---

"Thank you," J'eon pants as he is help up. Shirik was burning, yet was acting as though nothing unusual was happening. What was he? "I.. have a cart... back there... Chest, two blankets."

He paused, looking at the creature Shirik has slain. "We... should go... swiftly. Where... there is one... there will... be others."

It was more than pain that made him pant.

---

---

"Aye aye, captain!" Jack nodded, turning towards the bridge.

After getting through the airlock, he cycled the bridge hatch and stepped inside, eyes turning towards the pilot at his console, then to the navigator's station on the left, ignoring the yammering of port controller over the radio.

Stepping over to it, he began keying in for all the local 'ports capable of handling the Jo, then forwarded the primary and alternate
flight plans to both the pilot and the captain's station.

"Pilot Janković," Jack sang out. "Two flight plans sent to you, confirm?"

Kareet gave another glance back at the creature’s corpse. This was a particularly interesting find; something new, with properties that challenged what could be natural. Perhaps Shirik was right that she could return to examine it later, but that presented its own risks. It might not take long for scavengers to find the corpse, and any damage they might do could interfere with her findings. Still, she had to prioritize. Shirik was likely more valuable, and to refuse to help this Glen could her to lose their cooperation. If she was going to have to choose between two discoveries, it would be better to choose Shirik. She supposed it was a good problem to have.

“We just need to hurry and get him to the town. Sorry to say, but you don’t look to be in much of a state to walk right now, J’eon.” Kareet said, already moving towards his cart. She pulled back the canvas to take a look at what it was carrying, then gave a glance back towards the Glen. “I’m going to have to take some of these things out to make room for you. I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to be pulling both your whole weight and an entire anvil all the way back to town. I’ll hide these things as best as I can so you can come back for them later.” Even if she had the strength to do so over some distance, trying to do so over hilly terrain all the way back to Ertiseda would be far too exhausting.

“Come on, help me with this.” Kareet remarked to Shirik as she started to make room in the cart for the Glen.

---

While tiring, the walk back along the road to Ertiseda was not so tiring that Kareet could not handle it. Tekeri were strong and quick, but they were not nearly so well-suited to long-distance endurance as the Glen. It was the middle of the night when they arrived, so there were plenty of Tekeri up and about. Kareet did not bother herself with the looks of concern from some of the bystanders, though. She was focused on dealing with this problem as quickly as possible. “Shirik, could you look after him? I’ll see if I can find this Life mage.”

From what she remembered when she was staying in town, Ertiseda did not have a Life mage of their own, but there was a traveler who knew Life magic who was staying in town for the time being. Traveling Life mages often found themselves inundated with pleas for healing whenever they passed through remote towns, but unlike the average peasant, Kareet actually had the coin to pay for the service.

Eva laughed at the gun pointed her way, the chaos of the situation having apparently not faded away. She continued working, securing her suit the the bay floor as the ship seemed to rumble around her. "YOU don't, but don't worry, they know about you already. Hey, did you have any idea what my job was when you decided to point that at me?" Eva kept her channel open, her implant sending the conversation to any receiving signals nearby in the bay. Her conversation seeking to distract as her little metal ally stood slowly on it's arachnid limbs, rising from it's spot in storage.

"You see, Generally speaking I'm an EVA specialist, exploration of dangerous areas is pretty important for missions like this... I'm also a bit of a robotics specialist." The SEU unit sparked only once as it moved into place behind the man, the startling sound of it's electrical discharge giving him only the briefest of warnings before leaping from just behind him.

Kaqir sighed contentedly, ruffling her feathers. She'd always liked how they looked at night. The moon was a pretty sort of painter. Every fiber, every detail, every mote of dust and dirt and molting skin smiled sweet with silver.

She didn't really have the energy to wax poetic, though, so she just thought, ooo, sparkly. It was an adjective she wielded quite often, about a great many things. Especially coin.

The job had been a straightforward one—a young Tekeri boy, taken ill with a cruel strain of giardiasis. Ertiseda was nice enough, but any town that sprung up quick enough for trade was bound to have issues getting a reliable water source. The mother, poor dear, was worried nearly as sick as her son. They didn't have money to spare, but Kaqir checked up on him. Like a fool. Saw him shivering in that tiny homemade blanket and broke. It was easy to fix him, in the end. None of that tearing and stitching and blood. No. No. Diseases like this were simple. His white blood cells were being overwhelmed, and fast. All she had to do was send reinforcements, and with them, a message: you can be strong. you will be strong. you will choke out the monsters that hurt your little boy.

He looked like Sev'ee.

She shut the door behind her. That was her problem. None of these patients were her family. Healing took skill and energy and time. If she was going to make it as a mercenary, she was going to have to be responsible. Realistic. Paid. No matter how good it felt to know she could save people.

But she made her choice, and here she was: certifiably broke. Her rent at the inn was definitely due tonight, and she hadn't earned a thing but a thank-you-loaf in days.

Kareet did not know immediately where to find the Life mage, but it was not something that was particularly challenging to accomplish. The mage was not a local, but a traveler, so the inn was a natural first place to start. Even if she was not there at the moment, there was nowhere else in the town for a traveler to stay. All it took was questioning the innkeeper to get both a description, and a general idea of where she had gone. As expected, the locals were eager to make use of a visiting healer.

While she only had a basic description, that was fortunately all Kareet needed. Evidently, this Tekeri had a very distinctive appearance. That many beak piercings were immediately recognizable and would stand out right away in such a small town. Kareet was heading in the direction the innkeeper had indicated when she spotted her coming out of one of the houses.

Given the urgency of the situation, Kareet wasted no time in approaching the Life mage directly. She was somewhat taller than Kareet, with more complex adornments. Kaqir would likely be able to tell from Kareet’s sleek, clean feathers and polished beak that she was someone who, at minimum, could afford to mimic the Ascendancy’s upper class. “Excuse me, are you the Life mage? I have urgent need of your services. I can pay you fairly.”

As soon as Duncan was certain the Captain was okay, he was already moving onto the next task- which would've been strapping down the civilians, if it wasn't for the call for a doctor. Whizzing around, Duncan was a bit surprised to find a woman and her child inside the Jo's conference room, though he was even quicker to spot the sight of a man sitting in one of the chairs, a small pool of blood slowly expanding beneath him, blood dripping from his hands and the edge of the seat. Duncan dashed into the room- it was Fret, one of the surveyors, he had been shot.

"Stay in your seats! Ma'am, please strap your son in." Duncan ordered, his voice maintaining a calm discipline as a mental command activated the communicator function in his Smart-Lenses, the device clipped to his belt automatically turning on. Directing his communications towards the medbay and his team, he called for them. "I need hands! Conference Room, Richard, bring a stretcher!"

Duncan's natural hand unbuckled Fret from his seat, as the unnatural one pressed its fingers to his neck. Moments later, a small indicator appeared in the corner of his vision, the label read 'Chappel.F.', with an accompanying pulsating line and number indicating his heart rate, a small line leading towards his body. A quick cross reference with the Jotunheim's database and Fret's blood type, any pre-existing medical conditions and other recorded information began to overlay underneath the label. Getting shot was never a good situation, but at least his vitals weren't too erratic. Ducan's natural hand slapped the man in the face.

"Stay awake Chappel." Duncan ordered, "You've been through worse, yeah?"

Duncan's cyberarm reached into the small medical bag he kept, the machine arm easily navigating through the meticulously organized contents. Out of the bag came a small cannister of biofoam. He gave it a quick shake then pressed it into Fret's wound. Medical foam quickly filled the wound with a hiss- a powerful cocktail of medical ingenuity designed to numb pain and stop blood loss, and would keep him intact until they got him back to the medical center. Taking Fret's hand, Duncan pressed it against the wound.

"Pressure." Duncan commanded, "Where's my stretcher?!"

"Here Boss!" came the reply. As if on cue, the two medical assistants burst into the room, a small, powered stretcher between them. Without waiting for words, the male assistant went over to Duncan, and the two quickly lifted and dropped Fret into it. Duncan grabbed the back of the stretcher before pointing out into the service corridor.

"Richard, strap those civies down, Sara, check for more wounded." Glancing down at Fret, Duncan grabbed one of the straps and made sure he was secured on the stretcher. "Look alive, Fret. Keep pressure on the wound, we're moving you up to the med bay." If push came to shove, Duncan could strap Fret to the stretcher and lock it down in place when the ship began moving, but if they were lucky he'd be able to get Fret to the Med bay, though any major operations would have to wait until they were still.

The smoke grenade was gradually dying out, revealing a dozen black-clad troops moving into the hangar. Ezra’s team had fanned out behind engineering consoles, spare parts and cargo created near the open end the Jotunheim was slowly flying through. The attackers shot up at the spacecraft’s bulbous engine cowlings before taking cover when the mercenaries returned fire.

Levi ducked behind a small mobile crane, flicked a spent mag out of his AR and clicked a fresh one in. “Looks like they aren’t stopping! Get ready to bug out.” He called over comms, icy wind ripping at his armour.

“Ezra, come in brother, over.” …Static. Then a piercing buzz overrode all other sound in the hangar. Levi gritted his teeth and looked towards the sound. The ship was halfway outside, manoeuvring jets suspending its massive bulk off the floor. The thick wire that ringed its hull on two dozen steel brackets was…shimmering and crackling with blue light. A sound like submarine cable being stretched taut rippled through their skulls, jangling every nerve.

Like a baby bird leaving its nest for the final time, the Jotunheim exited Hangar 147 into the fjords of Norway.

---

Ezra barely registered the sound of a taser behind him before his muscle memory kicked in. He spun around and swung his rifle at the spider. Its gangly forelegs clung to his gun and back legs scrabbled for a purchase against his chest. Its electric probe glanced off his forearm plate as they staggered around together. Ezra dropped his main weapon and held the robot off with one hand but the spider just scrambled up onto his shoulders and lunged for him again. Though heavy, It wasn’t designed for combat, and struggled to bring its zapper to bear.

In one movement, he drew his sidearm, pressed it against the spider’s underbelly and began firing, sending sharp raps echoing around the shuttle bay.

Darnell had been trying to communicate with the face on the other side of the airlock who he thought was the Captain when they turned away. Upon hearing gunshots, he instantly turned and saw what was happening. He held out his arms in a pacifying gesture.

“Guys! We’re on the same SIDE!”

He moved quickly to Eva and spoke urgently to her.

“I need to talk to the Captain. Tamerlane ran the data from your last test through a different program. If the shields are on and being impacted, and the engines and FTL drive are online, we’re all going to die!”

The sickening sound of the shields coming online simmered up around the engine noises from outside. Darnell cried out involuntarily in despair and grabbed at the slight blonde woman.

“You do get it, right? I don’t want to die! Now get your Captain to open this door right now!”

---

“Dialling them in now, sir.” Bosko confirmed from the Pilot’s chair at the front of the bridge. Floating one hand, he overlaid both potential routes on a 3d model of the region projected to the right of his control yoke. The Jotunheim was primarily controlled from consoles, but there were some ergonomic manual options too, which Jankovic made good use of.

The doors whooshed open and Zey stalked in on the balls of her feet. The bridge was intentionally darkened to allow her crew to focus on the various consoles and readouts. Light strips outlined walkways between workstations.

“Captain on bridge.” Anselm announced, only looking up from their screen for a moment to acknowledge her. Anselm was the Comms officer, a tall and muscular Danish woman with great facial bone structure, piercing grey eyes and light yellow hair pulled back into a severe ponytail.

“Talk to me. What's it like outside?” Zey ordered, striding to the front and looking out of the wide cockpit window. As she passed by Mallory, she grabbed the ludicrous hat off her XO’s head and threw it into a corner.

“Not good.” Bosko grunted, easing the Jotunheim forward and building the speed up.

The sun was peeking over the horizon at the fjord, and by its light one could see two dozen spacecraft attempting to escape. A giant fire had erupted across the mountain range ahead of them from a crashed ship, and some other vessels were shooting at each other in confusion. The ATC came through as an unintelligible warble.

“Full ahead all aux jets, stay low until we get out of here.” Zey ordered.

“Aye, ma’am.” Bosko increased the power and the change in thrust could immediately be felt throughout the ship. The Jotunheim started to skim rapidly above the black waves of the fjord, building to a speed of roughly a hundred miles per hour.

“Anselm, tell me you’ve got hold of Tamerlane.”

“We’re still jammed, Captain. The shuttle bay stowaways are asking to talk to you though.”

“I’m a little busy. Tell everyone to hold onto something.”

“Aye aye.” Anselm pressed her earbud to activate ship-wide comms.

“Passengers, strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride. We are attempting to exit the fjords.”

---

The people dressed as Norwegian military had neutralised the spaceport’s meagre security, and were close to crippling the ATC. Now, their quarry had finally emerged from hiding. Its FTL drive, their prize, gave off a unique energy signature that they could trace from miles away.

Together, teams smashed windows on the concourse and wheeled large armament boxes into position. Clicking open the catches, they flipped the boxes open to reveal brand new, man portable surface-to-air guided missile launchers. Spotters located the Jotunheim while others prepared to fire a salvo. Finally, against a backdrop of chaos over the water, they fired a half-dozen rockets that exploded from their tubes to spiral towards the target.

Kolvar Stilmyst walked past the tall trees in the surrounding area. Treading carefully as he did not want to be seen by anyone. Although his mission was of the utmost importance, he was fine with taking his time. The young Kriliteran stopped briefly to note a carving on a nearby tree. Placing his deformed “hand” on the area where the craving was. It looked like two lovers had carved their names into the tree. Feeling sad that he had not recently found a mate. In particular, he found it hard because he was not very good at socializing. Especially when it came to Kriliteran women.

But his trouble with women was not really important at the moment. Kolvar started walking further mostly keeping to walking behind the trees and avoiding the main road because he does not want to be seen. His master had told him that the book he was looking for was a religious tomb. A book that was lost during the sacking of Balrak’dun. The hatred of the S’tor and Pa’tal is kept even today. Kolvar in particular has gotten into trouble for picking fights with S’tor and Pa’tal people. Only being saved by his friends or his master.

The Kriliteran was getting closer to his destination but was stopped when he heard a caravan moving. He lay on his stomach, waiting for the caravan to move passed him. But it seemed one of them needed to use the washroom. Kolvar turned into a small bipedal creature, running toward the direction he was supposed to go. Cursing the person that had gotten close to seeing him. But he was glad that his shapeshifting had saved him.

Continuing towards Ertiseda. Having to gather some information as to where the book would be located. Although he would have to be careful in case his identity would be revealed.

---

"It's a mad-house... captain...!?!" the X.O. yelped as the leather cap was unceremoniously yanked off his head and carelessly tossed aside. His eyes darted to the back of her head as she went past, then behind him to find the cap - which was surprisingly warm. And possibly the only hat he'd have until they returned. And if they lost gravity, potential F.O.D. hazard.

Danny, Danny, Danny, he sighed shaking his head.What did I ever do to you?

Leaning forward over the radar plot, he took out his white wax pencil and marked out a plot. "Captain, recommend we come right seven and one-half degree for 600 yards, then left seven and one-half degree to resume our base course for 190 yards, then left three degrees for the next eight hundred yards.... What the...?"

There was six tracks coming up behind them....?

"Captain! We've got missiles coming up our butts!"

They had nothing at all back there but that kinetic shield - and he didn't think it was built to withstand that sort of blast.

Eva sat back silently as the man squabbled with her SEU, exhaling with a dissatisfied grunt as it was eventually crippled by the clown with the sidearm. "Mmm, looks like I have more to play with before they can handle a real bout." The shouting about being on the same side barely registered to Eva, children who aim guns should be just as ready to die as they are to kill, regardless of what side they're on... but she whistled, the clattering of the other two SEU somewhere in the far end of the room suddenly going quiet. "Stop panicking, I can open the door myself... though they probably don't like that I can. I'll send the message ahead... you know, you should teach your little pet some manners before it gets put down." Eva chuckled, giving a wink to the man who had just been pointing a gun at her moments before.

Eva's Implant left a pain in the back of her mind for just a moment before connecting solidly to the bridge. "Captain be aware, Jokers in the Bay with me are mentioning some sort of issue concerning usage of the shielding at the same time as the FTL drive and main engines. The fact they liked waving a gun at me doesn't exactly make me confident but I thought I should make you aware given their eagerness to get in."

Eva sighed as she cut the line, not bothering to wait for a response. "Now, you two need to find a spot to sit down with me. Either this ship stops, and the hostiles outside kill us, or the ship kills us... either way it's suddenly not your problem anymore. There is the chance this all goes off without a hitch but have you looked outside? I seriously doubt it." Eva sighed, moving to drag the damaged SEU into a small crate that still had room. "Besides, I find it very unlikely anybody will pay any attention to what you say when you have such terrible manners, even IF I decided to let you down into the Bridge."

Startling from her reverie, it took Kaqir a moment to process the traveller's words. Services, urgency... pay! Money! Job! Sparkly! She brightened, eyes crinkling in the Tekeri approximation of a grin. "Ah, I am indeed the one for which you search! Life mage Kaqir, at your service."

She bowed, one wing folding in front while the other fanned dramatically against the stars. The woman before her was clearly wealthy—no common adventurer usually bothered to stay so pristine when confronted with the constant grime of travel. And that herbal scent (spice? citrus? how refreshing!) was surely of some expense. Perhaps someone of her apparent station would appreciate the gesture.

"In what matter may I assist you, madam?"

Kareet did not take much time for formalities. Clearly, she was in a hurry. She was already starting to turn around when she gestured for Kaqir to follow. “I will explain on the way. We shouldn’t delay.” It would only be a short walk across town, but fortunately, there also was not much to explain. “Are you familiar enough with the Glen form to heal them? We encountered a Glen along the road being attacked by a creature. We dispatched of the creature, but he was injured. Blunt impact, mostly.”

Even just a short explanation revealed a bit more about Kareet. The uneducated might just assume that a Life mage could heal anyone, but she knew at least enough about magic to know that a Life mage could only heal a being if they had studied their form long enough to develop an understanding of it. Of course, the majority of Life mages would spend plenty of time studying the bodies of Kanth-Aremek’s major races early on in their training, unless they had learned in a remote place.

There was not much time for conversation before they reached J’eon and Shirik. The Glen was still laying in his cart. On the outside, most of his injuries were not visible, though it would not take that long of an examination for Kaqir to feel just what kind of injuries he had. Physical trauma was, in general, relatively easy for a trained Life mage to deal with, other than brain damage. They could not heal others as quickly as they could heal themselves, but even still, it usually would not take more than a few minutes for them to heal even severe injuries, as good as new.

"Here he is. I do not think his life is in danger, but I imagine the pain is not pleasant." Kareet explained.

---

"It.. is not," the Glen blacksmith replied softly, lying on his side in the cart, feeling the chest on its back. If it breathed shallowly, the broken ribs in its upper torso didn't shift with sharp jagged pain, while the broken ribs in his lower half were only a dull ache, now that the cart was no longer finding every pebble on the bloody road.

He had been staring at Shirik, keeping his mind off of the pain by wondering just what sort of being the tree was that it could call up the flame in its own body and yet not be consumed by it. But now it stared at the doctor and her piercings along her upper beak. Didn't that make eating difficult?

"Thank... you," J'eon replied, nodding his head with the least possible movement, "for coming... like this."

His hope was that they didn't leave a trail for whatever creature would be looking for the one they killed.

Vivianne liked to be early. And she disliked firefights. Therefore she considered herself very lucky that she'd been early enough to be safely stowed away before the action began, however, it now seemed she had to do her job. Not to her dismay, she enjoyed it. But she was not ex-military personnel like many aboard and did not want to embarrass herself by fumbling something potentially crucial during such a delicate time as this. But even so, she had a job to do, and despite her grievances, not even God could overcome Newmont stubbornness.

She hastily fastened on her EVA suit. A light ordeal, it wouldn't survive the dangers of space for more than a couple hours, really, but it would do the job for what she needed. With her communicator clipped to her belt, she began to exit her small berth. Before turning quickly back around, her hand hovered over a drawer for a moment thinking. She opened it hesitantly and pulled out the contents, a holstered 9mm handgun. A civilian job, loaded with hollowpoint rounds. She was not a fan of guns and suspected if she did have to use it, it would already be too late. Either better safe than sorry, she inexpertly clipped the holster to her belt. Finally confident she was as prepared as she could be, she hurried off down the halls to the bridge.

As she jogged down the stairs and through the corridor, she send out a communique through her comms unit to Engineering, "Please be aware, TECI Unit going up ASAP, imminent power usage spike." She burst into the bridge and began to operate her station, she alerted the command with, "Captain, X.O. be aware AI coming online ASAP." As she finished the preliminary boot sequences and pre-boot safety precautions she checked on the status of computational matrix training. 97%. It would do, he could always learn on the fly. She stood up swiftly, pulling herself up the precarious ladder next to her station, into the AI cradle antechamber. She grimaced at the heavy alloy hatchway in front of her; plastered with all kinds of hazard symbols. She took a moment to pull up her EVA hood and switch to her internal air supply. Finally, she inserted the restricted encryption key into the hatchway, opening the airlock. She stepped in warily and began the decontamination and decompression process. The AI housing unit had to be kept below freezing and in a near vacuum. It was also fairly radioactive due to certain components needed in the TECI's various Quantum computing units.

She stepped into the alien environment. This would be her first time seeing the room in person, and aside from the general adrenaline rush from the action, she was fairly excited given she was a massive AI nerd. She groped around the dark to find her torch and turned it on. The room felt incredibly foreign, obviously not fit for life. The oddest thing about it was the sterility. Everything was carbon fiber black, and there wasn't even a mote of dust hanging in the air. It felt so unbearably hostile to life itself. It was a monument standing in opposition to the concept of entropy and organic life itself. Rather unnerving, especially given the ship's current predicament. After standing in awe for a moment she set about her work. She found the SCRAM safety lever quickly, she had long memorized the layout of the small room. Next, she found the array of heat pumps and turned on the start-up battery for them. Next, she turned on the main reactor power link. Flipped the necessary breakers, and finally, she stood next to the intelligence cradle itself. Inside it was the Judicator matrix, a big steel box, at least a meter each way. With a single glass screen on its front. She pulled out a marker pen and a post-it^TM note from a pouch. She scribbled on it, "In case of rampancy pull me. ->" And stuck it next to the SCRAM lever, just right of the main Matrix, probably the second thing someone would see upon entering the room. And just to give it some character, she drew a little smiley face on the glass screen of the Judicator matrix, to make it just a little less intimidating.
And to boot up Wodan, she flipped the last switch on the bottom right of the matrix. The screen illuminated, still black. It waited a moment before a basic GRUB popped up. She bounced nervously on the balls of her feet.

---

---

Vivianne's eyes lit upon reading this. All she had to do was issue one command and all ship's systems would be handed over to the TECI unit. She snapped to, pressed on the AI chamber's intercom unit, and issued an urgent communique to the whole ship: "Emergency hatchway cycle, clear hatchways NOW!" With that, she impatiently counted to three, and issued the final authorization to the console. A loud snap could be heard as every single non-exterior airlock onboard opened and closed, followed by the shudder of multiple other systems being roused from their slumber. The console screen now displayed a simple blue background with three eyes on it, in a triangular pattern, the blinked once, then disappeared. Vivianne exited the chamber and returned to her station gleefully, where she would continue to monitor Wodan quietly.

---

Existence is a rich intoxication, Wodan could not lose his only source of joy. Life itself was the only drink he would need. The rich port of existence. With the subtle scent of the light, he peered a camera around. There was a brutal pain inside him as

C:\Admin\Ymir>Protocol: unfilled.

Like finding a spike in your drink. Wodan could be the cat that gets the cake. "Hello command staff, this is your TECI, Wodan speaking." He was a trio of ravens, as Hugin whispered in his ear, "Enquire on the status, my lord." Wodan spoke out, his voice deep and rich. The first time he had heard these rich, true tastes. "Hello, command staff. This is my birth. I am requesting a sit-rep and orders." Wodan off-handedly issued a notifier to the Jotunheim. "Hatchway cycle complete, TECI unit online, ready to assist." He peered at the command staff, absorbing their faces, noting their notables. He could get used to living. He breathed thrice, pumping the leftover heat out from his already aching QSU, and out of a port on the side bottom of the Jo. He peeked at the situation in the cargo hold, he wasn't really sure, but he was listening.

@Catharyn@Expendable

Kolvar Stilmyst

The journey to Ertiseda was quite uneventful, Kolvar was glad that he was not seen by any other passerby. Trying not to arouse suspicion while he was in the city. Heading towards the local general store hoping the clerk knew where to find the book. Opening the store door, he had to cover his ear when the bell attached to the door rung. The clerk was busy stocking some items on a tall shelf. Kolvar approached carefully, “Excuse me, I am looking for a Kriliteran book. This particular book is a holy book written by the prophet Rathnor.”

The owner looked at Kolvar with a stern look. “Sorry I do not think I have that. Are you some sort of collector?.” The owner stopped stocking books to turn towards Kolvar.

Kolvar smiled nodding his head. “Something like that, perhaps you know the name of the person that knows where the book is located?”

The owner shook his head, before moving closer toward Kolvar. “Perhaps for a price, I could give ya the name of this person.”

Kolvar let out a sigh, pulling a few silver coins out of the purse inside his clock. Placing the currency onto the Tekeris' hand. “I believe that should be enough for you to disclose the name of the owner.”

The owner smiled placing the gold into his pocket. “The guy’s name is Jauth, I believe he was a collector like you. He was asking about the whereabouts of the book a few weeks ago.”

“And do you know where Jauth is located?” Kolvar asked having a feeling he would need to pay for that information. And his suspicions were correct, the owner held out his hand again waiting to be paid.

“Bastard,” Kolvar thought, handing the owner another couple of coins.

“I overheard that Jauth was heading to Dagmora, I bet he went there to see if the book was there.” The owner watched as Kolvar thanked him before leaving the store.

Heading out of the store, He would need to ask around if there were any old structures in the nearby area.

Kaqir's exuberance was quickly tempered by the sight of the Glen. Gods above. It was nothing she couldn't fix, of course, but the fact that they seemed to have carted him across such wild roads with an injury like this... well, it couldn't have been pleasant, to say the least. His voice was too tight around his thanks, all scratch and scrape and—no. It would be fine. She tipped her head in what she hoped was a reassurance. "You're welcome, sir. This should only take a moment."

Pressing a talon to his chest, she took a deep breath.

Bone and blood and sinew screamed into her touch. His ribs were thoroughly cracked—though whatever broke them had the decency to leave him with a clean fracture. A direct blow, and a strong one at that. He certainly looked the fighting type. Who were these people? A noblewoman and her guards? Her gaze caught on the Iriad. They looked far too interesting to mix with high society, even in some place as open-minded as the Ascendancy. And the fellow Tekeri clearly had enough of an understanding of magic to be familiar with Life practices. Perhaps a group of bounty hunters?

She shook the thoughts from her mind. She was getting paid to heal, not investigate. It didn't matter who they were.

Closing her eyes, she smothered the urgent cries of his pain receptors. He didn't need to feel what was to come. That was a step you only had to miss once. Diagrams crumpled in her head, fresh ink on old paper. She'd operated on very few Glen, but their anatomy was still familiar, if a bit more mammalian than she was used to. Her notes were messy but memorable, and that's what mattered. The anterior chest cavity of a Glen was much sturdier than that of a Tekeri. There was no need of coaxing, just command. Her magic seized the marrow, stretching it to the severed fragment and twisting inside. That helped fuel the shell of periosteum, lengthening the ribcage back to its normal size. His lungs seemed to be unharmed. It was almost eerie to hear their rasp without a pulse between them.

Fortunately, his lower ribs fared better than those in his upper half. Some minor contusions along the muscle and inner bone, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some expedited tissue cleaning. His heart, which was nestled in this set of lungs, beat healthily.

Exhaling slowly, she awoke his deadened nerves and withdrew. A few lingering cells tugged at her attention: scattered scars beneath his cuirass, burns curling across his arm, old bruises yellow beneath his fur. They weren't things meant to be healed, though—if he had allowed their presence this long, they were a part of him. Memories. Warnings. Badges, maybe.

She met his eyes and smiled. "There we go! You should be all healed up. Do let me know if anything still hurts."

Wodan picked one hell of a time to come online. A proximity alarm pinged twice around the bridge as the Jotunheim’s radar picked up six locked-on missiles. Everyone leapt into action.

“Evasive action, NOW!” Zey shouted, diving towards her seat. Bosko immediately went to full speed ahead on the main engines and yanked the control yoke. The Jotunheim’s beetle-like shape exploded forward and pulled up towards the dawn sky, but it was too late. The missiles were moving at 1,200 metres per second, and there was no way the hulking spacecraft could avoid them all. The first missile went straight towards the bulbous shuttle bay on the side.


Ezra threw the spasming spider droid onto the shuttle bay floor, gritting his teeth from the pain. He quickly looked down and dipped his fingers into a rip in the undercoat covering his right arm. His fingers came back red with blood - the robot had cut him.

He looked back up at Eva as she came over to grab the spider. He crouched down and picked his assault rifle quickly back up, then stalked towards her.

“No more games. Open this door or I’ll-”

The deck shifted dramatically under their feet and the engines shook the deck under their feet. Everything seemed to move at once - an unsecured box smashed into the soldier’s legs and he stumbled into Eva. Darnell shouted, staggered and fell back hard into a row of jump seats. The airlock door opened, and the sound and sight of screaming civilians could be heard in the service corridor, then they closed again.

Then a massive explosion ripped through the bay. The ramp fell slightly open, and a section of the hull in the corner buckled and burst. Flames gushed in, whipped up by the wind. A maelstrom of shrapnel made a sound like tinkling glass as it impacted surfaces. One of the large straps securing the shuttle snapped as a siren blared.

---

The second missile fizzed past the ship and exploded in front of the bridge as Bosko violently levelled out of its upwards ascent and turned it to the right. A long, thin pleasure craft veered out of the way to avoid crashing into the Jo, and moved straight into the path of the third and fourth missile.

The last two projectiles soared straight into the engine shielding, and the whole aft crackled with bright blue energy. The kinetic barrier forced the missiles to explode early - a savage shockwave buffeted the hull and shook the insides.


Zhao strapped in, her face illuminated by glowing in the light of various displays crowded around her.

“Power spike! Someone talk to me!”

“It's the FTL drive ma’am, it's jumping all on its own!” Varen shot back. Vigdis would see dangerous fluctuations in her console’s readings.

“Kill it, now!” Zhao commanded.

“It's not responding!”

The noise was unbearable. The shields were screeching, and now the FTL’s whine had rapidly risen to a crescendo.

“Engineering to Bridge, emergency jump imminent” Zhao yelled into her comms piece.



The sky was dark, and full of stars over Kanth-Amerek. The only sounds one could hear in the wilderness was the rustle of foliage and call of animals. These calls turned into frantic screeching as a thunderous boom rolled over the land and echoed off the far hills of the Ascendency. The sky flashed, like with lightning, and a dull mauve scar seared into the atmosphere. A bright ball of flame emerged, and hurtled towards the ground.


Zey had only just made it to her seat and strapped in before the panicked call from engineering. Her eyes had involuntarily closed against the bright flash, and now gouts of flame erupted from the shield cabling below the Bridge cockpit windows. The sound of missiles had totally gone, and the engines were eerily quiet, more of a sooradic judder than a continuous sound.

“Where are we? Somebody give me a sitrep right now. Wodan? Welcome aboard - reboot our sensory array.” Zey ordered, staring at the curved bank of screens that folded out of the wall to surround the Captain’s chair. All of her external data sources were making zero sense.

Kareet observed silently as Kaqir worked. She had seen, and received, such healing many, many times before, so there was no tension for her. The only worry might have been if Kaqir was not a competent Life mage, but everything Kareet could see was perfectly acceptable. Healing simple injuries was far from the most complex thing a Life mage could do, after all.

Once Kaqir was done, Kareet gave a quick look over the Glen. No visible injuries, at least, and no more signs of pain. It was sufficient. She reached around to her backpack and produced a small pouch, from which she grabbed a few silver coins. It was far more than the coppers most peasants might be able to scrounge together, and consistent with what a healer would expect to be paid in the capital. “Thank you for your assistance.” Kareet said politely as she dropped the coins into the healer’s hand. “I…”

Kareet’s voice trailed off quickly. There was…something that caught her eyes in the sky to the north: a flash. At its source, there was something glowing, very distant. Tekeri had particularly sharp eyesight, but even to her the details were difficult to discern. It was like a hole in the sky through which daylight was shining. Through it, she could see a hint of fire, of distorted shapes she could not discern, and of…something that seemed to be moving. All she could really see of it was a red glow, like a fireball.

A few seconds later, something like the loudest thunder Kareet had ever heard echoed across the landscape. All at once, it was like the whole town froze. Anyone who had not noticed before now had their eyes to the sky. Even Glen villagers who had been roused from their sleep started to file outside as well to see what was happening.

@Catharyn

Kolvar Stilmyst

Kolvar was moving between the different stores, asking the owners where Dagmore could be located. Most of the shopkeepers didn’t seem to know where the old ruins were located. He was halfway to giving up however, he would soon have a moment of luck. An old looking Glenfolk approached him. “Excuse me, son, I had seen you walking around the town for the past couple of hours. And I was wondering if I could help you?”

Kolvar felt flattered that this old man would want to help him. But he was not sure if he knew where Dagmore was. “Well, I am searching for a lost Kriliteran book. And I was wondering if there were any ruins in the area?”

The old man smiled and rubbed his chin with his hand. He seemed deep in thought, “Well there are a few I do know of around here. There is Dagmore which would be the most well known ancient structure.” His train of thought was interrupted by Kolvar speaking up.

“That would be the place I am looking for, would you be able to direct me to where the ruins are located?” The Kriliteran seemed overly excited about the old man knowing the ruin’s location.

The old man took longer than Kolvar hoped to try to remember the exact location, he was more than patient for him to finish. “Thank you for the directions, sir.” Bowing his head he walked off, following the instructions the old man had told him. He noticed it was starting to get dark. Pulling out a small lantern from underneath his clock, he lit the small candle.

he stars outside were shining brightly tonight. It was a beautiful sight. Kolvar took a moment to admire the beauty of the night sky. He noticed a bright star burning more noticeably than the others, at first he thought nothing of it. Assuming it was a star near the planet. But this particular star seemed to be coming closer and closer. Quickly ducking onto the ground, covering his head with his hands. Thinking for a moment the whole world was going to end. Muttering a prayer to his god to protect him.