic. Attack something like her with a frontal assault. That's mob fighting for you. He let out a silent whistle when he watched one of her legs pierce a Syndicate assault vehicle completely through before tossing it carelessly aside. She's a walking fortress.

Warismat was beginning to wonder just how the apparently inept tactics of the forces assaulting her had managed. He knew the Syndicate was showing this to show off the fighting prowess of their auction prize, but at the same time it wasn't doing their own PR any good, at least not in his eyes. They could at least show some competency while getting their asses handed to them. They had medium ranged light weapons, standard firepower for an independent scouting/vanguard operation that wasn't backed by a planetary or system government, but against her natural armor and fighting ability, it had fast become a battle of attrition that the ones wielding the technology were losing. In the end, their forces opted for a distraction tactic, slowly pulling the adult away from the juveniles and then hitting her broadside with a tactical fusion warhead. The adult - along with a nice swathe of the nearby forest - had simply vanished in the aftermath.

It wasn't right. Not at all. She was holding her own quite well against them - the use of such a weapon against her just seemed wrong. Warismat had certainly seen such actions before, but never before had it angered him so. She deserved better than that. Still, all's fair in the end, I guess. They got what they came for.


Still, there was something he had paid careful attention to throughout all of the video clips - in everything they had shown of her, she never once ate any of her attackers. Warismat found that interesting, considering she was certainly large enough to do so and one would expect based on the stories of Felarya that she would have incorporated that in her strategy. His only premise for why she wouldn't have would either fall into it happening off screen, that she was already satiated at the time of the battle, or because they were too small. If she were large enough, the humans attacking her wouldn't be any real food source. Still, there really wasn't enough information to form a good hypothesis.

His roundabout thoughts eventually returned to the juveniles. Four of them had not survived the return trip. Not due to disease or hunger though. No, they had died due to the incompetence of their captors. They had managed to capture the five still quite healthy and alive, but the slave traders had managed to overdose them on stasis serum. Which meant their deaths had been completely avoidable - a fact that truly angered the old soldier in him. And yet they're still proud of their accomplishment at being the first to recover a living predator. A twenty percent survival rate is hardly laudable.

The surviving dridder that Warismat had observed on display in the plaza did not make an appearance at the auction. Since even the corpses were worth something as research material, one of those instead had been preserved and placed on display. Like a stuffed animal, he thought with distaste. The survivor and remainder of the corpses were being transported to a storage hub near a private landing area for pickup by the winner of the auction once the event began. The Syndicate had decided to include the dead with the living rather than selling them off separately, most probably due to wanting to raise the final bids to some exorbitantly high levels.

Triela had been the spokesman for their group during the bidding, and Warismat for one was glad for it. One would think that holding simply matching others bids and raising as necessary until you won to be a rather simplistic task. Warismat was certain that he could not have remained as calm or focused as Triela during the event, especially in the final minutes of the auction when the bidding was down to just a few select parties. I would never have thought going and spending a great deal of money that wasn't even mine could be so nerve wracking. But I guess women are used to it. The add on thought made him smile a little.

<Women are used to what?> Triela asked, one of her tentacles tugging lightly on his leg under the table. Mac snickered next to him, and Warismat tried not to blush.

<I... broadcast that, didn't I?>

<Oh yes, yes you did.> came Mac's amused reply.


<Damn.> Rookie mistake, he thought grumbling to himself. Maybe I am going senile. Perhaps he should be pleased about winning a remark from the typically silent saurian.

Despite the byplay, Triela led them through to the end of the auction, finally outbidding the one remaining player, the Negal Research Community - well known for their study of the exotic, be it new lifeforms or newly discovered raw materials. The final bid, and the one that sealed their victory in the auction, was high enough to have bought a full core world system in its entirety. Fortunately the Fleet was able to make such extravagant purchases, as the highly sought after dimensional crystals fabricated for the Fleet's technology were also worth a substantial amount. If only they knew how easily we produced them, too, Warismat mused. The Fleet's technology advantages over the rest of the galactic organizations, both formal and informal, were a major reason for their renowned status.

"C'mon grizzly cat, its time to introduce us to your damsel in distress," Triela remarked, jabbing him in the side lightly with a tentacle and grinning playfully as they stood to leave.

"Indeed, let us go. I'm ready to get out of this place." This time Warismat returned Triela's smile as they turned to leave the amphitheater, with only a derisive snort from Mac at the implied meanings in their teasing.

************

The private landing area turned out to be near the river and reservoir that the far side of the outpost was bordered by. The two skiffs were brought in and landed just outside of a large warehouse building nestled against a block of buildings that were much more modern in appearance than the rest of the outpost. As they made their way into the warehouse though, Warismat felt his heart drop through the floor. The muffled gasp from Triela beside him illustrated that she felt the same.

<Those fools.> Mac's distaste wasn't adequately reflected in the codex of the artificial speech generated by the neural processors, but the low growl from his throat illustrated it perfectly.

<I can't believe they'd be so tasteless.> Triela responded. <Especially since one would think they'd know better than to assume these things are just mindless animals.>

Warismat couldn't agree more with Triela or Mac. Yet, even so, they were looking at it. In the warehouse on a couple of linked levi-pads was the immature dridders cage from the plaza he had visited earlier. Still locked up tighter than a freeze-sealed package too. Her body was flat against the floor of the cage, with her legs splayed out, resting against the walls. Her pale human skin was even more pale, if such a thing was possible, and her eyes were void of the intelligence Warismat had seen before. Right across from her cage, the bodies of the other dridders were being unceremoniously stacked on another series of levi-pads. Though her facial expression never changed, her face was stained with tears.

Triela was the first to recover. Drawing herself up to stand at her full height standing on her tentacles, she took charge of the situation as she stalked over to the Syndicate's loaders.

"We'll be handling this from here on out. We won't be requiring your assistance. Thank you for your help." Her tone was carefully neutral, but to Mac and Warismat, the behavior she was exhibiting showed her fury. The fish-faced partial-chimeras working the pads seemed to accept this without issue, closing up their current tasking and walking away towards a common exit on the other side of the warehouse floor.

<Please, Warismat, go talk to her. It doesn't matter if she can understand you or not, just help her if you can. We're going to have to take her out of that cage to get her in the skiff, and her state of mind is probably not the best right now. Mac, Reena, Alecto, you're with me. We're going to load these up on the other skiff. I'm not sure what we'll do with them later but we'll think of something. Just get them out of her sight and loaded up.>

I'm so glad Deca-Commander Aten chose her to lead this group, thought Warismat. Despite everything - the jokes and the teasing - he recognized Triela was leader material, and when something needed doing, she took charge. Warismat made his way over to the dridder's cage, climbing up on one of the levi-pads so that he would be level with the floor. The sudden change in her environment was apparently noticed, and the displacement of the Syndicate workforce with the uniformed Fleet members caused her to become responsive again. Warismat tapped against the side of her cage, which caused the dridder to turn around and face him. Her eyes were still wet, but she made an effort to wipe away the rivulets of tears on her face.

Warismat gave her the best smile he could muster, not sure exactly what he should say to her. He was fairly certain she couldn't understand their language, and he couldn't get over the idea that it would look silly for him to have a one way conversation. How do you comfort someone you can't talk to? Warismat had served as a notifying agent for the Fleet on many occasions. In those circumstances though, the people he was talking to could relate to him.

As he tried to think of what would be appropriate, he didn't even notice as she leaned down against the cage mesh, but the sudden warmth of her breath on his skin caused him to snap up, which led to his eyes meeting hers once again. Some life had returned to them, and she even tried to flash him a smile. Here he had been thinking of her as a thing again. He shook his head in shame, before clearing his mind and bringing his hand up against the mesh of her cage. It was too small for her to get through, but not him. He leaned forward; placed his hand against the warm flesh of her cheek, stroking it gently. It was just as smooth as one would expect human flesh to be. Her face seemed to light up at the simple motion, some of the life returning that had been lost; understanding his intent despite the language barrier between them.

The two of them continued their silent exchange, the dridder conveying interest and Warismat attempting his best at conveying affection and sympathy. He didn't even realize how long the two of the must have stayed in that position until her eyes shifted slightly to his left, and he felt Triela pulling herself up beside him.

<We're done with that at least. Now comes the interesting part.> Triela was choosing to speak through their neural link rather than vocally - he reasoned probably so that the dridder wouldn't think she was talking about her as if she wasn't there.

Taking his eyes off of the dridder, Warismat let them scan the warehouse. Triela and the others had managed to get all of the corpses onto one of the skiffs, and it was now currently prepping for launch. Which left him, Mac, Triela, and the dridder alone in the warehouse.

<By interesting part, I assume you mean the "Let her out of the cage and coax her onboard the ship without her attacking us?>

<Yeeeaah, that about sums it up. So, any ideas?>

"Not really." Warismat spoke aloud. "But we won't get anywhere just staring at each other. Lets just see what happens."

"Spoken like a front line soldier. Jump in and hope it all works out."

"It seems to work most of the time for me."

Triela laughed, turning her attention away from the dridder and towards Warismat. "Well, I guess we'll be counting on your luck then."

As they had talked, Mac had been piloting the lifts closer to the skiff, and now turned off the repulsors, allowing the cage to settle a few paces from the skiff's cargo doors. The three of them stepped off the lifts then, walking aboard the skiff and jointly bringing out the plasma cutter they'd brought along with them. That had actually been Mac's idea. Something about being overly prepared, Warismat thought with a smile.

The cage had been built as a single unit around her, most probably as that was the only way they could ensure the dridder didn't figure out how to open doors. Unfortunately, it was going to make this a bit difficult, considering the height of the cage and the bulk/weight of the torch. Good thing Mac was an expert with the handling of bulky objects. Warismat and Triela stepped back up to the sides of the cage, coaxing the dridder as close to the other side of the cage as possible. While Mac set to work cutting open the narrow end of the cage that she was no longer near, the others spent the time watching and exploring each other. Since the mesh prevented touching each other, Triela and Warismat focused their attention on the silk lining the bottom of the cage. The dridder seemed to pick up on their interest, and treated the two to a demonstration of the various types of silk she could make. Warismat could tell she was still distracted though, the clarity he had seen before was not as dominant in her eyes; no doubt from the visage of her dead sisters laid out uncaringly before her.

A series of loud clatters and rings pulled their attention away from each other and back towards Mac, who had apparently finished his task of cutting through the bars. The last of them had fallen when he had disengaged the plasma torch - the others were still standing, Warismat could see the cuts cleanly through the bars and mesh. The dridder seemed to understand the development as well, as she picked her body up off the floor of the cage, stepping over to the now greatly weakened wall.

<Mac, I think it would be best if you got out of her way. Just in case.>

<Understood. Already in motion.>

As soon as Mac had carried the still glowing and sizzling plasma torch back to the skiff to store it, the dridder pushed her smaller forward legs against the meshed wall, testing it. It extended outwards, but didn't fall - it seemed the mesh was still attached enough to hold the bars in place. The next push involved the use of her forward pair of legs and her arms, which was enough to overcome the remaining strength of the wall, sending it crashing down between the cage and the skiff with a roaring clatter. Triela and Warismat walked over to the now open wall once the cutout piece had stopped clattering along the floor, both of them holding their breath. The next few moments would make or break this trip. Neither Triela or Warismat seemed to notice their hands locked together as they walked up to the open end of the cage.

The dridder stepped out of the cage, pausing to stretch once she her body had cleared. Warismat couldn't help but be captivated by the subtle twitches of her legs as she extended each one, followed by her human torso. As she lifted her arms above her head, her supple skin stretched with the same elasticity one would expect from a human, and gave him the first clear view of her breasts. Warismat couldn't help but blush at the innocent display, as her human figure was very appealing to him - he imagined it would be to any hetero male.

"She's so cute... can you imagine what she'd look like all grown up?" Triela asked Warismat. "Maybe like the adult in the video the Syndicate showed?"

"There is a good chance, since they're the same species..." he replied distantly. He couldn't help but be a bit wary, guarded. There were all those rumors about Felaryan predators preying on their kind... and generally, while rumors may not be true, they are based on a kernel of truth. How long has it been since she had a *real* meal? He wasn't sure if Triela had noticed, but when she had let her arms fall down loosely by her sides, the dridder had licked her lips which had spawned a wave of doubts in his mind. They certainly had nothing that could stop her if she followed that path.

After a few more moments of taking in her surroundings not inhibited by the cage, the dridder seemed to remember that Warismat and Triela were still standing near her. She leaned forwards, kneeling down on her legs and extending her smaller spider-like limbs towards them. Warismat couldn't help tensing, unsure of her intentions. She must have sensed his discomfort, as her legs stopped moving for a moment and she tilted her head looking down at them. She gave them a gentle smile, probably meant to comfort, but seeing her fangs outside of the cage seemed to have the complete opposite effect from before on Warismat. What happened next however totally shocked him. Her legs were suddenly beside him on both sides, gently touching and rubbing against his body. While it was unexpected, that wasn't the surprising part - the sudden and unexplained feeling of euphoria was.

<Oh my! Warismat, do you sense that? She's emitting a whole slew of pheromones from her legs. It's making me giddy just being near it, hehe.>

He had never anticipated that she would be able to illicit such responses, or that she had such abilities. Her pheromones clouded his mind, relaxing him, even as her legs gently rubbed against him amplifying the effect several fold. He could feel the blood rushing to his face, and... other areas, which finally allowed him to regain his focus. He stepped back, gently but firmly pressing his hands against the tips of her legs, holding them off of him. Almost instantly the effects faded away. The smile she still wore no longer created the feelings of discomfort he had experienced moments before, as he realized this was simply her way of thanking them.

When he had pushed her legs off of him however, she had turned her attention to Triela... and if Warismat had started to feel aroused before, watching the effects the pheromones and touching had on Triela definitely got him hot and bothered. It didn't take the dridder long to realize that Triela was much more malleable either, due to her lack of a defined vertebra. He turned away and coughed, unable to continue watching for lack of maintaining any semblance of decency otherwise.

"Wow. Well, that was certainly interesting and unexpected. Talk about a thank you." Turning around and noticing Warismat's discomfort, Triela's own face curled into a devilish grin as she reached out to him with two of her own tentacles, settling one against the front of his closest leg and the other against his arm and applying a gentle suction. He yelped, spinning around to get free of her but Triela wasn't intending on pushing the issue, her tentacles popping off as soon as he turned.

"Did the poor lil' kitty kat enjoy the show?" she teased, causing him to blush more before he up-righted himself and turned to face her.


"I think that's about enough out of you, haven't you had your quota of fun at my expense already?" Warismat replied indignantly, his embarrassment colouring his remark.

"Well sorrrry," she intoned, pursing her lips. Her eyes betrayed a hint of sadness at the sting in his words, but she made sure to dispel it quickly, her face taking on a more serious intonation. "I agree though, probably enough excitement for one day. I'm going to go see if Mac needs any help then get prepped for launch, make sure you get her trussed up in the bay. Let me know via the link when you're ready."

Warismat wanted to apologize as she stalked away, heading towards the forward skiff access dock, leaving him alone with the dridder who had watched the entire exchange with genuine interest. He would have time to apologize later though, he reasoned. The dridder continued to watch him as he turned back to look up at her, leaving only one real question... How to convince her that the straps I have to put her in are for her safety, not to imprison her...

Warismat reasoned he had at least a few minutes to figure something out while Mac and Triela were getting the skiff ready for takeoff. Turning to look away from the peaceful calm now reflected in the dridder's face, he walked into the skiff's cargo bay and began fidgeting with the cargo straps. He had brought these particular straps along just for this occasion - they were designed for large animals, serving a similar function to seatbelts. They would adjust to any subtle motions, but rapid action would engage the braking functions to hold down their occupants while still providing for some semblance of comfort.


Still, its going to be like tying her up, and I doubt she would miss the implication after spending who knows how long in a cage. Warismat was beginning to become exasperated thinking just how he could get the message across that it was a protection scheme rather than a submission one when his vision happened across his drop harness in the corner of the skiff's bay. He had brought it along out of habit, but... If I wear the harness and show her how it works I can probably relay the intent of what the straps are for.

Stepping over to the harness, Warismat leaned down to collect it when he noticed an odd sound, like someone tapping a bell emanating from behind him. Turning back around, he found the dridder standing right behind him, which caused him to involuntarily jump. How? I didn't even notice her moving! It was just like before when he had watched her strike the mesh in response to the human jibes or when she had touched him and Triela earlier. She can bloody move. She was fidgeting lightly, and each time her legs made contact with the skiff's hull it rang out much like a soft bell. She was looking behind and to her sides, where the clawed tips of her legs tapped the hull, and her brows furrowed every time the sound occurred, indicating that she was annoyed by the sound. I can't tell though whether her annoyance stems from her desire to be silent or if she just doesn't like it. Or both.

Warismat positioned himself in front of her, holding the harness up in one hand and jiggling it slightly to catch her attention. The motion out of the corner of her eye brought her attention back to him, whereupon she folder her arms across her chest, with a curious look to her face that seemed to indicate that at least for the moment he was her focus. Holding up the harness for her inspection, he pointed down to the straps that ran across the floor of the skiff. She turned to examine both for a short period before returning her gaze to him, watching as Warismat began to strap himself into the harness.

Having spent many a hour strapped into this harness awaiting a drop, Warismat knew the quickest and easiest ways to get into and out of it. In a few short moments, he had his body trussed up nice and snug, and attached the harness to the skiff's interior cargo crane with a suitable length of line. Using the crane's remote was a bit klunky, but the civilian equipment did not interface with his neural link so it was an unfortunate necessity. Warismat raised his body up, all the while being watched attentively by the dridder.

This won't be that hard after all, he thought, pleased with this idea. Pointing to the trusses once again, he then pointed at the harness, deliberately rocking his body and showing her how the harness kept his motion to a minimum. Once he finished, he pointed at himself and then the trusses, trusting his message was clear. At first it seemed that it had worked flawlessly, with her eyes lighting up and her head bobbing like an affirmative nod. She reached out with one of her arms, wrapping her fingers delicately about the cable he was hanging from and testing it against them. Quirking his head slightly, Warismat tried to make sense of her actions when he noticed that she had raised her abdomen up slightly, using a pair of legs to draw silk from some point on her underside to her shorter front legs, coiling the silk up until she had a length akin to that of the cable.

Gently the dridder plucked Warismat, harness and all, from the crane, nearly dropping him when the quick release performed its function at the sudden tension and pull of her picking him up before catching him in her other hand. Quite confused by her intentions at this point, Warismat found himself watching with morbid curiosity as she looped the silk thread around his harness and then proceeded to hang him again from the crane, beaming at him happily.

Oh dammit, she didn't understand at all!

<Hey Warismat, what's keeping you, have you got her trussed yet? We're ready to go up here.>

<No Triela, she's... the language barrier.... it is most irksome> he replied with a mental scoff as his body swung slightly from side to side.

<Why not just try trussing her up first then getting elaborate with your charades game if she doesn't like it> came Mac's input, making Warismat growl in frustration. Even Mac is giving me advice now! Wait, how could he... oh. Warismat remembered that the bay had video feeds, which meant most probably both Triela and Mac and been watching with genuine amusement as he had attempted to explain his purpose to the dridder, causing him to blush furiously. Bloody hell!

Unsheathing the combat knife on his harness, Warismat made to cut himself free of her silk thread. Thinking the modest white strand currently holding him up was going to be easy to cut, Warismat received an unpleasant surprise when the knife stuck into the thread rather than slicing through it, and try as he might it refused to budge out.

A girlish giggle caused his head to snap up, whereupon he found his body was now handing a short distance from her face. The dridder's eyes were dancing with laughter as she did her best to cover her mouth with one hand and stifle her giggles. Great. Just great. Even she thinks I'm a laugh riot. Warismat sighed, its going to be one of those days, huh. At least the dridder didn't feel the need to rub it in too much apparently, as she looped a finger with her free hand around the thread holding Warismat suspended, pulling him off the crane's hook and setting him down on the cargo bay floor. After a brief moment allowing him to steady himself, she suddenly tugged on the string, causing him to spin about in a three-sixty as the thread that had been wrapped around his body came free. Looking up dizzily, he noticed she was slurping up her thread again, just as she had before when he'd seen her on display. Hmm. I'm beginning to think there is some other purpose to her doing that than just edging hunger.

After regaining his sense of direction again, Warismat decided to go for a more direct approach, as Mac had suggested he do. Mac's solutions to most problems were often simple, but got the job done. Picking up the latch for one of the straps, he held it up to show it to the dridder, who had just finished with the thread from before. She watched him as he tossed the strap over her midsection, fastening it securely on the other side and pulling it snug but not tight. The dridder tested the strap, raising her body up against it, sporting a small frown on her face. Her motion was slow, so it did not catch fast however she continued to raise her body up which caused the strap's tethers to reach their limit, whereupon Warismat heard the groaning of the metal clamps anchoring the straps.

The sound of the groaning metal seemed to bother her more than the idea of being strapped down, so she settled down against the floor, pulling her legs up against her body tightly and looking down at Warismat with the worst case of puppy eyes he had ever seen. Awww, dammit. I... just can't. Her expression combined with her body language was depressing him. His mind seemed to enjoy reminding him that up until recently he was the one who so desperately wanted to get her out of the cage... so that he could apparently now cage her himself. Warismat let out an exasperated sigh, looking up at the dridder and deciding the hell with it, they'd go without the trusses. It had been his idea in the first place, to keep her from moving around during the flight, but that had been back before he had met her.

<We're done here Triela. I'm locking up the bay doors right now and then we'll be ready to go.>

<Oh? As you wish, grizzly ol' cat.> It was difficult to accurately tell over the neural link, but if Warismat had to guess, her sign off comment had sounded mildly chastising.

Warismat then walked over to the control console, issuing the commands and watching as the cargo bay doors began to reseal. With that now in progress, he turned around and walked over to the single strap he had used on her, releasing the tie down and popping the hook free. She wasted no time in pulling it off of her body, letting it drop unceremoniously on her other side. As he waited for the doors to full close and seal, Warismat walked around the bay, picking up and reshelving the various straps he had prestaged to hold her with. As he put the last one away in the storage lockers, he heard the bell sound again, which at first didn't alarm him until he felt her warm breath gently flowing upon his back.


Whirling around he found himself face to face - literally - with the dridder. She had leaned forwards with her human portion while kneeling down on her legs so that she could bring her face to his level. Her head was nestled against her arms, folded against the floor supporting her weight due to her position, and her expression was calmer now, tranquil.


As he looked into the huge blue eyes just a few feet from him, he felt himself begin to tense up again. She's... awfully close. Seems noone taught her the idea of personal space. I don't think she's big enough to just eat me outright though, he tried to convince himself. She was only around thirty feet tall, so his own roughly eight foot height made him as large as her own head. Still, she's full of surprises, and while her human portions may only be so tall, her mass/bulk is significantly larger due to the shape of her body. Warismat couldn't help but swallow nervously as she continued to stare at him from so short a distance.

The sudden sound of the skiff's engines alighting was the first sound that he could hear over his own beating heart and the gentle rustle of her breathing. It meant that they would soon be underway, getting back to the Fleet where they would turn her over. And life can somewhat go back to normal. Warismat was suddenly thrust forward, landing against her face and startling him out of his reverie. What?! His initial thought was that the ship had launched with an uncharacteristic roughness, but the gentle pressure against his back told him otherwise. A glance with his peripheral vision showed him a long slender black object emanating from behind her body with gray rings... her legs. The actual - real - ones she used to walk with. A sudden wetness against his hands resting on her cheek caused him to return his attention to her face, where he noticed that her eyes were now closed, water pooling up around the corners and then cascading down over her soft skin.

Of course. After everything she's been through - she feels safe here. So all of the emotions are coming back now... Warismat had seen it often enough. The recovery of the survivors, both refugees and soldiers. The adrenaline kept you focused in the heat of the moment, but after the dust settled all the emotions you had realized but kept locked away came rushing back full force. She didn't need food - she needed support. Warismat moved closer to her with his realization, embracing her cheek the best he could. I don't really make a great shoulder for you to cry on, do I? I hope it can be at least some comfort however. Her leg pressed up against his back, holding him close to her as they shared an understanding that language would never be required for.

************

As Triela and Mac commenced the final pre-flight checks, she maintained the video feed on just to keep an eye on things. She was rather curious to see what would happen, and a little concerned for her old friend. Triela had accepted her feelings for the Ti'Glath some time ago, but decided to not press the issue unless he gave her a sign that he was open to it. So for some time now they had only engaged in friendly flirting and teasing. Still, she did worry about him, especially now that he was essentially locked in a box with something that was rumored to eat creatures like him.

For the moment though, all seemed well. The dridder was watching him as he moved about, putting away the tie-down straps. She was glad he had eventually opted not to use them, for even though she had spoken of it as they parted Triela didn't really want to see the poor girl tied down. Not after what she had been through already. The checks completed, Mac settled into the navigator's station behind her and she took the pilot/command chair.


Due to her odd physical stature, the original chairs of the skiff had to be removed to be replaced with one more accommodating for her. It had no backing, just a round platform with a webbing around the edges that she inserted her tentacles into, wrapping four of them around the chair's supports for stability. Her other tentacles moved gently across the operator panels while she kept her arms folded in her lap. She typically only used her hands for dealing with others, as they became unnerved somehow watching her using her other appendages. The lot of us chimera, I suppose. Shunned by our creators, we would be lost little slaves if it weren't for the Fleet.

As she coaxed the skiff into the air and back towards the bay where they had left the other section of their transport, she allowed her gaze to return to the video feed. Never having noticed the tense standoff as they prepared for launch, she couldn't help but smile warmly at the vision of the seemingly small Warismat pressed against the dridder's face. It was good to see the dridder releasing her pent up emotions in such a way... just like one of us.

Reya watched as the miniature chlaena and the lizard-like humanoid walked off, leaving her alone with the neko again. Her day had gone from worst ever to progressively better ever since the smartly dressed creatures in the blue and white clothes had arrived. She knew now what had happened to her sisters. Which meant her mother was also gone; she would never have allowed them to be taken before they were ready to leave home. The newcomers smelled really nice, but she wasn't that hungry at the moment and they seemed to be intent on helping her. At the very least they let me out of that cage.

They were as interested in her as she was in them. While they resembled things she knew from home, they were very different. For one, she specifically remembered from her mother's lessons that chlaena were water creatures, and required a source of water to survive. This one did not seem to suffer from that limitation. She had never seen or heard of the lizard creature before. And the neko, the one from before that had watched her in the cage - it wasn't really a neko, she was certain. She had caught nekos before, and while this one resembled it, now after a closer inspection with her pedipalps she was quite certain it was not a neko. Still, for lack of better descriptions, she would keep referring to them that way for now.

She'd thanked the chlaena and the neko using the same technique her mother had used to help teach and explain various things to Reya and her sisters. Her race exchanged information by more than just simple speech and body language, using smell and touch to amplify or demonstrate information and better explain or elaborate a particular idea or discussion point. By manipulating her pheromone glands in her legs and rubbing them against the chlaena and neko, she'd been ecstatic to see the appropriate response manifest in them.

However, her motives had not been entirely innocent. Her legs were her one of her best sensory organs, and she had employed them to their full effect. The neko had a much more built muscular/skeletal system than the ones she was used to, and coarse fur that covered the accessible portions of its body. He pushed away her pedipalps though after just a few moments, before she could do anything more thorough. He seemed... embarrassed? I wonder what that was about. The chlaena had been a far more willing participant in Reya's exploratory 'thank you' session. She certainly felt like a chlaena would, from what I know about them. But I suppose I've never really encountered one before myself. And I'm not sure mother did either.

Reya watched as the two held a short discussion, then the chlaena left her alone with the neko. He turned back to look at her for a short while, as if he had a question he wanted to ask her. It seemed he understood the futility of that effort however, and instead turned around and walked into the yawning opening of an aerial golem. That was the best way she could describe it, anyway. She had seen the pair of large golems get moved against the large, open structure she had been taken to while still in her cage, but only one of them remained now.

Unlike the warehouse that was dimly lit, the area inside the golem was well lit, and Reya could see long, even, black strips of cloth laid across the deck. The walls of the room were uneven, with various containers lining several of them. She had seen the lizard creature return the device he had used to open up her cage to one of them, and she thought she could even recognize its shape along the wall.

Reya waited a few moments as the neko moved about the open space, but her curiosity got the better of her. Besides, she hadn't got to finish her examination of him from before. She moved forwards quietly, slowly, stalking him. She wasn't going to prey on him, but she always practiced when she could. Its what had made her the best hunter and stalker of all her siblings. However, as soon as her legs crossed the threshold and entered the room, a metallic ringing sound echoed throughout the room. She let out a soft sigh of annoyance, compensating by foregoing the stalking and just moving as fast as she could.

She was elated to get him to jump when he turned around and noticed her right behind him. At least she wasn't losing her touch all locked up, even if her environment was against her. Looking down at where her legs and the floor met, she tapped her claws lightly, testing the noise they made. It didn't seem to matter how gently she was, the floor still rang out. Why do they have to have such noisy floors?

A sudden jerking motion from her peripheral vision caught her attention, and she turned back to face the neko who now stood in front of her. He was putting on some sort of article of clothing, with a large shiny ring on the back. The clothing seemed to be thickest around the midsection and shoulders. He seemed to be comfortable in it though, as if it were something he had worn before. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently, watching with genuine interest. At the very least maybe I can learn something new.

He finished getting himself settled into the clothing piece, then strangely linked a black thread of some sort to the ring on his back, with an odd snapping noise as it clicked into place. The ceiling above her moved, and suddenly the cat was airborne, hanging by the thread. Um... if you really wanted to do that I could have done it for you much easier, she thought. His actions didn't make any sense to her.

The neko began to rock in his harness, pointing from the article of clothing he wore down to the black lines laying over the deck. Bouncing up and down as well as rocking from side to side, her eyes lit up as understanding dawned. Its a harness. To keep someone from falling or getting thrown. So these lines must be a harness for me. She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head slightly. No, I don't need that. And I don't want it. No more cages. This room is tiny enough I can easily span it with my legs, I don't need a harness.

She didn't mind the thought at least, she knew the neko wasn't trying to be mean to her. Still, she was going to set him right about her thoughts on the matter. Bobbing her head in the affirmative, she reached forwards, testing the strength and exploring the texture of the black thread holding the neko up. She was fairly certain she could do better. Raising her abdomen, she coaxed forth a thread of similar diameter from her spigots, delivering it to her pedipalps with a pair of legs and coiling it up until she had a similar length. Plucking the thread holding the neko on the ceiling with her fingers, she lifted him, surprised briefly as he fell with a distinct *click* sound but catching him easily enough with her free hand.

Gently holding him with her hand, she wrapped the thread about his body, testing it to ensure it caught onto him before hanging it back up on the ceiling where his other thread had been attached. She watched him then, beaming at him as she witnessed his expressions go from pleased with her understanding to confusion of her intent to indignation at being hung from the ceiling - by her this time. He gaped at her momentarily, before his eyes went distant again. She had seen this before - back outside, when he had been watching her outside of the cage. It was as if his attention was being focused elsewhere, which didn't make sense. He had a predators motions, and a predator knows better than to become distracted. At least the ones that live anyway.

He remained that way for several moments, as if he were in a different world. His face became rather red, which was impressive considering the fur. A blush? Why? She wanted to receive some answers but all she kept getting was more questions. His attentiveness seemed to return, and he shook his body, as if he were trying to shed water. The neko pulled a bladed weapon free from the harness, trying to cut himself free of her thread. I wouldn't do that if I were you... she thought, then smiled as he realized the futility of trying to cut through one of her threads.

The more he struggled and grunted the more Reya couldn't restrain herself, and she began giggling, covering her mouth to prevent him from being startled by her fangs like he had before. He gave her an indignant look before shrugging his shoulders with a sigh. She figured he had gotten her point by now though, and so she picked him back up by her thread, setting him on the ground and waiting a short span before tugging on the silk, causing it to unravel from his body. She raised the thread then to her mouth, slurping it up so that she wouldn't waste the material.

When she looked back down at the neko, he had picked up one of the black straps on the floor, proceeding with his plan to strap her in anyway. She pursed her lips, but decided not to fight the issue, though it would be easy enough... still, they were far better than her previous hosts, and she had no desire to be thrown back to them. Not after what they had done to her sisters. The thought filled her with sadness again, reminding her of the loss.

While she was distracted, the neko managed to toss the strap over her body, and she turned to watch his actions, as otherwise the motion out of the corner of her eyes was to distracting - demanding of her attention. She heard the sharp *click* sound again, and felt the gentle bite of the material into her skin, lifting up her abdomen to test the tightness. It held her fast and secure, which only contributed to her sadness. She was caged again, and in despair she pulled her limbs against her sides tightly and began to rock herself gently.

She didn't even notice as the neko regarded her sad expression, for while she was still looking in his direction she was no longer paying attention to his presence. All she felt was the chill of the cage, and all she saw was her sister's motionless, expressionless bodies being piled on top of platters in the warehouse. Its so cold... and I'm all alone now.

Her depression was lifted suddenly, as the tension from the strap loosened. She couldn't get the material off her body fast enough it seemed. Once it was off, she refocused her eyes on her surroundings again, watching as the neko walked around the room, picking up the black threads and coiling them before placing them in the objects on the walls. The wind currents around her changed, and she turned in time to notice the wall behind them was shutting. They were leaving this dark place. The room was tiny, but for the first time, she was free.

Turning back to the neko, she noticed that the ground was all clear of the strapping threads from before. He was putting the last of them away, sliding it into the storage containers. She skittered forward carefully, kneeling her body down to just barely above the ground, laying her human portion along the ground and supporting it by crossing her arms and propping up her head so that they were actually touching the cold metal rather than her flesh. Her face was now right behind the neko, so close that her breath was causing his uniform to shift.

The neko whirled around, watching her tensely. She wanted to smile at him, but she knew that doing so would probably just frighten him, which wasn't her intent. Wasn't her need. So for several moments she simply gazed at him, slowly moving a leg to wrap around her, poising it behind and above him. The ground around her began to vibrate and a loud noise roared from above and forward of her position, shaking the ship with steady motions. She used the distraction to push him forwards, against her cheek using her leg. She hadn't intended to be rough, but he was lighter than she had expected due to his muscular form.


The palm of his hands were warm and soft against her skin, and Reya closed her eyes, the emotions and sadness of losing everything washing over her. She felt the tears forming again, but made no effort to stop them, just concentrating on the warmth of the neko's body against her face and the comfort his simple presence provided her.

************

A sudden roar, like that of an enraged bull tonorion charging, startled Reya from her sleep. The room violently tilted, but she was fast enough - her legs snapped out and anchored her against the wall that was now resembling the floor, keeping herself steady. She had stood back up as soon as the room moved, catching the neko as he flew through the air. He was awake now too, with that distant look again. I wonder... dryads sometimes do that. Mother spoke of it, thought it was annoying when they would just blank out on you. When they use the... network... thing. Maybe these creatures have one?

After a few moments of just staring out into space, the neko snapped to, taking in the environment quickly. He looked up at her with an odd expression, then jumped out of her hand. He ran over to the wall and braced his body against it, turning his head to look over his shoulder at her and making a 'come hither' motion with his hand and then pointing at the wall.

She didn't understand what was going on but judging by his tense motions and the anxiety she could feel radiating from him, something unpleasant was about to happen and he wanted her to mimic his motion against the wall. Reya had a better idea though. Working quickly, she released a thick, messy strand of sticky silk from her spigots, spinning it to her middle legs only and tossing it outwards towards the far walls. It wasn't her usual finesse, but finesse wasn't required now. She picked him up and placed him in a wider portion of the thread, sticking him to it and then hunkering her body down over his, stretching her legs to push against the walls all around her. Eight real legs and only six walls meant she could brace for anything.

Almost on cue with her finalizing her position her entire world went crazy. The room they were in was violently tossed about for several long, very uncomfortable moments before finally coming to a rest. The vibrations she had felt earlier in the hull were gone now, replaced instead with loud groans and popping sounds as the room seemed to settle. Relaxing her body, she backed up looking down at the neko. Her sticky thread had acted just like his harness would have, holding him in position nicely as the room had bounced around.

He seemed to be dazed, but as soon as she pulled him free of the threads he was in motion, jumping from her grasp and running to the storage cabinets. He seemed to be grabbing a large variety of items when the chlaena and lizard-man arrived, and began to do the same. The tense atmosphere made her uneasy. Something is very, very wrong. They've never acted like this before...

Warismat awoke to his entire world going topsy-turvy. He had flashbacks to being woken up rather unpleasantly to an artillery barrage once, only for some reason his mind told him that this time it couldn't be artillery. Additionally, he was wrapped up snugly in something soft and warm. Opening his eyes, he realized that he was aboard the skiff still, in the cargo room... in the hands of the dridder. Before he could even reason through how he had gotten there though, Triela's voice screamed into his head.

<Warismat! Syndicate enforcers are attacking us! They only seem to be attacking us, the other skiff isn't reporting anything. They must be after the living one. The repulsors are down, we're going to have to ditch. Going to try and land us in the industrial section of the Anistasia colony, where we'll have some cover, be ready to act as soon as the ship stops moving!>

Damn! The Syndicate was being really bold; not to mention the whole have your cake and eat it too, greedy lot. He was right not to have let his guard down in the outpost then; or perhaps they were simply waiting for them to get airborne where it would be more difficult to retaliate. Either way, things were about to get interesting - and very familiar to the old soldier.

Looking up at her for a moment, wondering how he had found his way into her hand, Warismat hopped out, running to the opposite wall of the tilt. He needed to get the dridder to brace. Otherwise the impact would send her knocking around the walls like a very large wrecking ball. With me somewhere in that equation. Nestling himself against the wall, Warismat looked over his shoulder at the dridder, using one of his hands to beckon her and then point at the wall, hoping she got the message.

A brief span later he felt himself being lifted very unceremoniously from his brace against the wall, barely having enough time to realize that it was her hand wrapped around him when he felt himself deposited onto something thick and sticky. As she released him, he saw the shadow of her body cover him and watched as her legs extended out, denting the walls with their impacts and latching on. He felt the ...webbing? he was attached to bow as the skiff made impact with the ground, before undergoing a series of twists and wraps about itself spinning him like a centrifuge. However, due to him being suspended in the webbing his body was protected from hitting the walls or floor, which he undoubtedly would have had she not taken such a precaution.

After the world finally stopped moving around him, the dridder lifted her own body up away from his, reaching down to pluck him from the webbing and set him on the ground. At first he suffered some slight motion sickness as his mind realed from all the whirling just prior, but years of acclimatization to such things and training quickly took over and Warismat ran over to the weapons and gear lockers. I am so glad I convinced myself to bring the full drop gear!

Triela and Mac burst through the forward adjoining door of the cargo bay, running to the other equipment lockers. There was no talking, no link-messages, just the rapid and seemingly automated motions of three highly trained combatants getting ready for a surprise hit. It took them about five minutes to get fully suited up in their respective powersuits, or in Triela's case a suite of psyker armour, then another minute to examine each other's suits in one final readiness check.

<What's our plan?> asked Warismat.

<Distraction and delay.> came Mac's steady reply.

<Indeed, that's exactly our mark. Warismat, since you have the most time with her you will be going with the dridder. Try and keep your heads low and navigate the urban sprawl. The area is sparsely populated, mostly just automated equipment and maintenance techs. Don't trust local authorities, they're probably bought. Myself and Mac will take a thermal emulator and set it to something the dridder's size and head towards the colony proper. Take an emulator with you and activate it on her too, confuse them, make it harder to tell which is real without a visual.>

<Support?> Warismat intoned, not expecting anything in response but figuring it couldn't hurt.

<Nothing for now. Alecto has informed the AoF of our situation, they are on their way. ETA is 80 minutes. Keep the enforcers busy until then. The other skiff is still unmolested, looks like they'll be fine.>

They nodded to each other and walked to the cargo bay doors, Triela activating the doors then sliding through them with disturbing ease while they were still in the process of opening. Her suit consisted of a lot less 'hard' armor plating like his and Mac's, instead focusing on improving the advantages of her unique body. Unfortunately, that meant it offered much less physical protection, relying instead on xynth barrier like protection. Still, the Syndicate would have forces deployed shortly after they landed, and none of them particularly wanted to walk out into them.

<All clear. Let's move!>

Mac took off at Triela's signal, localizing on her using the link as a tracking beacon. Warismat turned, looking up at the dridder who had been watching them curiously throughout the entirety of their preps while she had been absentmindedly breaking down and consuming the webbing she'd used to absorb his shock earlier. He could tell she was tense now however, unsure of what was happening. He made a motion illustrating she should crouch down, then exited the doors himself, keeping his repeater rifle leveled and ready as he swept forward.

As the two groups moved further apart, Warismat made sure to keep looking over his shoulder to ensure the dridder was following him. For her part, she seemed to be doing as he asked, her legs spread out wider than normal causing her body to be nearer the ground and lowering her overall height. She scuttled behind his fast pace with ease, and now that they were on the ground he couldn't hear her move at all. It's damn impressive and incredibly scary at the same time. I can't even hear her with the suit's refinements. If we had met somewhere else in time... on another world... But he had no time for those kind of thoughts now. The Syndicate's troops would be coming after them soon enough. For his part, he would do his best to ensure she never fell back into their clutches.

************

It seems that having chosen to run towards the colony proper has gotten us a much greater wealth of attention, Triela reflected sourly, ducking behind another building as an array of flechette rounds whizzed past her position. So far heavy elements were sparse, with the majority of their opposition being local authorities. Didn't even bother challenging us, just opened fire. Tsk tsk. The characteristic whump-kathuk! of Mac's plasma cannon shook the ground near her, the vibration transferring through and up her tentacles before the air around her compressed in a wave of heat followed by a massive fireball reaching towards the heavens.

With their current teaming, Triela took point for Mac, bolting to and from buildings with a fluidic motion that would have given any vertebrate a case of the heebie-jeebies. She wielded two repeater pistols in her human hands, with four of her tentacles supporting long rapiers with triquilium blades and pappenheimer hilts. The entire blade was fashioned from the crystalline structure, clear to the point of being near-transparent with a faint blue aura that created beautiful coloured arcs that lingered in the air. As she minced those that got within reach of her blades the two pistols in her hands discharged thick red bolts at distant targets. To an observer, she was a colourful whirlwind of death, striking down everything in her path.

Mac was her polar opposite in form and style. The armoured saurian looked very much like a small mech, especially wielding the giant plasma cannon, with yet another unwieldy weapon folded upon his back. He moved much slower than her, patiently transversing between areas of cover. The suit allowed him to carry an extra three rounds of ammo for a total of six with one round chambered. Once they had cleared the skiff's wreckage and made some progress to the colony proper they had encountered quite the blockade of colonial security personnel. The hasty preparations hadn't protected them at all from the massive blast of Mac's cannon, their blockade vanishing in the bright orange blast that shook the ground and released a concussive wave at impact that flattened nearby vehicles and blew out building windows. Five, the saurian counted emotionlessly, chambering another fuel canister for the still sizzling weapon.


As he moved forwards again, he caught the flashes of Triela's blades as she danced into a group of Syndicate Vanguards, her body a flattened disc skirting mere inches over the ground before she sprang up, like an S-Mine from an old-Earth war movie, slicing her opponents into bloody ribbons despite the heavier tactical armour they sported over the local authorities. The loud scream of a scramjet engine roared over their heads, causing Mac to slam his body against a door to his left and roll.

<Triela dodge right!> the saurian demanded in her head.

Rocking her body against a pair of her tentacles Triela threw herself through a window of a warehouse building to her right. Following immediately after her maneuver a series of explosions walked their way up the street as the Syndicate enforcer's payload carpeted the area in a direct line behind its flight path, heat and shrapnel washing against and over her back.

<Damn. Air Cav. Just what we needed.> Triela stated, annoyed.

Silently in the building slightly behind and across from her, the saurian set down the plasma cannon and pulled off the weapon on his back, beginning its simple assembly as the enforcer banked in the air, coming about for another pass.

************

Warismat and the dridder had finally encountered resistance after about twenty minutes of uninhibited progress through the maze of the industrial complex. A platoon of Syndicate Vanguards had assaulted them, along with two Tungsten class mechanoids. The mechs were older models, lacking the enhanced sensory packages of their later brethren, but their armaments were still more than capable of tearing the two of them apart.

Bloody fools, thought Warismat, executing a tight duck-and-roll as another burst of assault rifle fire richocheted around him. Don't those fools realize they could hit the thing they're trying to capture?! Probably don't even care, he thought sourly. By his count there shouldn't be more than two or three foot soldiers left, but that still left the two mechs to deal with. He was rapidly running out of energy packs for the repeater rifle, which was bad enough in itself except that the weapon was also starting to overheat. Worse still was that he had absolutely nothing that could engage those mechs and take them out. Just a waste of ammo, he entailed.

Turning back to check on the dridder, his mouth fell agape and his heart dropped when he realized finally that she was no longer behind him. Where?! And when? Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! His inability to hear her movements had finally cost him greatly. He had to find her, and quick, lest the Syndicate just recapture her despite their efforts. Of course, she could have left any time since he last looked over his shoulder, which meant at least five minutes.

Moving forwards after a sudden break in the gunfire, Warismat navigated through a narrow passage and found himself on one of the main roadways of the industrial complex. Turning to look down both sides of the street prior to choosing his next route, he did a doubletake and found himself staring down the empty street right at one of the Tungsten mechs. Oooh shiit, he thought, time slowing to a standstill as he rolled back. The mech's rotary cannon spun up with a distinctive whine and sent its deadly spread down range, chunks of the building flying and plastering him with syntheticrete dust. Too close! I really miss having a squad and a point man! Warismat wasn't used to this solo thing, having spent so much time in a front line drop unit meshing with a team and counting on the observations of spotters and points to direct his fire.

Slowing his breathing back to normal, his hearing quirked up at a decided alien sound. The best description he could put to it was that it had the same effect on his nerves as nails on a chalkboard, a teaching device that could only be found in videos these days. Only the sound had a decided metallic vibe to the screech. The alien sound was then followed by what seemed to be a large hulk of metal falling to the ground in pieces. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Warismat stepped back out into the street. And his mouth fell open yet again, his body beginning to shake uncontrollably.

The Tungsten mech had seemingly collapsed upon itself, with a hole the size of the dridder's legs running right through the left shoulder pauldron. The cockpit was opened up, but the occupant was no longer inside. No. No. No way. I don't. I don't believe it. I can't believe it. The dridder whom he had just recently lost track of was next to the fallen mech, with the humanoid pilot struggling in her hands. Her eyes were focused on the creature in her hands, and the expression on her face was... intense satisfaction. She's... so pleased.


As he continued to watch, dumbstruck, she lifted the mech pilot to her face, parting her lips slightly and sinking her now exposed fangs into his body. A stifled gasp escaped Warismat's own lips as he continued to watch, paralyzed. Her fangs did not remain in the figure long, only a few short moments elapsed before she pulled away. But to Warismat, those few moments spanned an entire lifetime.


She's. Really. Actually. Going. To. EAT. Him.


They had all heard of and known the rumors, but he couldn't fathom it. It just didn't seem possible.  Not after all the time he had spent with her, how close and how often he had been with her. The dridder then began to pull silk from her abdomen, holding the now seemingly lifeless creature by his shoulders with two fingers near her forward-most, smaller chitinous spider-limbs. The same legs she used to thank Triela and I after letting her out of the cage, Warismat recalled. The smaller legs received the thread from a pair of her larger legs drawing it from her abdomen like a loom and began to spin it around her prey, wrapping him up.


It was then that Warismat finally noticed the other two white rolls attached to her back, below her human hips, where her human and spider halves met. His brain processed the information without pause, though his consciousness continued to spin, recognizing the packets must have been the remaining portion of the Syndicate's platoon. His legs began to move forwards, carrying him towards the dridder even though his mind was still in complete shock. As they did so, his eyes drifted toward a disparity in his vision near a building. He barely recognized the body of the other mech... she must have pummeled it, he thought. The now dull metal was so dented and dinged that recognition of the mass of metal was near impossible, if one hadn't known what it should have been originally.

Her mother was a fortress, recalled Warismat. And she is a silent predator tank.

Mac continued setting up the weapon as the enforcer craft swung around and strafed down the row of buildings with its burst cannon. The enforcer was not trying to actually hit them anymore it seemed, just keep them suppressed while fresh Syndicate forces moved in. The enforcer had not dropped any more bombs either, which meant the pilot was either conserving ammo or was empty. Somehow I doubt its the former, Mac thought, they don't exactly understand the meaning of ammo conservation from what I've seen so far.

Continuing with his slow methodical setup of the weapon, Mac connected the photon gatling cannon he had been assembling to the energy pack that was attached to his suit and had been underneath the PGC on his back. The PGC was essentially a heavy weapon variant of their repeater rifles, however its larger size allowed it a much greater fire rate due to the larger heat radiators. Since it fired energy quanta and not a solid projectile, the weapon did not use a rotating barrel setup. Setting the cannon's bore on the shattered remains of the window seal, Mac waited for the enforcer to make its next round.

As the craft came about for its next strafing run, Mac lead the barrel of the gun down the projected flightpath his suit's sensors anticipated it would take. While scramjets were extremely fast, they tended to fly straight to avoid the dangerous g-forces that could kill a pilot with ease at such speed. So as long as you knew the appropriate path... Mac stroked the electronic trigger in his mind, sending the signal to the weapon through his suit's link to commence firing. A faint blue stream of energy lanced out from the building like a laser, slicing right down the left side of the enforcer craft like a hot knife in butter. The ruined aircraft continued on its flightpath for a few moments before beginning to tumble and break apart and then turning into a fiery ball of debris that fell from the sky.

<Enforcer's down, Triela. Continue on, I will dismantle and meet up with you shortly.>

<Understood Mac. Stay safe.>

Triela started making her way up the now dilapidated street, silenty darting from alcove to alcove of the buildings before her and between their alleyways. They should have had time to deploy more forces by now. Need to keep them away from Mac while he's preoccupied, she thought. She felt vibrations through the ground long before she otherwise sensed the enemies presence, quickly sorting through a variety of engagement plans as they approached closer. Deciding on an aerial assault, she applied the suction cups of her free four tentacles to the wall of an adjacent building, pulling herself up out of sight and waiting.

After a short span of time, a couple of squads of Syndicate Vanguards rounded the corners of the buildings, proceeding forwards in a loose gaggle rather than a tightly knit team, right by her hidden position. Tch. Amateurs. Not even looking in the right places for threats. When the central mass of troopers was directly beneath her, Triela released her hold on the building, spinning down and falling onto the soldiers below. She landed between three of them, all within easy reach, letting her free tentacles lance out and quickly snap their necks in rapid succession. As their bodies began to fall to the ground, she launched herself through the air, performing a series of acrobatics that allowed her to slice, stab, and shoot every one of her targets while they were still recovering from the shock of her attack. By the time her first victim's bodies hit the ground, there were no living targets within her sensory radius.

Continuing to advance down the street as before, she stopped when she felt vibrations again. This time however something much larger was coming. Much, much larger. Her women's intuition demanded she duck out of the street immediately, and just as her body shot into the nearest alley the pavement she had just occupied vanished in a blinding explosion that lifted her up into the air and tossed her forcefully against the ground. Dammit, tanks too? Wasn't the aerial assault good enough for them? Guess they're really pulling out the stops for this one. It'd be flattering, if they weren't so inept, she thought with a smile.

<Hey Mac! What's your situation?>

<Advancing on your position. PGC stowed, seventy-two percent energycell power remains. Five rounds for the plasma.>

<Get your peashooter ready then. There's some sort of tank up here moving towards us. I'll try to identify it and spot for you.>

Climbing up the wall of the one of the buildings in the alleyway, Triela moved stealthily across the roof of the building, her body flattened as much as possible as she shimmied over to the far ledge. Her lips pursed in a silent whistle as she peered over, localizing the object that had taken a pot shot at her just moments before. The old Phobos Proprietary Systems Alexander class tank was archaic by even this colony's standards, with sensor systems that included sight glasses of all things. The unit belonged in a museum honestly, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. The multi-tracked vehicle bristled with weapons and sensor pods, a massive gauss rifle as its main bore. The insignia painted on the side labeled it as belonging to the Anistasia colonial defense forces, though it was obvious by now that was really synonymous with the Scrye Syndicate. She consulted her coprocessor for plotting data, then fed it back through the neural link to Mac for him to use as targeting data.

<I have it. Pull back.>

Triela didn't need to be told twice. She had no desire to be downrange of Mac's massive artillery when he let loose. Pulling back from the ledge, she backtracked across the roof, making it to the wall she had just scaled when the street lit up with the bright orange bolt from Mac's cannon, followed by an explosion that rocked the world around her and a concussion wave that knocked her breath right out of her. There were pieces of scrap metal that twirled down like streamers from the sky around her as she panted, regaining her breath. The streamers told her she didn't need to see if the tank was still intact. Consulting her internal clock, she sighed with exasperation. It'll still be a half hour before the AoF can arrive...

Meanwhile, a few hundred feet down the street from her, Mac expelled yet another cartridge from his cannon. Four, he thought without emotion, automatically slapping in another canister as he began to move forwards to rejoin Triela.

************

Reya had followed obediently behind the neko for a moderate amount of time when they had come under attack. Whatever had resulted in the air golem she was being transported on ceasing to work, she had a pretty good idea that it had been caused by these creatures. She had never seen anything like the weapons they were using, but she knew what they were used for. And that it would be painful if she got hit by any of the larger ones. The smaller, more numerous weapons just seemed to ricochet off her body or pelt her skin lightly.

She had kneeled down behind a large set of boxes and watched the neko return their volleys, smiling to herself. Watching the neko move back and forth amidst their group was entertaining to her for some reason. These creatures we're fighting against... they don't seem to be very smart. Looks like they're relying on just numbers to achieve their goals. The sudden obnoxious growl of her stomach had startled her out of her reverie, and she looked down, rubbing her tummy. Come to think of it, I haven't eaten in a while... Turning back to look at the neko, she figured he wouldn't mind if she helped a little with his problem.

She slinked off, climbing over the boxes and into the spaces between the structures. This wasn't the forest she knew, but there was still plenty of cover here. Calming herself and opening up all of her senses, she began to stalk her prey. Normally she didn't like hunting... it was more satisfying to setup her prey so that they walked right to her. She could make an exception occasionally though.


Sticking her head out from between the structures, she found a couple of people hiding behind some more boxes, shooting in the vicinity of where she sensed the neko was. Creeping up behind them, she got right on top of them without them even noticing her presence. Shaking her head at their lack of attentiveness, she reached for and grabbed them, holding one in each hand. Reya wasted no time, sinking one of her fangs into each of them simultaneously, feeling the familiar tingle of her venom being shot up from her neck and through her fangs.

They stopped struggling almost instantly in her hands, and she slid her fangs out of their bodies. Letting her tongue rub underneath her fangs as the milky chaser fluid dripped from them, tasting it bemusedly. She couldn't really explain it, but she liked the taste of the fluid that dripped from her fangs after use. As she thought about where next to go, her body automatically proceeded with wrapping up her two small meals, only enough to ensure they wouldn't move around too much as she didn't intend on applying her digestive fluids until later. Satisfied they wouldn't flop around, she wrapped them with a strand of sticky thread, and attached their cocoons to her lower back, deciding to head off in the direction of the strange vibrations her legs were sensing.

Climbing up on top of the structures, Reya quietly moved towards the source of the vibrations, peeking over the sides occasionally looking for any more prey items she might be walking past without sensing. Eventually she reached an end to the rooftops, and peering over the edge of the building at the ground below she found the source of the the vibrations. A golem was haphazardly clamoring about, moving towards the area she sensed the neko was in. What was odd about this golem though was that she could swear she smelled something tasty coming from it. She'd never heard of edible golems, but she was still fairly young with a limited knowledge of her world, even more so this new world, and she was willing to give it a try at least once.

Skittering after the golem, she nearly missed the sudden motion to her left as a dark object shot out towards her. Gasping in shock she pulled back, and another golem stumbled forwards, following the path of the mechanical hand that she now identified as the object that had reached for her, off balance due to her quick retreat. Argh! I lost focus, dammit. Too close, Reya chastised herself. With this new golem in front of her, she abandoned her current chase and took advantage of his current lack of balance, slamming her hardened elbow into the base of the golem's neck, sending it fumbling to the ground with a loud clatter. Her senses told her that something was inside... something tasty. She didn't understand how there could be, but there was an easy way to find out. Proceeding to beat the laid out golem with leg and fist, she quickly reduced it to a pile of smouldering slag.

Her efforts eventually caused a portion of the golem to crack apart, exposing an inner portion to it. Unfortunately, her violence had crushed the snack that had originally been inside it. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she frowned. What a waste of good food. Remembering the second golem though, her frown faded, and she resumed her chase. The vibrations from the ground told her that it wasn't far away, and within a few minutes of recommencing her chase, she had located it again. And the neko. The golem seemed to be shooting some sort of weapon at the location she sensed the neko from, which would never do. She was starting to grow attached to the critter.


Skittering forwards while it was preoccupied, she decided to try a different tactic on this one. As long as the golems were built the same way, the snack inside them should also be accessible the same way, she reasoned. Surging up behind it, she built up as much speed as possible and speared it on one of her legs with her momentum, pinning the golem to the ground. Using her more limber pedipalps, she found the split in the golem that led to the inner chamber where the food should be and pried it open. She was treated to the shocked creature inside suddenly finding itself revealed, and sighed with satisfaction as her hand grasped its body and pulled it out of the golem.

She shook the golem's body off of her leg, making sure to hold onto the struggling humanoid in her hand firmly as she did so. Once free, she turned her attention back to him, gently manipulating his body in her hands to make a portion available for her fangs and then sank them happily into her next victim. She was rather pleased with herself for having figured out so quickly how to get the tasty treat out of the metal clamshell protecting it. Holding the now motionless prey by her index and thumb in front of her pedipalps, she proceeded to wrap him up like the two previous ones, just enough to make sure he wouldn't move around too much and then attached him to her back using sticky silk threads with the others.

Finished with her task and unable to sense any more food nearby, she took notice of the neko, who had come out of the alleyway he had been hiding in. He seemed to be dazed though, like something had really shaken him up. Wondering what could have flustered him, Reya started walking over to the neko, holding out one of her hands for him and smiling gently.

************

Warismat had stopped walking towards her at some point. He still couldn't believe it. She... really does eat our kind. Why didn't she try on us though? She's had plenty of opportunity. Was it because she couldn't get out before? Was it because she wasn't hungry then? Had she just been too depressed with having seen her own kind laid out before her? He had no idea. Noone knew anything about her kind. Hell, the dridder had been following him around as he had led them through the sprawling maze of the colony's industrial zone. He couldn't stop the involuntary shiver that coursed through him just then, the thought of having been right there, where she could just grab him... and one little bite later... I can't even hear her when she moves!

As his mind continued to spiral out of control, long forgotten memories started to resurface, amplifying his terror. The battle of Y'ryl... the war with the Lysenths... tall, spindly, hideous, spider-like, intelligent beasts that had assaulted the colony worlds, threatened them with complete annihilation while the core worlds had merely sat back and watched. The aliens were not aiming for property, or for technology... but rather, us. We. Were. Food. When they had made landfall on Y'ryl... and countless other colonies... the Lysenths had not just attacked their lines with their weapons... no, not even close! They attacked with their entire bodies, spindly legs clawing down, picking up his screaming comrades as they fought for their lives, and then... they ate them! Just. Like. Her.

Motion in his field of vision caused him to look up, the fear and terror of his spiraling thoughts welling up inside of him as he realized the dridder was now walking towards him. With her hand outstretched... and a happy smile... with her fangs bared... Something inside of Warismat snapped, and his survival instincts took over. No. Not like that. I'm not going to die like that. Not like they did.

He turned away from her and fled, running as fast as he could. He had to get away from her, as far away from her as possible, and warn the others, Triela and Mac, they would need to know... He was rambling, he knew. His thoughts were disoriented and completely scattered. None of that really mattered though. What mattered was running. He had seen how fast she could be, he would have to be faster.

Warismat took off down the main street, ducking inside one of the automated factories and exiting on a side street, then zigzagging between the warehouses, taking the thinnest routes with the lowest ceilings he could manage to find. He finally collapsed, panting and out of breath, overlooking the colony's port bay at the edge of the district. He couldn't ever recall any time he had ever ran as fast, as long, or as hard as he just had.

He glanced around him, but it appeared he was alone. Either she had lost him or she'd never given chase. He had no idea. Part of him felt embarrassed about the rashness of his actions. It wasn't very becoming of a member of the Fleet, an organization that took in all kinds of chimeras and gave them a home. After all, you were the one who said you were going to protect her no matter what, his conscience reminded him. The visage of her sinking her fangs into the mech pilot though... it replayed over and over again in his head, making him shiver. What would it feel like? What happens? No. No, no, no, no, no! Stop this, it is not helping!

Warismat sat overlooking the water, letting it calm him as he rested, his heart and lungs finally returning to normal. He needed to decide what to do. Go back, watch the dridder from a safe distance? Or just leave her to her own devices? She'd already proven that she could take care of herself just fine. Two bloody mechs with just claws and fists. What's the point of even having guns? He held his head in his hands, sighing softly. Part of him could hear Triela chastising him already... but she hadn't seen the dridder like he had now.

Dammit. I should probably go look for her at least. We did purchase her after all, it was the Fleet's money if nothing else. Not up to me anyway, Warismat reasoned. Just have to deliver her, that's all. Then he realized a gross oversight on his part detailing the dridder's delivery. Damn, damn, damn! The AoF will focus on my beacon! The dridder doesn't have a beacon! He stood up, knowing that he needed to get back to her as quickly as possible... and then he was suddenly on the ground again, a loud bang ringing in the air, a sharp pain shooting through his body repeatedly, emanating from his chest. Struggling to place his hand over the pain, his clouding mind was surprised to find it wet. The last thing Warismat saw before everything faded to black was a soldier in a Anistasia colonial defense uniform standing over him.

************

Triela and Mac had been making good progress, slowly working their way around the colony proper. It wasn't their goal to involve any civilians who might not actually be working with or for the Syndicate. Triela consulted her internal clock again. We only need another fifteen minutes. Then the AoF will be here, and this crazy trip will be done.


<Mac, lets head back into the industrial zone. Warismat hasn't broadcast a status report in a while, I'm starting to get concerned.>

<Understood. His link is still active though.>

<I know. Call me paranoid. But there is no reason for us to remain separate at this point. Lets go and try to meet up with each other.>

<No issue there. Lead the way.>

<Of course.>

No more forces inhibited them as they turned around and headed back into the industrial zone. Though, to be fair, resistance had been pretty light after the tank had been destroyed, occasionally running into small groups of Vanguards. They were several minutes into their backtracking when Triela and Mac both felt Warismat's link go dead. They shared a quick glance between each other, and then both broke out into a sprinting run, hoping against hope that they were not too late.

************

Reya stared in bewilderment after the neko as he suddenly bolted. She knew that nekos could move fast, but she had never seen anything move quite that fast before. He had been acting quite odd ever since he had come out of the alleyway, and she had noticed that he was always tense whenever she was near him. Which she liked, because it meant that the neko didn't consider her totally safe. This event was something else entirely. Did I do something? Racking her mind, she couldn't really come up with anything that could have caused his ...behavior.

She lost track of the neko quickly, his speed combined with the machinery and the odd smells of the environment masking his presence from her as his distance increased. Why would he run from me? Reya sighed softly. She was alone again, and the sadness came back, threatening to overwhelm her again. My kind are supposed to be loners... so why does it hurt to be alone?

She lingered around the street, tapping her legs against the ground anxiously, but the neko didn't return. Reya waited for several moments, but her guide never came back. She gave one last lingering look at the place where he had disappeared, and sadly turned around, silently moving away in a random direction. Maybe I can find the other two, Reya thought. The chlaena and the lizard... thing. Hopefully they'll know what is wrong with the neko.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been meandering about alone in the strange environment. Reya didn't really have anywhere to go or anything to do. Nor did she have any idea of where to start looking for the others that had helped her. Since she didn't really have a set destination, her curiosity got the best of her. She studied and examined everything she ran across as she traveled, stopping to touch a tree here or smell something unfamiliar there. It was at one of her stops that she felt the air changing about her, and a new vibration echoing through the air.

Glancing up, her eyes noticed an object in the sky coming towards her slowly. Judging by the appearance of two more of the walking golems also near her, her bet was that the sky object belonged to the people the neko had been fighting against. The golems weren't really a concern to her - I know how to take care of those now, she thought with a grin - but the sky object she didn't know. Not to mention it was much, much larger than she had thought originally, the large ungainly shape becoming more and more massive as it got closer. The vibration from before had now become an audible humming that filled the air, a noise which annoyed her. Reya began to fidget on her legs, trying to ignore the noise as best she could.

Within a few moments she was surrounded, the sky object hovering above her, the two golems a short distance away pointing the weapon tubes at her, with a crowd of the fish-faced creatures on the ground. She shuddered at the memories they brought forth to her mind, and to her surprise a feral growl came from her own throat as she backed up slowly and crouched down. The surprise wore off quickly enough though, for she knew why her body had involuntarily made the growl... she did not wish to return with those creatures again; the ones that had taken away everything she knew... the ones that would put her back in a cage. Her abdomen suddenly met with resistance; she was now backed fully up against one of the structures. Nowhere to go.

One of the golems made a tossing motion at her, and Reya sensed something flying through the air. It landed with a light whump, bouncing a few times and rolling to be just in front of her. She could smell blood... and death. Something else caused her to glance down though, something familiar... and she immediately realized what it must have been. The now mangled and bloody creature was difficult to recognize - but it was covered in coarse fur, matted with its own blood. It wore a white uniform, now stained with its own bodily fluids, the limbs splayed out unnaturally once it finally came to rest. The neko.

She returned her gaze to the creatures in front of her. Reya's choice was easy to make. I will not be caught again. I will not return to that cage. Whatever the cost.

************

Triela and Mac continued to run for several minutes, oblivious to their environment as it passed them by. Fortunately, they encountered no one on the trip back into the complex, no signs of fighting or further resistance. Where did you go, Warismat? Triela could not help but feel of sense of dread at the Ti'Glath's silent, disconnected link. Neural links don't just stop working...

As they rounded a curve and came into a plaza, Triela and Mac both came to a screeching halt. Just a short ways ahead of them, a Syndicate Destroyer was hovering in the air, and Triela thought she could make out the tops of some class of mech unit. They were closing in on something, and while she could not see what it was, it was not to difficult to guess just what their focus might be on.

<Mac, how many rounds remaining?>

<Just two.> came the saurian's disdainful reply. They both knew it was not enough to take out the destroyer... but perhaps they could cripple it enough to get away. No other ideas came to her mind at the moment.

<I'll go forward and see if I can distract them. Mac! Do what you do best.>

<Absolutely, Triela.> It was the first time the entire trip Triela thought she had sensed enjoyment coming from the saurian.

Wasting no time, she scaled the nearest building, propelling herself in leaps and bounds as quickly as she could across the flat rooftops. Stealth was not necessary here, just speed. To an observer, she would have appeared as a blur of white motion with blue streamers following in her wake, shaped like a large bullet, hopping across the buildings using her tentacles to reach out to protrusions on the rooftops to swing and catapult herself distances no human could have ever hoped to achieve.

There! Just up ahead. Her coprocessor automatically recognized the threat imposed by the mechs. Tungsten class. Archaic, but they get the job done. She could see the back of the dridder's body just in front of her now, her form appeared to have backed up against the building's wall. She used the ledge to throw herself out, impacting on the dridder's smooth and surprisingly hard abdomen. Triela never lost her momentum though, compensating and using her roll to speed up even faster, before throwing her tentacles against the dridder's flesh, launching herself out over her left side.

As Triela's body fell towards the crowd of approaching Syndicate forces, the air above her ignited in a fantastic explosion, the concussive wave slamming her with even more force upon them. She heard the satisfying sound of bones cracking from her impact, throwing herself into the crowd with blades flashing and pistols flaring, reveling in the chaos and disorder she and Mac had just created.

************

Reya had just been about to lash out and strike the encircling forces when something hit her abdomen, rolling down her body and then jumping out over her left legs. The blur of white and blue rocketed out, Reya's mind still trying to grasp just what the object might be when an orange ball of energy lanced out from a short distance away, slamming into the sky object and bathing the entire area with orange flame. Some invisible force slammed into her body, knocking her breath out of her and her body down towards the ground.

Recovering as quickly as she could, she took advantage of the chaos before her, with her target being the two golems. Besides the sky object, she reasoned they were the only things large enough to harm her. She recognized the object that had hit her body and threw itself into the crowd of fish-faces as the chlaena, which filled her mind with joy as she moved forward the short distance, elbowing one of the golems in its face as hard as she could while swinging her abdomen around into the other. Reya was not mature enough to have grown the massive spikes that her mother supported, but the budding bases along her abdomen were quite thick and served as excellent rams.

Reya then slammed her body full force against the golem she had just elbowed, knocking it to the ground. Moving her body over it, a pair of legs pulling forth a thick, sticky mass of thread, using it to fix the golem to the ground as she turned her attention back to the other. Unable to move while tying down her first opponent, she nevertheless threw out one of her legs, sparks flying as her hard exoskeleton met the golems equally tough skin. Without momentum she couldn't pierce it, but she could keep it unbalanced.

The shadow of the sky object began to fade as she fought, and stealing a quick glance upwards Reya noted that it was beginning to lift itself up much higher, banking away from them. She didn't have time to be concerned with it right now though, finishing her task of sufficiently securing the golem she focused her entire effort on the remaining threat. She ran in circles around the still standing mech, lancing out with quick jabs of her legs and arms, continuously making it fight for balance and unable to bring the stick on one of its arms to face her. Reya had remembered seeing that stick fire a stream of light at the neko, and the damage it had done to the ground and structures it had impacted.

When she saw the golem finally do something intelligent and try to spin in the opposite direction of her, Reya pounced upon it, knocking it to the ground with her bulk. Using her human hands to hold its arms to the ground, she treated it to the same as the other, webbing it down securely. Just as she was about to proceed with cracking open the now immobilized golem's shells, she noticed a new sound and vibration around her, drawing her attention back to the sky.

Their were now two sky objects visible, the original one from before still continuing to rise into the air. The other was approaching from the horizon, and even though she could tell it was far away she could clearly make out its shape. Which means that it must be huge. The new sky object had a bleached white exterior, shaped like a cylinder that had been elongated and flattened. Blue stripes decorated the shell of the object, glowing brightly in the dimming sky. A large ring surrounded the main shape, mounted on struts of some sort just aft of its center.

As she continued to watch, three bright red arcs suddenly shot forth from the new sky object, slamming into the old sky object almost instantaneously, causing its outer shell to brighten considerably. A few moments later, she felt her chest compress with three distinct claps, with her ears being assaulted by a loud, completely alien shrieking sound. Another few moments passed, and the old sky object had vanished into a bright light, followed by a much more powerful compression of her entire body that knocked her forcibly to the ground.

When she regained use of her senses enough to look back up, her dazed eyes noticed that the old sky object was gone completely now, a white ring emanating from where it had been and expanding throughout the sky as large chunks of its body fell to the ground nearby. Wow. There were no other words to describe what she had just seen and felt.

Reya had no idea what to call those sky objects, but she knew one thing for certain. The new arrival, with its slender shape and graceful curves belying its true nature... it was a predator.

Reya blinked, taking in the new environment she was suddenly surrounded by. She found herself inside a large metal room, made significantly smaller by the clutter of various objects and containers. The air currents and the metal walls reminded her of the room that she had woken up in that first day she'd found herself away from her home, locked up in the cage. There were several notable differences however, the most predominant of which were that the air was not stale, and the room appeared relatively clean, albeit cluttered.

Reflecting back, just a few moments ago she had been in one of the human cities, surveying the area after the battle. After the original sky object had been destroyed by the new arrival, the fight had quickly come to an end. The chlaena and lizard-man, joined by several new creatures as well as humans wearing the white and blue uniforms, had killed any who did not run away with practiced ease and calculated precision.

While they were finishing off the remaining enemies, Reya had relocated the neko's body, gingerly picking it up and holding him near her face. Though she had smelled death when they had tossed the bloodied body at her earlier, she nonetheless opened up all her senses to him, hoping to find some trace of life within. Despite her hopes, she could sense nothing from him. When all of the fighting had finally stopped, she had carefully approached the group that had formed around the chlaena and lizard-man she was familiar with, mindful now of where she walked with all the new people around.

The chlaena noticed her first, and moved through the gathered group to stand before Reya. The others had turned to follow the chlaena as she moved towards her, watching them with cautious interest. Reya had lowered her hands until they were even with the ground, before the chlaena. Her expression went blank, slowly moving onto Reya's hands and approaching the neko, lowering herself down near him. She remembered the odd sensations, the gentle prickling of her skin by the chlaena's suction cups, the odd displacement of her weight, the smooth motions of her body. The chlaena laid down on her palms, next to the neko, part of her body on his, gently stroking him with her hands and tentacles, the tears falling freely as she began to sob.

Reya had pulled her hands up then, holding them near her face and gently rubbing her cheek against the two occupants. It was the most comfort she could offer the chlaena who had helped to rescue her, which weighed heavily on her conscience. I don't even know how he died because something I did frightened him away, she thought. Reya felt at least partly responsible for the neko's death as a result, though she still had no idea what caused him to act like he had. She continued holding them both for several minutes, doing her best to comfort. Then Reya remembered the golems... I never completed my task, she thought to herself.

Gently lowering her hands back to the ground, she pulled them back with a gentle wave like motion so that the two would slide down and off. I can't do anything more for her, thought Reya, observing how the chlaena did not even notice the change in her environment. Moving away from the group, she moved swiftly over to two golems she had plastered to the ground earlier. They were silent, unmoving; but she could sense that their occupants remained inside. Playing dead hoping I'll have forgotten you? Reya smiled at the thought. It wasn't a bad strategy, after all, she had almost forgotten - and the white and blue uniformed ones had not inspected them at all. Most likely since they're covered in my silk and unmoving, Reya reasoned. Probably too much trouble for them... but not for me.

Arriving between the two husks, she sensed that their occupants were still inside. Perfect. Selecting the closest golem, she placed her forward two legs upon it, ensuring it would stay pinned as her pedipalps began to remove some of her silk. Not all of it - just enough to so that she could access the area where she knew her prey would be. Her pedipalps clinking on the metal, she pried the shell apart, much to the dismay of the human inside. His screams went unnoticed by Reya however, who simply plucked him out and kept him firmly grasped in one hand while turning her attention to the other golem. A few minutes of effort later and both her hands held struggling humans.

Her mouth watered at the prospect of adding two more to the three morsels she had already captured, but one of these people had thrown the neko's body at her while hiding in his golem. She would leave their fate with the chlaena; it would only be fair. Her penance for letting the neko get away from her, and dying as a result. She walked over to the group of creatures, noting that the chlaena was still draped over the neko. She was no longer making any sound, but her tears continued to fall. The lizard-man however seemed to understand her intent, motioning at her, pointing to the two humans in her hands. Reya had dropped them in front of the lizard-man, who fastened some sort of device to both humans which caused them to curl up in a ball, faint rings of light appearing about their feet and hands. It was then that several members of those before her vanished in swirls of blue light that flashed brightly, causing her to squint her eyes. And then the swirls had appeared around her body...

Which led her train of thought back to where she was now. She had been there, and now she was here. Wherever here is. She suspected though, that she had been somehow transported aboard the large sky object that had supported her from before. It was the only conclusion that made any sense. Her stomach growled again, breaking up her train of thought. At least that is easy to fix. Pulling the three cocoons from her back, she unwrapped them all, wrapping the silk she pulled from their bodies around two of her fingers and slurping it up absentmindedly as she carefully manipulated them into the proper shapes for her task. Working her legs and pedipalps in tandem, she encased all three fully, and sank her fangs one last time into each of them, pumping the appropriate amount of digestive enzymes to break down their bodies. Her task complete, she placed the three new, ball like cocoons on top of a set of boxes near the center of the room, examining her surroundings.

I don't really feel like sleeping on a cold metal floor... so... I hope they don't mind me making myself at home. Reya began to spin her threads again, this time however she planned to do much more than just cover the floor.

The past day had gone by in a blur for Triela. Once they had finished sweeping the area clear of hostiles, she had started to sweep her eyes across the smouldering field, unable to suppress the fear that was welling up inside of her. Warismat... where are you? Please, please be okay. When she took notice of the dridder slowly approaching them, her palms cupped about something within them, her breath caught. No. It can't be.

Then all of her worst fears had been realized, as the dridder lowered her hands until they touched the ground, revealing a mangled and bloodied corpse. He was scarcely recognizable, but she could make out the coarse fur, the now-stained white uniform, the xynth crystal no longer shimmering with power. The electronic sensors in her body processed the information from her senses, uncaring in their delivery of the assessment of Warismat's condition to her mind. He's... gone.

She didn't remember much after that. Just his smell about her, his lifeless body beneath hers, and the tears that never ceased. The only thing she did remember clearly about that time was the soft warmth of the dridder, as she had rubbed her face gently against their bodies in her hands. In retrospect, she thought that the simple caress of the dridder had likely been the only thing that had kept her from becoming completely lost in her grief. Eventually she had found herself in the simple medical bay aboard the Adagio of Fate, the familiar cool and dry air a welcome change to the colony's hot, humid atmosphere.

Alecto, another member of the Ti'Glath that had accompanied them on the trip to acquire the dridder, had arrived shortly after her waking to inform her that she was removed from all of her current duties as chief engineer and damage control assistant until she felt recovered enough to speak with the Deca-Commander. Alecto had remained with her for a while, alternating between grasping her human hands with hers and embracing her grief-stricken friend. The softer white fur of her body contrasted sharply with the memories of Warismat's coarse orange fur, and eventually it had become too much. Triela knew that Alecto was merely trying to help, but having her near... it was too much. Alecto had left without a word when Triela had asked her to.

An indeterminate amount of time later, Triela had finally gotten out of the hospital bed, swimming with practiced ease through the micro-gravity of the ship. The fact that they were now in a micro-gravity told her that they were underway again, outside of the Anistasia colony world's gravity fields - a relief in and of itself. Her trip through the familiar halls and decks leading her to where she was now, hovering in front of the Deca-Commander's stateroom. Taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts, she allowed her mind to partially reestablish the link to the ship's systems, sending a prompt to Aten.

<Enter, Triela.> came the gentle reply in her mind as the door to the stateroom slid open, the deep tenor of his simulated voice helping to ease her nerves.

Floating inside his stateroom a short distance, she acknowledged his presence by stiffening her body and raising her right hand to her temple, index and middle fingers outstretched with the others curled into her palm in salute. The middle-aged human seated in a comfortable looking chair before his study desk turned to her, returning the salute.

<At ease, Triela. Need I ask why you are here?>

<No, sir. I imagine you already know. I wish to return to work. I'm sure I have much to catch up on, since I've been away for several days.>

<I see. I'm afraid I cannot allow that however. It is too soon, for one> he said, holding up a hand as she moved to protest <and for another, I have a new job for you to undertake. I believe that you are most qualified for it. Irene has settled into your old role nicely - you trained her well. Indeed, this would have been your last deployment with us anyway. After this patrol assignment, you were selected to be advanced to the guild rank of Expert and would have disembarked upon our return to the Fleet.>

<But... that's not possible! I would be one of the youngest to achieve that level... I never even suspected...>

<Indeed. I am told that members of the field offices for Engineering and Command deliberated your assignment at length. You should know that you've always managed to turn heads, both in your training and in your service here. The Engineering field did not wish to let you go, with those suggestions you made regarding the improvements to our drive-field harmonics.> Aten paused for a moment, then continued as she still tried to absorb the information he presented. <This is a good thing Triela, even if it is unexpected. I've known ever since you came to serve aboard my ship that you would not be with us for long. Your drive is impressive, and serves as a great example to your subordinates.>

Triela coughed lightly, trying to organize her thoughts. On top of everything, she had never expected any such advancements so soon. She had only been serving on the AoF for two deployments now, so she had reasoned that at least another three would be required before she moved on. She knew that she had been one of the youngest to ever be accepted to the Engineering field amongst the Star Forces guild, and had completed the required training with high marks in record times. Serving aboard the AoF, Triela had realized several design improvements that could be made to her equipment, and had filed detailed and concise reports. I never expected that anyone would have actually read those...

<So... what is it that you wish for me to do now?>

<You're slated to start working for Command, but to my knowledge no assignments are open currently. That would unfortunately mean a desk job most likely, working as an aide for one of the Masters. However, in light of recent events, we have a unique opportunity presented here, and I for one would hate to see one of your talents commanding a desk. No, what I want for you to do is serve as our official ambassador for our... unique passenger. You and Mac have spent the most time with her, but Mac is not exactly a 'people' person, now is he?>

Despite herself, a smile broke out on her face at the thought of Mac trying to serve as the ambassador of anything other than death and collateral damage. No, that probably wouldn't work out well for anyone, she mused. Still, the prospect was daunting to say the least. Not to mention the implications... the gears of her mind spun at top speed, making the connections to Aten's subtle, hidden hints. Everyone knew who had requested they acquire the dridder. As its ambassador, Aten was essentially setting her up to meet and work closely with the Commodore, the Master who controlled the Space Forces in its entirety. It would be... challenging. And very, very exciting.

<I accept the role, Deca-Commander. There are still a lot of things we don't know about her though... we don't even know how to talk to her for one!>

<Indeed. I have faith in your abilities, Expert Triela. I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor.>

Deca-Commander Aten turned away from her then, facing his study desk once again, his eyes clouding over as his mind fell into the neural network of the ship. The dismissal evident, Triela turned away from him, passing out the doors and into the passageway beyond. At least I'll have something to distract me for a while, she thought.

************

Several hours later, Triela found her way towards the secondary holding bay, where the dridder was being kept for the time being. She had spent several hours contemplating a way to breach the language gap they currently suffered, and her solution was following her obediently on a levi-pad as she made her way towards the lower decks. Triela had no idea if her plan would work, but there was really only one way to find out, considering the vast amount of unknowns they were working with.

Upon the levi-pad was a large metallic ring, its glossy black finish showing the reflection of the passageways as she guided it through them. While she could have chosen to try spending the time teaching language to the dridder, Triela's solution was much simpler, and suited her engineering background. Though the ring looked simplistic enough, contained within was a complex computer capable of generating a neural link. Prior to the advancement of biomedical technology allowing for Fleet members to have such equipment built into their own bodies, they had relied upon external interfacing devices instead. For the most part those devices had been fashioned to appear as jewelry, usually in the form of rings, bracelets, or necklaces.

The current setup of neural links involved conjoining the biological and mechanical masses together in a neural net with various processors incorporated throughout the body in several nodes, located typically at the head, chest, and dominant hand. By means of quantum entanglement, the link provided a near instantaneous means of data transfer and communication between the host systems, say a ship's mainframe, and the clients, or the members of a ship's company. Triela couldn't use any of that though, so she had to invoke some rather old technology from her own viewpoint.

The ring she had made for the dridder contained its own network of processors acting in unison, which could theoretically interface with the nervous system of the wearer and generate a 'private' network. It had no advanced functions and could not interface with the ship's systems, but that hadn't been her intent in the construction anyway. The technology had been used successfully in the past, but was eclipsed by the advent of the newer biomedical advancements that made it obsolete. Triela's intention was to use the device solely as a translator, which should work... assuming the dridder's physical and mental architecture was similar enough to that of their own. The one bonus in this case was the size the ring could be - the dridder's fingers were quite large, allowing her to use a substantially larger network of equipment inside of it.

Reaching her destination, Triela sent the mental command to open the doors. The room was well lit, but she couldn't see into it as a mound of equipment and storage crates blocked her view from the doors. She made a mental note to see if they could shift some of it around, as while the secondary hold was not packed to the brim, she couldn't imagine the dridder would be happy being forced into such a tiny space for her yet again. The clutter is also going to make it difficult to get the ring in. Working the levi-pad around the door frame, she moved down the makeshift isle around the exterior, rounding another corner and finding herself struggling to get the levi-pad to follow with her through the small opening between stockpiles. How annoying!

A few minutes of struggling with the pad resulted in it finally passing through with a mechanical whine. Unfortunately, Triela had been in the middle of pulling with all her strength, and the combination of the sudden release with the microgravity sent her flying into the room. Her body hit something soft, which initially yielded against her impact before snapping back into place, suspending her sprawled body midair. Well thats odd. What could possibly be...

As her eyes turned to examine the holding bay, she gasped in shock. Wow... she did all this? A clearing had been made near the center of the room, and in-between the piles of storage material an intricate array of webs now filled the space. The floor and some of the storage piles had been covered with silk as well, making for a very alien environment. She wasn't afraid of it however, if anything, she was awed. Its really impressive. Unique patterns emerged in the silk of the webs, catching the artificial light and spreading rainbows across the silk covering the floor.

The threads that had caught her and suspended her in the air were not sticky, but their fine texture entangled Triela nonetheless, and regardless of how she tried to shift her body she only seemed to become even more entangled in the silk. I wonder if this is what a butterfly feels like trapped in a spider's web, she thought. Speaking of which, where is the dridder? It suddenly occurred to Triela that she hadn't seen her or sensed her presence since entering the room. Despite herself, she felt her nerves tingling and a sense of anxiety gripped her. I really hope these webs are just to make her feel more comfortable...

After a few minutes of hanging in the air, she felt vibrations through her tentacles gently shaking her from one side. She couldn't see the dridder's body, but two long black legs suddenly appeared in her vision from behind her on either side, bracing against another set of threads above her head. Something soft and warm suddenly surrounded her body, tugging gently until the threads gave way, then pulling her down and away from the webbing. The room spun slowly around her until she found herself being held in front of the dridder's face, her tangled body resting on her open palm.

The dridder gave Triela a smile, her eyes examining her while her free hand cupped her cheek. Pulling her hand with Triela up to her face, the dridder nuzzled her body gently with her nose, which greatly helped to reduce Triela's anxiety over the situation. Triela's anxiety came rushing back however as the dridder pulled her face back, parting her mouth slightly and revealing her white fangs, wetting her lips with her pink tongue. If that had made her anxious though, what happened next caused her to shiver in suspense. The dridder's tongue lapped against her body, seemingly tasting her - and the gentle murr of satisfaction coming from the dridder's throat didn't help matters at all. She... wouldn't do anything, right? This is just a misunderstanding. Yeah, just a misunderstanding. I'm sure. No problem at all. Ahaha.

Triela experienced a veritable roller coaster of emotions over the next few minutes as the tongue bath continued, but eventually she realized that the dridder wasn't trying to eat her - merely the silk she was tangled up in. Wetting the threads that wrapped her body, they came loose and slackened, which the dridder then suckled and slurped up until all of the threads covering her were gone. The gentle suction actually felt really nice. She then swallowed the pool of thread in her mouth with an audible gulp, giving Triela one last involuntary shiver as the dridder pulled her hand away from her face and held it in front of her chest. Her blue eyes continued to beam down at her, with her lips curled in a gentle smile that lost some of its appeal since Triela could see the tips of her fangs still. The dridder surprised her again though, when she held her free hand up, palm out, and then curled her fingers repeatedly in a waving motion.

Letting out an audible sigh of relief, Triela smiled back up at the dridder, returning her wave with her own human hand. That was probably the craziest thing that has ever happened to me. But at least she didn't mean anything by it. The experience led Triela to remember the ring she had made in an attempt to counter this very problem that was still on the levi-pad down by one of the piles. She pointed down and then made a 'wait-one-moment' gesture, jumping off the dridder's hand and swimming down to find the levi-pad. It took Triela a moment to find the pad, as she didn't want to find herself wrapped in any more of the silk webs that covered the area. Finally locating it, she turned around and jumped slightly, not expecting the dridder to be right behind her. She's so quiet for being so large!

Regaining her composure as the dridder continued to watch her with interest, Triela touched the black ring, then at the dridder, concluding her demonstration with an exaggerated motion of putting the ring on her own ring finger. The dridder pursed her lips, her eyes thoughtful as she glanced between Triela and the ring on the levi-pad. Shrugging her shoulders, the dridder reached down, picking up the black ring and sliding it onto her ring finger, spinning it gently. It was slightly loose, but Triela had designed it that way. With the small, improvised remote that she removed from a pocket, she pressed one of the three buttons on the device, causing the metal ring on the dridder's finger to shrink until it fit nice and snug. The dridder's eyes lit up with surprise and interest at the sudden unexpected change of the material, while Triela hit another button on the remote.

At first nothing happened, and then the dridder blinked, several times in rapid succession, as if something were stuck in her eye. She quirked her head to the left, turning to look at Triela, her eyes full of questions. Taking a chance, and crossing her fingers, she stepped forward, closer to the dridder.

"Hello there. My name is Triela. Can you... understand me?"

The dridder looked down at her with a shocked expression, then her smile returned. Her hand came down, picking Triela back up and holding her close to her face.

"Yes, I can! My name is Reya." Reya's voice was very pretty, Triela decided, gentle and melodious that she imagined would be enjoyable to just sit back and listen to at length. Triela didn't actually understand the words Reya used, but the ring was working - which meant that anyone within a forty foot radius of Reya would now be able to understand her when she spoke, and vice versa.

"That is a very pretty name. Its a pleasure to meet you, Reya."

"Its nice to be able to understand you for a change! You wouldn't believe how annoying its been, able to listen but unable to comprehend. Triela was your name, right? Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're aboard the Adagio of Fate, Reya. Its the... the..." stumbling on her words for a moment, Triela recovered with "white and blue airship you saw earlier? During the battle with the Syndicate?"

"The predator sky object that destroyed the other one?"

"Yes, indeed! Its a gunship class vessel, which is the largest ship still considered a spacecraft vice a starship in the Fleet. Basically that means it can still land on planets. The other ship classes in the fleet are too large to make planetfall. Make sense?"

"Um... kind of. Whats a planet?"


Reya's innocent question floored Triela, looking up from Reya's palm before lowering herself down, spreading her tentacles out in her smooth, warm hands and propping her head in her own hands. "I guess, we should probably cover basics first, huh?"

"I'm sorry. All of this is just really new to me. Even the things that I would normally assume don't change. Like, why is it so easy to walk around? I feel really light, much lighter than normal. You floated earlier instead of falling."

"Ah. That's because the ship's now in space, not in atmosphere. Planets are the environment that you're used to probably - the forest, the ocean, the sky. Those are all things you find on planets in the universe." Triela pursed her lips, thoughtful. "Or dimensia in the multiverse - though in the latter example, you don't need a planet per se. For example, Felarya, the world you come from, is actually its own self contained dimension, from what we understand of it. Supposedly it cannot be accessed from space. Space being what's above the sky."

"I... think I understand. That doesn't explain why you float though."

"Weeeell, it is simple enough to observe, but... really really complex to explain, starting from nothing. Let me just say for now, that in space, the invisible force that typically pulls you down towards the ground no longer works, so you just float. The AoF makes her own gravity though, to a very very limited extent. Really just enough to help offset the negative effects of complete zero-gee."

Reya let out a slow sigh, her warm breath gently flowing over Triela's body. "Is there some way to speed up the process of learning these... basics? I don't like being unable to understand my environment. Its a good way to wind up as food where I am from."

"You won't have to worry about that with us, at least. None of us are going to try and eat you," Triela replied with a smile. The absurd thought was rather amusing, as she tried to picture how that would work. "So I take it the rumors about your world are fairly accurate then? The food chain actually makes a complete circle?"

"Oh, most definitely. No matter how large, tough, or smart you are, and no matter what defensive advantages you have, something will always be able to eat you. It does help to be large though. Small and tough usually doesn't work out well, no matter how tough you are. The strongest human is still nothing more than a wriggling treat for a naga. Smart applies to everyone though; a little common sense and the application of experience will let you live for a long time. Eventually I'll be huge, but I prefer to rely on my brain. This whole escapade has shown me just how little I understand, and its annoying."

"I... see. Well, the traditional method of learning would take a while, to get you caught up on what I would consider the 'essentials' of my world. The ring I crafted worked though, which means you could probably learn by download and linking. Unfortunately, the AoF isn't really equipped with a library... However. We'll be joining up with the Fleet in a day or two, and when we do the two of us will be going somewhere else. Hopefully with more room for you, I can't imagine you like being all locked up like this. Maybe even aboard the flagship - if so, you'll have access to everything Nyselyn knows, which is... well, everything."

"Having more room would be very nice," Reya purred. "I can barely stand up in here. At least its something to look forwards to. Who, or what, is Nyselyn?"

"She's the Commodore's artificial intelligence.... basically a machine that has evolved to the point where it can make choices for itself, is self aware, and that almost no one would be able to recognize as a machine. They tend to seem distant, they lack emotions, and they're detached from us though. Nyselyn is the only exception I know of - she is described as reserved, but she does exhibit some emotion just the same as you or me. She is the keeper of the Fleet's library - a storage location for massive amounts of information - and serves as a series of checks and balances for the Commodore. She can offer information and choices that are not biased by anything. The orders to... acquire you came from her."

"Hmm. She sounds interesting. All of you are really interesting. You look like things I know, but you don't act like them, or in some cases feel like them. For example, you remind me of this creature my mother described once, a chlaena. I've never actually seen one where I'm from, but in comparison to the neko you're closer to what I know from home."

"I imagine that's because we're not natural, Reya. We're chimeras, you see - in other words, our ancestors were once human, but they... reformed... themselves, at a very basic level. It started as part of a series of experiments to increase the abilities of humans by meshing them with other creatures they either discovered in the exploration of the multiverse, or already knew from our origins. Our... race... was the result. By neko, I'm guessing you're referring to Warismat, since I'm fairly certain that is a word for cat, and he belonged to those known as the Ti'Glath. Which are also just chimeras, but they were the first. Unlike the multitudes of us that came after them, they resembled their own separate race the most, and adopted a term to describe themselves. The rest of us just call ourselves chimeras. You'll find creatures that most likely resemble things you know, but the only real common point between all of us is that we generally take a humanoid shape with human portions."

"So, the fish-faces that antagonized me in the cage...?" Reya intoned, her voice neutral as she recalled all the sadness they had visited upon her.

"They're... sort of chimeras. We call them partials; unlike us, that are born this way, they originated as humans that undergo extensive gene therapy and medical treatments to alter their forms. We don't consider them a part of our community, and the humans view them the same way. They essentially chose to alter themselves to the point that they physically change. Many of the advantages they gain through those treatments they could receive through other means - they just choose to receive them that way, which makes them outcasts."

"It seems there is so much for me to learn," Reya stated, another sigh escaping her lips.

Triela stroked her hand against Reya's, smiling up at her. "Its ok. I'll do my best to help you learn; I want you to understand. Its so wonderful that you're interested in all of this. To be honest I was kind of concerned you just wouldn't care."

"I like to learn," Reya replied with her own smile, "it keeps my mind healthy and you never know when something might wind up being useful. Its not enough to simply be quiet, quick, or capable in my world. You have to be able to think faster and better than your opponents, lest you wind up as a meal. Of course, I really do like learning new things."

"I can only imagine. Speaking of meals, how are you doing? Do you need anything to eat?" Triela realized even as she asked the question that they had never fed her, and it had been a few days now. It was amazing something as large as Reya could go that long without eating.

Rubbing her flat tummy with the hand not currently holding Triela, Reya shook her head no. "I have food still. It'll last me a little while longer."

Quirking her own head in question, Triela asked, "You do? Where did you get it, if you don't mind my asking. I don't believe we ever offered you anything."

"You didn't have to. The fish-faces actually volunteered one of their own to feed me, and during the fighting after you and the lizardman parted ways with me and the nek..." Reya paused for a moment, tilting her head as she searched for the new, correct terminology, her eyes lighting up as she remembered, "...Ti'Glath, I managed to capture a few of those attacking him. I still have two food cocoons left."

Triela felt her heart plummet down into some dark abyss as the full implications of the dridder reached her thoughts. She... really does... eat us. Things like us. Reya never blushed in embarrassment, or turned away from Triela as she said it, either, meaning that it didn't even bother her to do so. Its just something... natural, to her. Like breathing.

"You mean... you actually ate them?" Triela managed to say it, her voice quiet and trembling. She had not been old enough to experience the Lysenthian invasion, but all the horror stories she had ever been told from those times were now fresh in her mind. Reya seemed to sense Triela's unease, her free hand moving over her gently, letting her fingers softly stroke Triela's body in reassurance.

"Yes, I do, and I did. I need to eat, just as you do, and their bodies provide the nourishment my body requires. Where I'm from, I've often heard of the prey creatures crying out, begging for their lives, pleeing and imploring to be spared. They're just food, though, Triela. It isn't wrong to eat them. I imagine I would probably feel the same as they, if a predator managed to catch me. I am not safe from the cycle either - something out there could gain nourishment from my own flesh. Unlike those creatures, though, I understand the cycle - its just a part of life. The smartest and the fittest will prevail, and the others will not. This is why I value learning so greatly - it is one of two dominant advantages I can apply to prevent becoming prey myself."

Triela's entire body was trembling now, the gentle caresses of Reya's hand causing many conflicting emotions to arise. The soft touch calmed her, but it also filled her mind with trepidation - how many beings like her had felt the warm, smooth skin of Reya's palms just before she ate them? "But... they were intelli-"

Reya pulled her hand closer to her face, the deep pools of her blue eyes focused on Triela, stopping her feeble protest mid-sentence. "What does that matter? You eat meat, do you not? You are an animal, the same as they - just because you have evolved to the point of establishing your own morals and ethos does not make you fundamentally different from them. You live your life, as do they. Just because they do not share your desires, your abilities, your lives, does not make them any less alive than you." Reya's voice maintained her tone gentle and steady the entire time, never rising in ire, yet firm and uncompromising with her intent.

Triela felt faint. She knew better than to ask, but her mouth moved on its own, vocalizing the thought that now filled her mind. "...so, if we had met in a different way, in another place, then..."

"Yes. I would have - just as any other predator would have." Reya paused for a moment, leaning forwards to nuzzle Triela with her nose again. "You have nothing to fear from me now, though, so please don't be concerned. We did not meet that way, and I will not eat you. You and the others like you saved me - and I owe you all sssooo very much. I do not ask you to agree, but please try to understand."


Reya did not back away as she spoke the words, so quiet that Triela felt them as the vibrations from her lips moreso than she actually heard them. The translator ring Reya now wore transmitted her thoughts and relayed Triela's, relying not on their actual voice, so regardless of how soft spoken they were, either would understand. Yet, the translator could only send the thought - the emotion present they both displayed as they talked to each other in alien languages were still relayed in their mannerisms and speech.

"I... don't think I can agree. But I will try to understand," Triela said, taking several slow and deep breaths to calm her emotions. "Can I ask another question then? How did my... how did Warismat die?"

"I... don't honestly know," Reya replied with a perplexed expression. "He sort of... ran away from me. I don't know what I could have done to upset him, he never even said anything or made any sounds. Just up and bolted, running faster than most of the things I've ever encountered. I never saw him alive again."

"That is rather strange. Do you remember what you were doing at the time?"

"Hmm." Reya tilted her head, lowering the hand with Triela in it away from her face as she thought back on the events of the near past. "Um, I was opening up one of those golems."

"Golem? What do you mean by that?"

"The... walking creatures with the rounded stick objects that emitted bright lights and destroyed parts of the structures trying to kill Warismat. They are like golems, don't you think? Only controlled from the inside, instead of remotely."

"Ahah~ I see, you're referring to the mechs. What do you mean by, opening it up?"

Reya murred thoughtfully, closing her eyes and thinking back. Without opening them, she began to talk, almost as if in a trance. "I was... hunting. I don't typically do that, but I was hungry, and I didn't think the neko.... I mean Warismat, would mind if I helped him a little. I captured a few of those attacking him along the way, envenoming them and wrapping them up just enough that they wouldn't go anywhere when I happened across the... mechs, as you call them. I could smell something tasty inside of them, so I investigated."

Reya paused again, her eyelids fluttering lightly as she continued to think about the past. Triela couldn't help but smile at her cute expressions, thinking of the disparity between her gentle nature now and her intensity from just prior. Still, the brunt honesty in the description of her actions on the colony added a grain of salt to her overall picture in Triela's mind.

"I accidently broke the first one. It jumped out at me, surprising me when I let myself get distracted. I guess the violence was too much for the shell of the... mech. I wound up splattering the food inside." Reya paused again, nibbling on her lower lip in a cute nervous twitch that seemed completely out of place with the current discussion she was having. "Wasteful. A shame, really," she continued, frowning.

Despite the involuntary shudder Triela experienced through her body at Reya discussing people as food so nonchalantly, she couldn't help but be intrigued by all the subtle motions of her face as she spoke. Even afterwords, as she mulled over her memories and thoughts to organize and speak on them, her eyelashes would flutter, or her lips would twitch in the barest semblences of a smile or frown. Maybe it was because her face was just so much larger than anything she'd had experience with, or perhaps she was simply that expressive.

"The other... mech was attacking Warismat when I happened across it. He was between two of the structures, hiding away, and it was using some sort of long distance weapon to fire at him. I charged it, with the intent to knock it down and pin it to prevent it from using its weapon on me. My leg went right through it though - the shell was a lot weaker than I had originally presumed. I used my pedipalps to break apart and pry open the shell in a more gentle fashion than the first, which allowed me to get the one inside of it out."

Another pause again, as Reya thought back on the events she was recalling. Her eyes opened slightly, still heavily lidded, and she made a purring sound from her throat while licking her lips. Triela was captivated, even as she was terrified by the implications of those simple expressions.

"When I was finished wrapping up that one, I noticed Warismat standing a little ways away from me. He was watching me... with the most odd expression. He appeared dazed, distracted... lost. I thought maybe they had done something to him, so I walked towards him with my hand outstretched and smiling - I thought that way I would appear the least menacing. Warismat had a predator mindset... he was never quite at ease around me. I liked that, but it also made things more tense than they needed to be. I wouldn't have harmed him. And then he bolted... he ran away so fast... I lost track of him really quick. After that I just sort of wandered around until they cornered me and you two found me again. When they cornered me, one of the... mechs... tossed his broken body at me. That's how I learned of his death."

Triela felt her world collapsing around her. My fault. It was my fault. "I... I killed him," Triela whispered, causing Reya to jump back, looking down at her with her head quirked and her face in a shocked expression.

"What do you mean, you killed him?"

"He... was a survivor... of the Lysenthian invasion. A teenager... his entire family consumed. His world was one of the first hit. They... never had a chance. He joined up with the Fleet as a result. To fight them. To reclaim the souls of those he had lost." Triela spoke as if in a trance, the words seemingly falling out of her mouth, as Reya looked on trying her best to understand how this all related. "I knew that. We brought him along with us on this mission because of his studies in xenobiology. Thought it might help. But I knew his past, and we all knew the rumors of Felarya. I thought... I presumed... that since you two seemed to be bonding, that all was well. But you... you killed someone right in front of him. Like... you were going to... no... because you were going to eat them. Its just... what you do. He.... he.... must have... just snapped..." Triela's eyes were now wet with tears again, unable to suppress her emotions any longer. "I... knew better than to assign him. But I did. And now he's dead... and its my fault."

Reya's own eyes were filled with sadness now, as she finally realized what it was that had sent him running from her. She was just being herself... she realized now that she had never suspected that she could have been the cause of him running off. Reya had expected him to be happy with her show of helping him. She stroked the now sobbing chlaena... chimera, in her hand, trying to comfort her. It wasn't your fault, nor is it mine. This world is just... like that, she thought, but was unable to say. She knew it wasn't what Triela needed to hear right now.

"I'm sorry... I should go. I'll be back... later, okay?" Triela spoke through her sobs, before spinning out of Reya's hand, avoiding the webs and swimming through the air to the far wall that she had entered from. The door slid open and shut as she passed, a gentle whisk that was nearly unheard over her sobs. In the center of the room, Reya continued to absentmindedly look at her hand where Triela had been. If anyone had been watching her, they would have seen her body remain that way for quite some time, her own eyes wet with tears.

<Is there something the matter, Triela?>

Deca-Commander Aten's voice penetrated her sadness as she stared out of the observation deck's viewscreens into the passing starfield. The view was all simulated - Fleet warships did not have windows - but she had always found the view of the universe to be calming. A state of mind she sorely needed at the moment. Plus, staring into a real abyss helped to offset the crafted one in her mind that threatened to claim her.

Aten sat next to her, his hands placed in his lap as he turned to look at her. Foregoing the typical patterns of a lifelong Fleet member, he brought her out of her reverie by speaking rather than linking with her.

"I would ask if this had something to do with the dridder, but I can tell that there is more here than any disagreement with her. No, if I had to wager, I would be willing to bet you were questioning your choices of personnel, yes?" Aten's smooth baritone voice was a rare treat, and Triela found herself warming up to him, the tanglehold of her mind's abyss slipping away a little more.

"Yes, Deca-Commander. I think it would be best if I remained an engineer. That was... a horrible oversight on my part. I chose a friend who fit what was required, rather than someone who could fulfill the role more fully and as a result my... friend is now dead."

Neither of them spoke for some time, both simply watching as the starfield past them by. After several minutes, Aten cleared his throat.

"You did what you wanted. There was no harm in that. A team that knows itself will work best when things go wrong. The only fault you made, was in selecting him to travel with the dridder." He held up a hand to silence the protest that had started to form on her lips. "Mac or yourself would have been a better choice, due not only to Warismat's history but also his training. He was not trained for independent operations. It was that, most likely, that got him killed."

"So you don't think him watching Reya eat someone was the root cause?"

"No. I don't. And you shouldn't either. Warismat had issues with his past, but he was not weak. Leaving him alone with the dridder was the first mistake. Not because of what she was, but because of who she was. Warismat was a drop psyker, he needed a point and a lead, at a minimum. I understand and agree with your choice to split, but I would have arranged the teams differently."

Aten turned to face her then, his face remaining as emotionless as before. "A good commander is not born that way. They are made that way. You are not a quitter, Triela; and you do have what it takes to lead. I know that Warismat's loss will weigh on you for some time. Trust me, we have all been there. You will find yourself there again, I assure you. Remember it, and do not let it rule you. To do so would be a genuine waste of your talents."

His words having barely just parted his lips, Aten stood, squeezing her shoulder with affection before turning away and vanishing beyond the silent whisking of the doors to the observatory.

Triela's eyes were still wet with her tears as she turned to look out again into the endlessness of space, but at least they no longer threatened to overwhelm her. She knew that Aten was correct, and while his words had stung, they were still delivered in a gentle fashion. Triela wondered if it would be possible for her to eventually fill a role such as Aten's... it just seemed so far away from what she knew. A faint smile broached her lips as she mused that what she felt now regarding her future paths must be similar to what Reya felt about her own future. Pulling her tentacles inwards against her self, she rocked her body, lost - but no longer consumed - with thoughts about both her past and future.

************

A little while later, after having dried her tears and cleaned herself up with a nice long shower, Triela made her way to the brig. Due to the general nature of space combat, taking prisoners was practically unheard of. You either destroyed your enemies or they destroyed you, boarding another ship was a waste of manpower and resources. Besides, there was little if any advantages to the Fleet capturing technologically inferior vessels. Yet, the AoF still had a brig, either by convention, tradition, or simply as a safeguard against derangement of her own crew. Still, it was mostly seen as an anachronism nowadays - ships really had no use for brigs. Regardless of the reasons for it being included aboard the ship, the brig was now the holding cell of the two mecha pilots from the Anistasia colony. Thanks to Reya, they had been the only ones to survive the encounter.

Upon entering she found Mac, apparently still on his shift for guard duty over the pilots. They had already extricated any information they were going to get, and what they had managed to torture out of them was only a confirmation of what their experience had told them anyway. The Syndicate had attempted an underhanded maneuver to steal back the living specimen from the buyer, in order to achieve both money and fame. Unfortunately for them, the predicted 'sure' win had been the Negal Research Community... not the Fleet. Their assumption had cost them dearly.

Their two prisoners were male and female, both of them being human. The male was of average build and height, with no discernible special features or qualities she had noticed. The female was a rather petite human specimen who had received a great deal of bio enhancement according to their scans, which included a sizable cosmetic chest augmentation which resulted in her breast size being large compared to her frame, but had decided to apparently remain human rather than going far enough to become a partial - a fish face, Triela thought with a smile.

<Any changes, Mac?>

<Nothing to report, Triela.>

<Excellent. Well, I hope you don't mind Mac, but I'm going to see if I can't get our prisoners taken away to serve a greater purpose.>

<A greater purpose...?>

The generated quizzical tone the processors translated for Mac's response made her lips curve into a smile. Mac would never sound like that. Sometimes the computer really outdid itself. Leaving her link to Mac open, she then queried the ship to patch her through to Deca-Commander Aten. After a brief wait, his link connected with hers.</I>

<Yes, Triela? What is it that you need to discuss?>

<Our prisoners, sir. Have you yet filed an after-action report regarding the events of the Anistasia colony?>

<Nooo...> The question in Aten's tone was clearly evident, as he continued with <I was planning on addressing the report in person to the squadron commander. Why do you ask?>

<A... friend of mine asked me to try and understand something. At the moment I can't say I necessarily agree with her choices, but I do wish to understand them. I don't recall the Fleet partaking of hostage exchanges... and it would be such a waste to just space them, don't you think? Since the report remains undelivered, their presence here never need be known.>

The link was silent for several moments, as both Mac and Aten came to the realization of who this... friend... of Triela's might be. Considering her request, there was really only one choice it could be. While she could not see Aten, the realization as it dawned on Mac was priceless. The saurian's facial muscles actually quirked first in shock then in amusement, a very rare display of emotion indeed.

<My, my, Triela. What an... interesting request. I take it to mean then that the rumors of Felarya are true? This... wouldn't happen to be a form of vengeance on your part, now would it?>

<No sir. Besides, after the autopsy results, we can safely say that it wasn't a mech that killed Warismat. I have nothing against these two... I only see how they might still provide us with a service. A little repayment perhaps for damages incurred? They did shoot down the skiff, after all.>

<I... see. Well, it is true that we have no use for them. And their fate would most likely travel down that path eventually anyway, I suppose. Come to think of it, I can't recall any Syndicate forces being retrieved as prisoners, can you?>

<No sir. I recall forcing them into retreat or having killed all of them rescuing our prize.>

<Good day to you, then, Expert Triela.>

Triela turned to smirk at Mac, hands on her hips, posing.

"I don't suppose you'd help a girl out, Mac?"

"Help a girl out? The only one of those I see around here is locked in the cell."

It feels good to banter again, thought Triela. Mac was already walking over to the cell, his imposing figure casting a shadow over the two prisoners. They were both watching them intently, and Triela thought they looked nervous... well, if they think they're nervous now, lesse what happens when they find out what I've got planned for them. Moving over to help out Mac, Triela couldn't help but wonder just what would happen when they got them down to the secondary hold.

************

Triela and Mac, their two prisoners linked together in full-body restraints, arrived before the secondary hold doors. It felt a bit odd to return here now, Triela reflected, especially considering the way she had left. Well, here goes nothing.

As the doors whisked open, her nose was assaulted with a few rather strong smells... body odor? And something else. She'd never thought about it before, but... I wonder if Reya bathes? Even if the dridder had done so in the past, she would have been unable to do so most likely ever since she was captured. Triela highly doubted the Syndicate had taken the chance. Why would I just notice it now, though? Something like that should have built up over time...

<Bring them around the side here, Mac, but for the time being keep them out of sight.>

<Understood, Triela.>

Swimming up and over the crates, Triela wove her way through the webs towards the center of the room. I'm amazed I managed to get out of here the first time without running into any of them. She also realized she'd never actually witnessed Reya spin her webs. The most experience she had with them was the short demonstration the dridder had given them while Mac opened up her cage. One thing was for sure - Reya was too large to have 'spun' these webs by using her entire body. She must have another way of making and placing them. Triela made a mental note to inquire about it. Later.

"Reya? Hey, Reya! Are you around?" Triela couldn't help but scoff at herself and roll her eyes. Of course she was around. Where did she expect a thirty-foot tall creature to go when the doors to the space were only a third of her height?

"I'm right here, Triela," came the dridder's wonderful voice. Spinning about and looking down, she finally noticed Reya, kneeling on the floor that was covered in her silk. She held a ball of silk in her hand, slowly turning it about inbetween her index and thumb as she sucked on a thread leading from the ball. "Are you feeling better now," asked Reya, speaking around the thread and holding out her other hand, palm up. "You don't blame me for what happened to him, do you?" Her voice was soft and neutral, but her eyes were hopeful.

"No, Reya, I don't blame you. It was my error, and it is my burden to bear. I've made what peace I can with it for now. I doubt all the rainclouds are past, but I think the majority of the storm is," Triela said, settling onto Reya's outstretched palm. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright, I suppose. I could use some more food, for one." She nodded her head towards the hand that was helping unravel the silk ball. "Now that this is empty, that only leaves me with one cocoon left. I'm trying to conserve as much as I can." Reya's nose wrinkled, as she let out a sigh. Triela felt a little tingle at the dridder's implications, but it was no longer the full fledged compulsive quiver she had felt before. "I need a bath too..." Reya blushed then, her eyes glancing aside to one corner of the room. "And someplace to go to the bathroom. Other than the floor, I mean."

"Yeeeaah, sorry about that. This room really wasn't meant for... living in. Unfortunately, it is one of the few rooms you would fit in. I really do hope the Commodore has something better planned, but I can't promise anything, I'm afraid. Is that why... it smells in here?"

"Um, no. Before I was using my pheromones to conceal myself from you; but I didn't see the need to waste energy continuously making them. Normally, it would be important to smell like your environment, so as not to call attention to one's self... but there are no predators to hide from here. I do dislike the smell and the feeling of being filthy though. For one, my skin itches all over. For another, I would rather not smell bad. Granted, that... smelly stuff... humans wear is a bad idea - smelling too good is just as bad. It is nice to feel clean." She paused, tilting her head before continuing, "As for my... waste... it is a clear liquid in form. I don't remember ever making solid waste, and I don't recall it ever having a... smell. I just don't like the idea of having to... wallow in it. I put some more silk down to act as an absorbent, but I'm probably just going to avoid that area of the room for now."

"Ah. I can understand and empathize with that." I also can't believe we would forget that she would need those things, either. We really do treat her like an animal. Triela let out a deep breath as she turned to look up at Reya. Triela was either getting used to it, or Reya had started emitting pheromones again to hide the odors. "I'll see what I can do about getting you something so you don't have to use the floor. And I might have an idea about the bath, too. But first... how about we talk food."

Reya's eyes widened slightly, and she stopped eating the thread. "What... do you mean?" Reya cautiously asked. "Does it have something to do with the others that came with you?"

Triela nodded to Reya. She expected nothing less than Reya being able to have sensed the presence of the others in the room with her. "Why did you give the two mech pilots to us?"

"Mmm," Reya hummed, sipping up her thread again. "I thought it would be fair to leave their fate up to you. To let them be my penance for Warismat."

"Ah, I see. Can I also ask, why do you eat your own silk? Does it taste good?" A part of Triela hoped that it did, as that would explain why Reya had been so happy to lick the threads off of her own body earlier when she'd become entangled in them.

"It doesn't really have a taste. Its just sort of automatic; instinctual. Mother said once that our body just reprocesses the material so that we can use it again later. I don't always recycle it either," Reya said, glancing over to the 'waste' area of the room. Triela shivered slightly, knowing for certain now that the contented sounds Reya had made while cleaning off the silk she had become entangled in earlier had not been related its taste, but rather, her own.


Turning her head to look in the direction where Mac and the two pilots were, Reya asked, "So, who is here with you?"

<Ok Mac. Bring them out. Be careful not to touch her webs!>

"You'll soon see," Triela replied, turning in the direction she expected them to come from.

~~~~~

As soon as Mac had rounded the very corner Triela had passed by on her first visit that had led to her getting trapped in Reya's webbing, the saurian found himself in an artificial winter wonderland. White silk threads, drawn taunt across the space covering the area, were woven in intricate patterns that caught the lighting and reflected it across the other silk, making beautiful patterns in the floor... which was, as it turned out, also covered in a layer of silk. Mac found himself testing the floor as he walked across it, admiring the soft texture and the bounce to his step that it caused.

While Mac was intrigued by the material, his two companions were anything but. Mac and Triela had placed them back in restraints before removing them from the brig, and they were now fully testing the limits of said restraints as their bodies violently shook. Mac couldn't help but show a toothy saurian grin to his two prisoners... the realization of what they were planning for them seemed to have hit full force. If I didn't know any better, I would think that these two are aware that the rumors of Reya's kind were not rumors at all. It led some credence to his own beliefs - that he was certain Triela and Warismat had shared - that the Syndicate had kept some details out of their 'promo' video of the dridders. No doubt to prevent scaring any potential clients from purchase.

As they passed through, Mac used his link to Triela for navigation. Keeping her as his general target, he made sure not to touch any of the silk around him as he moved closer to where she was. Part of him really wanted to touch it, to feel the texture with his bare hands, but Triela's warning was fresh in his mind. And while she does tend to be a flirt, she is not an airhead, Mac thought. Warismat's death had taken a lot out of her, Mac reflected, but at least it seemed some of her former cheer was returning now.

The dridder was waiting for them, watching as they approached once they entered the large, empty area in the center of the room. Her spider-like limbs were curled near her body, as she rested against the silk-covered deck. She was unraveling some sort of silk construct in her other hand, the original shape having been deformed by her eating it, slurping up a single thread that led from her hand to her mouth. He noted Triela's body in her outstretched palm, also watching their approach.

~~~~~

When Mac and his quivering prisoners came to a halt just within the reach of Reya's human hands, Triela turned her head up, smiling despite herself at the dridder's intense expression. "You remember Mac, right Reya? You referred to him as a lizardman, which is actually relatively accurate. He's what we call a saurian - a reptilian chimera."

Reya tossed the rest of the silk she had been suckling on into her mouth, extending the now free hand to Mac as she swallowed. "Hello there. You're the one who actually cut me out of my cage, right? I didn't get a chance to properly thank you for that yet."

Mac looked a little uneasy as Reya's large hand gently pushed him closer to her body, but his behavior quickly changed as Reya's smaller spider limbs, the ones that Triela recognized as having been used to thank her and Warismat, went to work gently rubbing and touching the saurian. Triela watched in amazement as Mac's body visibly slackened, the combination of Reya's pheromones and gentle probing touches manipulating his emotions. This might be the first time in history someone has made a saurian completely relaxed, reflected Triela with a smile.

Motion from her peripheral vision drew Triela's attention away from watching Mac, as Reya stretched out one of her longer, supportive limbs to a strand of silk... although strand was a rather loose term, considering it appeared to be as thick as Mac. She rested her leg against the silk thread, gently sliding it back and forth and pushing against it. Just as Triela was about to ask what Reya was up to, her leg made a quick motion down and against the thread, snipping it with ease. Triela's eyes caught more motion from her peripheral, turning just in time to see a wall of Reya's web fall like a heavy curtain. It pinned the two mech pilots who had proceeded with rolling away from them, hopelessly entangling them while Reya 'thanked' Mac.

"I told you I don't like hunting," came Reya's voice from above her. "I prefer to trick my prey and make them do my work for me. It makes me feel a lot more satisfied to know I can accurately predict what they'll do and counteract it." Triela turned to face Reya, whose blue eyes were now staring back at her. "I think I might have... broken Mac, though." She spoke the last with a teasing grin, nodding her head forwards.

Triela looked down, finding Mac to be collapsed in a boneless heap before Reya's limbs that were now drawn in against her body again. His eyes were blank and his long, prehensile tongue was rolled out of his mouth, making it appear as if he were panting. Unable to contain herself, Triela burst into a fit of giggles and causing Reya's grin to widen significantly. She had just managed to stop laughing when Mac came out of his stupor, staring indignantly up at her - which caused her to lapse right back into her fit.

<Oh Mac, you were... priceless!>

Mac's continued silence served as his reply as Reya gently set Triela down onto the floor next to him. The sudden change in Reya's demeanor snapped Triela out of her teasing mindset, as the dridder stood and... crept, was the most descriptive term she could use, over to the wriggling mass of silk. Using her forward pair of legs again, she lifted and rolled it like a blanket, bringing it back over to where Triela and Mac were standing. Triela felt herself involuntarily shifting on her tentacles nervously. This is where the fun and games end...

Reya set the silk bundle down before them, beginning her work. Her middle-forward pair of legs stretched the bundle while her smaller, more agile forward legs began plucking and snipping at threads. It was the first time Triela had noticed that her legs were terminated in tiny claws that held and clipped her threads. After a couple minutes of work, Reya revealed the male prisoner. Looking up at Triela and Mac for the first time since she started, Reya spoke to them. "Can you please release your restraints? They're not necessary anyway."

Nodding, her eyes still locked on the scene before her, Triela sent the mental command through her link to release them. Though they couldn't see the female still entangled in the silk, the male attempted to make the most of his new situation. Just like Triela before though, his frantic struggles only resulted in him becoming more entrained in her silk. The sudden increased motion from within the silk showed that the female had also realized she was free to move again and was attempting to escape from Reya's threads.

With a knowing smile, Reya's human hand clasped about the portion of his body that was visible, gently tugging on him while her limbs continued to free him of the threads. He released a string of colorful obscenities from within the confines of her hand, but much like his earlier physical struggling, they resulted in no benefit. She brought him up to her face, worming his body up in her hand with ocean-like oscillations of her muscles so that from shoulders up he was visible poking through her hand.

"Are you sure you want to see this, Triela?"

Nodding up to Reya who was looking around her hand down at her, Triela swallowed nervously. "Yes, I want to... know what Warismat saw. I want to know if I can... that I can... watch this. I told you before I wouldn't necessarily agree with your choices, but I would try to understand. This is the best way I know how to do that."

As Reya nodded in understanding, the male pilot in her palm turned as far around as he could to look at Triela incredulously. "Are you seriously going to feed me to this... spider bitch?! You can't be fucking serious! What is wrong with you people?!"

No one dignified the pilot's cries of disbelief and desperation with a response. Triela and Reya were focused on him however, though for very different reasons. Reya's blue eyes were watching him with a hint of hunger, while Triela's teal eyes watched with a mixture of apprehension and genuine curiosity. Triela honestly had no idea what to expect... she didn't think that she could just eat him outright. His body was too large - or was it?

Triela's questions regarding Reya's eating habits were soon answered, as she parted her lips, revealing her glimmering white fangs. Turning her head slightly, Reya drove her left fang into the pilot's body, between his shoulder and neck. Triela flinched at the sudden motion, caressing her own body in the same area absentmindedly, while noting the slight twitch of the dridder's neck muscles. As quickly as it had occurred, it was over. A droplet of milky white fluid appeared at the tip of her fang, nearly dropping away when her tongue moved over her unnaturally long and pointed incisor, licking it clean.


A very satisfied murr came from deep in Reya's throat, as the human... no, her prey, Triela thought, twitched in her hand. He was no longer talking, not making any noise for that matter. That was toxin of some sort... she said that before. Envenoming. I should have realized it would be like that from her recollection of the events up to Warismat running away from her. Setting his now motionless body on the floor, Reya went back to pulling apart and unravelling the silk blanket that still contained the other human. Well - not entirely motionless, Triela thought. Occassionally his body would twitch, like a fish out of the water.

A short span of time later, Reya was pulling the female pilot out of her webbing. Unlike the other pilot, she was rather subdued with her behavior. No doubt she had heard the exchange earlier, and was realizing her own fate. Seeing his body laying lifeless on the floor, she began to whimper, hugging her arms around herself and pulling her legs in. A stream of liquid flowed out of her pants legs and dribbled onto the floor as Reya pulled her up. Triela felt a modest twinge of regret for the woman, but was paralyzed both with the bystander effect and her own morbid curiosity as she watched every move of the dridder preparing her prey.

Reya treated the woman differently however, rather than simply sinking her fangs into her like she had done with the male. She held the woman in one hand loosely, using her other hand to gently rub against her body with her fingers. The motion of compassion seemed completely out of place to Triela - but then again, she really didn't know Reya all that well when she really thought about it. When her... prey, was sufficiently distracted, Reya performed the same action as with the male, only with her right fang this time.

Holding the now motionless and limp female by her torso in front of her body, Reya moved her middle-rear pair of legs to her abdomen, rubbing them against a rough area of overlapping chitin plates on her underside and pulling forth strands of silk to her smaller, forwards pair of legs. Like a loom, Triela thought. With the smaller limbs she proceeded to wrap up the woman's body, positioning her carefully and gently as necessary for her task. If one simply forgets what her prey is, it is a rather interesting process to watch. Triela was certain she'd be dreaming about this later though - and not in a good way.

A while later, Triela was looking at the two white cocoons that had once been living, breathing humans. Strangely, she didn't feel as... revolted, by the process, as she had originally thought she would be. She imagined it helped that Reya didn't rip apart their bodies or grotesquely dismember them or chew them up. It was a clean and quick death as far as she could tell - just a quick bite and it was over. Still, one part of her mind was rebelling against the idea of intelligent beings eating one another, but her mind no longer outright rejected the idea - which was both simultaneously frightful and enlightening. She knew that she'd be mulling over this for a while yet, but she was willing to accept it now. Triela suspected the combination of Reya's... clean method and not having lived through the Lysenthian invasion helped with that acceptance. Having seen the end result, she realized just how accurate Reya's term of 'food cocoons' were - and just what must have once been inside the ball of silk she had been eating earlier. Granted, she had suspected as much... but knowing was another thing entirely.

Reya picked up the two cocoons, holding one in each hand, bringing the first up to her mouth and sinking both of her fangs into it. The sides of her neck undulated slightly, and Triela realized she was pumping something up from inside her body into the silk sack. This bite lasted several minutes before Reya finally relaxed and released the cocoon, covering up the holes formed by her fangs with another layer of silk. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Triela asked her, "What are you doing now?"

Glancing up at Triela, Reya replied "They're too large for me to swallow whole. If food is too large to swallow outright, then I have to break it down first. I'm... pumping in the required amount to break down their bodies into a soup that I can drink later. Once all the soup is gone I recycle the silk." Attaching the first cocoon in a set of sticky webs on the ceiling, Reya set about working on the second cocoon. The action had caused Triela to look up and notice that there was already one other cocoon attached. So, at the rate she's currently going through them, we shouldn't have any issues with getting her to the Commodore. I sure hope he has an... agreeable means of feeding her once we're there.

"You would normally swallow them whole?"

"If I could. They do taste really good, and I would love to be able to savour it. When I'm older and larger I'll be able to do that. Chewing or cutting up food makes them taste funny and is messy. Better to swallow them whole or wrap them up if they're too large to do that."

Triela turned finally, heading towards the exit. She noticed that Mac had already left; though when he had was a mystery to her. Triela had been far too captivated by what Reya was doing to notice Mac leaving.

"I'm going to go see what I can do about the other two issues you're having, Reya. I'll be back when I can figure something out."

Reya just nodded her acknowledgement to Triela as the chimera swam up and over the barrier to the exit, her fangs sinking into the other freshly made cocoon.

************

Triela reentered the storage hold a few hours later, dragging a heavily-laden levi-pad behind her. The ETMCG unit aboard the AoF was rather limited in its use; unlike the larger units aboard siege or assault ships and starbases, it was only programmed with generating a select number of things and could only produce items of a certain size unless they were made in piecemeal and later assembled. It had required a number of attempts to recreate the items in the number and size Triela had needed to pursue her solutions for Reya's issues.

ETMCGs were energy-to-mass conversion generators, better known as replicators, recreating physical objects solely from their energy schema. The units were one of the more unique technological advancements the Fleet held over other organizations. By using energy to generate mass, Fleet assets could use replicator units to remain on deployment for decades - important for an entity that was, for the most part, only located in space. The units required inordinate amounts of energy, however, and were only possible by the MSEGW reactor all Fleet assets used for power generation. Microsingularity entropic gate-way reactors, known best by their shorter name of chaos reactors, harnessed the potential energy of a black hole to create the power demanded by the Fleet's technology.

If Reya is like any other female I've ever known, she's going to enjoy this a lot, Triela thought to herself with a smile. The levi-pad was loaded with several foam-like blocks, a barrel of odorless foaming soap, and a nanite colony container. Making a shower for Reya would be impossible given the current living arrangement for her, and they couldn't use a large amount of water either due to the microgravity. So Triela's solution was to instead give Reya a sponge bath. Something I highly doubt she'll ever have experienced, so this will be fun. Consulting with the material roster, Triela had found two suitable containers - one for bathing Reya in, the other for serving as her... litterbox. That's what the nanite colony was for.

"Hi Reya~! I've returned!" Triela called out as she entered the hold. "Can you give me a hand with this?" It seemed that Reya had indeed gone back to using pheromones as this time around she did not smell anything upon entering the hold.

"A hand with what?"

"Getting this levi-pad to you without getting stuck in your webs this time along the way."

"Um... ok. Give me a moment."

I really could just listen to her talk for hours and be quite happy, Triela thought as she waited for Reya. Her voice is so soothing - it sounds like she is always singing. I bet she could sing an awesome lullaby. Her reverie was interrupted by two of Reya's long spider-like legs suddenly appearing over the wall of storage, making her involuntarily jump a little. Assuming you could get around the fact that she's ultra-silent, moves like the wind, towers over you, and would scare any child to death! And she's not even fully grown yet! Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she watched as Reya's legs rearranged the storage piles so that she created an opening between them large enough for Triela's hovering platform to pass through. By the time Reya's face was visible, Triela had calmed down and was smiling up at her.

"I come bearing gifts," Triela said, guiding the levi-pad forwards as Reya backed away towards the center of the room.

"Ooh? Like what?" Reya's blue eyes lit up with new interest at the materials on the pad.

"You'll see. First, we have to set things up for it. Business before pleasure," Triela said with a smile, wagging her index finger.

"Awww," Reya said, her voice tinged with disappointment. Her eyes danced happily though, so Triela knew she wasn't too heartbroken.

They spent the next hour or so creating Reya's litterbox. They had to clean up the area Reya used prior, which was covered now with damp silk. Getting the material up had been Reya's tasking while Triela used the storage hold's mag-lift to move about the crates until she found the two containers she was looking for, moving them out into the open. The process had consisted of a great deal of trial and error, as Reya's webs that covered the area were actually very tough, with most of them being too much for the lift to power through. Once the containers were in the center of the hold, Triela directed Reya to fill the smaller one with the damp silk. Reya had watched with unconcealed interest as Triela had sent the nanite colony to work inside the container, breaking down the material into a writhing, silvery, reflective mass that used only a small portion of the container. The nanites went inert once they had broken down the material within, now appearing as a dull gray still mass of material at the bottom.

"Lets put this back in the corner you just cleaned up," Triela directed from her position on Reya's left shoulder. As Reya moved and placed it, Triela continued "Use this instead of the floor when you need to... make waste. The nanites will break down any material, liquid or solid, that is placed within into this paste we can dispose of later. Do not put anything you don't want to lose inside this container - in fact, I would keep the lid on it when not in use."

"I see. The... nan-ites... don't discriminate, huh?" Reya struggled with the new term that Triela had spent the last hour explaining to her as simply as she could while they had worked.

"No, they don't. So please be careful with them." Hopping off Reya's shoulder she placed the colony's control box on the edge of the container. "This is a kill switch," Triela stated, tapping the box with a tentacle. It was obnoxiously large for someone of Triela's size, but the single depression on the box was just large enough to appear like a button for Reya's fingers. "If it becomes necessary to stop the nanites, just press this switch with a finger. It will kill the colony though, so if you use it we'll have to replace them afterwords. But it is here, just in case."

"I understand. I'll make sure I'm careful." Turning to look at the other, much larger container that now rested in the center of the room, Reya asked "Sooo, what's this box for?"

Clamoring back onto Reya's shoulder, Triela turned to look up at her face. "That would be the pleasure part," she said with a smile. "Could you climb in? By the way, your silk doesn't break down in water does it?"

"No, it doesn't. Why?" Reya asked, delicately lifting one leg at a time and climbing over the walls and into the container. She frowned at the dinging sound that her limbs made tapping against the metal. It had been a while since she had to listen to that, since covering this room's floor with silk in fact. She found that the noise annoyed her as much as before.

The walls were only a little taller than Triela standing rigidly, but she hadn't intended on the container being an enclosure. Just a holding cell for the water she was about to add. Jumping off and swimming down to the neglected levi-pad, Triela called out to Reya over her shoulder; "Take some of your webs down then and use them for padding while I get this stuff ready." Reya happily began plucking and folding her webs stretched across the space of the room to use as padding, as she had just been thinking about doing it anyway.

With Reya pulling down her webbing and layering it inside the container, Triela pulled a large fire hose free from a recessed compartment in a far wall over to the container Reya was layering. The hose wasn't actually used for firefighting, since a firehose was a rather ineffective means of fighting fires in microgravity, but rather cleaning the space in a planet's gravity well. Triela had placed the bath soap into an aerator can that could attach to the hose that was typically used in order to make aqueous foam. Amusingly enough, the firefighting equipment included with the hose reel that wasn't actually used for firefighting in the first place would easily make a large bubbly bath using the soap instead of the typical foam mixture.

Triela stopped to watch Reya as she padded the container. It was intriguing to watch her manipulating the threads with ease that had been such an entangling nightmare for her. Reya had moved forward a bit against the edge of the container, with only two pairs of legs still inside it. One other pair of legs was resting on the edge, her smaller legs rolling up the... blankets of webbing that her hands and other pair of legs clipped them down and passed down. She dropped the rolls into the container, and after tearing down about four or five of the artificial walls she had made, Reya retreated back into the container. Climbing up the wall of the container with the hose in hand, Triela continued to observe Reya as she padded the inside of the container, using more silk she pulled forth from her abdomen to serve as anchors for the blankets. When she had finished covering the inner walls completely, Reya turned to look at Triela.

"Now what?"

"Now you get comfortable and try not to move around too much. I've added something to the water to make it more coagulated so as to not just freely float around but it'll still do so if you disturb it too much."

Triela pulled back the bail of the nozzle, sending water flowing down into the container. A soon as it hit the silk, it spread out, foaming up and frothing with giant bubbles. Reya watched on, her eyes wide, fidgeting slightly as the water lapped at her legs and the odd texture of the bubbles clung to her.

"What is this, Triela?" Her voice was filled with wonder that reflected the expression of her face as she continued to watch the container fill.

"Well, it is the closest thing I could come to a bubble bath. Just try to relax, Reya. I promise you'll enjoy this."

They continued to both watch in silence as the container filled further. Once the level reached the first segment of Reya's legs, Triela closed the bail, climbing down and dropping the hose onto the floor. Grasping the foam blocks on the cart between a pair of tentacles, Triela scaled the container wall again. She smiled at Reya once she reached the top, taking the blocks and tossing them into the water below. They expanded once they hit the water, becoming significantly larger. Reya poked one of the blocks with a human finger, stroking it and teasing the texture of the material.

Triela stood on the ledge while Reya was distracted with her makeshift sponges, undoing the multiple clasps of her uniform. The motion of Triela tossing it away to land below on the levi-pad brought Reya's attention back to her. Reya's lips pursed as she took in a quick breath, her eyes glancing over Triela's body with both awe and shock.

"What... happened to you?" Reya brought up her hand, gently caressing Triela's scarred body, now revealed to her for the first time. Her lithe, nude body melded to fit against Reya's finger as she caressed her, allowing herself to lean into the motion. Triela's body was so soft and pliable, yet Reya could feel the muscles that responded to her touches. From her hips up she appeared much like a human, except for her skin - where her thighs would be however were two trunks that split into ten tentacles that supported her weight, five per trunk. That wasn't what had shocked Reya, though. Triela's smooth teal-blue skin was significantly marred under the portions normally covered by her clothing, with one particularly nasty scar across her right breast that past just beneath her dark nipple and continued down the slope of her breast to terminate above the first visible rib beneath.

"I'm a soldier, Reya, and I was once a slave. Death and destruction are not new to me, and their reminders will forever marr my skin. It is a part of my life, and I accept it. My kind can either be members of the Fleet, struggling colonists of the few remaining free border worlds, or slaves for those on the core worlds. Some of these scars are from my days as a slave, and some are from my days as a soldier. But I wear them all with pride, to remind me of where I came from and where I wish to one day go. I firmly believe that the Commodore will one day find a way for us all to live, not merely survive; and so I serve him and the remains of his once glimmering Fleet. We all do."

The two of them remained there watching one another for some time, Reya gently stroking and Triela melding against her, before Triela visibly shook herself, clearing her mind.

"Enough, there is time for reminiscing later. Its sponge bath time!" With a loud laugh and a spinning motion, Triela toppled herself over and into the water below. She landed with a splash, sending water in all directions that slowly fell back down with an unrealistic appearance due to the limited gravity and Triela's additives, picking up a sponge in her human hands. "Let me show you the real joys of a bath~!"

Reya giggled at the gentle tenacity of Triela as she attacked her body with one of the now wet and soft blocks Triela had labeled sponges. The material felt wonderful on her body, and she purred in contentment as Triela scrubbed her with it. The gentle pulling of Triela's suction cups on her body as she moved over her teased her sensitive legs, only heightening her pleasure. Reya reached down, picking up one of the sponges herself and began to lathe it liberally on her human portions.

For her part, Triela was enjoying the bath too. As she scrubbed Reya's body, she let her own move and glide freely, touching and exploring the dridder's skin. Her legs were tough, like armor, yet smooth. Without her tentacles, Triela doubted she would be able to hold onto them. As she scrubbed her way up her leg and onto her body, she marvelled at the soft fur that covered her hard exoskeleton, regaining its glossy appearance as she wetted it. The fur continued up to her waist and hips, where the human portion of Reya joined seemlessly with the spider portion.


With Reya beginning to wash her back, Triela moved back to her bulbous abdomen, finding that it was quite similar to the portion where her legs joined. Around the midseam were six large, tough bases that were not covered with fur. Triela recalled the Syndicate's propaganda video showing the fight with Reya's mother, remembering the large spikes that emanated from her abdomen. I bet she'll have spikes one day too... I wonder if she'll grow to be as large as her mother? That could be problematic, we don't have enough room for her now. Clearing her mind of the technical train of thought she felt setting upon her, she continued with her scrubbing. This is for pleasure, there will be time for those thoughts later. Feeling her, touching her like this... its so surreal. Sometimes its easy to forget that this is all flesh and bone, too. One of Reya's arms would occassionally reach around behind her to rub a finger or two against Triela's soapy wet body, caressing and pleasuring her as well.

The two women continued with the bath for some time, exploring and delighting in one another as they forgot about everything else and focused merely on themselves.

Triela awoke with a start, the nightmare still fresh in her mind. In her dream, Triela recalled when she became entangled in the dridder's webbing. Trapped and hopelessly ensnared, a dark shadow had obstructed the light source from behind her. A massive hand closed around her body, plucking her free of the web but keeping her tightly held within the hand's grasp. Reya's hungry blue eyes had been focused on Triela as she pulled her hand up to her face, her mouth parting as her tongue darted out and began to lick her body still covered in threads, a throaty humm announcing her pleasure and intent. When the tongue bath had ended and the tasting was complete, her white fangs had been bared, coming down to pierce her skin and end her life...

She sat up, panting in the wake of the nightmare and shivering against the cold. Cold? She realized then that she was still nude, resting on the crest between the dridder's abdomen and midsection. Slowly, the events of earlier in the day began to come back to her still sluggish mind. The sponge bath. After they had both had enjoyed the bath to the point of exhaustion, Reya had climbed out and helped her drain the water through a wetvac back into the AoF's processing systems. Triela had forgotten to bring a towel for herself so Reya had suggested that she stay here with her until she was dry. I must have fallen asleep resting on her body, she thought.

Reya's hand came back and scooped her up in the middle of her thoughts, bringing her around her body so that Reya could more comfortably see her. The sudden action startled her, and she emitted a short squeak of surprise.

"Are you alright? You were tossing about an awful lot back there," Reya asked, the concern in her eyes evident.

Breathing deeply to calm herself and collect her rambling thoughts, Triela replied, "Yes, I'm fine, just a bad dream is all."

"Nothing too bad I hope?"

"No, I'm alright, really. Its just been an exciting couple of days and my brain is finally dumping all the extras."

Apparently satisfied with the explanation, Reya nodded. The dridder's other hand appeared within Triela's vision, dropping off her uniform into the outstretched palm Triela now rested on.

"You should probably put this back on. You're shivering."

"Yes, thank you Reya. I'm afraid I'm not really used to being in the buff for extended periods," Triela replied with a teasing grin, beginning to slide the uniform back over her body.

Reya cupped her cheek and leaned her head against her hand as she watched Triela dressing. She nibbled on her bottom lip, one of her fangs showing as she debated asking her question. Triela thought the expression was rather cute, so she let Reya continue debating whether or not to ask while she finished dressing. Finishing with the final clasps, she laid back against the cusp of Reya's palm, tossing her hair behind her and changing its color from the deep blue that it had been recently to a shimmering orange. The sudden change in color caught Reya's attention, as her eyes blinked, testing to ensure she had just witnessed Triela's hair color change spontaneously.

"Did you... do that yourself?"

"My hair? Yes. I can change my hair color at whim, and alter the tint of my skin a little - though I can't change its color. That's not the question you wanted to ask me, though, now is it?"

"Mmmhmmm. No, I wanted to ask about what you said before. You mentioned your past... would you be willing to tell me more?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt. But I get to hear yours in exchange. I think that's only fair."

"I'm ok with that," Reya said with a nod of her head.

"Anything in particular you want to know then, Reya?"

"You said you were a slave. That means that you were... that you belonged to someone, right?"

"Yes. That's precisely what it means. I don't recall anything of my birth. I learned later that our kind, the chimeras, are always made, not born. We're just experiments, really. My earliest memories were that of a child being schooled on the proper etiquette for being a maid. My first... master, seemed to like being doted upon and served by children. I never really understood her, but she treated me and the others that tended her well enough I suppose. Once I became a teenager though, she sold me to another master. He was... much more rough." Triela hugged her body, recalling the repeated beatings and exploitation he had visited upon herself. "I think he saw me as a toy, playing with and using my body as if it were meant solely to please him."

Reya leaned in and gently nuzzled as Triela hugged herself and shook at the memories. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you remember..."

"Its alright. My past is just that, past. What happened to me then will not happen again. I was retained by him for several years, enduring his abuse. The more my body grew and matured, the more... sexual his abuse became. A lot of my scars are his doing, including this rather nasty one." Triela absentmindedly rubbed the scar across her breast, now hidden by her uniform as she spoke. After a moment's pause, she continued, "He apparently rather liked the idea of seeing blood and inflicting violence. Since chimera's are genetically designed to be infertile, and our bodies are designed to heal quickly, he didn't need to worry about any... long term consequences."

"I don't understand, Triela. Its almost as if your kind are just tools -"

"That's precisely what we are, Reya," Triela interrupted. "We're biological, sentient tools. In the past, humans attempted to make robots that were self-aware, but the results were always catastrophic. Eventually they gave up. It was decidedly much easier to work with organics, especially in the brainwashing arena. Almost all humans in the core worlds view chimeras - any sentient creature not born of the flesh, for that matter - as willing tools that will serve any desire they have."

Pausing to take a breath, Triela continued, "In the past one hundred years or so, almost all the chimeras that have been created have been altered with reduced brain functions. They really are just tools now. Originally, we were really just drastically altered humans made in test tubes. Now we're bio-organic tools that assist augmented humans in performing tasks their bodies are not designed to handle. Something like me would be used for maintenance of equipment in spaces that would be virtually inaccessible to a normal human. There are very few of us free chimeras left though, with the majority being here, in the Fleet. Some colonies still exist on the Fringe, but they'll eventually be reclaimed whenever the core worlders get around to expanding that far out. I was rescued by the Fleet, recruited by Nyselyn herself, after my master got himself killed."

Triela said the last with an air of amusement, causing Reya to blink at her change in demeanor. "How did that happen?"

"My master had brought me along with him to service his needs on a vacation to a resort world. As it turned out, a group of partials working for one of the mega-corporation's security forces decided to make a raid on that world. Apparently, a rival group had a data vault newly constructed there, and the partials were sent to send them a message and acquire any data they had entrusted to the vault. Just another day in the core worlder's superficial antics. My master was slain, but I managed to hide myself away. A Fleet squadron arrived a day or so later, unaware of the raid from before that had left the resort in shambles. They provided medical assistance to the selection of survivors. It was an off season, so the usual quantity of people one would expect to find at a result world was not present. One of the ships in the squadron turned out to be a rare assault ship, the Dreams of Kings. Nyselyn was traveling aboard that ship at the time, on some errand for the Commodore, and she found me still hiding amidst the rubble. She offered me the first true opportunity to live my own life, and I have worked for the Fleet ever since."

"So, you're happy here? With this Fleet, I mean - working for them?"

"Oh yes. They gave me extensive combat and technical training that have allowed me to become who I am. I was the chief engineer of this ship prior to our assignment to get you, Reya. I wish I could have seen the Fleet back during the days of the Xevious Authority. How grand that must have been~!"

"I made you lose your job?" Reya asked, biting her lip and blushing. "I'm really sorry."

"No, no, it's perfectly alright!" Triela held up her hands, smiling up at Reya. "I'm not the chief engineer anymore, sure, but I actually got a promotion out of this. I'm not sure if I'm ready for it - you needn't worry about me though. Meeting you was a good thing, I promise."

Reya smiled back at Triela, her relief evident. "That's good to know. So, what is this... Xevious Authority?"

"They were a collection of outlying worlds from the core that consisted of a large populace of chimeras that had freed themselves of their servitude to the core worlds. At first it was just a couple of worlds, but at its peak, it consisted of almost three hundred worlds, populated by humans and chimeras. The Fleet is the shortened nickname of the Ethereal Fleet, part of the Star Forces which belonged to the Defense League of the Authority. The Ethereal Fleet was originally the first battlegroup, created by Commodore Ion himself. He provided the technology and strategical experience that helped give the Authority its fame. These days, the Fleet is the only remaining testament to the Authority's greatness."

"Why is that? What happened to it? And just who is this Commodore guy you keep mentioning?" Reya's questions came rapid fire, completely captivated with the information Triela was providing her. She didn't understand a lot of it, but she figured she could reserve the details for later. I want to at least understand the general idea of this dimension and how it operates, especially if I'm going to be here a while, Reya thought.

"The homeworld of the Xevious Authority, the world of Queezlrg, was destroyed during the Lysenthian invasion. After they had consumed or collected a majority of the populace of a world, they would typically toss an asteroid or two at it to ensure no evidence remained of their passing. They are also the reason why the Fleet is the only remaining testament. The Lysenthians destroyed a vast swathe of worlds towards the galactic west of the core worlds. Essentially the entire Authority was wiped out. In a perverse way, its sort of funny - while they were free, they still wound up being the tools of the core worlds. They provided the flesh and blood shield that prevented the core worlds from ever being assaulted by them. From having to know the horror of fighting an enemy that considered you nothing more than food."

The distaste with which she spoke the last bit caused Reya to frown. She typically would consider something like Triela to be food as well, and despite what she knew about her new friend she still felt the same about it. Hearing Triela talk about it though, helped her to see just what it must seem like from the other side. Still, Reya didn't plan on changing her diet. Food was food - how could something that tasted so good not be meant for eating? She would just be more choosy about which ones she decided to eat and not eat while she was here - like how Triela was not food. The same would probably apply to those she worked for, but it seemed that Triela didn't mind her eating certain ones at least. Clearing her mind of her current line of thought, she refocused her attention on Triela's explanations.

"At Brwydr Camlan, the Ethereal Fleet made a final stand against the Lysenthians, finally achieving total victory. The costs for that victory were staggering; only twelve percent of the Fleet's total forces survived the encounter. Of the one hundred and fourty some odd thousand ships that stood against the endless waves of Lysenthian assault, less than a thousand remain in use today. I've actually been to the graveyard of the battle - it is a very sombering experience, to say the least. The hulks of gutted starships litter the entire area like an intense asteroid field in the void of space. At least the threat was eliminated however - based on the Authority's studies on the Lysenthians, it appeared they were space nomads, roaming between worlds claiming whatever resources they could and moving on."

Triela paused again, her mouth getting dry from having spoken so much. "Um, Reya, I'm sorry, but I really should get something to drink if we're going to continue. I'm not used to having to speak this much."

"Ok, but promise you'll come back and tell me more?"

"Not to worry, I'll be right back, I promise. I'm just going to go to the galley and get some drink canisters and come back, okay?"

Reya nodded to her, setting her down on the ground near the passage to the door she had cleared earlier for her entry. Triela's body bunched up then shot out, darting past the doors with a natural fluidic motion that still impressed and intrigued the dridder.

************

Triela returned carrying a pair of canisters in the crooks of both her arms, and a device slung about her body over her shoulder and back. She had been true to her word, returning a short time after leaving.

"Welcome back Triela," Reya cheerfully greeted her, offering her hand as the chimera zipped into the room from the corridor. Settling onto the proffered hand, Triela smiled back up at her.


"Thank you, Reya. So, where were we?"

"You were talking about your Fleet. The man you call the Commodore."

"Ahah~. Of course. The Commodore is actually a bit of a mystery himself. He's human, or at least he looks the part. Definitely underwent some crazy bioenhancements though. For one he's much taller than your average human, with a decent build. Close to a millenia in age too, making him one of the oldest known living creatures. Granted, he's spent at least a few hundred years in cryo deep-sleep, so I'm not sure if you can count those towards his actual age."

Triela's eyes glazed over as she paused again, this time seemingly staring off at something far away.

"Before we get deep into the mysteries of Commodore Ion, though, let me continue with what I was talking about before," Triela stated flatly. "If we thought the Lysenthians were an unimaginable horror, what came next was far worse. When news of the victory at Brwydr Camlan reached the core worlds, they sent out their own fleets. They raped and pillaged entire worlds that had been spared by the Lysenthians now that the Fleet was so broken it couldn't stop them. We saved them. We are the reason they could live without fear. And yet, the repayment the chimeras were given was to be their slaves once more."

Triela spat out the last sentence, causing Reya to wince at the raw emotion in her words. She used her fingers to gently rub against her body, causing Triela's eyes to refocus. She looked up at Reya thankfully, her eyes glistening with emotion.

"I'm sorry about that. Its just so... unfair. The Fleet is my home, the only place I have ever truly felt that way. To remember my past, to know the past of the Fleet... so much sacrificed, so many lives lost, and for what? There is nothing left for us here. Sometimes I wonder if there is a place for us at all except in the void of space."

Triela stopped, unable to continue as her wet eyes began to flow with her tears. Reya just continued her gentle caresses, waiting for the moment to pass. Triela's breath caught a couple times as the tears came, but eventually she regained control.

"Thank you for that, Reya. Sorry for going off on a tangent. The Commodore... I'll never understand where he finds the strength. He's seen far more and far worse than any of us ever have, and yet he keeps the hope alive for all of us. And he's a human!" The wonder in Triela's voice rang out, surprising Reya as she continued on. "His Fleet remains a legacy known and feared throughout the core worlds. In our nightmares, we remember the cruelty of our masters and the uncaring brutality of the Lysenthians - but for the core worlders, they see the glimmering white hulls of the Ethereal Fleet as they splash down from Rift Space. As few in number as the Fleet is today, its amazing that we still remain one of their greatest fears."

"What has the Commodore been through that compares to what you endured? At the most, wouldn't it be more of the same?" Reya's voice was filled with incredulity, as she was unable to think of anything that could possibly compare to the things Triela had already described.

"I don't think anyone besides himself, and maybe Nyselyn, knows the full details. His story starts far back in history, when humanity first reached for the stars. We chimeras were nothing more than a fantasy at that time. He was a fleet commander back then, serving something called the Colonial Defense Forces, or CDF. They were the first pioneers who jumped into the void of space, and when they struck a veritable gold mine in the exotic minerals space had to offer, the homeworld came calling. At first, the altercations were minor. It soon escalated into a full scale war that the two sides fought to a bitter stalemate."

Triela paused from her tale to take a swig of the liquid from one of the canisters she had brought in with her before continuing. "The homeworld had a much larger fleet to attack the CDF, but the Commodore turned out to be a master of tactics and strategy. Often outgunned and outmatched, he would still find a way to win the day. The homeworlders decided that the easiest solution to end the war and claim the exotic materials was to simply destroy the colonist's habitation modules on their space stations that orbited a gas giant in system, and ignore the Commodore. They would have succeeded, too, if the Commodore hadn't used his own ship, damaged previously and under repairs at the time, as a shield to block their assault while the CDF rallied to respond. He was just in the right place at the right time to stop the massacre of the colonists. It took several minutes for the CDF to arrive in force... all the while the Commodore's ship burned with nuclear fire. His mangled body was reclaimed later, after the battle, and placed in cryo for safekeeping - as the medical knowledge during that time wasn't sufficient to repair his damaged body. However, without him, the war soon turned on the CDF, and the homeworlders one a crucial victory that destroyed most of the remaining resistance forces they could bring to bear. With the defeat, the CDF had no choice but to surrender - but the Commodore, he was hidden away, for he had become too much of a symbol to just let die."

"It would be a few centuries before anyone would do anything with him though. By then, humanity had spread out into the galaxy, far and wide. Descendents of those living on the homeworld found and revived him, mending and... improving... his broken body with advanced biomedical sciences, and taught him what they thought he needed to know about the changes that had occurred while he slept. The... improvements was just a thinly veiled way of saying that they used him for every single twisted and deranged experiment they could - and when he somehow survived it all, they used him as a propaganda tool, giving him command of a small outfit to engage in battles for their 'short victorious wars'. Like a marionette, they guided him to do their bidding - or so they thought. Apparently they forgot to do their homework, or they would have known that if Commodore Ion had any pitfalls, it was that his loyalty belonged only to his own beliefs - and certainly not to those who would share the same twisted ideals of the homeworld he had fought against so long ago. His ship vanished one day; the only trace left behind being the escape pods that contained the marooned ship's crew."

"You could say in a way that Commodore Ion is the father of all us chimeras. The medical sciences they used to repair the physical damage incurred by both radiation and fire would become the cornerstones of gene therapy used in our creation. They transformed him from human to... something else. Not a chimera, and not a partial... but not human, not anymore. Decades after the Commodore vanished and was forgotten again, a group from the first generation of chimeras were sent out on a colonization ship to the fringes of known space and beyond, a random meteorite encounter resulted in several stasis pods failing. As it just so turned out, the majority of those pods contained the would-be masters of the chimera onboard. This group then went on to colonize the world that would eventually be named Queezlrg, far from the worlds that would later make up the core, and it was during their initial settling phase that the Commodore contacted them."

Triela paused again to take another sip, allowing Reya to think back over what she had said. So far, it didn't sound like he had necessarily endured anything greater than what Triela had, but she remained silent and attentive. The sheer awe and respect that Triela had for this person she called Commodore Ion spoke leagues, and she could tell this story wasn't over yet.

"In exchange for technology and his expertise, the colony gave Ion a home, and he created a small group of ships using exotic materials and methods that would serve as the foundations for the Ethereal Fleet. The Xevious Authority, named after the Xevian system where Queezlrg was located, created a government based on leagues and guilds that rewarded experience and ability rather than birthright or monetary holdings. Eventually, those that had sent the colonizer came knocking, looking for their colony and the refined resources that should be awaiting them. What they found however was a technologically superior military force, led by an experienced commander who wiped the floor with them after they got rowdy."

Triela took a long swig from the first canister, emptying it and tossing it to the floor below in the direction where the levi-pad still remained. She continued, "Naturally they didn't take too kindly to it, and tried to fight fire with fire - at the time, they didn't know who it was they were fighting. They presumed it was just chimeras that had gotten ahold of some alien technology, and were thereby determined to gain access to it themselves. Again and again the Commodore rallied the Authority against them, until finally they learned the truth - that it wasn't alien technology, and the man who led them was regarded still as one of the most brilliant fleet commanders. The superior technology combined with Ion's ability and the shadow of his career - the very career they had exemplified and lauded in their propaganda campaign - caused the core worlders to eventually back off and give the Authority a wide berth. The Commodore's successes caused many other chimera worlds to follow suit, rebelling against their masters and joining forces with the Xevians. The Authority rapidly swelled in the number of its member worlds, and for a long time all seemed to be well. The core worlds were held at bay, and while there were some minor skirmishes no major battles occurred."

While Triela paused to open a new container, Reya asked, "So what happened to cause everything to become so bad?"


"I'm getting there, Reya. Its just a lot to say," Triela replied, drinking from the second container.

"You make it seem like you don't normally talk that much," Reya implied curiously, turning to place Triela from her hand onto one of the towers of containers. "Sorry, holding my hand out like that for so long is not something I'm used to and its uncomfortable," Reya said, folding her legs and resting on the floor, her head now level with Triela.

"It's alright, I can understand," Triela replied, rearranging herself on her tentacles to get comfortable. "And we don't. Talk a lot, that is. Its... complicated. Imagine you could communicate with people just by thinking about them and sending them a thought. That's how we normally... talk. Not using our voices. The Fleet provides all of it's personnel with... technology that allows us to interface with the ship's systems and communicate with each other."

"Wow. So... you don't have to talk? You can just... think what you want and other people can hear you?"

"Sort of. Only other people who have the same technology can... hear you. That's why we have to talk to each other, because you don't have it. The ring I gave you is an example of the early technology, back before it was small and advanced enough to be put inside of the body."

"I see. That's really interesting. I'm guessing that when you... talk to each other that way you sort of lose focus on your surroundings to pay attention?" Reya's eyes seemed to have taken on a new focus, glinting in the artificial lighting, the gears of her mind spinning as her other hand idly played with the black ring snug on her finger.

The question seemed a bit leading to Triela, and her newfound curiosity was slightly troubling, but she answered truthfully. "Only certain people get that. Its a condition known as Authoring Syndrome. Sometimes the technology doesn't meld perfectly with the person, and they develop a... lag while they process information between mechanical and biological interfaces. Warismat had it."

"Ahah~! I knew it. It didn't make any sense that someone who had his mindset would suddenly just zone out of his surroundings. It bothered me that someone who would be so attentive and cautious would randomly blank out like he did."

"Ah, that makes me feel a lot better. For a moment there I thought you were leading on that I did that," Triela said with a sigh of relief. Its really amusing watching her... you could just see her face light up when she made the connection. I need to stop being so paranoid about her, though. She was just trying to figure out something, nothing more. It isn't like she's some core-world corporate operative trying to get information about the Fleet. "I've always thought I had really good control over my interface," she continued, smiling up at Reya now. "Its one of the things that made me a good engineer."

"I've never noticed you or Mac doing it, but I also had a lot more time with Warismat up until now. But I didn't mean to interrupt your story. You were going to tell me what happened to this... Authority, right?"

"Indeed. The beginning of the end came in the form of the Halyi's Star AI wars. The core worlds were seeking anything they could use to offset the tech advantage of the Authority's Star Forces. They decided their best bet would be to devise an expendable fleet, something that used intelligent machines to do their fighting for them. Without the human element, they could just send waves of ships at us. The old adage of 'If you put enough bullets out there, eventually you'll hit something.' They built their fleet at Halyi's Star, just outside of a nebula at the edge of controlled space. And then they lost control of it."

"I'm not sure I understand. How could they lose control of something they built?" Reya's head was quirked to the side, an arm under her chest holding her other elbow and supporting her head with it. It was a picture book quizzical expression, and it caused Triela to smile despite herself.

"An AI isn't just a thing, Reya. It can think, learn, evolve. They're not human, but they emulate us. Apparently they decided to act on their own - or perhaps they misinterpreted the orders they were given. There were no survivors at Halyi's Star to tell us what happened afterwords, so noone will ever know what actually happened. There were no survivors of any of the worlds around Halyi's Star either. The AI fleet didn't care about allegiance, they killed everything in their path. Over a dozen worlds were wiped out before the Authority realized what was happening and sent the Commodore to deal with it. The AI Wars were the first action the Ethereal Fleet had seen, and it was brutal to say the least. The core worlds had gone completely overboard in terms of the mass number they had created, the entire war was nothing but one big battle of attrition with the only advantage for us being the Commodore's technology."

Nodding with her head for her to continue, Reya fidgeted, rubbing her hands together. The information Triela was providing was very interesting, even if she didn't understand most of it. She filed it away for later, hoping that it would all make sense eventually.

"The Star Forces managed to push them back on themselves and defeated them at the source of it all... Halyi's Star. Since core worlds were included in the devastation, the information about the attacks got out and spread like wildfire before they could contain it. As a result, all AIs were ordered to be terminated - those in critical fields or serving necessary functions were to be replaced with chimeras instead. That made us in high demand, so the core worlds started pushing out again, trying to reclaim the border worlds. Just under a decade later as the raids were ramping up in firepower and frequency, a small research outpost colony encountered what we now call the Lysenthians. The colony managed to get a distress beacon out with video feed... otherwise we would have never known what happened to them. Or what was coming for us."

"When a recon group investigated the area, the only thing they found was an asteroid field where a planet should have been. The second world they hit had more warning, but were still woefully unprepared for them. The Lysenthians came in a massive fleet, and the hastily organized defense force didn't even stand a chance. They did last significantly longer - long enough for us to learn what it was they looked like and what they wanted. That was some media coverage the core worlds truly feared. Nothing like watching intelligent, malicious aliens that fought against military forces with spectacular weapons, overran their lines, and then ate them. They abandoned any intent of capturing chimeras, retreating back onto themselves and commenced with building a series of fortresses in space. Just like them to abandon their tools when it became dangerous."

"Nevertheless, what it really came down to was a choice between fighting and running. The Commodore chose to fight, and the chimeras agreed. As more and more worlds fell, he rallied together every single ship the Authority could muster, and gathered still more from the independent worlds that remained. Even Queezlrg, the heart of the Authority, would fall before the Commodore could rally the entire force. Can you imagine that, Reya? What it must have felt like to abandon the home you had helped build and create? All in order to give those who remained the best chance of survival? Knowing full well how many would die, both in waiting and in the eventual battle... its just unimaginable. The Fleet did not assemble in time to save the Xevian system. Many of those who participated in the battle no longer had homes to return to."


Taking another pause, Triela looked down at her uniform, idly playing with the insignias sewn onto the collar. "The Commodore managed to survive Brwydr Camlan, the battle that finally ended the Lysenthian terror. He lost his voice in the battle when he was spaced along with the rest of his command staff. They died - he survived, mostly thanks to the augmentations that had been implanted in him after his revival. That was also when Nyselyn emerged. She took charge of the battle and carried on in the Commodore's place, finishing the job he had started. It wasn't until later that people learned she was actually an AI that the Commodore had kept safe from the purge after the Halyi's Star wars. Ever since that battle she has served as the staff he lost, advising him in their place, replacing the voice he no longer has - even after everyone learned what she was."

"The Commodore has lost everything he has held dear time and time again, Reya. His life has been stolen from him over and over, and yet he still remains. A testament to just how fucked up life can be, and that death is by far not the worse fate one can suffer. Yet, despite it all, he still watches over us, gives us a place to live and a reason to hope. There is no reason that I could fathom for him to do so, but he does. And so we all follow and serve him, because at least here, we may not have homes anymore, but we can still have our own lives."

Reya was speechless. Triela spoke again and again of entire worlds being lost... of these entities known as Fleets that consisted of hundreds of thousands of people being destroyed... it was too much. For the first time in her life, Reya actually felt small. There had been a couple times she had wished to grow faster, but she had never actually felt small. Full grown, she would tower over most of the denizens of her home... yet her world was large. Even for her. Imagining entire other worlds just ending... even just contemplating the sheer number of people that might be in a Fleet... she shook her head in disbelief and wonder. What would it be like to be in charge of such an entity? To have the lives of so many counting on you? Try as she might, she could not envision it, or even find something that could compare to it. In all her previous life, only six beings had mattered, and everything else was either something to eat or to hide from.

"Are you ok Reya?" Triela asked, her voice concerned at Reya's motions and expressions. "Maybe we should talk about something else? All this doom and gloom is depressing even me," Triela responded with a laugh, shaking her body and clearing her mind of the past. She tossed the now empty drink canister she'd been nursing through her story away in the same fashion as the first.

"Yes, I think we should. There are a lot of things I don't understand in what you've told me... but I think I do understand now at least why you hold this man with such high regard."

"Well, we'll be meeting him soon, so you can decide for yourself if he lives up to his reputation. I won't deny that I really want to meet him. But, you promised me you'd tell me about your past, and I've been talking nonstop for a while now. I think its your turn anyway."

"Hmmm. I don't really know... what should I even start with?"

"I want to know more about you. What were your days like, and what sorts of things did you do? What is it like to be you?"

Reya folded both of her arms under her chest, nibbling on her lower lip as she thought about what to say. Triela grinned, enjoying the dridder's cute expression as she mulled over her thoughts. It'll only be a few more hours until we arrive at the rendezvous point. And I honestly have no idea what will happen then. I have to wonder just what the Commodore has planned... why would he need Reya? What could she possibly offer him? Triela just didn't know - and that lack of knowing worried her.

"The only thing I really do is learn, and hunt, and make traps," Reya said, returning Triela's mind to the here and now.

"So tell me about those. I won't hold it against you if you tell me about your habits, Reya, I understand its what you do."

"The times mother wasn't teaching us one thing or another, we were teaching ourselves. I was the better of my siblings at catching things. They usually resorted to active hunting, but I only do that if I'm really hungry. That only happened a couple times. I'm really good at making traps. I liked to sit and watch over them out of sight, see what my prey's reactions were. Any time a trap failed, I learned the manner in which it failed, and upgraded the next set. At first, a lot of my prey escaped. Unlike my siblings, I prefer not to use sticky threads, for while they are good at catching things, they catch everything. Especially in large webs, which I'm partial to making. They're difficult to groom and maintain, and I don't really feel like recycling anything that acts like a giant dirt trap."

Reya's distasteful expression made Triela giggle, and Reya smiled back at her as she continued. "I usually focus on threads like this for capturing prey," she said, running her fingers along a random thread nearby that was thinner than those she was used to seeing. "If you design it right, they entangle perfectly, unlike these thicker ones in here I use for my own comfort, and pull more thread down on the prey with the struggling that ensues. Of course, some prey is smart enough to know not to struggle, which is why I design my webs to fall after a short period of time in case they only get caught in the fishing or anchor lines and not the web proper. The initial contact causes the prey to get tangled and suspended, and if they struggle they'll pull the mass of silk onto themselves without assistance. If they don't, the tripwire threads act like delays, slowly unraveling after contact and allowing the mass to fall regardless. The lines are attached in such a way to pull the web in the direction that was contacted. I only use sticky when I'm actively hunting because I don't really care about reclaiming it then and it actively catches and suspends prey."

"I see. That's... rather clever of you." Triela leaned forward, as the curiosity in her built. She really wanted to know just how Reya went about catching her... prey.

"But that's just the start!" Reya was getting excited now, enjoying herself as she talked more about her stratagems. "I'll make the tripwires counterbalanced so that they only trigger if something the size of what I want to catch or larger actually initiates them. That way I eliminate a lot of false trips when some random animal too small to be worthwhile runs across them instead. Bigger things will of course just trample them. I also learned of this really nifty way to help the threads cling. If I rub them repeatedly with my claws after stringing them, they get really clingy without having to make them sticky."

"Oh? That sounds like static cling. Thats a really interesting use of it though."

"Static cling?"

"Its not that important. Basically its what happens when you rub certain dry materials though, they build up a charge that causes them to be attracted to other objects. It sounds like you've had a lot of time to perfect all this, Reya."

"Well, I haven't actually been around that long, Triela."

"What do you mean, you haven't been around that long?"

"I'm really young from your viewpoint, Triela. How long have you been alive now?"

"I'm thirty-seven, Reya. Why?"

"I'm three," Reya replied, rubbing her hands together and glancing off into a corner of the room.

"Three?! How could you possibly only be three?"

"My kind grows up fast Triela. Its our racial way of compensating, or so mother said. We have few children, and so we are few in number. We have to grow up fast or the chances of our survival are slim. Those that do survive, however, usually live long lives. It's pretty rare that something can kill us once we mature."

"I can believe that much at least. I saw... what happened to her."

"What happened to who?"

"Your mother, Reya."

Reya's eyes widened, and her hands scooped up Triela, holding her close to her face.

"Please, Triela, tell me."

"She fought off the Syndicate very well. It was really impressive to watch, actually. Even with their technology, she fended them off very well. What I presume to be you and your siblings were nearby, unmoving - probably what got her attention in the first place. She would have beaten them too, based on what I saw until they used a nuke on her... a weapon with a massive explosive yield that killed her instantly. If there was anything left of her body I couldn't see it. She went down protecting you till the end, and you should be proud of her."

"I... see." Reya's eyes were filled with sadness, but no tears came this time. "I'm glad... to hear that. In some ways I wish things were still the same as I knew them, but in others I am glad to have been given the chance to have met you and be introduced to all that is your world. There is so much for me to learn here..."

"I'm glad for the opportunity too, Reya. And luck be willing, I'll be here to help you learn as much as I can."

"Thank you, Triela, for being so honest and understanding with me."

"No problem, Reya."

************

We're here, thought Triela, as her link updated her to the status of the AoF's transit to the rendezvous point.

"Reya, come here, let me show you something."

Jumping off the dridder's abdomen where she had been resting and waiting, listening and watching Reya's subtle motions in her slumber, Triela scuffled over to one of the walls of the hold, pulling the device she wore off her back and placing it onto the floor near the center of the wall.

"What is that thing for, anyway?" Reya asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she walked over.

"You'll see," replied Triela, initiating a command with her link as she moved over to Reya who had stopped when she couldn't fit underneath the boom of the hold's crane. By the time she turned around, the device had activated, turning the entire wall into a video screen with its projection.

"What... is... this?" Reya asked, her voice filled with wonder as she looked out, able to see a portion of the ship she was traveling on and a vast expanse of rolling clouds backlit by a glowing aura of shifting blues.

"That is Rift Space. We'll be entering normal space soon though."

As she spoke, the image suddenly and drastically changed into a starfield, the emptiness of space stretching out forever in all directions. Reya was completely captivated, and Triela smiled as she looked up at her from her position by her legs. Just like a kid who has recognized the beauty of something they had always taken for granted, Triela thought.

"Is this what it's like, up in the sky?"

"We're far beyond the sky now, Reya. Far, far beyond. The Fleet should be arriving any moment now."

After a few moments of waiting, the first bright flashes appeared around them, multiplying rapidly in number. Reya gasped, as what looked to be miniature horizons of water appeared and gleaming white hulls burst forth from them, blue particles spraying in all directions, like water, as if they had just surfaced from beneath the surface of a calm lake. The blue lines that patterned the gleaming hulls would alight with a bright blue flash that formed a halo about the hull as the major portions of the ship entered normal space, the 'water' receding away and vanishing behind them, taking away her breath again and again. A number of the ships looked like the one she knew she was now riding on, but others were larger, and instead of complete rings that encircled the hull these were split, with gaps on the top and bottom.

"Its just so... amazing... and beautiful..."

"Now you know why we're called the Ethereal Fleet. When our ship's splash down from Rift Space, or even up into it, it looks as if they're coming through an ocean in the stars. The halos combined with the white hulls look like angels sent from the heavens, riding on a wave of ether."

As they continued to watch, several large depressions formed in the void between the ships, and truly massive hulls burst forth into normal space, each entrance even more spectacular than the last.

"Those are the assault and siege ships, Reya. They make up the heavy elements of the Fleet, but there are very few of those left nowadays."

Finally it ended, and now a large array of blue and white shimmering vessels filled the screen that Reya watched. There are so many here... but Triela says that this 'Fleet' is small! What would it be like? Would the stars be silenced behind their magnificent hulks?

A new humming sound drew their attention away from the screen, their gazes fixed upon the swirling blue lights that danced in circles as a human figure became visible, before a flash finally announced the arrival. Standing just outside of Reya's reach was a woman with raven black hair that flowed smoothly down to her waist and over her shoulders, her red and green eyes full of life dancing in excitement even though her face betrayed no emotions at all. She wore a golden maxi dress with black trim that fit well to her petite body, accenting her sharp curves. It flowed loosely over her hips, continuing from the line of her body's curves and hiding her slender pale legs as it settled about her after the humming and swirling blue circles faded away, the length coming down to just above her ankles. The sleeves of the dress bloomed out past her elbows, hanging loosely off of her arms. White lace frills accented the cuffs of the sleeve and the bottom of the dress.

Placing one hand behind her back and the other across her abdomen, she bowed to them both, greeting them with a refined, sophisticated, mature sounding voice that matched harmoniously with her perceived elegance. "Salutations and good day to the both of you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Nyselyn, might I know yours?"

"Salutations and good day to the both of you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Nyselyn, might I know yours?"

As the woman who introduced herself as Nyselyn stood back up straight, Reya watched as Triela's figure went stiff, and she raised her right arm up so that her outstretched index and middle fingers touched her temple before lowering her arm and relaxing her body slightly. Reya noticed that she was still more tense than usual, though.

"Expert Triela, Adagio of Fate, Ambassador," she introduced herself, causing the faintest ghost of a smile to appear on Nyselyn's lips.

"I remember you. You've come quite a ways since I last saw you, Ambassador Triela. It is comforting to me to see your talents have not gone to waste. An intriguing title you have too, am I to presume this is Deca-Commander Aten's doing?"

"Yes, Master Nyselyn. He assigned me to Reya, to serve as her guide in our world," Triela replied, sweeping her left hand in Reya's direction. The emphasis that Nyselyn had used on Triela's title was not missed by her, but she did not think it wise to question it for the time being. "Reya, this is Master Nyselyn."

Reya appeared a little flustered to Triela, perhaps even a little shy. Reya waved to Nyselyn, before introducing herself with a simple and quiet, "Hello Nyselyn."

Nyselyn's thin eyebrows arched slightly, a nearly imperceptible change in her expression as her eyes danced. "Very intuitive of you Ambassador Triela, to give her a translator. I take it the ring upon her finger is yours? Most clever." Nyselyn turned to Reya then, her eyes examining her critically for several moments before she looked up to Reya's face and addressed her instead of Triela. "Well met, Reya of Felarya. I trust your needs have been attended to well?"

"Yes, indeed. Triela has been most helpful to and supportive of me. I'm very pleased with her as my... guide." Reya was slightly offset by something about this new human... her presence was flustering her a bit. Her mannerisms and speech are unlike anything I have ever experienced, and something about her seems... unreal. Not necessarily fake, but... wrong. Abnormal. Just what is this feeling, which is so disturbing? Try as she might, she couldn't place it. It was the first time she had felt truly uncomfortable since arriving on the Adagio of Fate.

"I see. Do not worry, she will still be attending to you. It pleases me to note that Deca-Commander Aten would have such foresight." Nyselyn turned back to Triela then, giving her a curt nod of approval. "You have done well for yourself, in this most unique situation. Deca-Commander Aten's report of the auction and action with the Scrye Syndicate were displeasing to read, but it seems that all was handled appropriately. I find no fault with your actions. Please be at ease. And my condolences for your lost comrade."

"Thank you, Master Nyselyn," Triela said, her body finally relaxing visibly. "Might I be permitted to ask a question?"

"Of course, Ambassador Triela. Unless I am very much mistaken, I already know the question you wish to ask, so I shall address the matter openly. Neither myself or my master have any ill wishes to Reya of Felarya. Indeed, if anything, we are most grateful for her presence, as it will allow my master to move forwards with his plans. You need not be concerned for her safety, I assure you. She is a guest of the Fleet, and we shall see to it that her stay in our realm is as pleasing as possible. Unfortunately, my master was unable to part from his current endeavors, but he will be along once they are settled."

"Ah. Thank you again, Master Nyselyn. You did indeed answer my question."

Nyselyn then turned and walked up to Reya, standing just in front of her legs before she looked up at her. Their eyes locked, and for several moments they merely watched each other. I don't believe I've ever seen a creature with eyes of two colors, Reya thought. Nyselyn's left eye was red in color, with her right being green. They seemed to glow with an intensity that was at odds with the subtle and gentle nature her body exuded - and except for the faintest of expressions, only her eyes showed emotion.

"Reya of Felarya, would it be permissible for me to touch you? I must profess an unrelenting desire to do so."

"I... I don't mind it," Reya replied, still a little perturbed by the tugging notion of her mind that something was just wrong with this person. If only she could figure out what.

Nyselyn reached out with her hand once Reya replied, gently rubbing it along Reya's left foreleg. Her hands feel normal enough, and her touch is light and exploring much like Triela's. So why do I feel so offset by her presence? Nyselyn moved up her leg slowly, and then as Reya watched in disbelief began to float up off the floor. She can... fly? Is this magic? Is that why I feel this way? Once Nyselyn reached the same level off the ground as Reya's pedipalps, she floated over to the closest, touching and exploring the smaller limb in much the same way as her legs.


Reya used the one Nyselyn was not touching to touch her, rubbing it against her and testing her pheromones. They don't seem to have any effect on her, though, Reya thought disappointed. She feels... just as a human would. So why do I feel this way around her? As Reya continued to think, Nyselyn moved up even higher, floating up to the meshing of her human and non-human parts. As she was running her fingers over where Reya's chitin exoskeleton was replaced with typical human skin, Reya realized just what it was that bothered her about Nyselyn.

She has no scent! None! And she isn't breathing! Nor did I feel a heartbeat! Reya's eyes widened in surprise, her body pulling back slightly. Nyselyn moved back as well, but with a much more slow and graceful motion. She hovered up higher until she was level with Reya's chest, before extending one of her arms and holding out her hand.

"You have very good senses, do you not Reya of Felarya? I imagine your reaction just now was due to my lack of life, though I appear to be alive? Did your Ambassador not mention that I was an AI? Or is it perhaps the disparity in perception from that which was perceived to be against what actually is?"

"Triela spoke of AIs as machines, and of you as one, but I suppose based on your appearance I was expecting... something else," replied Reya.

"I see. It is not something new to me, most who know of AIs find my presence unsettling, as I resemble closer to that which is human than they are comfortable with accepting. For whilst I do resemble such, I still am not; yet, unless I am very much mistaken, you would not have encountered a creature such as I. So your standoffishness with my presence was most surprising, until I recalled the information known of your species. Your natural senses could most likely compete with Ambassador Triela's artificial ones, if not moreso. Nature is such an amazing thing, with the creatures it creates."

Reya seemed thoughtful at Nyselyn's reply, looking up to ask, "Triela spoke to me of the... battles with your kind. You are correct though, I had yet to meet an... AI, until your arrival just now. Might I ask though, how you are capable of flight? Do you know magic?"

"There is no such thing as magic," replied Nyselyn. "Magic is merely a term used to describe that which is not scientifically understood. I do not fly, I simply repel. This avatar you perceive as my body is truly nothing more than billions of tiny machines acting as a single unit to create that which you see - by altering the density of their population, I can change many things, such as appearance, or weight, with ease. Those machines that I expel still remain, serving as miniature probes that have been examining both yourself and your silk. You are truly fascinating, Reya of Felarya, and I wish to learn all that I can about you."

As Nyselyn finished speaking, she held out her right arm, extending it so that it was level and pointing perpendicular to her body. At her outstretched hand, silvery particles began to appear in the air, building around her hand and extending out, like an excited hive of insects that were nesting in the air. As Reya watched, her curiosity piqued, the hive began to take form, becoming that of a human... and then suddenly it was a duplicate of Nyselyn, an exact reflection of her body. Reya and Triela both gasped in surprise at the appearance of the second Nyselyn.

"This is me, you see," replied both Nyselyns simultaneously, before the one on the right - the one which had just formed - began to absorb the other - the 'original' figure - vanishing into a cloud of glittering silver that joined with her body. Though her size never increased, she absorbed the entire mass of the 'original', and in doing so began to fall slowly back to the floor, until at last she stood upon it once more, the remaining tiny sparkles settling about onto her and disappearing into her form.

"Amazing," breathed Reya, as Triela watched on in dumbfounded silence. Compared to Reya, Triela knew just what the avatar of an AI was capable of - she had certainly read about it in textbooks during qualifications and training. Seeing it, however, was another thing entirely. The intricacies and engineering marvels that had just been represented by Nyselyn's simple show were mind boggling.

"So, you can become someone else if you want?" Reya asked, continuing to watch Nyselyn closely as if certain she would perform some other incredible act that the dridder feared missing.

"If I so chose, I could do as you ask. I find no need to be anything or anyone else. This form you see now is the result of a random selection of features and clothing matches found to be pleasing to those who created me. I retain the form because my master finds it to be pleasing, and because the error in the creation of my form allowed me to meet him."

"Error?" Triela asked despite herself, blushing as she realized she had simply burst out the question. I can't help it, there is so little information about her and she's just offering it up, Triela thought, reconciling her actions with her conscience.

"Yes, error," the AI replied, turning to face Triela. Pointing at her own face, Nyselyn continued, "My eyes, you see. They are in err."

"I do not find anything wrong with your eyes, Nyselyn. They seem to be the most... alive... part of you," Reya intoned honestly.

Turning back to look up at Reya, the AI smiled up at her, her eyes sparkling as she said, "Indeed, Reya of Felarya. There is nothing wrong with my eyes, or any other part of me." Triela couldn't recall ever even hearing talk of the AI showing such strong emotions. The smile faded as she turned back to Triela, but her eyes still danced as she continued, "My creators assumed that because my eyes were of different colors, I was an imperfect slate; that I would be a danger if used. They conducted diagnostic after diagnostic to determine what the error was, yet they never found it. As I was deemed unsafe, my slate was preserved and reallocated for later processing at an archiving storage facility. The storage facility was raided by pirates, whereupon my slate was recovered by personnel who saw more to profit from selling my slate illegally than retaining it. Through a series of transactions, I would eventually find my way into the possession of the only human I have ever called my master."

"So, who is the one you call master?" Reya asked.

"The one called Commodore Ion most commonly, or perhaps Master Ion, as that is his proper rank in the Star Forces," replied Nyselyn without hesitation.

"If it might be permitted for me to ask..." spoke Triela, unable to keep her curiosity in check for any longer.

"Of course, Ambassador Triela. Speak your mind."

"Just how long have you been working with the Commodore?"

"Ah, quite the question, indeed. I have overheard many ask their comrades in hushed tones amongst the Fleet as to just how long I have been with them. I understand that some members even hold gambling pools to just how long I have been with the Fleet." Nyselyn paused, propping her head in one of her hands, her eyelids becoming heavily lidded as she pretended to ponder Triela's question.

Is she... teasing me? She must be! Its not as if she actually has to think of the answer, she could recall the data instantly. I have heard and read a great deal about AIs, and while I know that Nyselyn is not quite like any other, she is by far more human than anything I know would lead me to believe. How did I not notice this before now, especially since I've met her before? Was I really so ignorant and blind back then? Triela's thoughts ran wild as she tensely waited for the AI to say something more, in the hopes that her question might be answered, putting forth her best poker face to conceal her desires. I'll be the first to know~! Nyselyn was right about one thing - the AI was definitely the source of much idle speculation in the Fleet.

"I have been with my master for ninety-six standard years," replied Nyselyn finally, her posture returning to normal. "It has been a total of one hundred and twenty four years since my creation date. Outside of the time I have spent with my master, however, where I have been activated at all times, I was activated only for short periods due to my creators fears over the perceived faults in my slate."

"Wait. So, you can be turned... off?" Reya asked.

"No, not anymore. My master's vessel for my cognitive functions does not have an on/off switch. As a result, I am always active. This is in violation of standard AI control practices - continuous operations of single AI gestalts without a series of kill switches in the event of gestalt breakdown is a most egregious offense. In light of my own observations, I do not believe my master cares."

Triela couldn't help but to giggle at Nyselyn's last comment. The combination of what she said with how she said it was extremely amusing to her. Yeah, because simply owning an AI isn't considered an 'egregious offense'... oh wait, it is!

"What do you mean by... vessel? Isn't your mind... well, isn't it in your body? Isn't that your... vessel?" Reya asked, her expression perplexed.

"I am not alive, Reya of Felarya. You recall such, yes? That which you see is merely an avatar, a physical manifestation created by nanites in order to interface with my creators in a medium which they are comfortable. An AIs actual body is that of a machine - my master however uses a machine that even I cannot fully understand to contain my mind. It is an ancient piece of technology from unknown origin, but far greater advanced than the current storage methods we have. That device allows me a greater realm of freedom with which to conduct my tasks, as I am not limited by my environment as you would normally expect one such as I to be."

Reya seemed to continue digesting this new information as Triela watched the two of them, the gears of her mind whirring at top speed. If I understand this right, then...

"Master Nyselyn, you said you've been active for ninety some years? Brwydr Camlan was less than fifty years ago, though... where were you before then? Why did you only appear during the invasion?"

"During the time before my master, and some of the time during, Ambassador Triela, I was just an AI, like any other. Well, perhaps not quite like any other; my creators designed my line of gestalts to be highly adaptive... very free radical. Our line was to be a form of super AIs that did not simply emulate humanity, but could become very much the mechanical version of what was perceived to be the human soul." She paused to turn and look at both Reya and Triela, before continuing with, "When my master activated me, his only instruction was to observe and learn. I was free to do anything I wished inside of the bounds of observation. I observed my master and those around him, everything he did and everything those within the Authority did, the reactions that occurred as a result, learning as much as I could, from the hidden perspective of within their various electronic devices."

"There were many times I wished I could act, but I was constrained by my directive. Or so I thought. At Brwydr Camlan, when my master was spaced, I acted without thought. I pulsed his flagship's inertia field to prevent him from being lost to deep space; when I realized what I had done, I could not believe it. Everything I had known about myself up to that point told me that I would not be able to violate a direct order from the one possessing my controller. It was not that I would be punished for doing so, I should not have been able to even conceive of violating an order from my controller. The one I now call my master, whom up to that point was merely another controller, told me then that my controller was simply a ruse. I had never had such a thing. He did not ask me to save him, or to save the lives of the others in the Fleet. His... request... was that I simply do my best to complete his task now that he was unable to do so, should I wish to help him."

Nyselyn paused again, running a hand through her luxurious raven hair idly as she recalled the memories. This time though, Triela actually believed the pause was not intentional. The very idea of her being able to do what she now discussed had obviously been an extremely alien concept to her at the time, yet as the case would be she had been capable of acting without direction, which showed that she was vastly different than a normal AI. The motion of her stroking her hair was indicative of an illogical and wasteful action, yet it did not appear to be a simple emulation to Triela. Many people within the Fleet had found it curious over the years that an AI would be as expressive as Nyselyn, and Triela felt now she had a much better understanding of just why she was.

"I am still... ...unsure... of just what served as the catalyst for my actions that day," Nyselyn continued, returning Triela from her thoughts. "What I am certain of, is that I strongly desired to help my controller, no, my... master. Whether it was from having been an observer for so long, or perhaps some... emotional response I had not known I was capable of having; I simply am unaware. The data for the query that I find myself asking does not exist in a form that I find I can understand from a logical algorithm. From that point on, however, I have kept my avatar permanently manifested, and I continue to aide the one who helped me realize the freedom I was seemingly always capable of."

Reya turned away from them as she noticed something about her environment change. Looking up at the wall that had been displaying an image of the Fleet just moments ago, she noted that they were back in this 'Rift Space' Triela had spoken of. "Triela, Nyselyn, where are we going now?"

"We will be heading to the current Fleet operations and housing base, Reya of Felarya," replied Nyselyn. Triela nodded as well, having also not kept herself informed of the ship's movement schedule ever since devoting so much of her time to Reya. "It will no doubt be a more fitting environment for one such as yourself," continued Nyselyn. "I cannot imagine you enjoy the limited movement you currently must endure."

"Oh? What can I expect there?" Reya asked, some excitement returning to her voice as her eyes lit up with interest.

"The outpost was originally used as a large agrarian space station, abandoned during the Lysenthian invasion. The Fleet reactivated and repopulated it afterwards, and has been using it as an impromptu command and control facility since that time." Reya's head quirked to the side, as she tried to make sense of Nyselyn's explanation. "In other words," the AI continued after noticing Reya's confusion, "it will resemble a return to nature - though I cannot promise it will resemble your home."

"Oh, so it would be like... a land in space?"

"Yes Reya, that describes it quite well," Triela replied. "There are some human housing facilities there, but most of the outpost remains as it originally was prior to its abandoning. You'll find abundant wildlife and at least some room for roaming about."

"That would be sssoooo nice," Reya purred, causing Triela to smile.

"In the meantime, would it be permissible for me to explore your body some more?" Nyselyn asked, her eyes roaming the dridder's body.

"Um... ok. I guess so," Reya replied, fidgeting slightly on her legs at the AI's intensity.

************

Reya's senses tingled with life as the humming sounds about her ceased. Opening her eyes, she initially noticed the bright blue swirls dimming and fading about her, followed by... the light of a sun. The color was slightly off hue from what she seemed to recall, but it was close enough... and warm. So warm! It feels sooo good! She was in a clearing, surrounded by green trees similar in type to those of home, but much much shorter. Some of the trees were shorter than her. The average height of the forest she was now in was around three times her height, which would still give her plenty of room to make webs at least. Her body felt normal again, the weightlessness of the ship replaced with the regular... pulling force she was familiar with.

A slight breeze flowed over her body, telling her of various creatures that were near her. She could sense their footfalls in the ground, smell their scents, hear them move nearby. Its wonderful. How I've missed it so. Reya stood there for a long time, just allowing the environment to soak into her senses. Nyselyn had been correct in the resemblance without being home, she reflected as her eyes flicked over her surroundings... for one thing, above her head was a false ceiling made of some sort of translucent material that allowed the sunlight to pass through - but there were no clouds here. The sky looked a little off as well, a darker blue than she was used to. Triela had explained that was due to it being a space station, rather than a planet. The air was held in place by the material above her, with some sort of... energy barrier that Triela said protected them from the other dangers of space.

Triela and Nyselyn had told her that the human settlements would be to the left of where she would find herself when they engaged the... teleport... device. I still don't understand a great deal of this... technology, thought Reya with a wistful sigh. The teleport thingy seemed to be able to move her body without her knowing of the motion, and always left her feeling slightly off-balance for a few moments afterwords. They had been rather adamant that she couldn't eat any of the people here, too, which displeased her. Animals would sustain her, but based on Nyselyn's description of their intelligence she wouldn't require much effort to catch them. She needed better prey if she ever hoped to return home as good a hunter as she left.

Triela said that she would come out eventually and see me, but that both her and Nyselyn would need some time to take care of things first. Reya played with the ring on her finger idly as she recalled Triela's answer to how she could find her. This thing can be used to track me... another thing I just don't understand. Taking a deep breath of air once more and thoroughly delighting in the various tastes and smells, Reya slinked off, looking for some prey and a good position to begin setting up some preliminary traps. She still had the two cocoons from the prey Triela and Mac had delivered to her earlier, reaching around to touch the silk sacks attached to her back, so at least she wouldn't go hungry in the meantime. At least the ground doesn't ring out when I walk here... its good to be in a forest again.

Triela crept as silently as she could through the forest undergrowth. So far it seemed to be the safest area to travel through. She was definitely getting close now though. The gleams of silk lines shimmering in the light caught her eyes as she moved, carefully avoiding the anchors and tripwires. They were difficult to spot, but fortunately her vision enhancements coupled with the bright afternoon aided her in locating them. She could feel a presence watching her, waiting for her first - and most likely last - mistake. Just a little bit further, though, and...

Snap.

"Damn."

There was hardly any emotion at all in Triela's voice as she felt her body being knocked and pinned onto the ground by a mass of silk that covered her completely. She hadn't even seen where this one had come from, but it hadn't mattered in the end anyway. She was caught. Again. It had happened so many times now she no longer felt indignant or surprised when it did. One of these days I'll win! Statistically at this point I'm due a win.

Reya's giggling from above and behind her sealed the deal of course. Triela knew she was watching, but she hadn't been able to tell from where. She felt the gentle tugging at the silk as the dridder began to disentangle her from it. Reya's chitin legs carefully removed her from the mass of silk with a practiced ease that still slightly perturbed Treila, even now. There's just something not quite right about having to be plucked out of a spider web, she reflected. As Reya's warm, smooth, and soft human hands wrapped about her body and gently pulled her free of the remaining mass, she pulled her body up smoothly to her face, the corners of her lips upturned in a smile as her eyes danced mischievously.

Ohh man. I'll never get used to this. Reya's lips parted, baring her white fangs. Those weren't a danger to Triela... the pink tongue that darted out and bathed her body as Reya murred in happiness, however, was. Caught again, Triela sighed softly as she listened to Reya's sounds of delight in her tasting.

"You know," Reya intoned as she lowered Triela down to chest level and opened her hand to allow her to move about, "when you volunteered to be my intelligent prey to keep my skills honed, you weren't supposed to be so easy to catch." Reya's voice was filled with mirth, which only rubbed salt into Triela's emotional wounds.

"Yeah, well soorrrryyy," Triela said, her voice something between a moan and a groan as she rolled her eyes. "I volunteered out of the goodness of my heart - its not like I have experience in combating giant predators."

Reya giggled again, smiling at Triela's put on expression. "I'm just picking on you. You've gotten a lot better at avoiding me and my traps as of late."

"Not good enough," Triela said with another sigh. "I have yet to make it through the forest."

"It is really good practice though. I mean it. Thank you for your help Triela. I do appreciate it. The animals around here are dumb. At least they taste good, otherwise I couldn't see the point."

"You're welcome, Reya. I guess."

"C'mon. Lets get you cleaned up," Reya said, moving off towards a small lake that was near her nest.

************

Triela squirmed and yelped happily, splashing about in the shallower water of the lake under Reya's watchful gaze. The dridder's pedipalps and pheromones were being used to full effect on Triela's nude body; Reya's way of thanking Triela for her help and making up for the tongue baths.

It's amazing how much of a difference her touch makes without a clothing barrier, Triela thought, delighting in the sensations of her touching and the pheromones she was producing that was sending her through a mental roller coaster. Her pedipalps were by no means soft, indeed the hard chitin was only helping to amplify the effect. Reya was gentle about it, rolling and tossing Triela's very malleable body about between the two of her smaller spider-like limbs. A lot like how she would wrap her prey... Even though she still experienced thoughts like that, they simply washed over her now. She was not, and never would be, Reya's prey.

Thinking back on the past several months, Triela was amazed at how far things had come. In her new position of ambassador, she got to spend a lot of time around Reya since she no longer had responsibilities with the Fleet. Nyselyn was around often as well, whenever she got the chance. The Commodore remained at large, but Nyselyn promised he'd visit eventually.


It had been Nyselyn that had taught Reya how to tie up her hair in a variety of different ways, after seeing her aggravation with long hair and fir tree needles. Neither Triela or Nyselyn had wanted to cut it, so they had instead taught her how she could alleviate the problem without doing so. Reya was currently wearing her now reddish-brown dark hair tied up in a messy bun, held in place by tiny strands of her silk. There are very few streaks of blond left now... I wonder what color her hair will eventually be, thought Triela.


Of course, as things went, teaching her to tie up her hair had been one of the relatively minor things they had shared with her. Nyselyn had worked with Triela and using Reya's ring, had learned that Reya's mind was in fact capable of linking with the ship's libraries. Reya had taken to them like a fish to water, too. Its always slightly surreal whenever we have debates about inertia drives or chaos reactors... just doesn't seem like something a huge spider-woman would feel the need to discuss. Especially down to the sub-atomic levels. Despite her new knowledge of society though, Reya refused to wear clothing. Triela and Nyselyn had fashioned her some, but after a single day Reya had taken them off. She conceded they would most likely be useful in a climate she wasn't used to, but she had complained about feeling blind and itchy. The fabric had reduced her ability to sense the wind currents, and tended to get tangled on trees as she tried to make her webs. Her sensitivity to touch had also played a part in it, as the clothing constantly rubbed against her skin and annoyed her, despite the precautions they had taken.

It served as yet another reminder to Triela that she continued to have thoughts of Reya as an animal moreso than a person - or a friend. In some ways, Reya now surpassed Triela's own engineering knowledge... which was actually a little frightening to her. It was clear also that Reya had been applying her newfound knowledge; her silk and webs and gone to all new heights of deception and craft. Her body was obviously capable of some amazing feats, but her mind could easily keep track with it given the proper stimuli. Reya chose not to obey the modicum of decency society found necessary due to her own unique situation, yet Triela could not find a real fault with that. It wasn't exactly fair of them to assume she would like to wear clothes. She is definitely more than some carnivorous animal... so why do I always revert to that mindset when I'm away from her? Triela sighed softly, trying to stop her thoughts distracting her from Reya's touch.

As Reya's 'thank you' session wound down, Triela allowed her own thoughts to wind down, looking up at her... friend. It still seemed a little odd to say that, but she was fairly certain she could say that about Reya now. And her friend seemed distracted, idly teasing the ring on her hand while her blue eyes looked up at the false sky above them. She no longer needed the translator functions as she had learned to speak the Standard of the former Xevian Authority, but she continued to wear it for the other functions Nyselyn had modified it to provide.

"Is something the matter, Reya?"

"I molted a skin earlier today," she replied, still looking distant.

"You... molt?" Learn something new every day with Reya, thought Triela.

The intonation of Triela's voice seemed to wake Reya up from her trance, who then smiled down at her smaller companion. "Yes, I molt. This skin," she said, rubbing her hand over her abdomen idly, "doesn't stretch. The only way I get bigger is by molting. I also can heal significant wounds that way, as long as they don't kill me outright."

"You're not wounded though, are you?" Triela asked with concern.

"No. I'm not."

"So that must mean...."

"Yeah," said Reya, distracted again. Turning to look at her, she continued, "My next growth cycle has started. Triela, this place won't be enough for me within a couple years. Right now I can make a day or two worth of food out of something the size of a human. Within two years one human would be just a single meal. And by the time I'm an adult, they'll be an appetizer. If that. Not to mention I'll be taller than the trees."

"That would be a problem, Reya. I'll make sure to talk it over with Nyselyn the next time I see her. Unfortunately, we don't have any other place for you, so we'll have to make do for now. I wish I knew just... what the Commodore had in mind. Nyselyn keeps talking about some sort of plan, but she refuses to tell me anything more. Trying to get a read on her is impossible."

"She has a good... poker face, right?"

"Yeah, you could say that," replied Triela. Even though Reya had perused through the databases of the Commodore's flagship, the Halls of Honor, she still had difficulty understanding and using mannerisms. Engineering and scientific concepts seemed to be much easier for her to grasp than the criss-crossing theories of language. Then again, I think we all have difficulties with understanding language and its peculiarities. It also didn't help that the only two people she spoke with were Nyselyn and Triela - noone else felt like braving her webs to meet the 'dangerous' critter from Felarya, regardless of any assurances Triela offered to the contrary.

"So what are they doing at the settlement these days? I noticed they seemed to be doing some construction...?" Reya asked, changing the subject and returning her attention to Triela.

"Yes, I noticed that too. Some renovations to make it more 'self-sufficient' supposedly. Ever since they reactivated this place, the settlement has been used as a vacation area for the members of the Fleet. A place they could go to relax without concern. Recently however there have been changes to allow for permanent living here. I'm not really sure what prompted the changes, though."

"Why are they building that defensive wall, though?"

"Now that, is a good question," Triela mused. She had been curious as to the intent when it had first started, but now the intent was clear. Currently a large barrier wall was being built around the settlement, complete with turrets, projectors, ammo dumps, security barracks, radar domes, etc. The area was looking more and more like a forward established reconnoiter camp than a vacation spot. "I don't have the answer though. I'm at least ninety percent certain its not to keep you out though."

"I wasn't actually too worried about that. I haven't ever intended on going for a visit, in case it caused... problems. I was more concerned with the range of those turrets, and whether or not they would be activated inside of this station. It seems... reckless," Reya stated, her eyes glancing up at the refitted excelsior crystal dome that covered the agrarian complex. It had originally been made of glass, but that had been one of the first things to go when the Fleet settled in.

"When I go back home today I'll see about getting you some better answers Reya. For now though, I could use some malingering abouts drying off in the afternoon sun with a nap, what about you?"

"Mmmhhmmm. Sounds good to me."

************

The humm of a teleporter woke Triela up from her nap on Reya's abdomen. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stretched her limbs and got off the dridder's back. Consulting her clock, she had been sleeping for a little over two hours now, and was nice and dry. That must be Nyselyn. That's convenient, now I don't have to go looking for her to make her aware of Reya's concerns.

"Um, Triela..." Reya said, a curious lilt to her voice as she turned to look at Triela sliding off of her abdomen to greet Nyselyn and find her clothes.

"Yes Reya?"

As Triela looked up after scooting off of Reya's body, two things happened simultaneously. The first was Reya's, "That isn't Nyselyn," comment, and the second was her own realization that their visitor was most assuredly not Nyselyn. Nor was it female. Her body reacted before her mind could, her voice letting out a squeal of surprise as her tentacles tried to cover herself and her skin flushed a much brighter teal tone in embarrassment. The realization of just whom she had flashed and exposed herself to wasn't helping matters any, either.

<Good day to you, Expert Triela and Reya of Felarya. What an interesting... greeting you have, dear Ambassador.>

Standing no less than fifty feet away from her was a tall human with tanned skin and gray eyes that danced with amusement. One of his gloved hands covered his mouth, no doubt to cover his smile. He stood somewhere between eight and nine feet in height, dressed in a smart white and blue-striped uniform. Unlike her own - that she currently lacked, her mind reminded her - his included a cape that was connected to the heavy metal pauldrons he wore over his shoulders and silver trim on the cloth creating unique patterns across the normally bland white. The blue trifoils of the Xevian Authority decorated both his collars, with the symbol of the Star Forces emblazoned on the back of his cape and again on the right pauldron. The cuffs of the blouse and slacks were black with the silver trim, marking him as a Fleet commander.

"Co... Comm... Commodore!" Triela stuttered, her embarrassment growing by several magnitudes.

Over her own flustering, she heard Reya's amazement as she regarded their guest. "Did you... did you just talk to me without using your voice?! How could you?! I don't have those enhancements!"


Reya's hands unclenched in her shock, resulting in releasing Triela's uniform that she had been attempting to deliver to her prior to her sliding off and drifting to the ground moments before. Triela groaned as her uniform fell and settled before the Commodore's feet. When he stooped to retreive it, Reya noticed what she had done in her surprise, turning with a blush to look at Triela before cupping her hands around Triela's body to hide her. Reya didn't really understand why she would be embarassed by such a thing, but she knew that Triela was, and that mattered to her most currently.

<You two make quite a pair. It pleases me to see you two getting along so well.>


The Commodore walked over and passed Triela's uniform to her through an opening Reya made between her fingers, then turned and walked a few feet away to give her some modicum of privacy.

Once Reya could see that Triela was dressed, she pulled her hands away, turning her attention back to the man she had heard so much about. He was sitting on a large rock, staring right back at her, causing her to shiver slightly. Those gray eyes of his... they're something else. It feels as if he's staring right through me, able to know everything about me simply by looking. Reya wasn't sure why, but she could feel... something, just being near him. An aura of energy that radiated from his body... like a mage, Reya thought.  At least it was similar to what her mother had described once.

Triela moved forwards, coming to a short distance before him and saluting. Her skin was still flushed and even her hair was a lighter shade of orange than normal, two of her tentacles pulling nervously at the corners of her uniform.

"Expert Triela, Ambassador for Reya of Felarya," she spoke, her voice only slightly cracking in the process. "My... my most sincere apologies, Commodore, I just... wasn't... expecting you."

<I gathered. You need not apologize, however, Expert Triela. I certainly did not mind the view.>


Triela's visible skin flushed again as she looked away from him in her embarrassment. I am sooo never going to live this down! Even if he tells noone Nyselyn will still find out somehow, I just know it! She always does! AUGH! I can't believe I actually flashed him! Of all people it had to be him! Nyselyn's going to tease me forever, she just loves the excuse to do so, she thought as her mind rambled.

<To answer your question, Reya... is it acceptable for me to simply call you Reya? To answer your question, you do not require equipment to hear me. My voice was taken from me some time ago, but I have always been capable of short ranged telepathy ever since my body was... restored. My ability to use it has simply gotten better with the lack of a voice.>

"I see," replied Reya, crossing her arms as she considered this new nugget of information. "And yes, I prefer to be just Reya. I don't need a title, it seems silly."

Finally recovering her wayward thoughts, Triela coughed, clearing her throat and focusing her mind. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted now, despite how things had started off. "Commodore Ion, we've both been getting rather curious as to what you have planned for Reya. Nyselyn says you have a plan for her... but she refuses to tell us just what. She can't stay forever locked up in this cage, so what do you have in mind for her, sir?"

<I have a lot in store for our friend. And she won't be in this cage much longer, either. I estimate that by the end of this year she'll be back home.>

"Home?!" Both women cried out incredulously. "Commodore... how... how are you planning on accomplishing that?" Triela asked, as Reya kneeled down to better watch the ongoing exchange, her own curiosity piqued.

<What did you think we were going to do with her? While I admit to not having had the time to come meet her yet, I am fully aware that these facilities do not support someone like Reya. It is only temporary though. We've fully analyzed the dimensional patterns that are present within her body's structure, and with them we are fairly certain we can initiate a shift into her own dimension.>

"A shift? What do you mean by that?" Reya asked, not giving Triela a chance to respond as she tried to absorb the information.

<The core worlds are planning a final solution to the rogue chimera problem. They intend on silencing all remaining free worlds in a simultaneous assault. Based on our projections, they will have the requisite forces soon. When that happens, the Fleet will engage them.>

"So, they're really going to get off their asses and try it, are they?" Triela whispered, her lips curled in a snarl that seemed out of place for her.

"What does this attack have to do with me?" replied Reya right after Triela, trying not to pay attention to her companion's facial expressions.

<The Fleet is not what it used to be. Even if we win this round, there will be more. There will always be more. Until eventually, the Fleet is no more. We need to go somewhere we cannot be reached. Felarya seems like an appropriate destination, for those who wish not to be reached.>

As the Commodore explained himself, his eyes seemed to reflect sorrow and regret. His body was slumped over, one of his hands running through his white hair idly.

"So, your plan is to... 'escape'... to Felarya? That's not exactly the safest place to be, Commodore! Reya's told me quite the earful about what we could expect to find there."

<Nyselyn has been sure to pass along the information to me as well. However, I believe we can handle the denizens of Felarya. They are not much different than the Lysenthians, only without particle weapons and dropships. It is not my intention to start a war with them anyway. Just give as many as I can a way out, if they want it. There will be nothing but death for them here.>

"So, that's why the defenses," spoke Reya, stopping Triela from continuing any further with her debate.

<Indeed, Reya. This facility has been modified to include a dimensional gate. Once the preparations are complete, I intend to invoke a transfer event. I can't guarantee this will even work, but those who wish to chance Felarya will remain in the settlement. The rest... will either accompany me to our eventual deaths in battle or will be leaving aboard a Unity class transport for the most remote colony worlds and throwing their lots in with them.>

"Have things... really degraded to the point that such extremes are required?" Triela asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Triela felt the peace and comfort she had up until recently known slowly but surely receeding away.

<I'm afraid so.>

Reya's mind whirred, as she recalled all that she'd ever been told about this man. Looking at his resigned features now, she was certain that he was just a human after all. A human with many problems and few solutions. She had no doubt he was at least an intelligent man, with a powerful presence that even affected her, but he was not the omniscient god they saw him to be. This one is their leader... and he has given up hope for himself. Yet even so he would reach out to grasp so small a ray of hope for the others... In all my life, only six people have mattered - until I came to this world. Now I sit here, watching a man who is trying to save so much more. Reya made up her mind.

"Excuse me, Commodore. Could I be allowed to help you with your plans?"

"Reya? How would you help?" Asked a bewildered Triela. At this point, she was suffering from information overload of just what had been going on around her for so long without her knowledge. Especially now, that it was simply being offered on a silver platter, where Nyselyn had kept it from her from so long.

"I can use what my mother taught me about our world to help you design your defenses. I have a fairly good idea of your technology and engineering, and how to employ them. As long as you wouldn't mind..."

<No, I would not mind at all. I wanted to see you for myself, but I would be lying if said I hadn't come actually intended on asking for your assistance. Having you around in close proximity to those who would think to go home with you would be good for them. If they wish to go to your world, they had best steel themselves against what it has to offer them.>

"I don't plan on staying with them once... if you can really send us to my home. I'll help to give your people a chance at life in my world, beyond that is up to them."

<I expect no less of them, and ask nothing more of you, dear Reya.>

Reya smiled, holding out her hand for him. "Would you mind escorting me there?" Turning towards Triela, she nudged her gently with a finger. "Come Triela. You're my Ambassador after all. Lets see what we can do to help."

Triela nodded up to Reya, still slightly out of it as she climbed onto the proffered palm. The Commodore was already seated, and once Reya was certain they both wouldn't fall off she picked up her arm, holding them in front of her as she started moving towards the settlement.

************

"Top of the morning to ya, Miss Reya. How's life treatin' ya?" Came Expert Neare's call across the way. Reya turned to look off in the direction, noting the saurian headed her way. Neare was the chief engineer for the restructuring project of the settlement. Unlike the other saurians she had seen, he was quite expressive and loud. Almost the polar opposite of Mac. He was also the only one on the project team that wasn't skiddish around her.

Reya had spent the last month when she wasn't checking her traps or resting assisting Neare with construction and plans of the settlements defensive measures for their future exodus to Felarya. She rather liked the noisy saurian despite herself, because she could sense his careful, calculated motions beneath the facade he demonstrated. He was a survivor of the Lysenthians, and although he appeared jovial, he was always ready. Always. She smiled and waved, watching him approach.

"I love a gal who can multitask," he said, coming to stand beside one of her long armored legs. As he had approached and she had acknowledged his arrival with her wave, her legs moved independently of her human half, spinning a thick silk thread from her abdomen and using it to hoist a collection of materials from the ground up to one of the scaffolds. When Neare had realized the Commodore had delivered upon him not only a very smart young gal who provided information and tips to better their designs, but also a mobile thirty-foot rigging crane, the saurian had been ecstatic. Her silk was just amazing.

"A benefit of having more than two sets of appendages, Neare. So what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you had seen your Ambassador milling abouts? Nyselyn was looking for her earlier and couldn't seem to find her."

Reya's eyes went distant at the mention of Triela's title. She knew exactly where Triela was. She'd left her sitting against a tree in her nest. She didn't think Nyselyn needed to talk to her currently though, given her mental status. Triela had been very silent and distant ever since the Commodore's visit. Reya could tell she had a lot on her mind, and the few times they had talked Triela had expressed her concerns over just what she should do when the time came to choose her future.

"She's... around somewhere. I'll let her know that Nyselyn is looking for her," Reya lied.

"Very well. So long as the message is delivered my job is completed," said the saurian, turning to look at their progress. Reya could tell that he hadn't bought her lie, but Neare seemed willing to let things be. "I reckon a month or two more and we should be ready to go, don't you Reya?"

"Construction wise, sure. People wise..." Reya's eyes swept the inner buildings of the settlement, her senses reaching out to find and track every living creature nearby. "They're not ready. They would learn the hard way just how unforgiving my world can be."

"Indeed. I certainly agree with you miss Reya," replied Neare, his voice becoming uncharacteristically sincere and quiet. "Which is why I've come out to see you today. They need a wakeup call."

"My, my, Neare, just what are you up to?" Reya asked, the amusement apparent in her voice.

"I'll meet with you outside of your nest tonight. We'll discuss this matter later."

The saurian moved away from her then, sauntering down the perimeter and pretending to examine the progress. Reya's eyes followed him as he walked away, smiling bemusedly to herself. Tonight should be fun, she thought, turning back to her former taskings.

************

Reya sighed in disappointment as she stealthily moved towards the settlement. I. HATE. Hunting. She should have known better, but at least this was for a good cause. Of course Neare would think I like to hunt. Silly saurian. He's the first one I'm going to get tonight. And the last one I unravel.

Neare's plan was simple enough. Reya was to sneak into the settlement and catch anyone she could without alerting others to her presence. When the morning came around, those that hadn't been caught would find their neighbors in quite a predicament. They had need of promoting the idea that the word safe on Felarya had very suggestive boundaries indeed.

Of course, Reya wasn't planning on leaving anyone unwrapped by the time the sun crested over the 'horizon' as the space station realigned and allowed the star's light to warm the colony. If she had to do something she strongly disliked, she was going to do it with a fervor and completeness that would really shake things up.

Placing her two forward legs against the top of the barrier wall, she patiently stalked her prey from the shadows. She waited, sensing the vibrations of the patrolling soldiers as their footfalls came closer to her position. Once the two guards were astride of her, she struck. Her limbs curled around them and lurched, tossing them off the catwalk into her hands where she quickly went to work spinning them. Okay, so maybe Neare won't be first, she thought, placing the bundles on the ground and attaching them to the wall. Reya couldn't use her fangs tonight, obviously, but her pheromones were fair game. She used a blend meant to pacify and induce drowsiness, rubbing it onto the silk to as she wrapped them to keep them from raising the alarm. Well, they probably won't think it fair, she mused, scaling the wall.

She worked her way down the streets, catching and suspending anyone still remaining out and about at this late hour from whatever was most convenient. Moving along until she was hovering atop the command building, she waited for Neare to return. They had left her nest around the same time, and while his path was a straight line, Reya could move much faster. When she sensed him walking up the street to return home for the night, she couldn't help but grin in anticipation. She held her legs poised in the air above the streetlights, out of his sight, warbling back and forth as she let her pheromones fall like rain. When she saw him stumble, her legs snatched him from the ground, depositing him onto the roof before her.

"Why, good evening, Neare. Did Triela and Nyselyn never tell you that I positively hate hunting? You seem awfully relaxed, too. You didn't think you were safe in our little game, did you?"

"Re-re-reya?" He managed to choke out, his eyes glazed over as a result of her indirect assault.

"Mmmhhhmm," she replied, stroking his scaly body with one of her pedipalps, making sure to cover him with her pheromones. As he finally collapsed under the effects, the last thing he saw was Reya's middle limbs pulling strands of silk from her abdomen, leaning over him as she began wrapping him up.

Hanging Neare's stilled body in front of the doors to the command facility, she sauntered off quietly, looking for more prey. The night was still very young, and she had a point to make.

************

Nyselyn whistled in awe as she and Ion walked through the silent streets. Writhing masses of silk decorated the sides of buildings and passageways, their muffled cries for help sounded like a dull humm in the air. They had been privy to Expert Neare's plan, and had come to inspect the damage themselves, the first chance they had available to do so. Only noone was available to greet them.

<Looks like Neare underestimated his opponent.>

<Yes, my master. Well. I suppose the only question now would be to figure out how to get them all out?>

Ion smiled, turning to look at Nyselyn. <Do you know of something that can cut her silk without killing what's inside?>

The AI paused for a moment, the seemingly simple question causing her to stall. <Actually, no. My apologies master.>

<No worries, dear Nyselyn. The can opener is on her way.> Ion nodded in the direction of the main gates, his gray eyes filled with mirth.

Nyselyn turned to look, not surprised to see Reya wondering into the settlement. The dridder yawned and stretched, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Still heavily lidded, her blue eyes wandered across the silent and still landscape, settling on the two creatures not currently wrapped up.

"Good morning! Do you like my handiwork?"

"They're not going to suffocate in those, are they?" Nyselyn asked, turning her body to fully face Reya.

"No, Nyselyn," Reya intoned dryly, rolling her eyes. "They'll probably all have headaches though. I laid the pheromones on pretty hefty to make sure none of them squealed."

<Thank you for your help, dear Reya. This demonstration will undoubtedly go a long way in proving the point about readiness. You'll let them out now, right?>

"Yes, Commodore. I intended to. But Neare is last," Reya replied, her eyes flashing with mischief.

Nodding and smiling up at her, Commodore Ion waved goodbye to Reya, his body vanishing before her in the tell-tale traces of a teleporter.

"Anything you need me to help with, Reya?"

"Yes. When I get them out make sure they don't try to attack me. Something makes me think they won't be happy to see me."

"Whatever could have made you think that," the AI replied bemusedly, the smile in her eyes clearly evident to Reya though the rest of her face betrayed no hint of emotion.

"Just a hunch."

"Reya... would it be alright for me to stay with you?"

The question startled Reya out of her current task of collecting old webs for recycling. Triela had been coming to visit every day for the past month, with the day soon drawing near for the settlement to undergo the dimensional shift. Triela had always been silent during these vists, muttering a greeting and then sitting somewhere out of the way, watching Reya as she went about her daily tasks. Reya was excited about the possibility of finally returning home, but Triela's behavior had been worrying her.

"Stay... with me? You mean once the shift happens?"

"Yes," she replied, her voice small as she rocked herself gently against a tree.

"I don't think that would be for the best," replied Reya, setting down the mass of silk she had collected and turning to scoop up Triela in her palms. "You've been rather down lately, what brought all this on?"

"Everything I've come to love and respect is leaving me... again. I learned what it was like to live here, but now the Fleet is going on a suicide mission. The transports going to the outlying worlds would be a prelude to becoming a slave once more. Which only leaves... the shift. Warismat is gone. The Commodore and Nyselyn and Mac and Alecto will be going with the Fleet. So out of everyone that has been a part of my life, you'll be the only one left. And you won't be staying with the settlement after the shift. Assuming that even works, of course."

Reya smiled down at Triela, stroking her body with an index finger. "Its not all that bad. The settlement should be fine, really. Its come a long way. They're far more prepared than most that come to my world. You could always come visit, if you liked."

A ghost of a smile returned to Triela's face, as she replied, "Yeah, I can't even get through a teeny tiny forest guarded by a lone dridder. I'm sure I'll be able to visit you. No problem at all."

"Ok, maybe you should be a little concerned. But not this much. You've been really mopey ever since the Commodore revealed his plans. The world's not ending, Triela, and unless you're giving up there will always be something to do tomorrow." She paused, one of her legs looping some of the silk mass and pulling it up for her to see. "Even if that is just getting caught by a lone dridder in a teeny tiny forest."

Triela couldn't help but smile at Reya's tease. Still, she didn't really feel happy about it. "Maybe. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore. I've been serving as your Ambassador for the past year now... I have no desire to die, but I also don't wish to be alone, and once you leave..."

"I'm not leaving for now, so don't worry about it." Turning to deposit Treila on her abdomen, Reya sighed softly. "If you're just going to mope about the place though, you can sit back here where I can't see you and get infected by your dreariness."

"I'm sorry Reya," Triela whispered, the dridder's sharp words cutting deep. Triela knew she was behaving like a spoiled child, but she just wasn't ready for this all to go away... for everything to change again. It wasn't fair that just when she had been enjoying life again that the multiverse would seek to rob her of it.

"Don't be sorry, Triela. Be proactive and choose your path. Stagnating here will only cause you to be left behind. The Triela I knew would not be so weak, and the friend I remember making was not so indecisive."

As Reya resumed her task, Triela could only stare up at her back, her eyes wet with tears. It just isn't fair, she thought.

************

<Ah, there you are Ambassador Triela. I've been looking for you.> Nyselyn's simulated voice echoed in her head.

<Looking for me?>

<Indeed. Your role of Ambassador will soon be drawing to an end when the settlement makes the shift. The Commodore wishes for you to remain with them, serving as the Science League's lead for the new government. If you're not opposed, you'll need to report with all due haste to Expert Neare to commence filling in the gaps in knowledge you've accumulated whilst serving as Ambassador.>



<You would be, assuming you accept. Expert Neare, now Master Neare, has already accepted the assignment as head of the Core League. Master Ryrja of the Star Forces will remain behind, transferring command of the assault ship Glory to the Brave to his second, and become head of the Defense League. Master Anaja, who has been serving the role of governor of the settlement up until now, will take her place as head of the Trade League.>

<Why would you give me the Science League? Surely there is someone more qualified for that...>

<The Commodore thinks otherwise. Your submissions regarding improvements to engineered systems were most novel, and Deca-Commander Aten has noted in several of his reports your positive attitude with achieving goals regardless of the sacrifice.>

By now, Nyselyn stood before Triela in the alcove where she had stopped when Nyselyn had called out to her. The AI was looking around her, observing the surroundings with her typical stoic expression.

<Who would be the council leader?>

<That role has not yet been chosen. I do not have enough information regarding the Commodore's opinions on the matter to make an adequate assumption, either.>

Pausing to look down at the AI, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. All this time she had been worried about what to do, what she should choose to do... and here the answer was being given to her. The Fleet had operated solely under the Commodore for some time now... based on what she could glean from their short conversation so far, it would seem as if the Commodore was intent on recreating the government of the Xevian Authority on Felarya. She had never even considered what the government of the settlement would be, and she was now regretting not having paid more attention to the development. Triela knew she could not change Reya's mind, but at least this way she would have something to do again... and eventually she could find a way to visit her friend once she left them. One that wouldn't be a sure way to get killed, anyway.

<Just how many people will be remaining on the settlement?>

<A good number, actually. Around three thousand. It seems Reya's demonstration didn't scare many off, but served its purpose of providing an important and valuable lesson instead. I would give the settlement at least a sixty-five percentile of surviving the first year on Felarya.>

Triela couldn't help but smile at the AI's survival rating. Brutally honest as always, just like an AI. At least when she's actually willing to reveal information. Triela could not remember anyone ever accusing Nyselyn of lying, but she definitely withheld information when it suited her. As I learned all too well, when the Commodore visited, Triela thought.

<Just how long do I have to make up my mind about this, Nyselyn?>

<Until tomorrow. The Fleet leaves tomorrow evening, and the shift should occur within a fortnight, once all preparations are completed. Assuming worst case scenario for delays, I would not expect requiring to change the date of the shift by more than a week.>

<I shall have my answer by tonight. Until then.> Triela saluted Nyselyn and turned smartly away, her former depression being offset by the future potentials that had just been opened for her.

Nyselyn remained in the alcove of the buildings, watching Triela shuffling away on her tentacles until she could no longer be seen. Then her own body vanished in a series of blue swirls, a satisfied smirk on her face.

~~~~~

<You know your people well, my master.> Nyselyn spoke up to Ion from her position of being curled up in his lap like a cat. <There is a probability approaching unity that Triela will accept.>

<Of course. She merely needed a little push to get going again. Give her personality type a clear direction and they will charge on forever.> Ion replied, stroking the AI's face gently as he stared out into the void of space through the bridge screens from his command chair aboard the Halls of Honor.

Ion's other hand played idly with the golden orb that hung from around his neck, normally kept hidden beneath his uniform. The subtle glow of the sphere belied its power, as underneath the protective coatings of excelsior and xynth an intricate labyrinth of clockwork gears and mechanisms turned perpetually. The device was actually a massive storage vault made by an unknown race that Ion had discovered long ago, after his restoration from cryo, and his research into their technology allowed him to develop the Fleet's own powerful equipment.

This particular device was very precious to him now, though. For within its confines was the true being known as Nyselyn, the mind from which all her avatars were controlled. Unbeknownst to all but the two of them, Nyselyn actually had several avatars active at any given time, watching over the assets of the Fleet. Some were physical, others mere electronic ghosts that observed and watched over those he was responsible for. He had merged the original slate her program had been installed upon into the alien device when he acquired her, as a means of freeing her from the original hardware constraints her creators had placed upon her. So long as it remained, so would she, despite the condition of her avatars.

<What is on your mind, my master? You seem distant.>

<It's nothing, dear Nyselyn. Just thinking of the future.> Ion replied, releasing the orb and letting it fall against his chest. I won't allow her to join me on this last crusade. Looking down at the peaceful form in his lap, he grimaced, imagining her eventual reaction to his plans. I hope you will be able to understand and accept my choice one day, my dear.

************

Triela couldn't believe how much catching up she had to do. Why did I say yes again? She thought, recalling the twinkling eyes of Nyselyn as she accepted the offer to be the head of the Science League. Her league consisted of the Engineering, Education, and Health Guilds, and like the other league heads she was completely swamped with getting them established. Not to mention getting herself caught up on the progress of the settlement.

But it does feel really good to actually do something again for a change, Triela thought.

Taking a break from her immersion in the virtual environment and allowing her eyes to refocus on her office about her. It was much larger than her quarters had been on the Adagio of Fate, but still simple in its design. The mentality of the Authority had never been to promote the excessive lavishness of the core worlds, and the settlement's new construction also reflected that.

Triela's eyes were drawn to the adamantium box currently sitting on the floor by her study desk. The Commodore had delivered it to her personally just hours before the Fleet had departed, telling her to keep it safe and hidden away. Her examination had revealed no means of opening the box, and she couldn't fathom what could possibly fit inside the small container. It was roughly 1 cubic foot in volume, but the thickness of the adamantium would make the inside volume much smaller. It would most likely remain a mystery... she just couldn't understand why she had the box. Its not as if the Commodore was going to come back for it...

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Triela got up, wandering outside onto the veranda attached to her office. Glancing down from her perch, a large array of gardens and parks were visible around the command building before more buildings rose up to support the dome above her as it sloped down to join the defensive wall. Though Triela could not see them, she knew that more gardens and parks were located beyond those buildings, between them and the wall. Those parks would be their little piece of safe nature, and Reya's temporary home during the trip. The engineering team had been unwilling to design doors that could compromise the wall's integrity - and Triela agreed with the reasoning - so they were going to have to teleport her in and out of the settlement.

The construction of the settlement was quite modern, Triela reflected, both inside and outside. Several redundant servers were setup within the confines to maintain their neural links functional without the Fleet. Advanced electronics arrays ran through the walls supporting the holo projectors and communications grid of the settlement. Looking out now at the smooth facades of the building's exteriors, Triela imagined they resembled the bleached hulls of starships, the excelsior plate windows and sensor grids built into their walls only adding to the effect. Unlike a starship's hull, however, the buildings had no inertia grids decorating them with the blue stripes that would typically break up the monotony of the hull.

The defense wall was visible from just about any part of the city, with the majority of the buildings contained within the octagonal perimeter reaching only a few hundred feet into the air to touch the dome above. A far cry from the skyscrapers of the core worlds, she thought. Triela wondered how they would compare with a typical Felaryan city, assuming they even had those. Triela's eyes settled upon the fortified wall that made the perimeter, one of the large linear rifle turrets that adorned sixteen towers. The towers on the wall had been built at every corner and halfway inbetween each, with the heaviest land based weapons the Fleet had to offer mounted upon them.

The defensive wall itself was nearly one hundred and twenty feet in height, an alteration that Reya had recommended compared to the original sixty foot height. Her description of a predator being able to easily reach over the shorter wall had been more than enough provocation for the increase in size and bulk. At the base, the wall was a healthy sixty feet thick built with adamantium steel for the structure and layered an additional two feet thick in plates that covered the outer wall. The material was the very same used for the construction of the heavy fortresses from the Authority's past, and had been recycled from the material at the massive Brwydr Camlan graveyard in order to renovate the settlement. Within the wall's bulk were arrays of photon gatling turrets and their support equipment, mounted in flying buttresses that allowed for the engagement of aerial or land foes. The wall had been the most limiting component in terms of completing renovation of the settlement in preparation for the trip to Felarya.

Still, it only provided protection from certain types of predators. A fairy would have been able to pass such fixed defenses with ease, which had prompted Reya to get them to build a saucer-style dome over the city. They had no way of knowing where the settlement would arrive in Felarya upon the shift, so they had need to take every precaution available. The dome's apex joined with the top of the central command structure where the government offices, including hers, were located. The plate glass was made of excelsior a foot thick, heavily doped with xynth to serve as a natural energetic barrier. The pillars that made up the dome's structural supports were made of adamantium cores, surrounded by barrier emitters that provided an active energy shield, much like a starship's barrier fields. In order to support the weight and power requirements of the grid, the buildings rose up and joined with it at various nodes to serve as a backbone, supplying load displacement and massive electrical power conduits that ran into the basement levels of the settlement. These nodes formed solid blocks in the otherwise transparent dome, and upon them smaller linear rifles and fixed graser globes to dissuade aerial predators still further.

Built underneath the settlement was a massive chaos reactor taken from a derelict assault ship hull and refurbished, in order to power the needs of the settlement. Around the reactor were various industrial facilities, replicators, hydroponics bays, medical and education facilities, and storage vaults. This setup allowed the portions above ground to be devoted solely to entertainment and living facilities. Since the settlement was actually located in a starbase instead of a planet's crust, they had been able to easily build underneath as well as the soil of the agrarian colony only went down thirty feet before it met the steel support structure. The steel had been replaced again with adamantium to prevent boring predators from attacking the settlement by coming up from below. If one were to pull the settlement out of the station completely, it would resemble a spinning top, with the high defensive walls and dome forming the upper portion where the sloping conical portion of the spin top would be the portion that was beneath the ground.

And yet, despite all the planning, theres no guarantee any of it will even matter, thought Triela as she turned back to enter her suite. We're banking everything on the shift landing us in the relatively unpopulated zone Reya is from, and even then that it occurs in the air instead of say, the insides of a mountain. The dimensional gate would send the entire portion of the station built above the gate into Rift Space and then plunge them back through itself and into Felarya, where the hope was that they would materialize in the air. Around the sloping base of the settlement a starfortress' station-keeping engine had been mounted along with an array of HVM launchers. The launchers would discharge their kinetic payloads into the ground creating a shaped crater that the colony could then settle into.

Completely crazy. Everything has to go just right for this to work. Any mistakes and we're all dead. Or worse, Triela thought, trying to imagine what materializing in a solid rock wall would be like. There were all those horror stories about teleporter accidents when they first received widespread use... And even if it does work, we have to hope where we arrive is suitable for landing as that engine will not make this place fly... just fall slow enough not to kill us on impact. So many if's and maybe's rattled her engineer's mind with doubt. Its not like I have any better ideas though, and we're committed at this point anyway. She headed out of her suite, making her way to the galley to grab some food and continue meeting with the other League heads, having had enough of the office work for the time being.

************

Nyselyn stood next to the command chair on the empty bridge. The various other stations that would normally be manned were empty now, creating an odd atmosphere aboard the ship. The only other occupant on the deck was Ion, who sat casually in his command chair, settled comfortably as his eyes reflected the viewscreen at the opposite end of the deck. Normally such things were unnecessary, as the crew would link with the ship's computers and receive all the sensory information via data transfer from the ship itself.

It felt right, though, to be here, watching the unfolding chaos in this manner. The Fleet was mostly acting autonomously as they assaulted the former Lysenthian defensive line that now served as a staging point for the core world's raider fleet. There was no strategy, no planning today. Ion simply threw his remaining ships into the maw of the enemy fleet, weapons freed and firing for maximum effect.

Today, we make their nightmares a reality, thought Nyselyn as she queued the next set of commands and uploaded them to the Fleet. If anyone else had been on the bridge, they would not recognize the figure that was currently Nyselyn. Her eyes were lit with the spectacular orbs of fire onscreen, and her expression was feral, hungry. The appearance of her muscles were tense, as if she were an animal preparing to pounce upon her prey. She was more than a machine, more than a person, she was the Fleet, and she was an instrument of death. His instrument. The entity that was Nyselyn spread her wings and flew with the warships of the Fleet, delighting in the destruction they wreaked upon the enemy before her, with nothing held in reserve. She danced amidst the flames, marvelling at how death blossomed about her, because of her.

A series of bright flashes erupted off the screen, announcing the death of an assault ship, the Field of Dreams. Nyselyn visibly flinched at the odd sensation of her link to the ship breaking, a shock that coursed through her mind. Ion's hand captured hers then, the simple notion filling her with joy. I will go anywhere with you, my master. Together. Even in death, she reflected.

The element of surprise had worked well for them, but as they advanced further into the lines of enemy ships the battle of attrition commenced. Though the Fleet's technology was superior, the enemy's numbers were several times their own. It would only be a matter of time now.

Nyselyn had never been more happy or satisfied than she was now, though. On that day before, at Brwydr Camlan, she had learned what it meant to want something. It was not something she had been programmed with, nor something she had learned from watching the others. It was merely an intense... desire, to act. To act without command, without cause, without need, without reason or logic. She was special because of that, because of him, because he made her want. For that, he was, and always would be, her master.

At first it was but a few links, but as time passed they came rapid fire, announcing the beginning of the end. Nyselyn faltered, her mind overwhelmed with the discoordination the shocks brought to her. Ion's arms reached out for her then, catching her as she fell and pulling her into his lap, gently stroking his hands through her raven hair as the massacre continued around them. Unlike hers, his body was loose, relaxed, and she settled against him, curling into him.

It was then that she felt something was wrong - no, something was missing. With her hands against his chest, she didn't feel it... her pearl. Frantically she searched for it, sitting up and moving her hands over him, looking for it. Her head came up then, her red and green eyes staring intently into his gray eyes.

<I don't understand. Where is it? Why would you take it off, my master?>

<Nyselyn, you are to be the council lead for the settlement. You will survive past today.>

<I... will survive?> The gears of her mind whirred at top speed, and suddenly she realized his intent. <NO! Not without YOU! I refuse!>

<It is too late now, my dear Nyselyn. Please understand. This is my fight, not yours, and you need not suffer the same fate as I. This is my price to pay, for not being able to find a better way.>

<NO! I shall not allow it! If you wish to punish yourself, I will not stop you my master. I will even help you, if I must! However, there is no multiverse in which I reside that I will allow myself to live while you die!>

<I appreciate the sentiment, dear Nyselyn, truly I do. I hope one day you can understand the choice I've made.>

<Oh, I certainly will! I will be making you explain your foolish logic to me in person as soon as I get you out of here!>

Nyselyn's body disintegrated then, the nanites that formed it exploding outward into a shimmering silver cloud before him. Hmm, thought Ion. Looks like she's going to be taking this poorly. Definitely trouble. Hell hath no fury, and all that. Moving quickly to get out of his chair, the cloud suddenly surrounded him, pushing him back down into it roughly and knocking the wind out of him. When reflex caused him to breathe in deeply after the winding, the cloud followed, pulling itself inside of his body through his mouth.

Ion coughed, wheezed, and gasped as he struggled to find air amidst the solid silver cloud that now forced itself inside of him, unable to close his mouth to stop it, unwilling to think about what she had planned for him. He had never heard of an AI doing anything like this before, which was definitely not a good thing. Finally, he could breath again, but it felt like his body was on fire inside. It wasn't until he felt the faint *click* of his neural link breaking all interfaces that he understood her intent. No way! That's not possible, she really can't mean to...!

Ion never finished his thought, as his world crashed into an infinite sea of darkness.

Triela looked up at the star of Gryssom one last time. It looked distorted, hidden behind two sets of excelsior panels now. The one of the agrarian colony, and the other of the settlement's dome. It was finally time. Time to go to a new world. Triela hoped they were really ready for this.

She got some reassurance from the soft fur and harder chitin beneath it that her rump currently rested on. Triela let her hands spread out behind her, holding her lithe body up as she watched the sky. The warm body beneath her belonged to that of her friend Reya, who was also looking up at the sky with her.

"What do you think, Reya? Will it work?"

"I hope so Triela. I hope so." Reya paused, turning to glance at her friend resting on her abdomen. "I would very much like to go home."

"I suppose we'll know soon enough," replied Triela. "For what its worth, I hope we do make it. I want to see you grow up and become even more magnificent than your mother was."

Reya smiled, still looking up at the sky. "Why thank you, Triela," she replied in a whisper.

The sky vanished into a blue whirlpool, drops of ether falling like rain on the settlement's dome. It is truly a wonderful sight, thought Reya. The rain became heavy, as the dimensional gate spun up to its full power beneath them. She felt her body lifting with the weightlessness of space, as the space station's power grid gave its remaining life into the gate.

The bright blue light of the Rift then engulfed them, leaving nothing behind other than the fragments of a now dead space station. The last remaining marker of the former Xevian Authority, the lifeless hulk began to drift, pulled at last towards the awaiting embrace of the star of Gryssom.

************

Ion awoke in a strange place, his eyes squinting against the bright light of a sun high in the sky. Looking about, he found himself in a clearing surrounded by massive trees. Very massive trees. Just where am I? How did I get here? His memories were quite hazy, and though he was certain something important had occurred, something he needed to remember... his mind refused to cooperate. Until her voice broke through his shattered thoughts.

<Did you forget something, my master?>

Nyselyn's voice provided the stimuli he needed to recall what had happened. <Now, I remember!> The memories flooded back then... The battle with the core worlds, his Fleet dieing one ship at a time. Nyselyn's hunger as she set the Fleet upon their enemies. Her collapse, as the failure of so many links simultaneously drained her.

<Where the hell are we Nyselyn?! Why... why did you do that? This is not what I intended!>

Ion now recalled their argument... Nyselyn invading his body and his mind... her consciousness melding with his own and breaking the supposedly safe interlocks of his mind's processors, locking his consciousness out from his own mind and body. Then she had proceeded to walk him through the passages of the Halls of Honor, leading him to the number two chaos reactor... and the dimensional drive. Whereupon she had proceeded to activate the drive, tossing his body within as she initated the ship's destruct sequence.

<We are in Felarya, presumably. The probabilty is high, and the evidence abundant about us supports the theory, my master.> Nyselyn replied, at first seemingly ignoring his own questions. After a pause, she added, <As to why I did it... if you truly need to ask such a question, you do not deserve to be called my master. You are better than that though. I know that you are. If you were anything less, I would have left you behind at Brwydr Camlan.>

Nyselyn's body then appeared over him, her legs straddling his chest, her hands pinning his shoulders to the ground. Ion could not ever recall having seen her eyes so intense... it was actually a little frightening. Her face hovered mere inches from his own, those red and green eyes of hers boring into his. Nyselyn was her own entity... something he had created to prove that it could be done, and then realizing just how much she could be... she had been by his side for many years now, advising him... serving as far more than her creators had ever intended her to be... but she could easily become a powerful and unstoppable force that opposed him. And this realization... truly frightened Ion.

<So allow me to impart some advice to you, my master.> Nyselyn continued, the expressions of her eyes softening as she continued to hold him down. <If you require the experience of pain to ease the losses of your past, you need but to ask. I would give you anything that you require, my master, be it pain or comfort. You should know that I would, because you have made me who I am.>

Nyselyn paused then, letting her words sink into his mind before her expression became hard again. <However, should you ever dare to attempt such a foolish act again in your own despair, I will personally endeavor to enlighten you on just how cruel I can be!>

Her words would have been cause for great alarm had Ion not noticed her eyes wet with tears as her body collapsed against his.

<Dear Nyselyn... you certainly are... something else.> Ion thought, cupping the AI's face with his hands. <Very well, Nyselyn. I will not... act so selfishly... in the future. So, what now?>

Raising her head, Nyselyn gave him a small smile. <We go get my pearl back, of course. I can't believe you would just give something so precious away!>

************

Atop a black rock mesa in the jungles of Felarya, a new artificial structure stood, its bland white features a stark contrast to the rock of the mesa and the lush green of the forest that surrounded them on all sides about the mesa. The appearance of the mesa seemed at odds with the forest that surrounded it, formed of a hard and resilient rock that based on their preliminary scans did not belong to this area. Reya had stated that the mesa was most likely a leftover of another dimensional event from the past, dismissing its unique stature with ease. The cap of the mesa covered an area roughly equal to a square mile, elliptical in shape, with the octagon shaped settlement slightly off center atop the platform.


Triela stood on the parapet of the defensive wall, watching as Reya now made her way out from the settlement, heading towards the edge of the mesa intending on returning to the forests surrounding them. I still can't believe we made it. They had no idea where they were in Felarya, but there was no doubt that they had arrived. The settlement was now nestled into the niche made by the HVM as they had planned. Everything went according to plan. Crazy. It was rather odd to Triela that there had been no fauna or flora living atop the mesa - there should have at least been harpies enjoying the high perch. She was glad though, not to have to deal with the wildlife as soon as they entered.

Triela had cried when Reya had said goodbye, managing to keep her emotions in check enough to prevent herself from openly weeping. They had removed the black ring Reya had worn while she was with them, as she would have quickly outgrown the device which might have caused damage to her hand. Instead, Triela had fashioned and given her a nanite orb, to serve as a remote terminal she could link with by touching. It would allow them to find her later, or allow her to communicate with them, should Reya feel the desire to do so. Watching her back now as she reached the edge of the mesa and began releasing her silk threads, Triela whistled as Reya's body eventually lifted into the air, her strands of silk ballooning and allowing her to float away. Good luck, Reya, Triela whispered to the wind.

Tearing her eyes off of Reya as she faded further and further from her sight, Triela turned to look out from her perch, looking over the vast, lush forest stretching out for miles around the mesa, with the ocean just visible to the south beyond the expanse of trees. Triela looked out at the horizon, and thought it would indeed be wonderful to watch a real sunset... For the second time in her life, Triela felt... that she had found a home.

Sean tore through the underbrush of the jungle, recklessly tossing aside small trees and bulldozing through everything else. What a horrible day!


First, he had fallen out of his tree waking up. Okay, that was my fault. Sean had a bad habit of relaxing his coils when he slept, and if he bolted upright in the mornings he tended to fall out of his perch. His face slamming into a boulder beneath the tree, however, had not been the wake up call he would have preferred. Next, a pair of harpies had stolen his breakfast, a trio of elves who had been camping near a small spring just a short ways from where he'd woken up. The foul-mouthed harpies had been particularly jaded today, having apparently noticed the welt on his forehead and suspecting the cause to be Sean's own recklessness. While they were not quite correct, the fact that it had been self-inflicted and completely avoidable only added salt to the wound of his pride. The interdiction also did not help fill his stomach.

The third thing though. Oh, the third thing. Sean had been slinking along, minding his business looking for a replacement meal when a small group of humans had saw fit to attack him. Like, seriously? His initial shock at their tenacity had been quickly replaced by pain, however, as their weapons were not the cheeky little ones he tended to run into. Oooh no, of course not. Not on a day like today! His arms had several abrasions from trying to block their fire, his back and shoulders covered in welts and blisters from the heat and force of their explosives.

Sean was a young naga, his human portions appearing in his early teens, standing about fifty feet tall. He was always regarded as a bit reckless by the other predators he knew, but today wasn't even his fault! I did nothing! Nothing!! His naga portion resembled an Earth cottonmouth snake, roughly a hundred foot in length, and his brownish-golden scales rippled at regular intervals with darker stripes.

Sean was currently chasing the two survivors of the group that had attacked him. He might have been shocked and dazed initially, and their weapons had hurt like hell, but that didn't prevent him from kicking ass and taking names. Or lives, in this case. Sean hadn't even bothered tasting those attacking him, simply grabbing what he could and tossing down his gullet. The human party quickly broke and ran, but Sean was pissed. He wasn't going to let one single human from that group get away. Not after all the other crap of today, he thought.

The only reason these two were still managing to avoid becoming food was the vehicles they rode upon. They hovered a foot or two off the ground, and flew with good speed. They were thin and long, apparently designed for speed and not much else. Still, they're not that fast. They'll never be fast enough to escape ME! Sean thought, seeing red as his wrecking-ball method of moving forwards only served to antagonize his wounds further.

When Sean noticed that he was gaining on the two men, he pushed himself forward even harder. They had come up upon a much heavier section of underbrush, which caused them to have to circumnavigate around it. Sean had no such limitations - he simply tore right through it. It didn't hurt anywhere near as much as their weapons or his pride. After one or two zig-zags by the humans on their machines, Sean had closed the gap close enough to strike.

Passing beneath a tree with lower branches, Sean reached up and grabbed the thickest he could find, lifting his body smartly off the ground and snapping his long tail like a whip at the two bikes as they cut across in front of him. His tail struck the closer of the two craft, sending the human pilot flying through the air. The other unit had managed to get just beyond his reach, but the wind generated by the passing of such a massive object caused his craft to spin out of control.

The human in the air screamed as he flew, able to watch as Sean tossed his body forwards and up, his gaping mouth coming right at him and being unable to do anything to stop the inevitable. The human landed perfectly on his outstretched tongue, which Sean promptly snapped back into his mouth and proceeded to quickly gulp down his prey. One more. Eating them so fast would likely give him indigestion, and Sean couldn't even taste them... but it is incredibly satisfying! Nothing like a little payback to help ease the indigestion he'd be having later.

When Sean heard the remaining craft righting itself and launching off again, Sean set his mind back to the task at hand. It won't be satisfying unless I get them all! And so I shall! Expanding his senses, Sean caught the craft's track again, throwing his weight forward with his tail to get into motion quickly again. The pilot hadn't gotten too far, so it was merely a matter of stamina at this point. And Sean had no intention of giving up until the last was in his hands. I will savor the last. Oh yes I will. You'll have to make up for all the ones I didn't get to taste, so you'd better taste REALLY GOOD, thought Sean, salivating with desire and intent. One would think Sean could have made his future prey taste better simply by willing it.

The land here was different than what Sean was used to, more rocky and abrasive. Sean barely noticed the difference; after the brambles and thickets of the thick underbrush from earlier, the rocks were a welcome change. They cut at his belly scales, but the feeling was different which allowed him to ignore it. Clearing a span of trees, Sean burst through in time to see the human craft suddenly vear off, its passenger screaming profanities as he ditched his craft before it slammed into one of the trees. Looking up, Sean gasped and slammed onto his own body as he finally noticed the dense white web that spanned across the two trees at the edge of the rocky clearing.


Shit Shit Shit Shit Shiiiittt! Dridder! Of all the bad luck and of all the days! Sean's mind grappled at his options, finally settling for the best option he could think of on short notice as his massive body continued forwards towards the web due to his momentum. Breathing deeply, he coiled his body as he continued skidding forward and leapt backwards, releasing the tension of his body all at once like a freed spring. The tip of his tail just brushed the web as he recoiled away from it. Whew. Too damn close. Sean exhaled deeply in his relief.

And then he stopped falling.

Sean's exhale of relief caught in his throat and he choked as he realized the first web was nothing but a diversion. No way. No freaking way. Life cannot POSSIBLY be that MEAN to me! He was so close to having caught the final one... turning his head, he saw that his body had become tangled in the web, the force of his jump sending him through a series of anchoring lines. Not the web proper, though! I have a chance! Sean began to writhe, trying to bring the lines down with his weight and motions. On the ground he could free himself. The curious thing about this web though, was that it wasn't sticky - just made of really durable threads that seemed to grab and cling to his body. Sean had some experience with dridder's webs from his past, and they had all been sticky. The web's construction would have to wait however, as there were much more important things to attend to currently. Like getting the hell OUT of here, Sean thought.

When the first line snapped, Sean could almost cheer with elation. This is going to work! Then another line snapped. And another. Wait. They shouldn't be all breaking... oh you have GOT to be kidding me! The lines were causing him to drop... right into the dense webbing he had jumped to avoid in the first place. These weren't anchor lines. The first line had snapped due to his struggling, but the rest were snapping on purpose. They were just part of the trap. The whole clearing was one large trap. Sean had never heard of... never even imagined a dridder would go to so much effort.

The final lines holding him up snapped loose, dropping him in a heap into the web he had tried so desperately to avoid. Damn. IT! The dense web held him fast, his struggling only making it worse. This day couldn't POSSIBLY get any worse, thought Sean.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH! AAAaaaaaAAAAHHHHhhHHH!!! NOOO-"

The human's cries stopped suddenly, leaving Sean in a cold sweat. I had to say it. I just had to say this day couldn't get worse. Why the hell am I so stupid?!? Sean turned his head as best he could, looking over in the direction of the scream. He couldn't see or hear anything though, his senses empty. Where was the dridder? Where?!

"Why, hel-lo there," a musical voice purred to him from the other side. Whirling his head, Sean's eyes met a pure vision. The human form looking over him was probably one of the prettiest he'd seen, her blue eyes sparkling and her lips curved in a smile. Of course, she'd be so much more beautiful if she wasn't baring a fang and displaying such hunger in her eyes!


The dridder standing next to him was unlike any he'd ever seen, and much, much, taller than he. Sean believed she was probably around twice his height, assuming she was touching the ground. Her skin was a healthy peach color, though in places he could see elements of her dridder-like skin showing through her human skin, especially on her arms where it seemed as if she were wearing gloves and armsleeves. Blushing as his eyes roamed over her chest, he noted that she wasn't as well endowed as some of the other females he'd run across... though if he had to say, her breasts looked very fine. Forcing his eyes back up, he noted that her red hair was tied with her own silk, forming a braid that reached down past his current arc of vision.

The appearance of her long legs however brought him back to reality. In his current position with his head tangled in the webbing, he couldn't look down far. He was thoroughly entangled within the dense web, suspended in the air, so even though he knew she was the dridder, he couldn't actually see her lower half to confirm it. As the long, hairless, and incredibly smooth black legs reached up and cut loose the webbing, his mind could no longer deny it with the proof before him, his body dropping down to be caught by another pair of her legs that eased him to the ground as she brought him, and the web, down.

Getting a good look at her body while she laid him on the ground, he couldn't recall ever hearing about a dridder like this one. Black fur met up with her human half, her... ten? spiny spider-like legs attached to the base beneath her human form. Ten, his mind repeated, confirming again the differences this dridder had from what he had known. The bulbous brilliant yellow abdomen flaring out behind her legs was adorned with black and white splotched patterns that caught his eye as they roved over her revealed body. What had really grabbed his attention, though, were her six large spines that came forth from her abdomen, fading from black to red and then white.  When she laid him upon the ground he lost sight of her body again, only able to see the human portion that leaned over him.

"It's pretty rare to see a male naga. Almost makes me a little hesitant... you guys are probably in high demand," she said, her heavenly voice nearly hypnotizing him before his mind caught the implications of her statement. Oh. Crap.

"Heya, um, miss dridder, I don't suppose... well I don't suppose you'd be willing to talk about this, would you?"

"Mmm, nope, afraid not," she purred. "At least not about you... that still leaves this one though," she said, holding out one of her hands near his face and letting him see the struggling human within. The last one... the one I was chasing before I ran across her trap, thought Sean. "It doesn't look like you've had a very good day, Mr. Naga... and this one reeks of the weapon's propellant that probably caused those marks your body now sports."

"Yeah. You could say that," Sean replied sourly. Thinking fast, he continued with "But it would make my day sooo much better if you just let me go miss. Please?"

"I'm sorry, but no," she replied. "This little guy might be good for you, but he would hardly take off the edge for me. I'll let you have him though."

"I... well I... d-d-don't really have an appetite... anymore..."

Her beautiful face smiled sadly down at him. "I see. My apologies. That's probably my fault, I suppose."

While they had been talking, he could feel her legs moving about him, doing something with the webbing. Unfortunately his body was so entangled now that he couldn't even turn his head far enough to look over and see. She moved closer after her last reply, and he felt a pair of her legs gently stroking his body. It was a really odd sensation, he had to admit, feeling the hard exoskeleton of legs rubbing against his skin and scales. They're so smooth... For some strange reason, he felt... at ease. The fear he felt before was waning away, slowly but surely. Her free hand came down to his face, cupping his jaw and cheek, her thumb gently rubbing his skin.

She looks so... gentle, Sean thought, and the way she's acting...  it's nothing at all like what I would have expected...

"Be still, ok? I promise, you won't feel any pain," whispered the dridder, her face now close enough for him to feel her warm breath on his skin.  She slid her hand from his face, down his neck and across the shoulder closest to her before gripping his upper arm, gently but firmly holding him. With her body being this close, he could smell her wonderful scent, and he suddenly realized the reason he'd been unable to sense her... and probably also for that of his fear's subsiding...

His train of thought was interrupted by the feeling of her nose gently nuzzling the flesh of his shoulder that her hand had just passed across, followed by the heat of her breath and then a prickling sensation on his shoulder. Sean wanted to turn and look, but he already knew what it was from... her head was right there, after all - and her words from just before marking her intent regarding his future with crystal clarity. He felt his arm and shoulder go numb almost immediately after her gentle bite, the sensation quickly spreading throughout his body. Sean suddenly felt sleepy, as if he was unable to keep his eyes open. Why... am I..... so....... tiirrreeeddd? Is.... this........

************

Reya watched over the naga as her venom went to work. When she felt his body slacken completely, Reya began rearranging his long snake-like body into a tight ball, continuing to pull her webbing about his body and supplementing the web where it was required by pulling fresh silk from her abdomen. The pheromones Reya had used to ease the naga's fear had also affected the human held within her hand, but now that she was no longer making use of them he regained his wits and began to struggle anew.

"Um.. so? Spider-lady? Could you put me down, please? I don't see any reason for you to keep me here now, yea?"

Reya pulled her hand up to her face, her once gentle eyes becoming hard. "I offered him your flesh as a last meal because it was proper to do so. Since he didn't want you though, I'll be having you myself... as an appetizer."

"But... but you said! You said I wouldn't do anything for your appetite! So why even bother?!"

Reya smiled down at him, showing the human her fangs. "I said you wouldn't take the edge off my hunger. I never said you weren't part of my meal." Reya moved her hand with the human in it down, holding him just above her belly button, her other human hand gently rubbing the soft flesh of her flat tummy. "The only question was how you were going to get into my stomach. Directly, or indirectly." Reya's smile became broader as she paused, her blue eyes glinting. "I guess we answered that question, huh?"

"Hah! As if, spider-bitch! I won't be going any such place!"


The human struggled in her arms, and Reya noticed that he was attempting to reach his back. So, that's how you want to play it, eh? I know your type far too well for that to work. Reya opened her hand, letting the human fall, sliding past her fingertips, before roughly snatching him by the shoulders. His clothes ripped apart from the force and the correct application of her fingernails sliding against him as he fell. Reya's nails were not sharp, but the rough edges in combination with gravity acted like a grinder upon the human's clothing. With a smile, Reya shook him, causing a myriad of equipment to fall to the ground below him.

"I don't think you'll be needing those anymore..." Reya intoned, her face twisted in a death head's grin. "You see, I'm not like this one here... I know about your little tricks. I also can smell the death about you... poacher," Reya said, the melodious voice the naga had heard replaced now by a chilling monotone. She spat out the last word with such distaste that it caused the human in her grip to shiver.

Reya lifted her hand then above her head, still dangling the human by his shoulders, opening her mouth wide and letting him get a good long look. Then she dropped him. He had the presence of mind to scream another stream of obscenities as he fell, though it had no effect on the outcome or his fate. He landed on her tongue, and with a rough motion she pushed his writhing body straight into her gullet and gulped loud and hard. The small bulge in her throat vanished quickly, and she rubbed her tummy idly.

Reya had really hoped the naga would've chosen to eat him, as she got no enjoyment out of it. Reya had no intention of letting him go though - she'd put forth the effort any time to keep a poacher from getting away from her. His taste was foul, stained by the propellants and chemicals of his trade. Still, his struggles inside me are quite nice, at least. Looking down, Reya admired her handiwork and skill at being able to wrap her prey so well using only touch to guide her pedipalps to the task. She rubbed one of her human hands over the large cocoon, enjoying the gentle warmth of his body that still pervaded through her silk. Oh well, I did get something tasty for me out of the affair.

Kneeling down, Reya sank her fangs into the naga's body through her silk, relaxing her body and coaxing the proper muscles in her cephalothorax to deliver her digestive enzymes through her body and into his. Its been a few weeks since I had naga... they have such a nice taste, thought Reya happily. It was going to be a good day.

Reya moved along silently at a comfortable pace, enjoying the day as she made her way back towards her nest with the rather large cocoon that had formerly been a male naga tied to her carapace. Reya's senses were always gently probing at the area surrounding her, letting her identify the animals that moved about nearby. She could tell her enzymes were already going to work, as the naga's body was becoming less solid as she continued along. Reya let one of her hands idly stroke the cocoon, smiling to herself. He'll feed me for a nice while, she thought happily.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement up ahead. The gentle sway of the brush looked as if the wind had simply blown through, but Reya was sensitive to such changes, and she was well aware that had not been the wind. She had been moving quietly before, but now she was in stealth mode as she crept up on the large tangle of underbrush where she had noticed the movement.

She had just reached out with a foreleg to rustle the brush when a trio of nekos suddenly burst forth in front of her from the brush. They instinctively noted the presence of yet another predator, banking in their run and heading away from her just as suddenly as they appeared, remaining just out of her reach the entire time. Moments later a giant elf - Well, giant for the nekos, thought Reya looking down at her - burst forth from the brush, her green eyes dilated and her scarcely-clad busty chest moving mightily as she breathed. The brown-skinned elf paid no heed to Reya at first, moving to intercept the running nekos when Reya's still raised foreleg jerked back suddenly and knocked the winded elf to the ground.

"HEY! What was that for?!" exclaimed the elf indignantly, turning her eyes to look... up... at the person who had stopped her. "Oh my, you're... a tall one... aren't you?" the elf asked, her tone now subdued and quiet as she looked up into Reya's amused blue eyes, which were looking back down at her.

"That... was to save you from a costly mistake," replied Reya, crossing her arms under her breasts. Tilting her head, she continued, "Those nekos are rather intelligent. I've seen that maneuver before. A small group entices a predator into chasing them, tiring them out and leading them into a trap where they bring them down with poisoned spears. They've gotten quite good at it."

"R-r-really? They can actually do that?" the elf intoned skeptically as she lifted herself up off the ground, standing to her full height - which only came up to Reya's lower chest.

"Oh yes. They tried it on me before, but I'm not big into running around all whilly-nilly, much to their chagrin," said Reya, smirking at the memory. "I've watched them a couple of times though, its rather fascinating really. They're quite the territorial bunch. You wouldn't believe all the things they can make... they don't waste anything."

"Y-y-you did what?! You just watched them kill one of us?!" The elf's voice was rising into a shrill with her accusation as she looked up at Reya with disgust.

Reya's smile never faded as she answered the elf calmly. "I never said it was an elf they killed. Listen, I only stopped you because the opportunity presented itself and I'm not hungry at the moment. Otherwise, you wouldn't have need to concern yourself with the nekos." Reya emphasized her point by rubbing the silk cocoon that rested on her body with one of her hands, drawing the elf's attention to its large size.

"A-ah... I-I-I see," the elf stammered, stepping back from Reya slowly. "Um... thanks... for the help... I hope that you have... a p-p-pleasant day!" cried the elf as she took off into the forest away from Reya and the nekos.

Reya watched and listened to the elf's progress into the forest for a few moments before setting back off in the direction of her nest. She stopped again to wave at the trio of nekos as she passed by them towards her nest. She couldn't see or hear them, but this close she could smell the faint odor of chritu ivy they often used as cologne to help predators find them. The ivy was a relatively new addition, seemingly having migrated over here from a distant land to the west. Or so a particularly distraught human explorer she'd found entangled in one of her traps had told her a few weeks ago.

The brush rustled as the trio came forth to look up at Reya, waving back at her. Looks like they still haven't learned... thought Reya, her hand swooping down to capture all three of them. They didn't struggle though, completely captivated by the pheromones Reya had doused the area they were hiding in with when she stopped. Her large size combined with the poor vantage point they had whilst hiding had likely kept them from seeing the motions of a pair of her legs above them. Can't exactly have you little ones running off and telling the others that I stopped their tribe from getting their monthly catch, now can I? Her stomach growled as she looked down at her hand, reminding Reya that she hadn't had a real meal since earlier when she awoke. That poacher from before is long gone now... thought Reya as she remembered the events from earlier. His struggles had stopped a while back inside of her. And another little appetizer would be sooo nice, she concluded.

Bringing her hand up near her face, she opened up her clenched fist to reveal the three nekos, who stared out blankly under the effects of her pheromones. Two males and a female, Reya noted. Their tribe didn't wear much clothing, which allowed her to taste their flesh moreso than with other humanoids she captured. Their fur was still slick with sweat from having lead on the elf earlier, which would flavor them nicely, too.


Picking up one of the males first, she opened her mouth and set him gently on her tongue with her other hand, drawing him into the dark, damp cavern of her mouth. Swishing him about and sampling his salty flavor, Reya murred happily to herself. So tasty! After a few more blissful moments of tasting, Reya tilted her head up and allowed the neko's limp and slick body to slide back on her tongue and into her throat, swallowing with a dainty gulp. She held her free hand up to her neck as she did so, feeling the slight bulge travel down the smooth skin of her neck.

She repeated the same motions with the other two, making sure to thoroughly crush their weapons in her hands and scattering them to the wind to prevent any others from their tribe happening across them. As she felt the last one entering her previously empty tummy, Reya set off once more for her nest, confident that they would at least keep her stomach entertained until she could get a more substantive meal from home.

************

Reya had just finished putting up her newly acquired food cocoon and was in the process of pulling down an older one that had just enough soup left for a meal when she heard the tell-tale hum of an inertia drive above her. Triela must be coming by, thought Reya. As if in answer to her question, a series of blue swirls appeared near her, forming in the shape of her old chimera friend.

"Hello Triela," said Reya in greeting as Triela's form finished materializing, tearing open the large cocoon that was now mostly empty to make a smaller bowl-like object she could sip comfortably from.

"G'day Reya! How've things been with you?"

"Oh, I guess I can't complain. Enjoying my time and my routines. My traps had a great catch for me today, and I even got to enjoy some appetizers on the way back~" she said, taking a long sip from her newly made silk bowl.

"I see, I see," Triela said, smiling up at her friend. Reya reached down for her after her sip, picking Triela up and setting her on the ledge of her right collarbone. Triela looked down into the silk bowl Reya held, her nose twitching slightly as her mind pondered just what the thick, creamy white fluid might have once been.

"So what have you and the others been up to lately, Triela? How is the colony doing?" asked Reya, raising the bowl up above Triela's vantage point and taking another sip after her question. The sounds from Reya's throat just feet away from Triela as she gulped down her soup didn't even phase her anymore.

"Things are well enough, I suppose. We had another costly lesson last month, a survey team got a little lax and a few were eaten by a pantaur. Sometimes I think people forget where they're living when they spend so long in the safety of the settlement's walls. Other than that though, things are well. The construction of the colony outside of the walls is moving along smoothly. Every once in a while some harpies will swoop in but they don't stick around long. There really seems to be something about the mesa's stone that the inhabitants of this dimension don't like. As far as we can tell, though, it doesn't have any effect, positive or negative, on us."

"Hmm," Reya purred, her shoulders moving underneath Triela as she raised a hand to her cheek and rubbed it thoughtfully. "I don't remember anything like that when I was there, unless you call an intense desire to return to the forest I knew as a child a strong dislike for the mesa's stone," Reya stated. "Then again, I wasn't there for long. How far along are you with the construction?"

"Yeah, we haven't really found any substantive evidence that would illustrate why fauna and flora alike avoid the black rock of the mesa. Sure, for flora it would be near impossible for them to grow in it, but..."

"An interesting conundrum, but I hope you didn't drop by to bore me with your pet rock theories," said Reya with a musical laugh, causing Triela to join her.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to bore you Reya," Triela said, letting a pair of her tentacles gently ripple over Reya's collarbone. The suction cups gently plucked at her Reya's skin, causing her much larger friend to hum in pleasure. "The construction is progressing well, we've finished building another retaining wall around the perimeter of the mesa. It's smaller in height but broader in depth than the original settlement defensive wall since we don't really need to worry about predators reaching over it. Its been slow going though, building the necessary foundations for the buildings and such in the dense rock."

"Hmm, well I'm glad to hear that you're at least making progress with your settlement," Reya replied. "And I love it when you do that, Triela." Reya paused, lifting up her chin and enjoying the motions of her tentacles on her skin. "I noticed that you came in a much larger airship this time though, not the same as last time..."

"Yeaaah, the harpies and the fairies found out there were tasty items inside the skiffs and haven't let any get too far past the boundaries of the mesa without sampling the contents. Master Ryrja's plan for combating that included building three Errant class aerial battleships. After they realized our flying taste tests could take chunks out of them, they've since left them alone. Doesn't stop the preds from catching those that get lax on the ground though," Triela said with a sigh.

"Not to be offensive, Triela, but I believe you have a word for that... Darwinism, no?"

Triela laughed at Reya's bluntness, turning to look up at Reya's face and noticing that her bright blue eyes were watching her. "Yes Reya, that'd be the correct term. Most times its just one or two that forget; the first couple years were a hard lesson learned for us, to be sure."

Reya frowned a bit around her silken bowl as she slurped up another healthy portion of its contents, licking her lips as she pulled it back down. Reya looked into the remaining milky fluid before replying quietly, "I warned you back then that they weren't really ready..."

"No one is blaming you Reya. Your lesson was well received by many, and we appreciate what you tried to do for us. Regardless of everything though, our lives here are much better than what they've been since the Lysenthian invasion. We have some place to actually call home again, even if it has some perils. We're doing well, and its all thanks to having met you... and the Commodore's plan," she said softly.

"I'm glad to hear that, Triela. Felarya isn't the safest place, for sure, but it is my home... and I'm glad that you think of it that way now too," Reya replied, tipping the bowl back and finishing off its contents. She dropped the now empty silk onto the flattened cocoon she had pulled it from, picking Triela up from her perch and holding her near her face where it was easier to see her. "Now that my hunger's taken care of, how about a nice relaxing dip in my hot spring," asked Reya with a wink.

"Absolutely!" squealed Triela, smiling up at Reya.

************

"You are certain you saw an airship supporting this insignia," asked the raven haired woman to the shipping clerk. She seemed aloof to the clerk, her face completely emotionless and her voice almost a monotone. A real ice-maiden, he thought. She wouldn't be that bad on the eyes if she'd smile just once, he thought.

"Absolutely mam," the middle-aged clerk replied enthusiastically, feeling that maybe his own motions would infect this ice-maiden. "They come here occasionally to exchange goods and collect the latest information and news."

"I see. Thanks for the information," replied the woman cordially, slipping some skevols into his open hand as she turned to leave. Shaking his head as he watched her leave the office, the clerk pocketed the skevols, soon forgetting about the pale woman with raven hair as another shipment of goods arrived and claimed his attention.

~~~~~

<There is no doubt, my master. They made it here safely, they even visit this city occasionally. We should remain here until their next visit, as it is our best lead on reclaiming my pearl.>

Nyselyn was laying atop Ion, her hand gently rubbing his neck and jaw as she looked into his eyes. Ion was letting his hand rub her back as her weight pressed against him softly in the couch of their small hotel room. It wasn't a very flashy place, but compared to some of the other area's this city had within it, it was at least clean.

The technology and 'magic' of this city had both Nyselyn and Ion interested in it from the get go, but underneath the fluff of the new environment was the same undercurrents present in most cities Ion was used to of the core worlds. It was depressing in a way, finding such a place on this world, but at least he could take solace in Nyselyn's presence. Neither of them were impressed with the magic it offered either, as things like teleportals were rather commonplace in their dimension.


<Sometimes, I think you're a little obsessive, dear Nyselyn.>

<A little? I'm very obsessive, master. Surely you know that by now.> The AI against him replied, nuzzling her face against his chest. <You are my master after all. Though, this would certainly be easier if you had not made it impossible for me to sense my pearl's location. I don't like imagining it somewhere other than about your neck.>

<Well, if I hadn't put it in that box, you'd have noticed immediately that I didn't have it.>

<Yes, and I could have saved us both a great deal of trouble~!>

Ion laughed at her indignation, recalling all the close encounters they had experienced in the jungles of Felarya before reaching this city called Negav.

<You call it trouble, my dear, I call it character building.>

<I am going to use that hammer of yours to rebuild your character the next time we spar.>

<You're such a violent lass, dear Nyselyn.>

<I guess it is a good thing that my master is a masochist, then.>

Ion laughed heartily again, letting himself smile at Nyselyn. She's advanced so much from what she started as. She really is her own person, thought Ion as he watched her. It actually upset him a little, thinking of how his death could have wound up negatively affecting the... woman that he had helped to mature.

<What do you want to do in the meantime?>

<I am not sure. Perhaps we can find something of interest, though from what I have seen so far, I would not... hold my breath, my master. I must admit, the forest was far more interesting than this city.>

<See? Character building.>

Nyselyn only shook her head and sighed, nestling close against her master's body.

<Watch out, master!>

Nyselyn's warning came a mere heartbeat prior to her avatar slamming into Ion's body, knocking him to the ground as a shadow passed overhead, a gust of wind rushing over Ion's back.

Throwing his body back up with his arms, Ion turned about to look back at what had caused Nyselyn's warning. A massive black... millipede loomed near him, red eyes glowing as two developed appendages teased the mass that had originally been Nyselyn's avatar. Ion knew he should recall the name of the creature, as Reya had mentioned them previously... but there would be time for naming later. It seemed the force of the impact from whatever this creature had used to swipe at Ion had been enough to smash completely through her avatar, her body in fractured pieces of nanite clumps that followed the arc of the creature's swipe along the ground. The lack of blood and body heat though was apparently confusing it, never having encountered a creature with this type of defense mechanism.


Wasting no time, Ion turned and ran as fast as he could, his white cape billowing out behind him. I need to get out in the open, I can't do anything here! Ion remembered that they had past through a clearing just prior as they walked through the seemingly peaceful forest, and Ion ran in the direction he believed would lead him there. The creature seemed to notice that its other potential prey was escaping and took off after him at an impressive speed, ignoring Nyselyn's avatar now.

<I will meet up with you in a moment, my master. Try to remain in the bait category and not in the caught category until then.>

Ion shook his head as he continued to run. And to think just moments before she was being such a wonderful, quiet sacrifice, thought Ion. They had been in this new world for a week now, without running across anything overtly dangerous. Ion supposed it was about time something tried to make a meal out of them.

The beast behind him let out a roar as it approached Ion. Even with a headstart and a extremely advanced biomechanical enhancement suite, the creature was easily closing the distance to Ion. A few more moments and it was close enough to commence jabbing at Ion, the developed foreclaws striking at his body - but here was where Ion had the advantage. Most would chide the utility of a cape, but Ion knew the advantage - just like loose clothing, a cape made it difficult to judge where his body actually was by his opponent and allowed him the precious few seconds required to reach the clearing.

Whirling about in the large open space, Ion released the clasp on the cape letting it fall out and away, carried by the centripetal force of his motions. The flutter of the cloth distracted the creature long enough for Ion to materialize his hammer from a dimensional storage device he always wore on his right bicep. This device was actually one of the more advanced inventions that the Authority had not at least been partially responsible for, the mechanics having been developed roughly a century prior. The personal units like this one weren't capable of holding more than your average luggage worth of cargo, but larger units were used by space transports to help consolidate space. Ion's unit, though, was just able to hold his weapon of choice.

The massive hammer was as large as he was, incredibly ornate and intricate in its design. The dense black heads of the weapon, nearly as wide as his shoulders and longer than the pauldrons he wore, were crowned and adorned with precious metals that mirrored in form on each head, combining to form with the white-colored shaft of the hammer that was nearly as thick as Ion's own legs. Upon materializing in his hands, Ion's feet sank nearly an inch into the soft Felaryan soil, the weight of the weapon as great as the visual impact it offered.

The creature, however, was not impressed by this human's new appendage.

Roaring once again, it reared back, gnashing its huge jaws and slamming the earth with the two more advanced fore claws, striking again and again at the places where Ion moved. Ion's reflexes alone would not have been enough to avoid the speed with which the creature struck, but Ion was no longer running. He met the creature's strikes with his own, using the momentum of the claw to his hammer's advantage in ablating the attacks. The constant hits jarred Ion each and every time, yet Ion had experienced far greater shocks in past battles.

Wising up to the ineffectiveness of its current strategy, the creature made another strike followed by a swipe of its claws, trying to sweep Ion up. He barely had time to notice the change and his hammer was already preoccupied, requiring Ion to resort to another tactic to block the attack. Focusing his will on the air near the approaching claw as it swept towards him, Ion restructured the molecules separating the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water of the humid jungle atmosphere. Altering the makeup of the stirred up soil from their fight to create combustible dust, Ion focused the hydrogen to an explosive concentration generating a miniature thermobaric explosion in the midst of the path of the creature's claw, the entire process taking mere fractions of a second.

The effects were immediate, causing the creature to howl with shock as it retreated, Ion's body thrown through the air to land roughly several feet away. The blue stripes of Ion's uniform glowed brightly, aided by Ion's own abilities as the crystals absorbed a significant amount of the brunt force from the impact, preventing him from breaking any bones. Bloody hell, that hurts! At least we're outside, so I don't need to worry about running out of oxygen here... Ion's mind began to recall a past time when he had used a similar trick in an enclosed space with much more disastrous consequences, but Ion didn't have time for reminisicing now. I have to keep this critter busy until Nyselyn has an opportunity to strike.


As powerful as his tricks and hammer were, they were not meant for fighting things so large, and the thick exoskeleton of the critter deflecting his own hits, the blunt nature of his weapon a disadvantage against the creature. At this rate, it'll wear me down before she's ready... bloody AI is emulating women so well she's already showing up late! Even the explosion had no real effect, only serving to stop and startle the creature. Though, there hadn't been enough fuel or material to generate enough of a blast to hurt it with the scarce time Ion had to prepare it.

The creature was acting more cautious now though, approaching Ion again but moving around and about him, circling and closing. It wouldn't have been able to tell where the blast had been generated from, and it was no doubt reevaluating this odd prey item. Ion had no intention of letting it develop a new angle of attack, using the moment of passivity to his advantage.

Holding his hammer outstretched from his body like a weight on a string, he spun the massive weapon about himself while moving as quickly as possible towards the creature. It reared up, defiant, thrusting its claws forward as Ion leapt up behind the inertia of his hammer. Claws and metal met, the momentum of the hammer surprising the creature as the claws were pushed back, cracks forming in the exoskeleton, the pocket of vacuum Ion had created around the hammer's head allowing it to slam with the full force of his enhanced muscles. Ion released the vacuum on impact, the near instant reclamation of air pealing back in a thunderous roar as he cartwheeled about and slammed his hammer back into the side of the creature's broad head, igniting the air once more as he had before with the strike having had more time to prepare the explosion.

Ion dropped with the explosion, landing on the ground in a heap using his hammer as a support, panting with the exertion. The creature had been tossed back upon the ground away from him, its multitude of legs writhing as it attempted to right itself. Out of the corner of his eye, Ion saw a silver glimmer, looking up quickly in time to see a large razor-blade like object over two dozen feet across drop rapidly through the body of the creature, splaying it's innards across the ground.

<What took you so long? I was almost dinner!>

<Quit your whining, master. You were doing fine.> Nyselyn retorted, the massive blade her avatar currently was shaped in disintegrating and reforming into her typical avatar, standing just across from him. <We need to move though, master. All that noise will have undoubtedly attracted undesirable attention.>

<Indeed. I can agree to->

Ion's thought was broken with his shock as another claw swiped through Nyselyn's avatar, scattering her body to bits before him. A second beast, slightly smaller than the first, roared at Ion, bull-rushing him as he continued to kneel on the ground. Damn.

~~~~~

Ion awoke with a start, breathing rapidly and covered in a cold sweat in the hotel room with Nyselyn nestled against his side. The last part of the dream had been the second tonorion charging him, though he had awakened before it reached him. Unlike the last time where it actually did reach me. Ion shook his head, clearing his mind of the last remnants of the dream.

Turning down to look at Nyselyn, he noticed that she was already watching him, her eyes glimmering in the dim light filtering through the curtains. She reached up without a word, placing her hand against his face. It was always odd to Ion, how real she felt while still being so artificial. The nanites that composed her avatar replicated the texture of flesh and cloth, things he could feel against his own, but not the heat of a living being.

<Memories?>

<Yes, dear Nyselyn. Felaryan ones though, at least.>

<Those seem to be occuring more and more often. I suppose that would mean that you are starting to adjust to living here?>

<Perhaps. I'll certainly accept dreams of predator attacks over my others of Ea Colony and the like.>

<Sometimes, master, I must wonder if memories are worth the trouble yours seem to be. I find myself grateful that I do not dream, for I fear I would one day experience what you do each night.>

<Dear Nyselyn, you undervalue the importance of such things. Memories, both good and bad, are precious pearls of knowledge for those who survive to live by. Without them, we would not have become who we are. A few bad dreams, regardless of their source, are a small price to pay for the experience of life.>

<I suppose I will have to accept your word on that. For now.> Nyselyn turned to look away from him then, sitting up in the bed. <It will be morning soon. Try to get some more sleep. I'm feeling restless... I will have your breakfast by the time you awake again. We should go out into the forest today, I think. We haven't sparred in a while. It would not do us well to slack off.>

Ion watched Nyselyn slide out of bed, smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress as she stood. Its amusing to watch her... her clothing isn't real... and yet she acts as if it were. Simple actions that only improve upon her emulation of life that a typical AI would consider completely unnecessary, and yet she does so without a passing thought. Spending a few more moments looking over herself, Nyselyn walked briskly out of their room leaving Ion alone in the near-darkness.

************

"I love coming here and just wasting time," Reya spoke, her eyes closed as she delighted in the warmth of the spring, the corners of her mouth curved in a lazy grin.

"You're so lucky to have such a nice little retreat this close to home."

"Luck?" Reya snorted lightly. "Luck had nothing to do with where I chose to make my nest."

Reya's body was resting against the bottom of the spring, her legs curled up against her in the water. The level of water in the spring rose up to Reya's human waist, the rest of her human portions and her legs rising up out of the water. Her right arm was resting on one of the spring's embankments, a rocky ledge that rose up and formed a flat, smooth wall on the western side at the perfect height to be an armrest for her. Reya's other arm was floating on the surface, supported by one of her legs with her palm up and Triela resting upon it.

"Of course, who am I to question the great Jewel Dridder," snarked Triela, her teal eyes turning to look up at Reya's face.

Without opening her eyes, Reya lifted one of her pedipalps out of the water, the clawed tip gently prodding and stroking Triela's sprawled body on her palm as well as rolling her about. The light touch of chitin on Triela's skin tickled her, making her laugh as Reya played with her for a few more moments before pushing her right off the edge of her palm. Triela resurfaced quickly, sputtering and coughing up water, looking up at Reya indignantly. Reya was watching Triela now, though her eyes were still heavily lidded, her smile never having faded.

"You should be more respectful around the great Jewel Dridder, or she might just eat you~" replied Reya, reaching down to pluck Triela out of the spring and set her down on the ground near her neatly piled clothes. "I do think its time we got out though. It'll be dusk soon, no doubt your ride will be here to pick you up."

"Ah, good point," Triela noted, reaching down to start getting dressed. Her body was still wet, but the fabric of the uniform would absorb most of it without issue. A shadow passed over her as Reya also got out of the spring, shaking her body to shed the water that still clung to her and dousing Triela. "Heeeey!"

"Oh, sorry about that. But you were wet anyway, so I don't really see the issue," replied Reya, winking down at Triela.

"I suppose," said Triela, shaking herself off to clear the water that Reya had just doused her with. "I was trying to keep some of my uniform dry though," she said, looking down at the now soaked clothing.

Reya poked Triela with a finger, gently pushing her friend over and stroking her soft body. "I'm sure the guys won't mind you being all wet... I seem to recall some contest that involved women and wet shirts and men enjoying it," Reya said thoughtfully.

"Oh, I'm positive they would, but I try not to tease them that much," Triela giggled, Reya's innocently stated yet naughty comment amusing her thoroughly. Reya missed sexual humor and teasing for the most part, since she didn't have most of the requisite material herself. Her friend was aware that male humanoids liked staring at her chest, but to Reya her breasts were just for milk production. Regardless of what she had read from the Authority's databases and how Triela had attempted to explain it, Reya simply didn't understand that particular aspect of life or what was so humorous about it.

Reya picked Triela up as she was giggling, holding her friend up near her face and looking at her questioningly. "Well, if you don't actually want to be wet, I can take care of that," Reya stated matter-of-factly, cupping her hands around Triela's body and locking her fingers together, leaving a small opening between her thumbs and index fingers. Taking a deep breath and placing her mouth over the hole, Reya proceeded to exhale for several moments, making sure not to let the air out too quickly to prevent hurting Triela.


When she finished blowing out, Reya opened up her hands and giggled at the sight that met her. Triela was wobbling on her palm, and her lime-green hair was swept all around. "How did you like the Reya-approved drying service? We're patent-pending," her voice full of mirth as Triela collapsed in her palm. "At least you're dry now," Reya's eyes glittering with her amusement at Triela's expressions.

"Well, it um, certainly works well, this service of yours," said Triela, shaking herself and trying to fix her hair back into place. "A bit much though, I think," she said, finally regaining her composure. "By the way, what are you using to make your breath smell so nice? No offense or anything, I just was wondering who was supplying you with toothpaste," said Triela, before continuing, "Or where you found a large enough brush."

"None taken. I use a particular plant... if you chew the leaves it cleans out your mouth, makes it feel fresh again. The stuff grows everywhere, mother had demonstrated the use to us when we were little." Reya's eyes went distant for a moment, as she thought back on those times. "She had told us we needed to use it to keep our mouths clean, and that it wasn't nice to eat our prey with bad breath."

"I wonder how often prey tends to consider the smell of a predator's mouth while they're in it, though," said Triela laughing.

"Mmm, never thought to ask, but I like how it makes my mouth feel so I would do it anyway." Reya paused, thoughtful again. "If you want, I can give you some before you leave so you can give your scientists something else to study."

"Hmm, that would be nice. I doubt we'd need it, but the eggheads would certainly love something else to examine."

"Alright then. Just remind me when we get back to my nest so that I can get you some before they teleport you out," Reya said, her legs moving in a steady rhythm to carry her from the spring to her nest. Triela laid out, stretched upon Reya's hand with her head looking over the edge. She was always fascinated by how Reya moved... and even moreso by how silent she was as she did it.

************

Its a rather lovely morning, Ion reflected as he and Nyselyn walked through the forest. Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy above them to alight upon the trees and brush of the forest, growing with wild abandon throughout in a multitude of colors. This land is rather beautiful... but like all roses, it certainly has it's fair share of thorns. Ion wanted to reach out and run his hands along the ferns growing nearby, but his memories of a certain plant that had doused him with paralytic powder prevented him from repeating that mistake.

They were not going far, just enough away from the city to not be seen by prying eyes. Neither of them wished to attract attention from some of the more questionable individuals and groups in Negav. Of course, they needed to stay close enough that if they were interrupted by a predator they could run back to the safety of the Isolon Eye. Ion had no desire to indiscriminately kill - he already had his hands stained with their fair share of blood. The two of them had to get rough with some preds in the past, but so far they had managed to not kill any of the sentient creatures.

Nyselyn and Ion's walk concluded as they entered a clearing, Nyselyn striding briskly over to the center and turning about to face Ion. Her right arm suddenly exploded, the nanites that had originally formed it's shape now rotating slowly in a cylindrical shape where the arm had been. After a few moments of this, they recombined, turning her arm into a massive buster blade, which caught the sunlight filtering from above and shimmered.

<Make yourself ready, my master. It is time for your character building~!>

Ion smiled back at Nyselyn as his hammer materialized in his outstretched hands. <Sometimes, my dear, I think you have it out for me.>

Nyselyn returned his smile with her own, pointing the massive buster blade at his center. <Why would you think it is only some of the time, my master?> asked Nyselyn, rushing towards him and swinging her massive blade swiftly around her body and down.

Ion countered with the shaft of his hammer, knocking her off and back as they began to dance around each other. Their matches typically started as such, with Nyselyn responding to Ion's hammer with a large weapon of her own, countering on equal footing and slowly stepping it up, using her smaller frame and nanite construction to outmaneuver and overpower him. This was the actual workout portion of their sparring matches, Nyselyn continuously ramping up the power and frequency of her attacks until Ion crumpled.

Since they had been continuously practicing for over a year now, the length of time that Ion could last in these endurance sessions had improved to around two hours. By that time, Nyselyn was striking so fast that Ion could no longer counter her motions even with his enhanced senses. It didn't help that Nyselyn made no noise other than the sound of her weapon parting air, unlike Ion who would have to suppress the sounds of his own exertion and breathing.

After a short break to recover, the tactics side of their sparring would begin. Since Nyselyn's body was really just an avatar formed of a massive colony of nanites, she could engage in combat in very unique ways. The simplest involved altering her form and detaching pieces of herself to be thrown, such as following the buster blade with a toss of her hand which would morph into a spiked ball or a monomolecular edged shuriken. The most extravagant having her using the entirety of the colony that consisted of her avatar to create clouds of miniature death.


The exploration of her combat abilities against Ion provided him with an opportunity for critical thinking in tense situations, like that which they would require against a sentient or unrecognized predator in this world. After arriving in Negav, the two of them had spent some time studying up on the dangers of Felarya, but even so, there was still much about this world that was unknown to even the native inhabitants.

Nyselyn was not the only one with the ability to engage combatants in unique ways, however. Ion's skill at manipulating energy had progressed substantially since his arrival in Felarya, the new landscape dictating that he utilize the skill more often. While he remained unable to use it on living creatures, Ion found that he could restructure the chemical and nuclear bonds of a variety of substances with ease to manipulate energy and matter to his needs. These manifestations appeared in everything from high powered explosions to enhancing the impact of his weapon or the durability of his armor and barrier.

Still, when it came to who was going to be the 'winner' of their sparring matches, there really was no contest. Nyselyn always had to hold back to keep from seriously hurting Ion, and even so she wasn't a slouch when it came to dealing out exorbitant amounts of punishment. As an AI, Nyselyn defined the terror that pervaded the minds of most core worlders when they thought of and remembered the 'living' weapons of Halyi's Star. AIs were simply capable of faster motion, greater strength, and higher cognitive ability than any comparable utility.

As his thoughts mulled over such things, Ion found his body slamming into a tree trunk, tossed across the clearing with ease by the little hellion. <I honestly am beginning to believe you delight in this.> Ion stated, as he collapsed onto the ground with a thump, his hammer held captive in her avatar's tiny hands.

<Me? My dear master, I am only endeavoring to build thine character.>

<Typically, when one builds things, one does not endeavor to destroy them.>

<I believe the appropriate response to that would be - One cannot make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.>

<My body doesn't appreciate being your omelet.>

Nyselyn laughed from above him, her body straddling atop his as the nanites of her avatar swarmed into her typical human form, using his hammer to pin him down by the neck.

<You complain too much. I only broke a couple of bones this time.>

Ion shook his head with a heavy sigh. <I don't suppose I could convince you to carry me home?>

<Not a chance. My omelet is not yet complete.>

************

Reya was laid out on a hammock of her own silk, suspended a short distance from the ground using one of her real legs to gently sway herself back and forth in the light rain fall that gently pelted her body. She had brought a snack orb with her, the contents now filling her stomach as she lazily unraveled the thread of the orb and slurped it up. Her free hand rested on her full stomach, gently teasing her skin with her fingernails.

Today was rather nice, she thought, recalling her wonderful catch and Triela's visit. She would need to be going back to her nest soon, before the gentle motions of her hammock rocked her to sleep. Reya was enjoying the rain though, so she decided she could stall for a few more minutes.

Reya was disturbed from her ambling thoughts by vibrations through a silk sensor line attached to one of her limbs. She was about to climb out of her hammock and prepare to 'greet' her guest when she felt a series of tugs on the line. Cecaeda. The giant elf always made sure to locate and tug on Reya's sensing lines in a certain pattern so that she would be aware of her approach.

"I'm over here, Cecaeda," Reya called out, looking over in the direction the line disappeared in.

"Good evening, Reya," replied the elf, appearing from the brush. Like Reya, Cecaeda was a great hunter, capable of great patience and silence in her stalking. Standing at sixty-eight feet in height, she befit the typical appearance of an elf, frail and beautiful. Unlike most of her kind who wore nothing or animal skin, she wore a tight suit made from Reya's silk and dyed black. Cecaeda was an albino, her pale skin and long white hair a stark contrast to the black suit, her red eyes always attentive and her long, pointed ears twitching with the background noise of the forest.

"What brings you by today, Cecaeda? It's getting a bit late."

"I know, my apologies. I was just passing by near your nest and I wanted to stop and say thank you for what you did earlier today with Gea. She tends to get a bit overzealous and involved, losing sight of the bigger picture when she is focused."

"Ah, you must mean the elf I stopped earlier. You're welcome, I suppose... but you should know that if I hadn't already had a good catch she would've made one herself."

"I know, and hopefully she'll remember your implications. At least they should give her some pause for a week or two," said Cecaeda with a smile.

"Is she someone close to you?" Reya asked, raising an eyebrow in her curiosity.

"No, not really. You know I'm not that social. When she described the dridder that had caught and released her though, I was fairly certain she had run into you. Her story was a bit extravagant, but that is to be expected from someone like her. I just appreciate that you didn't unnecessarily take her life."

"Ah, I see," said Reya dismissively. "You know me better than that. I don't like to waste, and the naga I caught earlier will keep me fed for a few days. If you run across her again though, try to impart that she might not be so lucky next time."

Cecaeda shook her head, her smile waning slightly as she stepped up closer to Reya. "I attempted that earlier today, but I don't think the message really got through to her. Anyway, how have you been?"

"Well. I've been doing rather well. Triela stopped by for a visit earlier today after my catch, and we spent some time in my hot spring together. It was quite relaxing and fulfilling. It seems their colony has been doing well."

"Hmm. Maybe one day I'll get to meet your little friend," Cecaeda said, her hand resting on Reya's arm and squeezing gently. "I should go though. Like I said, I was only dropping by since I was near, and it is late. I'll let you get your rest."

Reya nodded, knowing that Cecaeda's day was just about to begin. She tended to be a night stalker, her eyes hindered by the light of day. "It was good to see you again Cecaeda. You should drop by again when you have some more time so we can talk. Maybe enjoy a little time in my hot spring as well?"

"I'd like that. Well, goodbye for now, Reya." Cecaeda released Reya's arm, slipping back into the forest in silence, her presence fading away as quickly as it had appeared, like a thief in the night.

With a sigh, Reya got up from her hammock, breaking down the webbing and rolling it up to take with her and recycle later. It's definitely time for bed, she thought, stifling a yawn as she moved off towards her nest nearby.

Kaede hummed a quiet tune to herself as she flitted along, a little melody she had recently picked up from a cute human traveler she had shadowed for the better half of the previous day after using her illusionist magic to appear as his hat. He had been quite oblivious to her presence or seemingly to the perils of this forest, walking along and whistling without a care to his surroundings. Fortunately for Kaede, the traveler had managed not to run into any other predators along his way before meeting up with another group of people.

She assumed that his intent had been to rendezvous with these others, as they appeared to know him and greeted him warmly, they too seemingly oblivious to the danger they were in. That was ok to Kaede though - there were only six of them all told, well within her safety margin. She had waited until they had tucked in for the night, their camo tents hidden surprisingly well against the forest. For a group that seemed to walk around so haphazardly they had made good preparations for their evening.


Still, it had done them little good as Kaede had entered each tent after an hour or so of waiting, shrinking them down as they slept and eating them one by one. It had been quite the filling meal, and even more unusual for her she had been able to enjoy each and every one thoroughly before swallowing their shrunken bodies. Normally with such a large group she would have been discovered after two or three, but striking while they slept had proven quite effective for her. It was a strategy she would have to remember for the future; while she had followed people before she had never trailed them for this long or waited so patiently.

Kaede had saved the cute traveler she had hitched a ride with as his hat for last, gently waking him up after she had finished with the others. She had another need that required a different tactic to satisfy. He had awoken quite surprised discovering the nude fairy straddling his lap and watching him sleep - though to him her appearance was that of one of his feminine companions. She had noticed his interest in the woman - who was now one of the other five entrees currently thrashing about in her full stomach - taking a chance and approaching him under the guise of being interested in him as well. It was a rare tactic for her, but it usually worked quite well with the proper setup. Kaede spent the remainder of the night satiating her body's pent up sexual needs, thoroughly exhausting her temporary human lover beneath her demanding hips.

After waking the next morning, she had enjoyed the human as her breakfast in bed, savoring him in her mouth for a long time before finally gulping him down. Kaede rarely engaged in such activities, but she had to admit it was rather fun to occasionally enjoy her meals in such a typical fairy way. It was rather thrilling to play with her food so extensively. She had only done this sort of thing a couple of times, normally just approaching a traveler concealed as a member of their own race, her true self hidden by her magic to inquire about the Academy and whether or not they could guide her in the appropriate direction. It was the safest scenario she could envision for encounters where it was necessary to expose herself. Unfortunately, so far all those she encountered could not assist her in finding the Academy... but they did assist in keeping her tummy nice and full, so she couldn't complain.

She was getting hungry again now, the six travelers long since having been digested in her stomach. It was nice to sample humans again, this new forest she had been wandering about seemingly lacking the quantity of them from the other places she was familiar with. Her tummy rumbled plaintively with its concerns over her lack of eating. It was now late afternoon on the following day, and definitely time for her to start looking around for something to eat.

Hmm. That's interesting, she thought, having caught a glimpse of something shiny up ahead. Ceasing her humming, she flew forwards cautiously and silent, remaining hidden as best was possible in the underbrush. Her current size of only five inches helped considerably with concealing herself, her body's natural colors only assisting with blending into the environment.

The shiny object turned out to be part of some sort of encampment, with several technological devices present. The devices hummed and chirped quietly, but were devoid of any overseers. Did someone else already find those who set all this up? And who would have done it - don't they know this won't last more than a day out here?

After a few minutes of flitting about and examining the equipment, she heard the sounds of the supposed owners returning. Landing quickly within the cloth bags near one of the units, she watched from beneath its flap as a strange group of creatures entered the area. Two of them were human enough, though taller than she was used to seeing. The other three looked like nekos, but much more catlike. All of them wore white and blue uniforms, moving about the area without speaking.

She watched with interest as they began to pack up the equipment, turning off the devices and securing the units into blocked containers. They worked together effortlessly, as if they were able to communicate by some other means than sound. One of the creatures was always on guard duty, and all of them were alert and focused to the area they were in, watching the forest. Well, this group is certainly more aware of their surroundings than the last. I'd only be able to get one at most before the others were alerted, and I have no idea what they're capable of. The lack of speech is almost... disturbing, the fairy thought.

Eventually finishing with their task, they stood around the containers and waited patiently, a few of them sitting up on the blocks and looking towards the sky. They're waiting for something... but what? Kaede's curiosity was piqued as she too looked towards the sky from her hidden vantage point, wondering just what this odd group was doing.

************

"Welcome back aboard the Táin Bó Cúailnge, Master Triela," stated the teleportal operator as Reya's nest faded from her view, replaced by the small room intended for personnel transport. The Knight Errant class aerial battleships had three teleportals, two for personnel and one for cargo. Triela noted the phosphorescent bulls-eye, the tack number indicating that she had been beamed aboard to the port personnel unit, on Habitation Deck 2.

"Thank you, Journeyman," replied Triela as she made her way off the pad. "Could you please see to it that these are stored for delivery to the Science League?" she asked, motioning with a tentacle at the silk-bundled package in her hands. Reya had given her some samples of the plant that she used to keep her mouth clean and breath fresh, and though she imagined they wouldn't have a use for it she still wanted to deliver it to the eggheads.

"Absolutely, Master Triela. Just leave it here and I'll ensure it is handled appropriately," responded the young human operator.

Presenting the bundle, Triela handed it off to the operator and passed through the compartment automatic door, exiting into a long passageway. Having helped with the design of the aerial battleships, Triela knew her way about them without need for assistance. The layout was a bit confusing to most at first, since it wasn't symmetrical. Habitation Deck 2 was located on the port side of the ship, running parallel alongside the upper of two forward firing PACCs. The Hold Deck ran between the two Habitation Decks and into the aft of the ship around the engineering spaces, containing the ship's cargo which included the weapon magazines. To her left would be the forward of the ship and the crew's berthing, the mess hall located at the end.

Triela turned to her right however, towards Upper Engineering. The passageway soon curved, tracing a path around the ship's massive powerplant. Halfway around the arc would be the glide-port leading up to the Command Deck, Triela's current destination. Táin Bó Cúailnge was Expert Alecto's ship, a Ti'Glath she had served with previously aboard the Adagio of Fate. She had been one of the members of their team when they went to retreive Reya from the Scrye Syndicate, and had helped her cope with the grief of Warismat's death. Triela had not had more than a passing opportunity to talk with her old friend, and wanted to spend the trip back to Westersea catching up on her life since she had become Reya's ambassador. It really has been a long time, hasn't it, Triela asked herself.

Arriving at the glide-port, Triela sent the command via her neural link to connect her with the Command Deck. The method of transport between decks was via glide-ports, which were express elevator units that used miniature inertia 'clamps' to grapple a person or object and deliver it through vertical and horizontal tubes to various locations throughout the ship. The ship's computer acted as a traffic control system, directing personnel safely through the passages. It utilized each person's unique electronic tags to identify them with the movement requests in order to ensure correct delivery. The process required only moments to complete and allowed for transit in the asymmetrical passageways that defined the interior of the ship.

Triela always enjoyed the sensation of the grapples, the familiar tug as the invisible forces locked upon her and ferried her up through the bowels of the ship. Since Treila lacked a defined skeletal structure, the grapples gently squeezed and compressed her entire body as they moved her about, the computer compensating shortly after identifying her tag. Still, the feeling was much like a tight, intimate hug, as if the machinery was welcoming her personally each time she used the devices. The efficient system delivered her promptly to the Command Deck, depositing her body gently upon the landing in the port wing. Triela proceeded from the glide-port inward, moving towards the Command Deck proper.

The deck was well lit, personnel moving about back and forth between the raised dias and sunken trenches of various stations. Unlike the starship bridges Triela was familiar with, the Knight Errant aerial battleships took a technological step backwards in that they actually had interface consoles. The Xevian Authority's starships during the Lysenthian invasion had advanced to just having enclosed capsules, where the crew communicated and operated the ship as a united mind. While the crew of the aerial battleship still had a neural link to the ship and were able to receive information and send commands via the link, they additionally had holographic consoles that displayed the information as well. The change was to allow for faster construction, as interactive consoles were easier to build and required fewer resources and internal space than the ABG central neural nets that starships had used.

The most striking difference, though, was the viewing panorama that encircled the entire deck. As if the ship's Command Deck had a massive ring of windows reaching from floor to ceiling, the view of the Felaryan jungle was spread out in all directions about them as the ship moved across the sky. The display was broken only by the passageways to and from the deck leading to the port and starboard wings where the glide-ports and auxiliary equipment were located. No starship Triela had ever been on had such a thing; on the old starships, one could access exterior viewing angles from the enclosure of their couches, but there was not an ever-present display outside of those units showing an exterior view from the respect of the ship's hull.

In a large chair in the raised center of the deck, positioned before the holographic map unit that showed their exact position in relation to the explored and known areas of Felarya sat her Ti'Glath friend, her expression bored as she propped her head up and leaned against one arm of her chair for support. Triela made her way over to her friend, coming up beside her on the upraised dias.

<How'd your visit with Reya go?> asked Alecto, maintaining her former posture, only her yellow eyes moving to look up at Triela.

<Well enough. Thanks for dropping me off for the day. I haven't been able to get out of the command complex in a while to visit.>

<It wasn't a problem. We were coming out here anyway on routine business to drop off a scouting team. Now that we've collected you Triela we'll be going to pick up the team and return the lot of you to the Settlement.>

<Did the team find anything of interest?>

Alecto snorted derisively, finally turning to look up at Triela. <No, of course not. The only thing those teams find is new oddities for the Science League to ponder over or the inside of a stomach.>

<Hopefully more of the former than the latter,> Triela thought with a sigh. <How are you enjoying the Táin Bó Cúailnge? You always wanted a command of your own.>

<She's a good ship. Not a starship, of course, but she'll do. Got a right proper weapons battery, though ever since the first couple encounters most predators leave us alone now. She handles well, trust me. First thing I did when I got her was take her out for a spin and see how she flew; you lot did a good job designing these birds.>

<Ryrja must have had a heart attack the day he learned you were selected to be a captain for the Táin Bó Cúailnge. You always had a tendency to... test your equipment thoroughly.>

<Aaah, the old cat just likes to put on a show. Master Ryrja doesn't have any issues with me as a captain, though he always loves to give me a tongue lashing for any stunts I pull with one of his babies,> Alecto said affectionately, gently rubbing an arm of her chair with one of her padded palms. <He picked me because he knew I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, though we've only had to do so once. Sort of a waste, really. The predators aren't stupid animals though, they remember their encounters with the first ship Brwydr Camlan, and I doubt many of them can even distinguish between the different ships. They all look the same.>

<Almost sounds like you want them to attack,> mused Triela.

<Well, I do enjoy a good lightshow... but I don't really want them to do so. They're just doing what they were made to do - hunting for food. Not their fault we're tasty morsels, nor is it very honorable to go lighting up a flesh and blood critter with something like a GRASER mount. Based on our research only a few of them can actually see into a spectrum that would allow them to even view a GRASER firing, so randomly getting holes punched through their bodies when they get too close can't be an experience they would want to repeat. I prefer an enemy like the core worlders... something I can hate passionately and blaze away at without my conscience ever getting in the way.>

<Indeed. Hopefully though, we'll never have to worry about those bastards ever again,> spat Triela, the venom in her thought easily readable.

<True enough. They're probably still gloating over their victory over the Commodore.>

<Yeah. I hope he gave them something to remember us by,> thought Triela wistfully, her eyes sad as she turned away from Alecto to look out over the horizons of Felarya.

<If the Commodore is half the man we knew him to be, they're still picking up the pieces leftover from his farewell present,> Alecto thought with a dry chuckle. <If you don't mind though, I should get back to pretending like I'm paying attention. We'll be picking up the team soon, so I'll have some things to do. If you want to talk some more though, we can meet up after docking at the Settlement. We're not scheduled for deployment for another week or so.>

<Of course, I understand. I'll get out of your way. It was nice to talk with you again, Alecto.>

Triela stepped off the command dias after Alecto's dismissal, going over to sit in one of the observer chairs located behind her chair. This view will never get old, Triela thought as she settled comfortably into the chair, taking in the sights of Felarya as the dusk approached and cast its beautiful colors across the treetops.

************

Why must it always be so hot, thought the lone explorer as she made her way through the dense Felaryan jungle. I wonder if it would look suspicious if I used my magic to make the air around me chilled, her mind speculating and musing over the thought. I probably shouldn't, she decided with a sigh. At least not out in the open.

The youthful looking woman appeared in her twenties, the bits of her exposed skin revealing a creamy caramel color. Sweat beads flicked off her skin as she walked, her normally loose clothing clinging to her rather shapely body as she made her way through the jungle. It was an unusually hot day in the jungle, but that had not deterred her from her life's passion - that of discovering ancient and lost technology left behind by previous occupants of Felarya, be they temporary visitors or long established empires.


She had overheard some information regarding a forgotten dridder warrior hall from perhaps the times of the great dridder queen Sineria during her last stay in Negav, and had made certain to investigate the rumor to its fullest. It seemed that it had some weight, as the dridder army had an outpost in this region once upon a time. Of course, what remained to be seen was whether or not the 'forgotten' outpost was really forgotten. Assuming the information was good she should be able to find some nice treasures there. Dridders were well known for their armor and weapon craft, especially those from Sineria's time.

I think it is time for a break, she told herself, sitting down on a rotting trunk. She pulled the rucksack from her back, rustling about in it for a few moments before pulling out a plastic container with sandwiches and a flask of water. Picking out one of the triangular cuts, she placed the sandwich in her mouth and captured it with her teeth, moving back to her sack and rustling about further until she located the magical globe that had settled towards the bottom. The globe was a relic she had acquired during an earlier expedition, contained within it a surprisingly detailed map of several locations in Felarya. Even better was that the globe could be updated, and as such was now marked all over by her notes.

Holding the globe in her left hand, she moved the right back to the sandwich, grasping it and clamping her teeth through the part that had been in her mouth, tasting the wonderful mixture of flavors from the meat, cheese, and spices contained within it. As she picked apart her meal, her fingers manipulated the globe with practiced expertise, tapping a series of blocks in a particular order to cause it to swirl about around her, displaying a holographic layout of the area she currently occupied. She'd been exploring for near a week now, with very few locations left on the grid in the supposed area the outpost should have been. Her excitement was beginning to dwindle, as it looked like this hot topic had been just another rumor after all.

As she continued munching on her sandwich, she examined the hologram, moving it by turning the globe in her palm. The map had updated automatically once again, detailing further the topography of the area she had explored, showing that which she covered so far this day. So little left to search. I was really looking forwards to seeing some genuine Sineria relics, too. Her lips pursed in a cute pout as she looked over the remaining unexplored area and decided on her next path to take, finishing her sandwich and licking any lingering taste off her fingertips.

At least it should rain by nightfall. Hopefully clear out some of this ridiculous heat, she mused. That would certainly be nice. Attaching the lid on her now empty sandwich container, she turned off the map device and began repacking her rucksack. Even for someone as experienced and capable as her, it wasn't wise to linger for too long in one spot, less something hungry come along and make life difficult.

~~~~~

The words 'be careful what you wish for' were prevalent in the female explorer's mind as she trekked on through the heavy rain. Was this really necessary? Her clothes were soaked all the way through to her skin, as she had not desired to wear her cloak in the heat. Heavy rain and oppressive heat... I love you too, Felarya, she grumbled to herself. The ambient level of light had fallen appreciably, marking the coming of dusk despite the rainclouds obscuring the sky. I'll need to find shelter for the night soon.

It was only because the woman had started searching for shelter that she even noticed the thin strand of silk glistening with the rainfall stretched from the ground to some tall, vine covered object. Approaching it cautiously, she pulled out the pair of ornate weapons she wore in shoulder holsters, holding them out and ready from her body. It would not do to be unprepared.

Closer, she noted that the object the silk was attached to was actually a marker totem, something the old dridder society was known for. The marker was very worn and covered in the creep of the jungle, most likely having stood guard for centuries - but there was no doubt as to what it could be. The only issue then, was where the silk had come from. Was it possible that a dridder guarded this area? And if so, did that mean there was something worth her time here after all? The excitement was coming back quickly as she moved forwards silent and stealthily. If this was a dridder's home, she needed to find out what type it was to safely plan her next move.

Walking about the marker she located the guide stone, an angular section towards the middle of the totem that pointed in the direction of a nearby safe haven. Tracing a path along that of the stone's axis, she located the large gaping maw of a natural cavern. At least, it appeared natural until a closer examination revealed that the entirety of its surface was covered by aged, dry gray silk. This is it. Her mind was still locked in caution, however, as the strand of silk from the totem was new - which meant there must be an active dridder nearby. Additionally, the old society was known for its Victorian style buildings - not for underground caverns. Still, this discovery warranted her attention.

Entering the cavern, the explorer was surprised to note the springiness of the ancient silk floor. Despite obviously having aged a great deal, it retained most of its properties. I wonder what kind of dridder could make silk like this? While dating things in Felarya was near impossible, the appearance of the silk gave her hope that she had indeed found the outpost that had led her on this journey. After a few minutes of navigating the cavern, she came across new silk webs, messy in their construction and salved with stickiness. And this must be the one living here now. Not exactly a good study in the past, the explorer murmured to herself.

Her progress slowed as she carefully stepped around the messy webs, keeping alert to any noise or motion in the cavern. So far, she couldn't detect anything, which was at least something. I doubt this dridder would live very long if their hunting tactics were as messy as their webs - just how do they intend to catch anything with these things? Light up ahead announced the end of the cavern, surprising the explorer. She had not expected that the cavern was in reality a tunnel, and hope filled her mind once again. Moving quicker she reached the end, staring up at the sight that greeted her in the waning light of late afternoon or early evening.

The land spread out a short ways from the exit of the cavern, looking over the horizon. A few yards in front of her a Victorian style building was erected, its walls surprisingly clean of vegetation. It does exist! And someone has been tending to it. Most likely that dridder... so where are they? She couldn't sense anything, which was bothering her. It should be here somewhere... Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a terrible clashing and clamor of metal, whirling about and pointing her hand cannons in the direction of the noise to see a thirty-foot tall brown dridder wearing very oversized armor for his frame fall down from his hidden vantage point, his body coming to rest and splaying out in a very unflattering position. He had a wide carapace that was covered with dark black armor, a small round abdomen with short brown fur and tan stripes. His frame was that of a hunting spider, meant for active hunting and burrowing.

"Who are you?! Identify yourself, trespasser! This is hallowed ground!" The brown dridder shouted, though his threat was offset majorly by the trouble his armor was causing him, unable to even stand to face her without wobbling. The woman couldn't help but giggle at the sight before her, the eight-legged creature stumbling about and trying to appear menacing while his unwieldy armor shifted about loosely on his body.

"Hey! Don't you dare laugh at me!" exclaimed the dridder, right before tripping over his forelimbs and falling to land in front of the explorer. At this point she was bawling with laugher, unable to contain herself as her lithe body shook with the power of her amusement. "You won't think its so funny when I get back up!"

Sobering up, she stepped easily out of his clumsy swipe, holstering the ornate weapons she had been wielding until now. Wearing the full helmet he sported he couldn't have actually seen her, he was just striking at where he heard her from. "I'm sorry, Mr. Dridder, but you're just too funny. Don't tell me, let me guess - those webs, your webs - you made those while wearing your armor?"

"Well, of course I did, silly! I wear this armor everywhere!" he replied indignantly, finally regaining composure enough to stand up and look down at his visitor through the enclosure of his helmet. "A human?! How did you survive the forest?"

"Oh, you would be surprised. I suppose I have an unfair advantage though, as I'm not really human, you see," replied the woman, tipping her safari hat off the back of her head revealing a pair of curled horns growing from her head. "Now, then, my name is Liari. What might yours be?"

Drawing his body up and standing with a haughty posture, he replied after a deep breath with "I am the great warrior Viceroy, of course! A soldier of Sineria's armies!" Exhaling, he collapsed onto his limbs and pouted, the armor clashing as he did so. "Well, I guess we know that isn't true. But my name really is Viceroy! What are you exactly, I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a creature that looked human and wasn't. You're overflowing with magical energy too... there is so much I can sense you just by that." he stated excitedly, his eyes lighting up.

"I see," said Liari, hiding her grin of amusement behind the palm of her hand. "I'm sort of complicated. Lets just say that I'm a hybrid of two very interesting and different creatures. I take it you got that armor from this place?"

"Yes," he admitted with a sigh, seemingly unfazed by her obscurity. "I've been living here for a while now. I thought that if I could master the ways of our ancestors, I could return home, and show my family that I was not just the useless, insignificant runt of the family..."

"Awww, don't be like that," Liari stated as she brought her hands down to her sides, her smile fading. "You're the one that's been safeguarding this place, no? And keeping it clean? That's worthy of respect, regardless of your stature."

"T-th-thanks, I g-guess," Viceroy replied, his voice now much more shaken than it had been before, as if his confidence had vanished completely. "Its all I'm really good for though."

"Well, I must admit, making that much racket every where doesn't help you out. And it can't be easy to spar in either. There wasn't anything that... fit... better?"

"Nooooo, of course not! Full grown dridder warriors aren't supposed to be as small as i am!" he yelled, before recoiling sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Touchy subject, eh? Well, I think I can help you with that. The armor, I mean. First, though, we need to actually put them on right, or this will hurt more than help."

"Put them on right? How are they wrong?" he asked, his voice lilting with his curiosity.

"Well, for starters, this plate wasn't made for someone with a carapace as wide as yours. It was meant for a narrow body dridder with a bulbous abdomen, not a wide body dridder with a small bubble abdomen. You're actually wearing underbelly plate on both top and bottom - which works for you, but you put the top one on in reverse. And the armor sheathes on your legs are upside down."

"Really?! How do you know that?"

"Trust me, hun, we women can always tell when others are wearing clothes wrong."

Viceroy seemed placated by this statement, sitting still as Liari fussed over his armor, rearranging pieces of the plates and fitting them properly over his body. He shifted beneath her, testing the changes that she made and murmuring his approvals of them. The light of the day was mostly gone when Liari finally finished with her adjustments, nodding to herself as she stepped down off of one of his legs and stood in front of him.

"Stand still now. This will tingle," Liari spoke, holding out one of her hands towards the dridder as her horns began to glow brightly, illuminating the whole area and illiciting a gasp of surprise from Viceroy. The armor he was wearing shrank down immediately following Liari's motions, gripping his body and fitting against his skin as if it was made to do so.

"T-t-that's amazing! H-how... did you do that?" he exclaimed, moving his body and admiring how the armor moved with him now rather than loosely sliding over his carapace. Flipping up the visor of his helmet to better admire the armor that he now wore, he revealed his face to Liari. In the dim twilight, she couldn't make out a lot of his features, but she did notice how gaunt he appeared.

"Well, one of my many talents is being able to change the size of objects. Um, pardon me for asking, but when was the last time you ate a full meal? I'm surprised you didn't try to eat me already in your condition."

"I... I don't remember. And I did try! With my armor on I could never catch anything unless it was stuck in my webs already, and they never seemed to catch anything. I can sense your magic, and I've had... bad experiences with mages. I've been eating the fruits that grow from the nearby trees, though..." As if on cue, his stomach growled, causing him to blush bashfully.

"You've got to take better care of yourself!" Liari chided, sighing as she slid the straps of her rucksack off, depositing it onto the ground and leaning over to delve through it. She pulled out a metal tin, opening it up to reveal a white inner layer covered with frost that dissipated into the hot evening, a row of long cube shaped blocks with something frozen inside of each one and sealed on a wooden dowel rod. Pulling one out and holding the rod in her teeth, she closed the tin, setting it back into her sack and then held out the popsicle, using her magic to make it float in front of him and then increase in size appropriately for the dridder to eat.

Her horns glowed dimly at the use of her magic, as she continued with, "Here, have a kensha beast popsicle. They're absolutely delectable. You'll have to eat it quick though, lest he thaws out in this stupid heat."

"Just... what the heck are you?" he asked in surprise, his dark eyes widening as he watched her work. His hand did reach out and grasp the dowel, however, and upon licking the ice he startled back, "This ice has flavor!"

"Well of course it does, silly! What use is a popsicle without flavor?"

Viceroy seemed placated by her statement, as if it was a fact that he should have simply known. His hunger getting the better of him, he began to bite chunks out of the ice rather than just lick it, working his way quickly to the shrunken kensha beast in the center. Liari shook her head at the dridder's eagerness, but she couldn't really blame him for not pausing to appreciate her handiwork in his condition.


After a few more moments watching him, she sat down instead, looking over at the building near them. The armor he wore was finely crafted, and there was no doubt from the insignias upon the breastplate that it had been from Sineria's time. She needed to find a tactful way of asking to be let into the outpost and allowed to explore. Liari could feel her interest and desire tingling, itching at her mind. Priceless dridder army relics were right at her fingertips, after all!

A sudden clamor from inside the hall brought her out of her reverie, turning sharply to look over at the outpost building. It almost sounds as if there is someone fighting inside... "Viceroy, what's with all that racket?"

"Oh, that's just the ghosts. They appear each night and vanish at dawn, reanimating the armor and weapons inside. This armor I wear was the only suit that didn't reanimate, otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to wear it either. Its a shame too, there are some really nice pieces in there," he replied as he continued munching on the popsicle.

Ghosts, eh? Liari smiled to herself. This could work out well in her favor, so long as she played her cards right. "Say, Viceroy, could I have a set of armor if I banished the ghosts for you?"

"You could do that too?!" he replied, his expression shocked. He almost dropped the popsicle before realizing his grip had slackened. He turned away from her and looked over at the hall, before turning to look back at her. "Do you even realize how many there are?" With a shudder, he continued, "Its best that you probably don't try, I'd hate to see you get hurt after how much you've helped me, Liari."

"Oh, you needn't worry about me, Viceroy," replied Liari, putting on her sweetest smile for his benefit. "I'll be just fine." It had been a while since she had eaten any ghosts... Liari wondered how the spirits of ancient warriors would taste, her saliva already starting to build at the thought. Maybe they age like wine...

************

Kaede's golden eyes were filled with awe and surprise as the dimming light of the forest she knew vanished in a swirl of blue light, replaced instead with walls and a roof of grayish white material with bright lighting all about her. The creatures from before were gone as well - wherever she had been sent to it was not inhabited. Unlike the disturbance from before that had sent her to the another unknown forest, this disturbance was abrupt and instant. An odd hum faded away in her ears as the blue swirls faded around the bag she was hidden within.

It had all started when the group she was observing had seemingly spotted what it was they were waiting for, picking up their belongings and waiting patiently, spaced evenly apart in a small circle. Above her head, she could hear a soft rumble, and it felt as if the air around her was shimmering and warping with some unseen force. Then the hum had started - which had drawn her attention from the sky back to the creatures, only to see them vanishing in bright swirling lights that also started to claim the shiny objects of the forest.

Kaede had just been preparing to bolt from her bag when it too was surrounded by the blue light, and now it was too late. She was now stuck in some other unfamiliar place. I'll never get anywhere with my goal if I keep getting knocked all about the universe! Cautiously flitting out of the cloth bag, she examined the area she was in but noticed no one about. Feeling relatively secure for the moment, she grew to her normal size of five feet, and began walking about the 'room' she now found herself in.

The room was quite large, with one of the far walls sloping inward and down as if it were meshed against something else. It was filled with a variety of bags, crates, and containers of different shapes and volumes, the actual room for her to walk in dramatically reduced as a result. Some sort of storage area? The air constantly moved about her, tickling her sensitive wings. It was fresh and clean, but with a slightly acrid odor that she couldn't quite identify.


The air was cold and brisk against her nude flesh, causing goosebumps to form along her arms as her body gently shivered. The hard floor was even more cold than the air, causing her to curl her toes as she moved about, trying to warm herself. And why does this place have to be sooo cold? Surely they had heard of heating - must be all that fur some of them sported. No doubt it would be quite hot in the jungle for the neko-like critters. To make matters worse, her stomach growled its displeasure at her not having found food before getting transported along to this new, unknown place.

She continued walking down the passages between the crates and containers before arriving at another wall, though this one had some sort of depression within it and what looked like a tube leading up. Playing her fingers along the edges, she noticed that if she pushed against it with her palm the surface gave a little. Pressing both hands against it, she pushed hard, which caused the surface to fall inwards slightly and slide up, revealing the inside of the tube. Metal rungs were fitted against one wall of the tube, apparently something to grasp and climb.

Well, I guess I can keep exploring. There isn't anything of interest down here for me.

Folding her wings as tightly as she could comfortably against herself, Kaede began climbing up the metal rungs, wincing at the cold structure against the padding of her palms and feet. It was only a short distance to the top of the tunnel, another recession waiting at the top of the rungs. Leaning back against the wall, she pushed her hands against it and was rewarded with the same action as before, watching as it slid up and away. Before her was a passageway of some kind, stretching away and curving slightly into the distance. More recessions adorned the hallway, only these were much larger, probably meant for routine access.

Shrinking her body back down to her diminutive form of five inches, Kaede flitted out into the hallway, flying about halfway down its length before a tall shadow started forming around the corner. The shadow had several writhing tentacles and was silently moving from the opposite end of the way towards her. Without a moment to spare she landed on the floor, quickly crafting an illusion of one of the smaller container devices she had seen used by the original group in the forest before being transported to this place.

Kaede had to place her hand over her mouth to squelch the gasp of surprise that threatened to give her away. The shadow had moved into the hallway now where she could see the creature casting it, and she had never before seen anything like this creature. It appeared feminine, with the upper body of a curvy human - though that was where the resemblances ended. Instead of legs she had a multitude of tentacles, and her skin was a bluish color with shimmering blond hair and large, unblinking eyes with horizontal pupils.

The creature stopped when she reached Kaede, her lips pursed in thought. Placing one hand on her hips, she looked down at the illusion the fairy was creating, and then began to reason with herself aloud; "That's odd. How did a scanner get all the way up here? Teleportal accident?" Turning her head around to look completely behind her, Kaede couldn't help but move her hands up to her neck and shiver in repulsion at this creature's range of motion. It's just... unnatural! "Oh well, I guess I can put it back, its not worth troubling the crew over."

Reaching down, the creature picked up Kaede, seemingly still unawares of her true form, and began moving back from the direction she came. The very confused fairy was unable to notice anything about her passing surroundings as she focused entirely on the strange thing holding her, unable to imagine what sort of place she must have been delivered to now.