"I don't know about you, but ghosts tend to haunt the living out of spite or remorse...This planet is already..."

He halted himself before finishing that sentence. Rayland caught what he was about to say and denied it from leaving his mouth, not wanting to sound as if he were venting or disrespecting the considered dead. Sounding like a downer was the least he wanted to have happen; he had an image to keep after all. Too recover himself from the moment, the leaned back, keeping hold of the chair's back-rest to balance himself while sighing in a deep breath.

"But, stress huh?" Rayland repeated, as if reminding himself of the word and its meaning. Was he really stressed out? Probably more than he realized himself considering how every single event was playing out.

"I suppose a break every now and then should help." said Rayland before his eyes caught the time displayed holographically on the medical office's wall. Breathing out his nostrils, he decided to raise himself from the chair, "...But I've been away from my duties much longer than I should be. I'm sure that I'll be needed again soon for OP coordination again."

Sel took one more gulp of her beverage as she listened to what Rayland said, a sigh escaping her lips as he finished. He was of course right, he couldn't just take a nice long break like most could, he was a captain and had the whole ship under his command, not to mention a role to play planet side. "I understand... However my advice still stands. Just relax whenever you can; take naps, drink your favorite drink and talk to someone about happy things." Though it sounded like the basics of living people like Rayland often forgot to look after themselves when it counted.

Standing up from her chair as well Sel thought for a moment "Well if you ever do feel like talking again just come and see me, I will be sure to restock on more than just water and nutrient slush." With a small chuckle she would ake sure to excort him to the door "That being said, when I do go planet side would you mind having Kaite and Kassy come with me? I would feel safer" That was a lie, though being a doctor she was the best at telling such, after all this was the perfect way to keep tabs on the crew, more so Kaite who was likely still having those episodes.

Sel's words were encouraging to say the least and Rayland agreed with most of her diagnosing suggestions. Though in terms of favorite beverage, Rayland's selection were sadly and heavily leaning into the more alcoholic side of things. He was sure liqueur was not a medical recommendation in this case, especially in his position.

"Sounds good Sel." Rayland kindly replied, "I'll be sure to keep them posted once we get further orders. See ya around."

With a friendly wave to his Vexi doctor, Rayland walked out as the sliding doors retracting before him and soon closing as he stepped out. The whole situation as it stood wasn't going to change anytime soon and he would have to accept that for the time being. Sel'Varok's counsel however did prove somewhat enlightening and succeed in at least calming his nerves with her logic in mind. Satisfied with the meeting, Rayland walked off towards the bridge to which he was sure Towan would ambush him like always and give a report on the present condition; the present condition being pretty much nothing more than likely.

On his way to the bridge, Rayland couldn't help but feel cold all of a sudden. An odd feeling indeed as he could see the local corridor had not frosted over nor could he see his own breath as cooling vapor. Outside no doubt it was freezing but there was relatively no reason for the ship to feel this way unless environmental control sector wasn't doing its job and such errors were rare and quickly reported. Rayland tried to pay no mind for the odd temperature change and thought it off as his own quirky reaction to the current temperature at that.

Turning a corner that lead straight to the bridge, Rayland promptly stopped in place with eyes widening and unflinching. Across the other end of the corridor was the same shadowy entity as before, its appearance contracting the reality of the environment around it. The ebony figure casted no shadows from the lights from the floor and the ceiling. The holo-projectors that normally illuminated over those that walked by denied the entity the same service. This was probably just as Sel had mentioned; an illusion of a stressed mind. A ghost. A hallucination.

With a sighed in annoyance , Rayland buried his face into his left hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was quite noticeable he was not in the mood for any of this. Plus someone could be watching and that would have made things all the more awkward.

"Its not real..." he said to himself, "Not real at all just a figment of your..."

Rayland failed to complete his self encouragement as he looked up after blinking and rubbing his eyes several times, only to see the entity was not only still there, it was now only a few feet in front of him and casting a noticeable shadow around the corridor in which stood in. All logic regarding this ordeal had landed on its head; the illusion persisted despite his attempts in rekindling his place in reality. Something was not right and his body and senses knew it; what appeared to have been a phantom created from his imagination now seemed blatantly real. Adrenaline quickly spiked throughout his entire system as he ripped his Sub-Repeater our from it's holster and quickly took aim, the weapon giving off a electronic whine as it activated.

However it became apparent that life was now simply toying with him as the moment his aim landed right on the head of the figure before him, the dark profile had completely vanished. Rayland's firearm remained firmly in place without a target while his eyes frantically scouring the scene, trying to find where the entity had gone. But nothing was there. Just like last time, it was gone as soon as it came.

Just as he was about to slowly but cautiously lower his weapon, the doors to the bridge suddenly retracted, revealing a young female officer stepping out into the hallway. The navigation officer soon froze into place as soon as she deduced the the Captain's posture the weapon he held and pointed right at her. Unsurprisingly, the young woman began to tremble as if sensing her life was becoming increasingly in danger at that very moment. Quick inducing fear gripped her, causing the officer to accidentally lose grip of her data slab as it fell onto the floor; it appeared she wan't too used to firearms being deployed, especially when said firearms were pointed at her.

"C-Captain...?" she uneasily spoke while quivering, raising her arms above her head,"Is s-something wrong?"

It was then Rayland was quickly realizing was now going on and lowered his Sub-Repeater calmly as he could, visually showing the young officer his nonthreatening intentions. "I...I'm sorry about that Kate...I thought..."

So much for making things not awkward...

Kathleen McCloud, or simply Kate as she was usually known by, reached down and picked up her slab, showing less fear and slowly more concern. "Captain...A-are you feeling alright...?"

Rayland simply stared at her for a brief moment, processing what Kate had just said to him; are you feeling alright? Clearly that was no longer the case anymore. He basically had a gun pointed at his own crew member for crying out loud! "No...No I don't believe I am. Excuse me for my utmost rudeness, Officer McCloud. As you were."

With line now in the air, Rayland turned the opposite direction and almost stormed out of the hallway, leaving an even more concerned and confused navigation officer behind to contemplate what had just happened. Anger and frustration now gripped the Captain, feeling guilty of what he had done and even more annoyed by the possibility that he was nearing the verge of insanity, or so would some of the crew of the Infamous Alto would say if word got out; he wouldn't blame them if it did. But was he was more furious about perhaps the most was that he was being messed with intentionally. Rayland wasn't a stranger of seeing things that weren't there; he worked a stressful job and downed more than enough alcohol to quench his thirst and sorrows and was bound to see something amiss. But this time, it was different. Far different. The incident in the corridor had provided a new element to this new case of hallucinating; legitimate realism.

The encounter with the entity appeared life-like somehow despite the factors he was able to identify with before had had a good reason to draw his weapon. It was almost as if his mind had honestly believed the figure was truly standing before him. The sudden shadows within the corridor, the increasing air pressure, the awareness of another life form in front of him...Rayland was able to deduce one possible cause to this dilema; telepathy and a meaner variation at that. Though being psionically capable himself, it was not up to that equivalent degree, however he was still much more sensitive to the evolving mind than anything else really. The claim made the most sense here but he would have to prove its validity as anything he had to say right now was more than likely to be flung out of the nearest airlock along with his position.

There was a wrong he had to re-write and he would need the right equipment to get the job done...

Everything seemed to be moving so fast. Riblou was never good with to many fast changes... it hurt his head. As he walked to the Doc's office, hoping maybe she could help his hurting head he again tried to contemplate what had been happening all around him recently. First, they got to the planet they were suppose to go to but... it was dead? That was right... wasn't it? well... apparently you couldn't breath on it... though how could a planet be dead? That was dumb... Riblou was sure others knew better... on to number two. Now they were waiting for... an order? A call? Something... surely captain Rayland could clear it up... but Riblou had no idea where he was... he could find him later. Hopefully the doctors place was close... then Riblou saw Kaite.

His eyebrow raised when he saw Kaite... he was looking around the corner... and sort of sneaky looking. Kaites big bunny ears were pointed towards the doc's place... his ears looked really soft... Riblou hadn't looked at them really close since he met Kaite. He REALLY wanted to see if they were as soft as they looked... and Kaite didn't seem to notice him... but what if Kaite turned around and got mad at him? Hmmm... that was it! He'd pick Kaite up! He couldn't hit Riblou if he was being held! So... as quietly as he could, Riblou got up right behind Kaite. Before he could notice Riblou had picked up kaite like he would a feather, and gently stroked his ears. Riblou smiled, they were indeed as soft as he thought they were! "Hello Kaite! I saw you bein all sneaky like and thought I should say high! Your ears are very fuzzy... wait... why did I come down here?" Oh no... Riblou had forgotten... he had been distracted by Kaite, who had stopped his headache somehow... damnit... well at least Kaite was there!

@Hawlin

-Removed-

The Galactic Coalition guards standing outside the Infamous Alto's air-sealed cargo hold appeared bewildered when what seemed to be a AISC came walking down the ramp. Orderly instincts demanded a salute or a sudden stand at attention upon the presence of a CO or an higher ranking elite solider but the individual coming down wore a toned down version of the iconic AISC attire. Most of the armor had been stripped down from the main NVP suit with only the secondary plates at the only external protection and much of the other utility devices had been overhauled too with only the iconic jetpack and booster nodes remaining attached. Upon their HUDs was a IFF digital signature highlighted over the not-AISC's head, listing the individual as a non-combatant with the header reading Cpt. Rayland Sul'tari.

"Sir!" one of the men snapped frantically to attention upon the AISC's identity. Though it was respectful gesture, he had little reason to do so since he didn't answer to the Captain. It was clear he was the less firm of his squad in terms of will with his action response empty of thought.

The other guard rolled his eyes behind his thick visor and merely gave a salute. The infantry man wore a white striped pattern over his helm, signifying his command of the the squad, "Afternoon, Captain Sul'tari. The perimeter is secure...If that is what you're here to confirm...Anything we can help you with?"

Rayland stopped at the edge of the ramp facing the soldiers as they "greeted" him. "Ah, no. I should be fine, thank you. I was actually going to look around for a bit. Probably stroll around one of those facilities up there and make sure my ship is in safe hands...If that is okay with you gentleman."

The squad simply stared at at one another, deducing if the Captain had been actually serious or was just being sarcastic. Of course, they were leaning towards the latter with annoyed expressions developing behind their armored masks. Standing guard on a hostile world with little protection and with such confined spaces and poisonous atmosphere around them was about enough they could deal with; adding the Captain's bull wasn't helping.

"That...Should be fine, Captain. But if you're going to be walking out here, at least take one of my men with you just as a precaution."

"I'm grateful for the offer, Sergeant. But I can take care of my self. Besides, I need to air out the vents of this thing!" Rayland said with enthusiasm as his NVP suit's jetpack started to whine as the boosters slowly glowed to life.

"Err-Wait, Captain Sul'tari. That wasn't an offer. We haven't-

"See ya guys on the flip-side! I shouldn't be long!"

In an instant, Rayland shot upward as his suit's miniature thrusters roared, firing intense momentum behind and below him until he reached one of the balconies overlooking the ship.

-thoroughly patrolled those sectors yet..." the sergeant ended his sentence in disbelief, frustration nagging at him over the Captain's stubbornness. "...What fuck just happened?"

The rest of the squad decided not to give any inputs on the event that transpired.

===

The facility Rayland had landed into appeared to be one of several maintenance sections within the starship pen. Looking around, he could see within roughly a month or so, the place and the multiple terminals and equipment was claimed by layers of dust due to lack of any facilities maintenance and the severe climate changes. Data slabs and other sensitive gadgets lay sprawled out on the floor in a untidy manner. Given the reports made by the AISCs, it seemed evident that everyone here left in a hurry. Classified reports meant for his eyes only confirmed traces of fighting and blood in some areas, concluding that a battle or worse, a massacre had taken place. Thankfully though to his mind, this area was void of any resemblance of struggle; but the fear was still present.

Picking up one of the tablets covered in powdery debris, Rayland attempted to activate the long abandoned device. Most slabs would have instantly the moment someone had touched it though this particular unit appeared to struggle with its holographic screen flickering repeatedly. It was no surprise to him that changing environment had tampered with the more fragile equipment as seconds later, the tablet in his hands simply gave out, powering down into its dormant state once more. Most of the IT and technical engineers that boarded his ship were still investigating and restoring the lower levels; it would take some time before they make it up here and give this place the same justice.

Making his way to a surveying catwalk, the Captain was able to grasp a much finer view of his ship resting at the bottom of this starship bay. He could see some of the logistical support crews and patrols scattered everywhere, even the soldiers from before whom he was sure to have pissed off just so he could venture out here by himself. It was irresponsible of him to have abandoned his duties and he knew that Towan was going to "scold" him for doing so. Though what the VI lacked in personality, made up in thoroughness and could easily write a novel on a single task. Feeling bad wasn't what Rayland was afraid of; dying of boredom was. But if he was going to act like a responsible captain, he needed to get something off his mind. He needed to find his "Ghost".

Roughly a half an hour had past with nothing to really settle his investigation. Every area he cleared was the same as the last; dust, abandoned computers, decayed and shattered glass, equipment all over the floor. The pattern never ceased from the annoyingly repetitive trend. However, there was station he had yet to check; the facilitating facing the starboard-side of his ship, his quarters. The room he remembered being almost claimed by shadow and his first encounter with the apparition.

Looking the sector wasn't that hard but getting into it however was as Rayland fought with a barely half-opened door, trying to forcefully slide it into its retracted state. Thanks to his mandatory modifications he acquired in service with the AISCs, he eventually brute forced the door into its own wall with the tearing and shearing of metal reverberating around the floor. The sudden shriek of metallic materials grinding aginst the other made Rayland flinch and look around as if anyone one heard the loud noise.

Upon stepping into the room, Rayland quickly re-evaluated how dark the place really was as the entire room was filled with dust, much more than the areas he investigated. In fact, much of it had filled the air around him...An odd find considering no one but him had visited this place. Was he not the first? Contributing to the lack of, most of the shudders to what he saw outside had either been closed or partially lowered, reducing the already inadequate amount of light that could enter inward. Rayland's HUD quickly adapted to this fact and altered the image he was seeing, lighting up the outlines and corners in neon green, allowing him to see past the almost murky room.

Just a few steps forward and something caught his NVP suit's sensors as blip briefly popped up on his radar. He could also see the glimpse of the anomaly as something scurried ahead of him in to the darkness. Though he was excited that he was not crazy deep down, he was also becoming terrified that he may not be the only one here. He knew that the situation was escalating against him and by procedure he needed to report in for assistance his mind remained focused on the specter that was here with him as slowly reached down to his weapon holster, feeling that he was going to need his gun in a moment. Sure enough, the moment came as he turned to look around him only to be facing eye to eye with the phantom figure from before.

The scene appeared awkward as both him and the ebony figure stared at on another, frozen in place and unmoving. Fear gripped Rayland as he gazed straight into the white illuminated eyes of the figure before him. To top off the tension, his suit's sensors had fully verified that there was another life-form in the room with him with the blip strangely phasing in and out on his radar. But he had no time to worry about that, especially when the phantom suddenly lunged at him. In quick reflexes, Rayland pulled his Sub-Repeater out and took aim as the attacking entity caused to him to fall backwards and collide into one of the terminals behind him.

Raylands eyes darted as he tried to visually identify his attacker. In the background however, all the shudders began to retracted, lighting up the room as they folded back. He quickly theorized that he may have accidentally toggled the shudder controls for the room. Convenient as the place didn't have any power though he did read up upon a report about that mentioned restoring said power to most of the facilities. While lucky as that may have seemed, Rayland was still picking up something still in the room with him. Once the last shudder retracted behind him, so did he find that something as whatever it was casted a large organic shaped shadow over him as he could visually indicate on the partially now illuminated floor. It would-be attacker was right behind him.

"Oh. Shit." said Rayland as he turned around to see a single red glowing eye glaring right at him.

The sound of automatic gunfire soon echoed throughout the ship bay.

===

The local disturbance had not gone unnoticed as the soldiers guarding the vulnerable Infamous Alto outside were the first to address the sudden situation change as an unidentified blip appeared on local sensors and apparently had engaged a friendly. A detachment had quickly assembled and rushed to the source of the conventional anomoly while engineers close by had been evacuated to safer location until things were resolved. Towan, now notified about the possible threat quickly decreed a ship-wide order.

"All crewman. Infamous Alto now entering Yellow Alert status. Repeat, Infamous Alto now entering Yellow Alert status. Security details are to intensify presence in all ship-wide sectors. Non-combatants are to remain to their assigned posts until advised...Weapon restrictions have been lifted."

@ShiningSector@agentmanatee@Hawlin

"All crewman. Infamous Alto now entering Yellow Alert status. Repeat, Infamous Alto now entering Yellow Alert status. Security details are to intensify presence in all ship-wide sectors. Non-combatants are to remain to their assigned posts until advised...Weapon restrictions have been lifted."

Sel dropped the tray of clean surgery tools to the ground when she heard that, was it really possible that something dangerous remained on this dead world? Peering down to the tools she gave off a sigh as she noticed her panic, leaning down to try and pick them up her attention was taken by the sudden entrance of a crew member, a young human women. "Don't step inside, there has been a accident..." She started to clean up while the human was talking, but as she did her expression changed drastically...

"Damn it..."

Suddenly Sel burst out of the lab, from what the girl had told her the captain flipped out a little on her and then went out into the planet wastes on his own, that combined with the warning. Activating her helmet and power to her suit she sprinted down the halls towards the exit, but before she did she contacted some others "This is Doctor Sel'Varok, tell no one else but it seems the captain is in trouble. I am exiting the Infamous Alto and heading towards the captains location, join me if you can, but I wont be taking a transport." Her enhanced body would be enough, that much she knew as she leaped out of the cargo door, her suit providing a small boost as she made her way towards Rayland.

Kaite flipped through a few images he'd taken of passing star clusters that were smeared by the slip-space transit. It was hard for him to imagine the tenacity of mankind and the thousands of years it took them to get to the point where they could escape just their solar system. He'd buckled up at his station through the landing procedures, although he didn't have much to do considering the lack of exterior threats and found it a good time to let his mind wander.

The captain left at a point, an action he acknowledged with a glance before unbuckling himself to resume patrols. In all, the dead planet was woefully uninteresting if the whole 'unknown alien' theory was still on the table since the idea of teraforming the planet and leaving for later inhabitance was always on the table...boy did he hope that was it.
Just imagining shooting down colony ships of the invading force made his fingers itch. He didn't even have to be the first to fire a shot, just as long as he could have a few dead families on his hands...

On the note of missing people, an interesting notification popped up on the HUD of his eyepatch of being the stand-in commanding officer. "Towan? You know why I'm asking..." He asked, receiving Sel's transmission through his earbud. He was about to respond before the static of the barrens overtook the signal, the signal having jumped out the cargo bay. He cursed himself as the AI read off the time and date that the captain had taken 'temporary leave' which left him essentially stapled to the ship as both the current active ranking officer as well as commander of the Infamous Alto's peronal guard.

Kaite rubbed his temples, pacing back to the bridge and striding up to the captain's chair. Running his fingers through his hair, he sat in the captain's chair, crossing one leg over the other and giving the swivel chair a few spins, lacing his fingers as he closed his eyes to think.
Taking a deep breath, he got up with a groan of a sigh, letting the chair spin itself to an eventual stop as he simply exited the bridge without a word, leaving a few of the observing members of the bridge in a state of confusion as they looked over action reports.

The doctor was more than enough for whatever the captain could get himself into. My duty was to the ship and the dead planet was just as inconsequentially distant as the floor separated from me by my boots. I hope he finds what he's looking for...
I proceeded to eat my words as I opened the door only to face Katherine who grabbed me by the armor to lift me out of sight.

"What the hell is going on?" She hissed, walking down the hall with a grip on my webbing, keeping my inches off the floor. "Nohzink, and you should be at your-huhnf!" I begin to explain before she forced me against a wall. "Don't give me that bureaucratic garbage! The captain pointed a gun at me, and now...and now you are the ranking officer?"
I had no love for the woman, my hands going to her wrists...I knew seven different takedowns from this stance; Three of them, the nice ones, would leave her with broken wrists...we needed her...another three would also include an array of messily broken facial bones and one would kill her almost instantly.

"Iz 'business as usual' and zeh captain has left zee ship. My duty iz to maintain sanity on zeh fucking ship!" I inelegantly hiss in a sarcastic tone just under a shout as I lace my fingers under hers that gripped me, bending her index and ring fingers to the point where she'd let go before releasing, letting myself drop to the floor with the tiny clicks of my boots. "Ask me a question, if you vill, miss Sinclair, but I am not some toy to be picked up and I vill break your hands next time!" I bark, taking a few steps away before pausing.

A gun pointed at her...by the captain? He may indulge in alcohol a bit harder than I would be able to, but he was a disciplined individual of integrity who had his own context and order taken from him by war incidents. We would be mercenaries if the strings weren't still attached to Ryland Senpai...

Here we go.
Oh? This is new.
Look at her, she doesn't know what to do, but she practically knows how to do it all.
...
Oh whoops, there's the coordinates to Ryland's position relayed to you by Sel...better do something.
Who are you?

Before I could rationalize my own thoughts, I had already opened up the relayed layout of the hangar and local facilities which had pinpointed both the captain and Sel upon request. They weren't far. In truth, it would be easy to catch up to them...at least fast enough to identify their corpses before the atmospheric toxicity ate them away to mush...hopefully they were smart enough to bring suits.

"Katherine...ehm...Kate" Kaite said, looking to the woman who glanced back, her eyes teary. "I am leavink to fix zeis mess and bring zeh captain back..." he simply said before pulling the resonator insignia from his eyepatch and tossing it to her. "...Zeh code is one-zero-five-seven...don't abuse it-" He said before pointing at her with a meaningfully apologetic nod before saying, "Kaite"
And with that, he left towards the docking airlock.

"Lost..." she quietly mused in response to his telling of his password, plugging the signature chip into her vox unit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaite was in the process of suiting himself up in a layer of skin-tight hazmat material to cover his suit, making doubly sure, keeping his arms outstretched as the suit mod adjusted to cling to his setup. It would only be a short walk from the armory to the airlock where he intended to recruit a few soldiers to join him in his hunt.

His determination would make him tricky to stop, though any were welcome to try.

Achieng was startled when she heard the announcement. Just what was going on with this planet? First their mission was not at all what had been stated. The captain left, and now the doctor? Something was wrong, extremely wrong. She had already been heading back into her little tank, to find someone to ask. Now, though, she retrieved her fishing knife from her belongings and set it at the back of her moving tank. The blade was as long as her shoulders and hooked on the end. More than one person she'd met during her training had called it a sword, but she knew they were mistaken. Swords had vent holes where she came from. This was just for basic hunting.

It took a moment for her to get back into the tank, and she kicked it into top speed, apologizing to crew and soldiers as she maneuvered it through the ship. She was making a direct line for the helm of the ship, trying to review in her mind who would be in charge. If the captain had gone, then the Doctor would be next. She was gone, so then...

A familiar pair of ears caught her attention, and she called out. "Mr. Kaite?! Not you too! Where is everyone going? We were told to stay on the ship! What is the problem with you and the doctor?" She brought her tank right up to him, and even though she had to crane her neck to look in him the eye, she still looked like she would accept no weakness from Kaite.

Well if it isn't the HR-department on wheels...

The cynically playful tone of the janitor that wasn't there sparked as I heard Achieng's setup wheel over to me as I approached the primary airlock bulkhead. "Zeh captain has gone AWOL..." I began, being reminded that a super-soldier of a doctor was chasing him down. Continuing, I draw my PDW and pull the slide back half an inch for dramatic effect as I muse, "...I intend on bringink him back to his respective station, or zee brig...vichever I deem him ready for" before looking her over and letting the weapon snap itself into place. Her setup was in no way capable of accompanying me, and with a small disappointed "Hrm~" and a brief frown I mash the switch to open the blast doors with my fist as I fold my ears back to fit in the hazmat hood.

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

However, after the recent leaves, security had a different opinion. No sooner had the doors opened then about four guards stood with weapons bared and safeties off.
"I vould not suppose I could tempt any ouf you to accompany me..." Kaite sardonically mused, taking a step forward before one of them shouted, "Please back up, Sir Jericho...security officer Kate requested to seal all exits...I apologize"

Kaite tilted his head, pulling the hood off with disbelief at the betrayal. He'd given the woman one job...and the weight of authority from having similar names, and she repaid him with...
"You realize...if I fire you now...?" Kaite hissed, pointing to the airlock door as he also switched off the safety to his PDW, an action one of the security officials, names he'd hand-picked, stepped forward to slide a finger behind the trigger to prevent it from being pulled to pull the boy close and drive a knee into his gut, lifting him off his feet from the force. He wheezed, the wind knocked out of him as he crumpled, still clinging to the gun which was pried out of his hand's gate, throwing him to the ground in the same motion. "We got the memo..." One of the other guards sighed as the one who had just assaulted Kaite hesitated before ejecting the clip and pulling the slide before tossing the weapon down the hall. "Please understand...sir..." he hurriedly said as the door closed.

Kaite laid crumpled and shaking, holding his ribs with one hand as he tried to work himself to his feet and failing twice before giving up, laying on the floor.
"Vaht do you vahnt...?" he groaned, his voice calm but weak and hissed from behind his teeth as he laid facing away from Achieng. It didn't take a genius to feel the emotion of embarrassment and barely contained rage boiling underneath his words.

Achieng gasped in surprise, then started to protest and swear loudly in her native language. Why where these people attacking Kaite? She almost pulled her sword, but it was over before she could convince herself. After staring for a brief, worried second, Achi wiggled her way up in her tank somewhat. Bracing herself steadily on the edge with one hand, she reached down as far as she could with the other.

"Please get up, sir. I may not be a doctor but I think you'll need something soothing for your abdomen. Perhaps some tea for your irritation as well, and if you give me the rank and number of those men, I've been told I write absolutely scathing complaint letters." There was worry in her eyes, but she was trying to cover it with humor. The pain in Kaite was obvious, and it wasn't all physical. "Please? I don't leave the tank for just anyone, you know." Her bottom half was slightly pulled free, and the cool air of the ship felt odd on her skin. How did they survive with something so... so dry all around them? How did it not hurt?

Rayland’s assailant was proving to be quite an effective if not horrifying foe as he darted around the room for his life. His HUD had just about mapped the attacker’s anatomy, revealing a large upper-body body bulk of armor and rearing an insectoid like head with its single eye ever so glued to him. Its long organic limbs propelled this creature into a rapid and clumsy crawl, knocking over desks and another devices not nailed to the floor all the while keeping up with the former AISC as he utilized his suit’s boosters to keep him at a distance.

To his annoyance, Rayland’s Sub-Repeater seemed ineffective as the crackling energized bolts slammed into and then dispersed harmlessly against some sort of field surrounding the alien. He growled as he jinked quickly to his right just in time to avoid scythe-like arm from dividing him in two. The sharp bladed limb demonstrated its lethality as it sliced effortlessly through a desk of steel and hard plastic components.

Regret was flooding his mind as he frantically kept his distance; he knew that this was a bad idea but he did not allow himself to think any of this through; or at least not thoroughly enough. Accidentally pulling a firearm on a fellow crew member had been the last straw on his tolerance for these haunting images this thing had been creating. He could have reported this to Sel once more but at the time, he was sure he would had been confined to quarters with the silhouettes free to harass him further; indefinitely driving him to madness.

He could have also concluded several other outcomes had his decisions been more cooperative and precise. Rayland could have talked to the poor officer whose was nearly the victim of his own firearm and explain the situation to her rationally. He could have talked to anyone about this! Hell, there was even that new crewman aboard who even specialized in counseling and he had never thought to address this to her either. It was irrationally thinking at best and it had gotten the better of him; he was now currently alone, outside in an unknown environment, and being chased back a horrific monstrosity wanting to end him in probably the most bloodiest ways possible. In short, he messed up, big time.

But now was not the time to worry about the past as he knew he himself made the choice to come here against logic or protocol and now Rayland was going to own up and deal with it.

Rayland cut his jump jets and slid to a halt next to a nearby pillar in the room and quickly turned to face the alien closing in on him. Just as the creature lunged for him, Rayland quickly dived below it, feeling the rough friction of his armor scraping against the alien’s through the entire process. Have successfully evaded the attack, Rayland relished the brief satisfaction as creature crashed into the pillar hard without enough momentum to break right through its structure and hit the ground on the other end.

While taking advantage of the moment to catch his breath, Rayland maintained his aim on the fallen alien which had remained motionless after running into the stone-like structure. He shifted his position slowly, flanking around his attacker to get a better look at it though the surrounding dust was making things difficult to analyze. But given the brief glimpses, it appeared to be cybernetic but to what extent? Clearly this thing was much larger than him so was it a combat machine or perhaps power armor?

“Captin Sul’tari! Do you read?” came a familier and somewhat agitated voice through his helmet’s built-in comms array.

“Y-yeah I read you…” Rayland replied, still frantically taking in oxygen.

“What’s your status? Where are you?”

“I’m fine. I just got attacked by…whatever the hell this thing is; I think it’s down. I’m on the eighth floor, section…Ahh…” looking around, Rayland tried to look for this room’s identification header but unfortunately he could not locate it. “…Shit, I don’t know.”

“…Stay put, we already got a fix on you. Try to make yourself visible if you can.”

Thinking about the voice more, it probably belonged to the Sergeant from before who now sounded concerned than angry. Turning he head, he slowly made his way to the room’s overwatch balcony, now that the shudders had retracted, allowing him to see the rest of the pen and his ship that securely rested in it. Looking at his outside surroundings, he could identify several combat personnel moving about frantically and looking up at him, probably verifying his position. He could imagine anyone over the Battlenet was coordinating without other personnel in the area.

For a moment, Rayland began to ponder what was going to become of him since he did violate protocol. Certainly not a court marshal given his contract but he could see a shift in command of his own ship. The brig of course was sounding more and more likely as he began to think about it. All he knew was that his fate was sealed one way or another.

Then came a sound he didn’t anticipate hearing from his suit’s external audio capture.

Behind him, definitely coming from the downed creature was the aching grunts of a bipedal female being. There was clear mechanical static infused with the groans which confirmed the entire body was some sort of powered suit. Rayland kept his Sub-Repeater trained on the suit has he cautiously approached it.

“I think there’s someone inside…” he unintentionally said aloud.

“…What are you-” the guard Sergeant began but the voice suddenly cut out.

The groans he was hearing slowly began to turning into snarls and the female tones mutated into something electronically bestial. Internal lights flashed within the suit as it slowly began to rise from the pillar’s debris, shaking off anything of excess that was still on it.

“I don’t know if you guys can hear me be but this thing is getting up!” Rayland frantically announced as he maintained his aim on the combat suit.

Suddenly the red insectoid eye of the suit swerved and stopped on him once more. Rayland naturally gulped in suspense as he waited for what this thing was about to do now that he was practically trapped. Sure enough as he anticipated, the alien suit suddenly lunged at him before he could even pull the trigger and bull rushed him into the overwatch frames. The shear impact made the former AISC gasp for air has he felt a sense of weightless over take him as he found himself falling out of the section with the his cybernetic attacker right on him. The two uncontrollably entered into a free fall while Rayland helplessly punched away at the dense armor of scythe-arm-carrying combat suit before the collided with the top of the Infamous Alto with a loud thud that vibrated throughout the ship as if a meteor at impacted its shields.

The second impact at first was just enough to knock Rayland unconscious but his NVP suit objected to this given the situation and forced him back into consciousness via the tapping of his neurotransmitters throughout his brain. Rayland quickly relocated himself not on the top of the Infamous Alto as he remembered but under it. He figured the impact was at an imperfect angle which caused his limb body at the time to fall off; seemed right as he was feeling pain all over.

Struggling with the pain his NVP suit was quickly trying to tone down, Rayland managed at least to sit up but trouble seemed to already be right on top of him. The alien crawled from above the ship, glaring down back at the Captain with it's single red eye, positioning itself to lunge at him once more. Rayland frantically tried to pull himself up, knowing that if he did not move he was a sitting duck. Just as the combat suit jumped into the air and dived straight for him, Rayland hit his jump jets once more and dashed away just in time to see the alien's scythes rip the ground apart from where he originally lay. Though he was able to dodge the attack, he had panicked in that moment and collided into a nearby wall of the ship bay just to escape certain death from being sliced open.

Virtually pinned once more, Rayland redeployed his Sub-Repeater and open fired on the alien, watching in dismay as his rounds dispersed once more against its barrier. His HUD was picking up allied movement around him, converging on his position to assist but would they make it time? He mentally prayed that was the case as the alien death machine charged once more.

Finally she was nearing the captain, however as she got closer her HUD updated with the ping of what he was fighting, and she could hardly believe what she was looking at! Was there anything like this on this planet before hand? Right now she couldn't remember, but it wasn't the time to be sitting around and thinking of what this thing could have been, the captain was in trouble. Her suit started to plan out the optimal route for her to take to get to the enemy.

Sel picked up the pace even more now that she had the enemy in her sight, she had hoped to just be the doctor with a strange suit but she was not about to allow Rayland to die, so it was time to bust out the big guns. Within the few moments of the fight that she had seen she deduced that lower caliber rounds could not penetrate the things barrier. Sel changed her direction a little so that she was heading for a large rock, it was not perfect but she had no other choice if she wanted to intercept the thing before it got Rayland!

"Target located. Impact barrier online."

Reaching the end of the rock Sel's boots caused it to crack before she leaped off of it, right after shattering it from the sheer power of her jump. Rock and dust followed after her, a burst of blue energy pushing it all away the next moment as she focused all her defensive barrier upfront, a attempt to use it as a sort of battering ram to break through the beings own barrier. Even if it didn't work she was sure to knock the thing off balance, but if it did she was ready and waiting to smash her fist into it, the pulse of the attack barrier hopefully being enough to cause some extreme internal damage.

He held up a hand, coughing as he pulled himself to a knee. "Zehy are...hnnnggh...folloink orders" Kaite groaned before adding, "My orders." In truth, he was brimming with directed rage towards the woman whom he had handed his authority off to with the hope that they would respect his wishes. Being stonewalled and treated like a child tested his resolve to resist hunting her down to exact the inflicted damage in complementary...gratitude.
"N..no...please don't. I had zeis comink..." he sighed, lifting himself with the aid of her tank-tank before grimly hissing, "I hired zehm..." hoping that the inflection was enough to dissuade her from putting more paperwork on his desk that otherwise accented the moment's events. It sat about as well as his writhing guts to swallow his emotions and not seek retribution on those that had simply been following orders and briefings of...

...Some small child came onto the ship and was given a badge and two squads to maintain security, to use their better judgment and hold orders to the letter. The men were told not to trust their commander, by the kid, and to appoint squad leaders; diverting the chance of internal corruptions by being paid in two terms. They would have to do their task and maintain it in order to receive full pay, although they were welcome to walk away with half of it, at their leisure......as long as they responded to the order code...that was contained in the patch.
"...I am zeh fool" I cough, my knuckles clicking as I grip them to a tight fist, yearning to punch something. Instead I occupy myself with shedding the hazmat suit and leaving it on the floor as I stumble a few steps away. Something about Achieng made me hyper-reluctant to show weakness around her, although I was certain bruises would set in and I was going to need to rest.

It's a mission! You can't just rest.
I feel like I'm going to be sick.
Maybe Katherine didn't call for it? Maybe they're just jerks.
Question your authority and your judgement?
Please be quiet, I really-
She circumvented your orders to sabotage you!
The captain left you like this...who knows who else feels the same?
Leave me alone...
YOU GAVE HER POWER!
SHE HAS USED YOU FROM THE START!

"You don't understand! She-" Kaite barked at nothing, coughing up a bite of their lunch onto the floor as they stumbled towards the nothing, drawing their combat knife to address nobody. He turned his head, wiping his mouth and blushing with embarrassment as they glanced to Achieng before turning back to the otherwise empty hallway.


"I am..." I groaned.
Some kid in an escape pod.
A super soldier with an advanced mind.
What's so super about your bruised ribs? Is it 'groovy' as well?
They were following orders!
THEY WERE HIS MEN!
THEY WERE HIS MEN!
"They were just following orders...!" I repeated, holding my ribs with one arm as I slashed at the air to dispel the voices, rolling my wrist to combo into two more elegantly leveled stabs before falling back to my knees from the motion, feeling too sick from the blow to compose myself.
This was it. The whispers got to the point where I didn't even know if they were myself or people. NO...they weren't there. They are me and I am here!

"And who are you?" A coy voice perks up, accompanied by the sound of a sloshing mop-bucket as I look to Scott as he tried in vain to clean up the mess on the floor. I look up at Achieng with a horrified expression. She was partially pulling herself out of her tank to look at me...watching me...watching this...
I didn't answer, though he looked at me expectantly. The voices cut off as I drove the knife into the floor, working and bending the metal as I shook with frustration. "Kaite..." I whisper before Scott almost immediately responded, "Sounds like a girl's name"
Scenarios of barking at the apparition or throwing a knife at it and maybe hurting Achieng in the process washed through my mind as I looked down at the otherwise tiny hand gripping the knife so big in comparison that it had no business holding it...before I set it down. I unbuckled the webbing and let that rest, as well, to the floor. Taking a step, my setting bruise caught up to me and I crumpled in an instant, catching myself on a single arm and knees, clutching my ribs with curiosity of how bad it would be; the men were trained not to pull punches and waves of sickness and agony rolled back in waves as I curled up on the floor, accepting my state

Kaite unconsciously gnashed his teeth, trying to brace themselves on the floor before gradually and inelegantly sinking back down, shaking with barely suppressed sobs of self pity, accentuated by the audience he knew he had. "P-please...don't...don't look at me, Ma'am..." his voice came from behind clicking teeth from light grinding. It took a moment before he spoke, "I should...uuhn...get back to my room. Zeh Alto iz in good hands..." giving up trying to stay composed in favor of just doing their best not to cry too outwardly.
His own words were so wrought with disbelief that he could barely finish the sentence, "Zehr iz...nohszink to be...afraid...ouf..."

I'm so dead.

Rayland maintained his desperate concentrated fire on the alien suit as it charged towards him, energy pulses continuously dispersing upon contact with the thing's defensive field. All hope seemed lost in the way Rayland could see things currently; in the next few seconds, this horrid combat suit of which he could now briefly make out the details as some twisted mesh of metallic armor and pinkish flesh fused and grafted be the two opposite components was going to basically tear him to pieces in a red haze of gore. This the fate he was sure to receive and tragically had little time to make amends with his maker in the moments that were drawing to a swiftly close.

Worried thoughts raced through his mind as fast as a capitol ship would go in an instantaneous star-to-star jump. He didn't know if it was the adrenaline that coursed through his veins or his NVP suit accelerating and stimulating both his senses and mind; hell maybe both were allowing him to feebly contemplate his final moments. With his demise at hand, he wondered what would become of the crew and the ship. What would they do assuming this thing didn't kill them to? Would they continue the mission? It seemed less likely since he and his crew were still in contract and the death of a captain unfortunately would not get his crew off of this God forsaken rock; he could only hope that Force Commander Arik would show leniency. But the bigger question was that who would take over as Captain?

Rayland hadn’t enough time to process things as the alien was now meters away from him and making a bloodthirsty lunge. This is it, he thought as he could clearly see the suit’s scythe-arms rising to cut him down. He instinctively closed his eyes while keeping his trigger of his Sub-Repeater hopelessly pulled and awaited the worse.

Then came the shrieking sound of energized friction quickly deescalating into a harmonizing hiss; that and the empty physical feeling of a painful death. Rayland peeked one eye open and to his surprise saw nothing in front of him. This realization caused him to frantically look everywhere to find and determine where the creature had vanished to. His eyes found Sel’Varok standing just a yard away from him, her signature shield-generating gauntlets active and crackling as if something large had collided with them or the other way around. Unsteadily picking himself up from all the fear and anxiety that had was slowly washing away, Rayland then was able to identify the alien had been knocked back by Sel’s battering ram of an attack and was writhing on the ground, confused and in obvious pain. He could note the surrounding space now filled with dust around the suit was unevenly warping, flickering actually now that their opponent was struggling to get its barrier back up and running.

“T-thanks for the save…” Rayland stuttered as he stood to Sel’s side all the while clutching his own, still heavily breathing and pained from the ordeal that had befallen him. Or rather what he had technically stepped into. “…Think I found my ghost…”

The combat suit eventually pulled itself back together but now no longer with its protective shielding engaged. While that fact appeared ideal, it still didn’t change the fact that it still proved to be a lethal threat. Just as the soldiers from the local garrison had arrived and already begun to open fire, the armored creature quickly pivoted towards them, glaring at the squad as two shoulder mounted cannons of an unrecognizable variety quickly deployed from its carapace and open fired in turn. The soldiers hastily scrambled for cover as blood red bursts ignited the air and exploded whatever the rounds hit. Concrete, shrapnel, and dirt were brutally thrown into the air as nearby structures and cover seemingly disintegrated.

While keeping the squad heavily suppressed, the hulking alien turned to both Rayland and Sel, its automatic cannons turning to maintain fire on the soldiers as it leaned forward into a bow as reality around the alien began to warp slowly. Dust and debris began to lift off from the ground, levitating in midair by paranormal forces. It became obvious to Rayland that this creature was also somehow a Psionic like he was but with such forces visually and physically manipulating the environment, it was clearly more powerful and unstable.

The former AISC then felt something heavy eradicating from the alien; dark emotions, full of hatred and anguish swirling into a single focal point. Rayland was no telepath but his own Psionic sensitivity allowed him to pick up the negative vibes better than everyone here and what he was sensing was some sort of curious conflict of aspirations screaming outward. He could feel the horrid desire to kill and destroy, some of the wavelengths directed towards him but the rest was gearing towards Sel; not surprisingly since she did knock out it’s near impenetrable barrier. But then he could feel hesitancy emanating from cesspool of negativity, resisting and trying to pull back the rage.

But why? Was this alien, whatever abomination it was, debating not to kill them?

The split-second moments Rayland had to deduce this unusual find expired the instant he picked up the creature’s psychic resonance spike sharply, causing the space around it to distort violently. Images and reflections contorted into a single vortex, shrieking like a blade through paper until a light shined within the twisted tunnel. Rayland’s heart sank as he found out what this alien had in mind and only had seconds to act.

“Psionic blast! Get the hell down!” he yelled into his helmet’s vox as he tecnhopathically connected to all the comm channels his cyberlink could acquire, hoping to warn anyone of the impending terror.

Hoping that everyone around him and nearby by had the right mentality, Rayland leaped off to his side with as much strength and springing momentum he could muster. Upon contact with the ground, he kept his arms over his head and anticipated the worst. Like a ancient cannon going off, the alien discharged is paranormal payload of psionic energy into a visual contorting liner wave. The ground that Rayland was once standing on evaporated into nothingness, machines and tools within the wave’s path were twisted and torn apart, eventually being incinerated by the thermodynamic forces as work.

With such a mental attack that grew the width of its reality warping killzone, the Infamous Alto was soon caught in the attack as well; given the ship’s size and such close proximity to the alien combat suit, it was sadly inevitable. The frigate buckled within the ship bay’s sturdy mechanical grasps as the blast eventually collided with the Infamous Alto’s open cargo hold. The resulting collision generated enough friction to engulf the ship and most of the facility in a torrent of fire before spewing skyward, quickly venting the excess heat and entropy.

Though having successfully evading the attack Rayland trembled having felt the entire event unfold in seconds. He turned over to his back to see the very earth glowing white and venting so much heat that it felt like the entire ship bay had become a volcano. His scared but observant gazed then shifted towards his ship, noting steam and smoke rising away from the Infamous Alto; the ship’s own defense barrier had deployed in time and held but only barely. Most of the devastation however was concentrated on the ship’s cargo hold with grey fumes vomiting from within the large entrance. Rayland surmised that the barrier may have given way upon impact and spewed the destruction inward.

With his NVP suit ever on top of things, a cool feeling breathed down is body to counteract the heat from the outside as he rose up once more. Facing the creature past the stream radiating from the ground, the alien slowly approached forward, crawling with its bladed limbs and saurian hind legs while it glowing eye lit up the haze of heat. The creature appeared fatigued as if it’s immense outburst had actually drained it of its own strength; whether that was good or a bad thing remained up for debate but the mesh of cybernetics and flesh still ever dwarfed him and seemed ready to engage once more.

Rayland looked to his flanks to see if anyone was around but the steam didn’t help. In fact he didn’t know if Sel had made it out of that attack as well; his HUD had marked everyone in the area with an undetermined yellow icon thus couldn’t see if they were incapacitated or in trouble. Quite simply, no one appeared to be available to come to his aid. Back to square one but now he was more in trouble than he was before.

But luck had it was that the alien’s shield had still not regenerated as the dying steamed moved around it’s body rather than away from it and with the near sluggish movement it appeared to be showing, this gave Rayland a fighting chance he was looking. But what could be done against something like this?

“Don’t know if anyone could hear me, but I have a dumb idea for taking this bastard out…” Rayland spoke through his vox again, hoping someone was actually listening but all he could hear was low white noise as if there was interference. He prayed that his ability to communicate wasn't shot.

She felt the beings barrier give to her powerful attack, both her frontal and its shattering in a shrieking roar and flash of azure light of energy. Thrusting her fist forwards she felt it make contact with its cybernetic flesh, her attack barrier gave off a almost sonic boom like sound as it made contact, sending her attack much deeper into the beings body and sending it sprawling across the ground.

“…Think I found my ghost…”

Sel slowly stood up to her full height after having landed from her attack, she could not help but make a small click of approval as she heard Rayland speaking, signaling that he was otherwise alive. "I was expecting your ghost to look far more humanoid. Less real as well." She said this before pulling out her HF machete, a simple tool but one that should make fast work on this thing now that tis barrier was down... However something felt so wrong, the dirt and small rocks around them started to lift, there was no way right it had to be the captain? Looking back she could see his shock as well, and with the things attention on her she had to hop back just in case it attacked her...

What came next she had not been expecting, as a unbelievably powerful Psionic blast rocked the very foundations of the earth, thankfully she had taken cover with Rayland and used her barriers to ensure their survival but even with that they were stretched to their limits by that attack! Standing up the vexi glared at the being, this was nothing natural that was for sure but with those powers as well? "So, whats that plan you mentioned?" She asked her captain, readying her HF blade in case the staggered abomination tried anything.