Fear of the Shadows RPG

'May I have your attention. The ship is about to enter planetary orbit over our destination - planet 26B of the Antares system,' an echoing, synthesized voice announced over the starship's internal coms. 'Will the preliminary exploration unit please make your way to hangar bay three in preparation for launch. A full planetary surface scan will commence in one minute, after which you will be given your landing coordinates.' "That's us," said Tobias Arcus, one of several shuttle pilots waiting eagerly in the ready room. "Finally, we get some flying time," said the pilot next to him as the half-dozen people stood up and proceeded across the room to a line of lockers on the opposite wall. They removed their flight helmets, emergency oxygen units, charts and other flight gear they might need, before crowding up to a large armored metal door, looking out through its single small window at the hangar bay beyond. The floor panels under their boots vibrated as a pair of massive vertical doors began to slide into the floor and ceiling of the bay, slowly revealing a breathtaking view on the other side. A beautiful planet, filled with vast expanses of the greenest tropical forest Tobias had ever seen, rotated into view as the starship reoriented itself to point its sensor array earthward - so to speak. The planet itself looked nothing like Earth, except maybe if you looked at it from its eastern hemisphere where there was almost nothing to be seen but ocean for thousands of miles. "Wow. It's amazing! Where do you think we'll be landing?" asked a pilot named Michelle, craning her neck to see over Tobias' shoulder. "I dunno," murmured Tobias. "Guess it depends which shuttle we'll be assigned to." "There's more than one? I can't see very well," she said, standing on her toes. Tobias motioned for the pilot on his left to move and stepped aside to let Michelle get closer to the window. "Oh, that's better. Three shuttles. Two of us in each, I would guess." Just then the computerized voice reverberated over the intercom again. 'Scan at forty-six percent. Two possible landing sites found. Would all exploration pilots please enter your spacecraft and await further instructions.' "Gladly, computer, if you'll ever let us through," said the pilot to Tobias' left, rapping a knuckle on the thick blast door. Within seconds it cracked open with a hiss of air as the pressure between the ready-room and hangar bay equalized. Even though the immense hangar doors were wide open, atmosphere in the bay was maintained by a softly glowing force field just inside the door track. It was only one of many marvels of technology on the state-of-the-art starship. As the blast door swung open, the six pilots fanned out, two to a shuttle. Tobias and Michelle went for the closest ship, a chiming noise ringing out as the sleek silvery-gray craft detected their presence and opened its entrance hatch. 'Arcus. Steel,' the shuttle confirmed in a surprisingly human-like synth voice as they climbed in one after the other and seated themselves in the cockpit. "Impressive," Michelle remarked as her seat harness clicked itself into place. "Yeah, these new shuttles are really something," Tobias said. "They say if ship technology keeps progressing at this rate, we'll have pseudo-sentient computer cores within twenty years." Michelle's eyebrows shot up, but before she could state her amazement, the starship's final echoing command came. 'Third landing site acquired. Launch shuttles when ready.' "Go time," Tobias said as the entrance hatch closed behind them and the shuttle's main HUD lit up, having received its landing coordinates.

X'ypher walked up to the last alien of this colonization. Its hands were tied behind its back, at the mercy of he and his pack. All of the Scoravain from the nearby colonies had come to watch this achievement. He looked down at it, such a puny, defenseless, dirty beast. He was glad to be rid of them. Annoying little things, they truly were. He looked around. Hundreds of Scoravain had gathered in the center of the alien city to watch this. He smiled on the inside as he hooked his claw gently under its chin, pushed its head up to look at him. It quivered as he took a knife from the Scoravain who was beside him, backing off after the knife was taken. A important figure in their community, this one was. A very important figure, he believed. The alien said sharply, "You will not see the end of us, you foul beasts. We will come for you. You will pay for what you have done to us..." He found it amusing that the humanoid was so confident in the other humanoids abilities. If we can kill all of you so easily, what makes you think that we won't kill all of your little friends too? X'ypher was amused by his confidence in his voice, though the words meant nothing. He smiled, and he slammed the knife through its skull, killing it instantly. He let the body droop to the ground. X'ypher smiled, and looked at all of the faces of the other Scoravain. [i]The other Scoravain went berserk, yelling and screaming. He smiled, thinking about the peace and quiet he would be able to enjoy for a long time here on out.

Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

In that massive gulf above all oceans, be they made of water or some highly compressed gas underneath a heavy sky, far from any glow of life, a construct of metal alloy composites drifted weightlessly relative to its orbiting body. So far out in space, past the stars, this relative orbiting body was the center of the whole galaxy, hundreds of thousands of lightyears away.

Yes, the galaxy was made out of trillions of plasma orbs, each one a furnace of nuclear fusion, but still there was darkness where their light had yet to travel. Darkness that machines could reach, however. Machines that could travel faster than light itself, by many times at that.

Who knows what kind of conventions led to this thing's existence. There were billions of worlds to be found and billions of years to each one of them. Vast histories were the norm for those who stepped past their terrestrial bonds and took their seat in heaven. What string of triumph and failure resulted in the machine drifting through dark space did not matter. It was there, a structure comprised of huge modules linked together by bulky tubes and struts, metallic ridges defined by strips of orange light shining from the ship's hull. It did not look like anything one would expect to fly. It was more like some kind of building, with rounded sections, blocky sections and everything in between, with long spires poking out in seemingly random directions.

***

A green light moved across the metal surface. A tiny green glow, moving at a casual walking pace across the huge face of the space-structure. The body that the light came from was in the perpetual shadow, occasionally illuminated by the lights embedded in the plating. A limb. A part of its torso. A reflection off of its long neck. It moved with purpose above all else. There was no stumbling over the dips and rises in the hull. The body stepped over the irregularities as naturally as any wandering creature on some forlorn planet.

It could see just fine, where all else was consumed by the absence of light, with only the sources from the structure itself challenging the dark. What fear was there to be had in the shadows? Shadows held mystery and intrigue. It sought the unknown. A Seeker.

Eventually it came to the place it wanted to be. The green light dropped down a few feet, its glow casting a soft light on the panels underneath the Seeker when he looked down at the hull. He was crouched down, hands pressed against the hull. Mobile metal, shifting and rearranging, spread from the synthetic's fingers, sliding into the devices along the surface like nodes.

The light flickered rapidly as the Seeker's vision was filled with symbols, letters and numerals, from one of the many space conquering beings to be found out in the galaxy. The syntax was recorded, analyzed and restructured for use. In the Seeker's plane of vision, the glyphs fell into place in the correct order and then disappeared after a few blips.

The exterior door split in two and slid out of view silently. The Seeker entered the opening leading into the structure, feet clinging to the new ground that was perpendicular to the hull outside, exposed to the vacuum. It was the bottom of an airlock chamber. The exterior doors came back together and then there was a rush of sound as air flooded the airlock, hissing, growling, before pressure equalized and the ambient hum of an active spacecraft became the normal sound.

The interior doors opened in the same way as the exterior ones, leading into a secondary shaft, which in turn allowed access to a myriad of other sections on the vessel. Ecliptor walked ahead at the same strolling pace.

Even as the crew at the security helm frantically tried to make sense of the unauthorized -- yet perfectly legitimate -- entry. It wasn't a forced access; the vessel integrity was as it always was. The security system was contacted by an unknown entity, which created a proxy based on the program protocols to open the doors.

The ship's systems were hacked, and they had no clue what it was had joined them so far in space.

The progress of the three scout shuttles was being monitored by a large command crew of Humans and Raptavi alike on the expansive main bridge of the colony starship. Dozens of pairs of eyes gazed with rapt attention at an enormous heads-up display showing a map of the planet's surface - still in the process of filling in with sensor data - and the projected courses and landing sites of each of the exploration craft. Columns of vital telemetry data flashed across separate displays situated to either side of the main map. The information sent back by the shuttles would help determine the best possible location to set up the Human race's first jointly-run interstellar colony. It was a big moment, not only for the Humans, but for the Raptavi as well. The saurian race wasn't new to the business of colonization. They had already established cities, mining bases and communication posts on several planets and moons within a few dozen lightyears of the world they were currently orbiting. But never had they collaborated with another species as closely as this on such a large-scale operation. In all, the colony ship was home away from home to some 11,000 Humans, 8,600 Raptavi, and 270 Dracavion. Although there were none of the latter to be seen on the bridge, the draconic creatures played a large part in the running of the starship, and soon, would be vital to the success of the new colony. "Sir," a Human analyst called, addressing the starship's captain as he pointed up at one of the side displays. "Shuttle two just overflew an area that seems like a match for our needs. Sparse forest, nearby rivers, acceptable levels of ground contaminants." "One moment," a voice growled from beside the analyst, a large gray-uniformed Raptavus turning his head to face the captain. "Shuttle one is sending back interesting results as well. I think it may have found an even more suitable site." "I'm not sure I agree with you on that," the Human said, giving the saurian a sidelong glance and indicating a reading on a nearby console screen. "The sensor data we gathered before launch indicated elevated levels of toxins in the soil on that part of the continent, if I remember rightly. We'd be better off elsewhere." "Those levels are entirely within acceptable limits. The rivers near shuttle two's site are too small to provide the required amount of water for a full-size colony," the Raptavus countered in a mildly irritated growl. "No, no. Your calculations must be off. I checked the rivers already," the Human said, pulling a small tablet out of his pocket and flicking through pages of data. "If you don't believe me, look at the numbers." The Raptavus scoffed. "You're not taking into account variations in consumption! And the industrial center will need every bit as much water as the residential block, if not more." "Gentlemen," the captain interjected in a low, stern tone that signaled the end of the debate. "Why don't we let the shuttles complete their work before analyzing the results too closely, shall we?" The two fell into a tense silence, the saurian regaining his former composure as the Human became absorbed in the mountain of information streaming into his device.
Several hours later, the scout shuttles had returned and the colony site had been chosen. Every one of the starship's eight massive docking bays was buzzing with activity as worker teams, consisting of all three species, boarded their utility shuttles in droves and flew down to the surface to break ground for the new colony...

NPC

"Hm.. Captain, I think we have a target." Mumbled Lil. "Speak up, you know I am deaf in one ear!" Yelled Doug, who took over as captain after heir last one was killed in a firefight. "We have a target, dammit!" Chris spun around in his chair to the left of where Doug sat. As always, Doug pulled his pistol on him, the wimp. Wouldn't get into a fight. Ever. He was a purebred wimp. "So, where is the target?" He asked, pointing the gun at everyone before Gorb grabbed it by the muzzle and bent it upwards. Perks to being the only alien in a human crew? There you go. He looked at his gun, then back at Gorb. He got up and yelled, "What the hell!", pulling a knife and stepping towards Gorb. Gorb grabbed the knife hand with one hand, his collar with another and ripped the knife out of his hand. He pinned Doug's collar to the medical box eight feet up, at his eye level. Doug still screaming, Gorb spit on a rag from on his chair and covered Doug's nose and mouth with it. Dead almost instantly. All the other crew stared. He sat down in the captains tiny chair for his body size, and immediately mentioned that they would be getting a new chair to fit him. The two panels at an arms length away were easy to control, and he maneuvered the ship towards the shuttles that were going down on to the planet. He said to them, "One of you stay here. The other come with me" He got up and looked at them. Neither moved. "Oh come on, if I wanted you dead, you would have been dead a long time ago." Chris got up, leaving Lil to stay in the captains chair. Gorb reached out with a tentacle and grabbed Doug off the wall. The knife fell to the floor. They walked down the small take case to the ejection pod, where he shoved Doug's body, closed the lid, and fired him off into space. He crawled into one of the fighters. The diamond shaped fighters were slate black, and very small. Just big enough for him. Luckily he didn't  have any bones, or he wouldn't fit at all. They got in, and were immediately shot into space. They slowed down the craft and ran after the first Landing craft. They slowed down the just over the speed of the craft, which was determined by the sensors, and their automatic plasma cannons and miniguns began open firing...

The orbiting starship's sensor array detected the fighter pair the moment they launched from the concealed pirate corvette. "Captain, two unknown engine signatures just appeared on sensors," the Human sensor operator reported. "They appear to be on a course that will intercept the utility shuttles!" The captain, who had been resting in his chair a moment ago, stood up abruptly. "Are they hostile?" His question was answered moments later.

Suddenly, the on-duty communications officer, a tan-suited Raptavus, leaped away from her station like she'd been struck, throwing off her headset with a pained hiss. At a sharp look from the captain, she scrambled to turn down the intensity of the violent signal that had caused her outburst. "Apologies, sir," she hissed, pain evident in her voice as she rubbed a clawed hand over one of her ears. "There was an incredibly loud EM burst of unknown-" "Sir, energy weapon discharge near the shuttles!" the sensor operator interjected. The comm officer adjusted her equipment to compensate and gingerly put her headset back on, reporting a moment later, "Captain, I'm getting distress signals from at least half a dozen shuttles." "Yellow alert..."

Several shuttles had declared a state of emergency, but one in particular was lagging badly behind the loose formation of thirty. It was listing heavily, teetering on the verge of spinning out of control. One of its engines was inoperative, and only the skill of the pilot kept it flying more or less in the same direction as the fleet. "Mayday, mayday! This is shuttle 26. We can't maintain course! Making an emergency descent," a human voice yelled into the comm over a racket of metallic crashes as displaced equipment flew around the cargo hold, the pilot fighting to maintain control of the yawing ship as it broke away from the fleet and entered into a steep dive. The occupants, two human pilots, a pair of raptavi workers and their slender, large-dog-sized dracavion runner, were thrown against their restraints as the shuttle careened into the planet's atmosphere, decelerating rapidly...

Gorb calmly told Chris to take the left closest craft, and he would go under them the try and take out the front craft, and have it crash into the others for max effect. Gorb's ship dropped quickly, close enough now that if they dropped 30 meters they would be on top of Gorb's fighter. He brought up a HUD for targeting certain objects with a voice command and touched the first craft, and set the cannons for it. He then touched one near the center to be targeted with the two miniguns. Keeping every system online now took the better part of his focus, as the cannons were taking up most of the power the tiny fighter had, as they were automatic. He decided to put the miniguns on two second burst with a four second interval, and the cannons on ten round bursts with five second intervals and one second between each shot. This way, he could control the ship, keep everything online, and communicate with Chris with room for anything else that happened to pop up along the way.

Chris was having trouble keeping the ship online fully, as he didn't understand how to keep the fighters systems going without having the controls on autopilot. He was trying to fire the guns with his left hand, and everything else with his right. It was working fine until Gorb told him to find two targets in the center of the pack, which meant using two fingers for the cannons, two for the miniguns, and a thumb hanging around, and the controls for each were too far apart to reach at the same time, unless you had them firing as one at the same thing or spot. Which, by Gorbs orders, were to find two targets. He sighed, put the entire ship other than the guns on autopilot, which he was always told was a bad thing to do in case of emergencies, and went to controlling one per hand. He said a voice command, a series of numbers and code-words, and the semi-holographic controls at the end of each arm rest changed to gun controls.

X'yphers POV

As X'ypher ran from the village Rekqmasz to Urqfrozg, he heard something from above, something loud. He stopped in an instant, going from 45 miles per hour to 0 in a second, his leg muscles and knowledge of general physics helping him in achieving this. He told the other two, Trehjx and Kledh to stay on the ground where they were, that he would be back in a second. He leaped up to the nearest tree branch which began to give way as his arms propelled him upwards, using various branches, arms, legs, and teeth to get him to the top of the four-hundred foot tall trees. He shot out of the canopy, various species of animals screeching and flying off. X'ypher went up about twenty feet into the dense air, scrambling about as he fell, the canopy not really helping to cushion his decent any and crashing into the trees, only to stop because of a large branch that was in his path of decent. He stopped for a moment, breathless on the thick branch that kept him from plummeting four hundred feet. He lay there perfectly calm, even though not much stood in the way of him and the ground, other than a stick and four hundred feets' worth of thick oxygen. He got up, remembering his purpose, and climbed to the top of the trees. He didn't see anything yet, but some small purple streaks, about the size of a grain of sand to humans. He called Trehjx and Kledh up, and they were there within seconds, shooting up out of the tree-tops, clearly completing. "I went higher!!! Ha!" Yelled Kledh, still falling from his quick assent. "No, I did! "Exclaimed a flustered Trehjx, who looked like he hit something hard on the way down from his fall. The two began yelling at each other about who went higher, until Trehjx suddenly disappeared into the canopy. X'ypher quickly got up, standing on a somewhat sturdy branch. He began "What did you-" only for Trehjx to appear behind Kledh and shove him into the canopy face first. Before anything got any worse, X'ypher stepped in between the two young Scoravain, who were technically older than X'ypher. Though younger, he was air to the Chieftain, much more mature and intelligent than the two, and most importantly, larger. He was a foot larger vertically and horizontally, and the two he was with were larger than normal size. That is what got you respect in the Scoravain world. Size, wits, or killing ability. If you didn't have any of those, you were dead meat for rest of the Scoravain. You wouldn't survive very long if you were small, stupid, and bad at killing. Luckily, the Scoravain were born smart, meant for killing, and were small in comparison to everything else anyway. Even so, with all of these traits on his side, he still had to earn respect from his elders. And that meant either killing one of them, or doing something amazing. He decided to try the later, as he watched these two dots with pink beams going between them came barreling down to meet the trio of Scoravain.

One by one, more shuttles from the back half of the formation added their frantic distress calls to the communications din. Confusion and panic had broken out in full as the defenseless shuttle fleet continued their descent toward the predetermined landing site. It was all they could do at that point. There was no way of returning to the safety of the starship, and no way of fighting off their unknown attackers. This fact frustrated the bridge crew of the colony ship. "Is there anything we can do? Anything at all? Those poor people didn't sign on to a construction team to get vaporized by some damn raider!" the captain snarled, clearly distressed. "We don't carry fighters, sir," said the Raptavi second-in-command calmly, coming to stand beside him. "I'm well aware of that, Commander!" the captain snarled, rounding on the stony-faced saurian. "Some of your people are out there too. I would have expected a little more concern on your part," he said, trying to temper the anger in his tone. "I am concerned for them, captain. However, unless the hostiles attack this starship directly, our weapons do not have the range to reach them. There is nothing we can do for the shuttles. Their best chance is to continue with the landing." The commander's expressionless eyes met the captain's irate glare for several long seconds. "If you're capable of feeling sympathy, or any kind of emotion at all, you might try showing it once in a while!" he growled, turning away from the saurian.

The main shuttle fleet was descending into the thicker middle layer of the planet's atmosphere, most of the ships still maintaining course, despite the disturbance behind them. Several near the back had begun to scatter though, and were headed for touchdown points several miles from the planned destination. Shuttle 26, its damaged engine blackened and smoking slightly, flew far below the rest, managing to level off at extremely low altitude, skimming a hundred feet over the tops of the gargantuan trees as it searched for a clearing to land in...

As X'ypher watched the two dots get bigger and bigger, one dot began to leave a trail of black in the sky, and the other went away to go after an ever closing larger group, which another was already transferring pinkish beams to. X'ypher realized how close one was coming, and it looked like a big grey and black rock, a noisy one, in fact, with smoke coming out of it. Trehjx and Kledh screamed, ducking into the trees, but X'ypher stayed and stared at the inbound beast. It started screaming, and it got closer and closer to the tree tops every moment. It must be in pain, X'ypher figured, or it wouldn't be screaming so loudly. The rest of the big stone's pack was much higher up, still transferring beams to one another. All of a sudden, one dropped out of the pack as well. Animals started fluttering out of the trees, trying to get away from the screaming beasts. X'ypher called out to Trehjx and Kledh to continue to head to Urqfrozg, and he would follow the stone beast. He ran along the treetops, trying to catch up to the flying thing. It continued screaming, and was very close to the trees, only about a hundred feet. As it descended more, X'ypher began to catch up to the creature, as it seemed to be getting tired, and was going closer and closer to the trees.

Spindly beings navigated the hexagonal hallways that connected the inner superstructure of their vessel, wearing armor that none other than their extraordinarily thin kind could don. Each piece of protection wrapped around the tiny widths of their body parts, giving these beings an artificial exoskeleton that gleamed with a metallic luster when the lights shining from various angles hit them. Their rounded heads were locked behind helmets fitted with all manner of lenses held in place by tiny robotic limbs and turntables. The lenses of various colors and function were readily swapped out, the tiny limbs pulling them away and the turntables rotating in between the set of vision modes as the thin creatures prowled, in search of the intruder. Their limbs were compound, that is to say, there was more than one section to each of their many arms and legs. Forearms were doubled. Thighs were doubled. Hands and feet were doubled.

The spindly creatures were vaguely insectoid, reminiscent of mantises. The tallest among them were roughly seven feet tall. They had four arms and four legs. The legs were always spread out wide regardless of their stance, which explained the need for wide hexagons to walk through. It also made it difficult for them to trip and be pushed over, the Seeker noted as he observed them.

Ecliptor was not nearly as active as the aliens he had a startled with his unexplained appearance. He had simply crawled up the angular walls until he was on the ceiling then spun his neck around so that his head was facing the floor, held aloft by the long extremity. As the beings passed underneath, his head swiveled about like a probe independent of his body, the large green eye always watching. Gathering data.

He knew their weapons systems were built into their armor as opposed to being carried externally. From this, the Seeker concluded that an individual did not have the physical strength to lug around their gear. Instead, these beings attached as much as they could to their very frames to make the most of their carrying capacity. He detected readings that indicated plasma-based armaments, the passive heat signatures, ionic properties and other such things, which meant that while these beings were not able to carry heavy weaponry, the weapons they did carry were powerful and highly dangerous.

It was very fascinating.


"Sec-base is going crazy at me. Motion sensors keep reporting movement in this vicinity," one of the superstructure's security officers reported to the others in the patrol group. Their communications were linked by their suits and they spoke in their native tongue. Sec-base, or the administration for the ship's security detail, had computers linked to the vessel's many lines of defense. Mounted turrets and motion sensors integrated into the walls, for example, were controlled by Sec-base.

"We've got nothing on our displays," another officer replied, panning their line of sight from side to side and up and down. Their helmet whirred as vision modes were shifted one after the other. The Seeker that clung to the metal roof over their head eluded them in plain sight. His stealth field rendered him invisible to their equipment, and his glowing eye blended in to the many other light sources that surrounded the officers at every step of the way.

"Keep your guns ready. We don't lower them until we find this thing, whatever it is."

The patrol continued down the straight of panels and lights, leaving the Seeker to deal with the implication of motion detectors. They were aware of the adjustments he had his neck make to keep surveillance on the patrol, but were unaware that he had already patched himself into the superstructure's communication systems. More than that, he had constructed an understanding of their language for his use in translating their conversations.

Not many electronic frames could stand up against a Seeker, and the ones that could were short-lived things, the synthetics adapting to the obstacles and surmounting them in ways that made them as prevalent in cyber warfare as the common cold was among organics. They could only be stopped one way for so long before they changed themselves to get past the block.

Up ahead, the patrol stopped moving, all the members of it turning to regard a squadmate, who was looking down at their self in a deeply confused way underneath their armor. "I don't know why my comms are pinging you!" the officer responded hotly to the questions directed towards it.

With his diversion in place, Ecliptor started to move, skittering across the ceiling, his eye looking down at the patrol as he passed them by. All the while, Sec-base desperately warned them about the unaccounted for movement.

Ecliptor would be paying Sec-base a visit.

Shuttle 26 was losing power. The two pilots used every ounce of their combined skill to keep the clunky little ship under control as they frantically scanned their sensors for a break in the trees, knowing without a doubt that the ship wouldn't survive if they tried to put down in the monstrous trees below. "There! A clearing, fifteen hundred feet southeast. Turn twenty degrees left and hold" the pilot said, her voice surprisingly steady, given how scared she was. "It's not very big, but it'll do. Twenty degrees left," the copilot confirmed, gingerly steering the little ship into its new heading. "Airspeed's dropping too fast, Michelle," he warned, scanning the primary flight instruments, but keeping both hands on the attitude controls. Michelle had control of the throttle and several other critical systems, and had all she could do to keep the failing ship running long enough to land. "I know, Tobias! Agh, I don't have enough eyes to watch everything!" she said, a note of panic entering her voice for the first time as she increased power to the remaining engine as much as she dared. "Coming up on the clearing," Tobias said, shooting a quick glance over his shoulder at their saurian passengers, who had been all but silent throughout the emergency. "You three make sure your harnesses are tight and brace for a hard landing. This won't be pretty." "We are ready," growled one raptavus as he finished checking the runner's harness. Tobias sighed inwardly at the saurian's monotone response. "Wish I could be as calm as you are," he murmured before reaching for a panel to his side and tapping a series of controls. "Engaging thruster rotation, sixty-five degrees. We won't have enough power to land vertically, but it should slow us down." The pitch of the shuttle's remaining engine increased ominously, its workload mounting as it tried to support more of the craft's weight. The clearing came into sight very suddenly, and not a moment too soon. With a rumbling shudder, the ship's nose tilted downward, high-reaching branches scraping its belly as it crossed the treeline and promptly lost power. "Brace!" Tobias shouted seconds before the craft hit the ground.

X'yphers POV

X'ypher raced across the treetops, towards where the craft had disappeared into the trees. He screeched to a halt at the edge of the small clearing in the trees, peering down into the hole, the beast belching smoke, and a large rut in the ground where it had made its rough decent onto the ground. X'ypher realized he was being watched from behind him, and spun accordingly, arms and claws out wide and mouth opened. Trehjx and Kledh yelped in surprise and dove into the treetops. X'ypher relaxed and called them up. Trehjx and Kledhs' heads cautiously peeked up from the leaves, and X'ypher began to scold them. "I had told you to continue on your way! Why did you not listen to me when I gave you orders?" X'ypher yelled, taking steps towards the two Scoravain. "We wanted to see what the thing was that fell from the sky..." They said in unison. "Wow, the first thing you two have done coordinated all day." X'ypher murmured under his breath. "We could hear that!" "You were supposed to hear it." Trehjx and Kledh gave X'ypher a cold look, then began stepping towards the edge of the clearing. The sun had begun going down, and noises of insects, mammals, and birds began their nightly choir. The three gave each other a look, and instincts began to kick in...

Gorbs (NPC) POV

"Follow the group, but don't take any more down, just keep me informed on whereabouts and if any other crafts are detected. I'm following this one down." "Roger." Chris responded. Gorb slowed his fighter, and began letting distance in between the shuttle and his craft. The shuttle went down into a small clearing, just barely missing the trees on the other side. A few yards spanned from the of the shuttle and the trees. Gorb slowly maneuvered his craft down into the clearing, following the steps of the shuttle, and touched down a good 5 yards away from the steaming rear of the shuttle. He picked up his Plasma Rifle, Beam Cutter, turned on his Headset Comms, informing Chris he was no longer in his craft. He stepped out of the cramped fighter, and made his way towards the shuttle, at a slow but sure pace. As he came up on the shuttle gleaming side plates, he tapped every step he took on the side of the shuttle, to see if anyone was home...

A feeble groan escaped Tobias as his eyes blinked blearily open. His chin was resting against the collar of his flight suit, and the moment he tried to raise his head, he regretted it. "Argh!" he hissed through clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as a bolt of sharp pain seared through his neck and up the back of his skull. "I think I have whiplash." "At least you're conscious," Michelle's voice said from behind him. She was out of her harness, picking up and replacing some of the debris that had flown around the cabin in the attack. "Orik wasn't so lucky," she added. Tobias unhooked his own restraints and gingerly turned in his seat, rubbing his head and neck. His gaze fell upon one of the raptavi, still belted in, who had apparently suffered a blow to the back of the head on landing, whether from a flying object, or the wall he was restrained to, Tobias didn't know. His eyes narrowed in concern. "Is he still breathing?" "Yes, that's the first thing I checked," answered Michelle as she stowed a stray construction tool back in its alcove. The remaining raptavus made a sound of disgust as he undid his harness, stood up, and moved to the dracavion's side, checking its lithe techno-organic body for injury. "If I had a Raptavi medkit, I would be able to revive Orik, but as things are, there is nothing we can do for him." He ran his clawed hand down the runner's foreleg, checking flesh and metal alike for breakages, scoffing loudly. "In fact, if you had allowed a Raptavus to pilot this shuttle, he would probably still be conscious." Still supporting his neck, Tobias glared at the saurian. "What's that supposed to mean? I got us down without killing us, didn't I? That's good enough for me." "Heh. I don't think Orik would agree that you did a very good-" "Shh!" Michelle hissed suddenly, holding up a hand to silence the argument. "Do you hear that?" Rythmic tapping. The three exchanged bewildered glances. It didn't sound like heat expansion, or any of the ship's systems. Tobias slowly stood up and turned around to look out the front window, only then realizing how close they had come to the treeline. Another ten, maybe fifteen feet and the shuttle would have been in the forest...

Gorbs (NPC) POV

As he tapped his way up the shuttle, he heard soft voices, which stopped abruptly when he neared what he figured was the cockpit of the craft. He smiled. This would be fun. His many tentacles went to work propelling him quietly up to the top of the craft. He unholstered his Beam Cutter, and began to cut a hole into where he guessed the front of the cargo bay would be. He carefully suctioned one tentacle to the circle of metal craft he had cut out and ducked in. He smiled again. He was always right. He was in the cargo bay, which had things scattered all around it. The door was in the center of the wall. He gingerly placed the circle down, and grabbed hold of the door. He stopped. He could have more fun than this. He exited out the hole in the roof, hopefully not alerting them of this. He jumped down to the ground, and circled to the side of the crafts windshield. A thick layer of dirt covered the window. He, with one tentacle, swiped the dirt off and peered inside...

X'yphers POV

The three Scoravain watched from the treeline as the second beast that had landed opened itself and a being came out of it. Something that looked... Different. It was something they had never seen before, nor cared to see. It went on top of the beast, and entered from above. The animal then went to the side of the wounded flying animal and wiped at its... Head? Eyes? It cleared a layer of dirt off one of the beasts parts, and peered into it. X'ypher looked at Trehjx and Kledh and gave them the signal. They moved in. Using the bushes as cover, they moved single file nearer to the beast and its predator. Trehjx took to the trees, jumping to the lower branches and moving through them silently. X'ypher moved ahead of Kledh, the three of them making a triangle around the predator. One to its left, right, and center but above. But still hidden. A twig snapped. The trio collapsed on the predator, who reacted too late. Trehjx jumped on him from above, pinning and crushing its head on the beast. Kledh jumped on it from its right, pinning multiple arms and biting into its torso. X'ypher pinned it from the left, and mirror imaged Kledh. Trehjxs foot claws had dug into the head so far, it must have hit the brain. Just to add to that, its face had been completely flattened and crushed against the beast. The predator spasmed, as another prey item would if you bit into its head far enough to hit the brain. It was dead instantaneously. It had no time to react, fight back, or anything. It was just dead...

Tobias let out a hoarse cry, a combination of surprise at the sudden appearance of an alien face in the window, and pain as he jumped back in shock, his neck stinging as though it had been stabbed with a hot knife. Michelle and the raptavus whipped around in unison, both gasping in horror and recoiling as dark, unidentifiable shapes whipped past the dirt-caked windshield a split second before the alien's head was crushed against the glass composite with a loud thump. "What in the..." was all the pained, shocked copilot could murmur. The only movement inside the cockpit from that moment on was the runner's nervous squirming against her restraints, the only sound her low, cautionary growl to her crewmates...

The trio of Scoravain looked silently at their new found kill, the predator to whatever this beast was. Trehjx and Kledh both stepped off of the alien figure, studying it. X'ypher dragged it off of the beast, and laid it on the ground. While Trehjx and Kledh looked at it further, X'ypher looked into the beasts clear... part. Inside he saw more animals. They looked back and quivered in fear, watching X'yphers every movement. Fascinating. He saw them as prey, as they were fairly small organisms. Trehjx and Kledh soon joined him. "We can't eat whatever that thing was." Trehjx informed the group. Kledh repsonded with a snark, "You know this how?" "shut up, the both of you. If we can't eat that, and we will need to eat something to last us the rest of the journey, why don't we try eating whatever those are?" X'ypher growled. "Wait a minute, what is that..." "What is what, Kledh?" X'ypher asked. "There is another Scoravain in there! Look! It's towards the back of the..." X'ypher looked deeper into the beast, and saw what Kledh has described. A Scoravain was in with the other things! "We have to get it out... Follow me." X'ypher commanded, and sprung onto the top of the beast. It had become dark by now, and their eyesight began to adjust. Their footsteps clinked every step they took, the three of them making a rhythmic pattern with their steps. X'ypher dropped inside, a entrance of some kind visible. Putting his foot against it, he pushed. Didn't budge. He grabbed an indentation on the side of the door in his claws and pulled. Again no luck, as his claws slipped off the surface. Trehjx and Kledh had followed him inside, and Trehjx pushed X'ypher aside, X'ypher giving a hiss in response. Trehjx studied the small pad of some sort to the right of the entrance, and then tried to pull that off after hitting it a few times. Barking orders to Trehjx and Kledh, he leaped from the hole in the top of the beasts hide, and made his way to the clear part of the animal...

In the lonely reaches of space, vapor rushed out from the widening seams in the dimly illuminated metal.

It was with an odd grace that the sections of the station separated. Monolithic constructs moving apart with such slowness amplified by their sheer size. The few lights on the surface of the complex flickered and died out. The pieces of the station divided from the main stem disappeared into the darkness past the reach of stars.

Silent grace. It was almost peaceful.

"We're all going to die!"

The frantic proclamations of alarm bounced across the station's comms ceased as abruptly as they had begun. Cut off from one another, the beings within the discarded sections of the station were left to their slow demise, marooned in the far reaches of the void. Those that did not have the equipment to maintain life support would go quickly. Those that did were left had a countdown to their mortality based on how long their suits would last.

In the inert shells, survival was a fleeting torment.


The Sec-base tower construct was the center of this rapid disassembly. The points of light on its hull were still active. The robotic commander of this vessel was faced with a downside to his strategy. In ridding the station of its crew and deserting them in space, he lost his ship.

Then again, he gained a whole station subsection to call his own. Net gain, despite the great losses.

Ecliptor was at the top of the tower, the rounded compartment with a few portholes and one round window at the center of the metal dome. The interior of this section was filled with machinery and computing devices, consoles and terminals. It used to be manned by the strange alien beings before the Seeker saw to their immediate and more than likely fatal ejection by flushing the air supply in the room, forcing them to flee to the lower deck, which he had exposed to space beforehand. They were sucked out due to the depressurization.

As the sole occupant and uncontested captain of the ship, the Seeker took it upon himself to integrate into the vessel's machinery. Panels all over his blue body had shifted out of place to allow veins of cables and bones of metal to connect, infiltrating the various devices around the robot. A nest of mechanical entrails that joined the blue synthetic's very frame.

His will extended to all parts of the Sec-base tower, now the Seeker's mode of transport.

Exterior plates flipped up. Huge engines were raised out of the ship from their holding compartments. The nacelles turned to point their burning ends down relative to the cluster of loose hull around the tower. They came to life, a star-like white light spilling across the discarded sections of the space station. They cut out after only a few seconds, returning the refuse to the shadow of space.

By then the tower was hurdling away at several kilometers a second on a course unknown.