Collab with Vulkan, Akayaofthemoon, and Jones Sparrow
The recording sent chills down Raymond's spine, but he didn't show it. Head Representative Rivers and Raymond were now in the Monroe's
meeting room. The two sat in silence for a moment before Raymond asked the obvious question.
"This wasn't within Committee space, was it?""No, no it wasn't. The Council has thought it best that an exploration team should be the ones to investigate, it is your jobs after all..."
"The people who sent this obviously had military experience. They're being ambushed, and yet you won't send a military unit after them... It's too dangerous and not worth a real risk." Ray laughed a bit, looking at the man.
"Another suicide mission? You guys really like pushing our odds. The Head Representative sighed. "Raymond, you're the best leader this damn Committee has ever seen. I see your father in you, whether you want to accept that or not. His specialty was defying odds. It's in your family. You and your crew are more than capable of coming back from this. In fact, I'm counting on it."
"You say it like we have a choice, Representative... send the files to my quarters. I'll do a debriefing with the crew once they come back. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find the new recruits." Without another word Ray left the man, and made his way out of the ship. From all that he was told, this wasn't going to be like anything they've fought. Ray never heard people so scared in his life, and he's been to a lot of places. He could still hear those screams in the background of the recording...
He exited the ship through the hangar door, he was still lost in thought until someone called after him. Ray turned to see a what seemed to be a Committee engineer walking towards him. Was the ship acting up? No, everyone did maintanence the first day they were here...
"Evening sir!" said the engineer cheerfully, strolling up to Ray like he was an old friend. He wore a completely grey boiler suit, to the point that it looked like all the colour had been sucked out of it with a straw. "A fellow from the Committee asked me to take a quick look around your ship for any problems! Apparently there's been a bit of a problem with this class of craft before, and we all thought it would be better safe than sorry! "
He ran his fingers through straw colored hair, keeping the cheery smile on his face.
Raymond felt an uncertainty about this guy. He was too cheerful, too confident... and too... bland looking. But Ray shouldn't judge the guy, he was a bit biased around Committee members of any kind, even engineers. Too many things were going through his mind at the moment, so it was probably his short temper at the time, not the engineer.
"Yeah, of course... Is there any point of the ship that would be the problem? We had a team do an inspection when we landed a couple days ago." Ray said without suspicion, just a bit of annoyance. The crew was currently without an engineer so everything was kept up to date by Ray, and Tango. As if his pride wasn't hurt enough today.
"Wonderful!" said the engineer, clapping his hands together. "Just show me where the engine room is. Its generally just a wiring problem. If everything goes well, you wont have to worry about anything down there ever again!" He picked up his bag. "Well then, shall we go?"
Ray crossed his arms, staring at the technician, the suspicion still lingering, but he put it aside. It was just his pride like he said. The captain of the Monroe nodded a bit, before starting to walk up the bridge into the ship.
"Right this way." He responded.
The walk to the main engine room in the Monroe was an awkward one. Ray didn't respond much to the man's cheerful attitude, it wasn't every day that someone treated him and his crew with respect. They were criminals after all. The elevator ride seemed like eternity, but it finally opened up to the red lighted room, and the soft humming from their surroundings. Ray lead the engineer through a walkway, where next to a large engine battery was a hatch on the wall.
The engineer nodded in thanks, putting a pair of rubber gloves on and opening the hatch, proceeding to move some wires around and snap something with a pair of pliers. He hummed a small tune as he did so, as if this was the greatest work of his life.
"Ahhhh..." he said, in a very satisfied voice. "There's the problem. Did your previous engineer install that beforehand?" He asked, pointing inside the box. "Take a look."
Raymond watched the engineer closely as he did his work. The Monroe was his pride and joy at this point, and a stranger moving things around made him nervous. When the engineer asked his question, his brows furrowed, and moved closer, trying to find something irregular.
"I don't see anythin--"The engineer gave another smile for good measure, this time, it wasn't cheery, almost...excited. "Cant you see it? Its right...
He lifted his arm, the live wire still crackling, suddenly, it shot forward, straight towards Ray's neck.
The tone the engineer had sent shivers down Ray's spine, and before he could think, his instincts kicked in, moving his head at just the right time before the loud crack of the live wires shot forward. Raymond slammed his arm down on the "engineer's" elbows, trying to knock the wires out of his hands before rolling backwards.
The engineer yelled a single swear word in a strange language as the wires were knocked from his hands, forcing himself to twist away to make sure he didn't get electrocuted himself. He moved back, watching his opponent roll backwards. He shook his head.
"My. They did not exaggerate about you, human. I'm going to have to do this the less...elegant way. Maybe its for the best, really. A celebrated captain, given redemption on this funny ship...only to electrocute himself and die a painful death before he can do anything. How would your little crystal friend react to that, I wonder?"
He broke into a combat stance...and paused.
"...this shapeless thing isn't going to do me any good." He muttered, indicating the boiler suit. Shaking his head, he took another deep breath.
The surface of his body began to writhe, and then fold in on itself, almost seeming to shrink. Colours began to swirl around, the greys of the boiler suit turning into reds and whites as they reformed into a new shape. A slightly smaller one, but a lot more lean. Finally, the colors settled, and he opened his eyes and mouth, breathing out. His hair was a dark red, wearing a white shirt, black trousers and a black jacket. The top two buttons of the shirt were undone.
"Now then..." Kellian purred in his new voice, crouching down, before launching himself forward at high speed, chopping his hand towards Ray's throat.
Raymond didn't say a thing during the engineer's speech, only holding his hands up defensively, and glaring the more he talked. How did he know all about this? And why was he on someone's deathlist? After his mother's death and being sent to prison he wouldn't have cared about whether or not he died too. But ever since he was put in charge of this team, he had a small sliver of hope inside him. The hope that he would eventually see his sister again, and that they would come back after their last mission with a pardon..He heard enough when he started to talk about Rae. He was about to step forward to strike until the man started to melt, and take a completely other form. Raymond watched in a sense of amazement, and disgust.
His movements were unbelievably quick, and it almost took Ray off guard, He pushed his hand aside, trying to use his other arm to get in a quick uppercut, but it didn't connect. Raymond cursed silently as he lost his footing, making him exposed for a very short time.
Kellian smiled, watching the human bat his hand away only to miss with his uppercut. Funny how evolution worked sometimes, especially considering his race got the jackpot. Shapeshifting would have been nice enough, but the speed and strength? Someone was looking out for them.
"Shame we are populated by power crazed maniacs..." He pushed the thought aside as he spun around, giving his fist momentum as he smashed it towards the human's stomach. This was getting interesting...usually people didn't survive the strike to the throat.
For such a skinny looking body, he sure knew how to pack a punch, but Ray has been hit harder. You learn to take every strong hit imaginable at The Rock.The impact still hurt a lot, and knocked the wind out of Ray. He gasped, but managed to stand, dodging another very quick blow, and managing to make contact with the creature's jaw... Most of the time that would make a man fall cold, but this wasn't an ordinary guy. The question was: what the hell was he? Through the dodging and counters and punching,
Ray tried to think about what he could be. There has only been one case of shapeshifting aliens in the past that the Committee knows of. He couldn't remember the specifics, but he knew that these guys were sneaky, and dangerous. They lived within their society for years secretly until they were found out. Ray thought that they all fled, but apparently not.
Kellian smiled as his fist connected wth the human's stomach, only for it to turn into a mixture of surprise and amusement when he took it far better than he should have. He expected to have at least torn his stomach muscles, leaving him at Kellian's mercy. This guy had evidently gone through some similar training.
His train of thought was interrupted as the human's fist launched towards his chin. Kellian moved, but still took a glancing hit. He doubled back, holding his mouth. tasting blood in it. He was lucky that he hadn't taken that hit full on. If it had connected, it probably would have ripped his head clean off his neck. He had been careless. It was slightly embarrassing...
He shook his head, and broke into another combat stance.
"You have any idea how much of a pain in the ass this is going to be? You could have died in a nice and accidental way, but no...you have to dodge it, and start fighting me instead. Now I'm going to have people after me....that girlfriend of yours seems like the vengeful type. Made of crystals and all. I would rather avoid hurting someone pretty like that." He shook his head, and composed himself.
"Anyway, this is getting unpleasant. Time to die." He launched himself forward, raising his hand again, but at the last second, dropping to the floor and sweeping Ray's leg from under him. If he got him down, this would be over.
The more this guy talked, the more he hated him. His left hand shook slightly, his other fist clenched so tight this his knuckles were pue white.
"Are you going to talk yourself up all day, or you going to actually fight? Ray snarled, bracing for the hit of his hand, until he dropped to the floor, shit! Raymond didn't have time to react, he couldn't move out of the way of the quick shapeshifter, so he did his best to brace himself, hitting the floor hard.
Kellian smiled as his opponent hit the floor, only able to brace himself just in time. The assassin slid around his opponent and came to a stop, moving fluidly like a snake as he launched himself at his opponents back, getting an arm around his neck and the second arm pressed against the back of it.
He smiled. It was over now. He could either break his neck, or choke him. Either way, this had been fun. He was evidently tough, breaking his neck might be difficult...oh well, a good choking it was to be, then.
"Sorry." he said, sounding genuinely disappointed.
"I'll be seeing your lady friend very soon...when I give condolences at your funeral. I might also bring flowers, if you die nice and easily." With that, he began to squeeze.
Even though he was getting choked to death, Raymond never stopped struggling. He tried to slam his elbow into the man's stomach, clawing at his hands, trying to wriggle out of the man's grasp but he was just too damn strong! As he started talking about him and Rae again, he tried his best to tell him to do something to himself, before giving out a chocked scream, and reaching his hands out. He remembered the live wires. If Ray was going to die, he wasn't going to let this psycho do anything to his ship and his crew!
Kellian held the man tighter, wincing as the elbow glanced his stomach and scratched his hands, but kept holding him tighter and tighter. Just a few more seconds...then a few more...
Suddenly, he noticed that one of his opponent's arms was moving towards one of the wires. Kellian smiled, and whispered into Ray's ear.
"Go ahead. Try and grab it. Take me with you. If you can...I deserve to die." He then laughed with no mirth whatsoever.
Just a few more seconds...
Orange irises watched every movement meticulously, making sure that the attacker kept their attention on his victim instead of her slow barefooted advancement forward. Rae tried her best to block out the noises around her, only glancing at the Captain every now and then with her alternate vision to see how much time she had left to sneak up on the person above. Seconds, it had be now or else one....Raymond would do something incredibly unnecessary or two, would have he windpipe crushed and or no air flow left. Her eyes glared viciously, a crystalline hand snaking out to tightly grasp the side of the assault's own neck and hoping the surprise would make them release Raymond even just a little bit but she didn't plan to stop at just shocking them. Luirae had taken on stronger and even bigger opponents than the likes of this one and this time it was personal. She would not let those she cared for be harmed, not on her watch and not if she could change the outcome of the situation. Now that he was in her grasp, she quickly jerked them backwards by the neck, forcing the two apart as she slammed him down with calculated force to the ground's metal surface. It was not her intention to knock the attacker out at any rate but just enough to cause some pain as well as keep some distance from the Captain. Rae quickly moved from her now crouched position as she had to lower her own body to complete her attack and calmly moved into a position between the Captain and this red haired stranger.
Ray was knelt over, coughing and wheezing violently, trying to catch his breath. His eyes looked up to his savior, the one he had known for three years now.
"Rae...Why..Down here...?" he managed to gasp, holding is throat.
Rae spoke softly and kept in a guarded stance, eyes never leaving the figure on the other side of where the two were as she did so, not risking an attack if it was a bluff.
"Atlas, I strongly suggest that you keep speaking to a minimum and reframe from such unncessary questions at this time. I know you had seconds left before complete loss of airflow but did not have a good enough look at what damage may have been done. If you must know the answer then it must wait till we have figured out how to deal with this situation."He still wasn't feeling well, but Raymond managed to stand, still coughing before limping towards the shapeshifter. Glancing at him. He had caused a lot of pain, and brought up a lot of things no one should have known about... How did he know? He should just let him lie there and get some sort of security to take him, but all the things he said about him, and Rae...
Raymond lifted his foot up and kicked him in the head, not enough to kill, or permanently injure, but enough to make sure he would stay down, and know his place. He didn't have any of his gear on him, but he did have some loose wire around the engine room. He quickly made the tightest and most secure he can around his wrists.
"We'll throw him in a cell for now."He said with a raspy voice. He stood there for a couple seconds before he looked at the Doctor.
"Thanks. I owe you one... again. "It is my pleasure, Captain." Luirae replied before bending down and hauling their new prisoner on top she shoulder with a 'hmph' as she did so before standing both of them up.
"Are you certain you are equipped to walk? A simple head movement should suffice as an answer if speaking is too much."Ray managed a nod, taking deep breaths as much as his body would let him. He was amazed that Luirae was able to save him, and with little effort... Well, he shouldn't be too surprised. She had saved him from many things in the past, but this was the first time she had done it in a secluded part of the ship.
"What were... you even doing here?" He asked again, walking behind the Doctor.
"Is it not obvious?" Rae questioned, not really understanding why Ray was stuck on such an unnecessary question. Was there something more to it then she realized? She paused in her steps, slightly turning to glance behind her at the man that was making her second guess her actions.
"I was there for you. Tango informed me that not only had you been approached by a Council Member but also personal concerning the ship and in addition that you had never arrived to greet and or instruct the new arrivals. I tapped into Tango's systems to the monitoring surveillance and cross reference the personal data of said individual with Committee Records. According to it, the person you talked to was not scheduled to return to the Spire for another three days. It was obvious that a secluded area would be most logical for someone up to unsavory intentions. It was also helpful that Tango has facial recognition and was able to vaguely follow your path. I filled in the gaps in his flawed design. Next time, I will make sure he is better situated for such unpleasantries. Did this answer your question? Do you need any further clarification? I apologize if I have done anything unintentionally wrong as I could not think of much at the time other than to reach your destination as swiftly as possible." It still fascinated Raymond that Rae could talk so clearly and precisely no matter what the situation was. Raymond's mind and perception of the galaxy was so chaotic, and uncertain... But that didn't stop her from simplifying every problem.
"Amazing." was all he could say to her. Amazing was an understatement for Luirae. He could start to feel the effects of the fight he had with the shapeshifting assassin, his stomach hurt, his arms were sore, his knuckles cracked, and his throat was even more on fire than before. he had a lot of questions for the red head limp on Rae's shoulder.
Rae was more or less confused by the one word reply but it had not been a negative word which meant that it could have been the easiest way to say that he approved. Either way, now that she had a semi-decent look at Raymond, it was clear that the effects of earlier were starting to show. The plan to take the other to a cell first was probably not the best course of action anymore.
"Let's get you to the Medical Bay. I will just have to strap this one to a bed while I see just how much damage was caused to you. It will also be a more efficient way to keep an eye on him.""No time... Recruits... New Mission...""Council Member....indeed there would have been a New Mission attached with their visit. I should have known better but I acknowledge that I am allowed mistakes especially given the current situation. You do not plan to receive the recruits looking like this, do you?" Rae spoke, a hint of irritation in her voice at not only a mission happening now of all times but to have been denied help by her patient so he could meet recruits that were by her understanding, not going anywhere since she was confident in her skills to say the very least.
There was no arguing with her, especially when it came to someone's health. Raymond knew he would survive. What would a few minutes be? His military training, all the times he was picked on at school, being hit by his step dad, all of these things made him able to withstand any injuries... Or so he thinks.
"They'll see this side of me eventually...But fine. I promise they look worse than they are.""Your body is not the injury I am worried about. It is the one you seem hell bent on straining even though I strongly recommended you didn't. If you damage your voice then how are you suppose to give orders. What if you suffer from brain or nerve damage due to lack of oxygen, how am I suppose to fix it before it is a complete problem or what if it could have been avoided had I been able to look sooner. I highly doubt that is the case at this moment but point being....you are not invincible Raymond Chase. That is why I am here. I am here so that you can be impulsive but safe. Do you understand what I am saying?" "Yeah, I get it. He said quietly. It was hard to explain. He knew he wasn't invincible, but he knew that he could take a lot of punches. He knew that any mission could be his last, but he's convinced he will see his sister again. It's a constant struggle of Ray's to keep getting up, and keep going at all costs... But he couldn't do that if he didn't have a doctor like Rae.
Rae let out a long sigh, shifting the weight of the limp assassin on her shoulder before turning to fully face Raymond and stepping forward. She felt the shift in her eyes, everything suddenly black save for the man in front of her and the exact muscles she was looking for. Her hand softly reached out, brushing as softly as she could along the skin before pulling her fingers away. Blinking, the world came back into view and she moved her eyes from his neck to look into his eyes while her hand fell back to her side.
"No.....I am not positive that you do....."she stated softly before heading off in the direction of the cell blocks and integration room. Not saying a word as to why she changed her mind about heading for the Medical Bay and trying not to think of the sudden change herself as it was unusual towards her character to give up on a medical matter. This would have to be something to reflect upon later, however, for now she would chalk it up to less hassle and stress on her part. She had been told after all that it was well deserved every once and while to care for ones self before worrying about others... what a strange concept but it would work for now till she could reflect on the day. Luirae had honestly hoped that Raymond would have put aside his hurt pride and sought the needed medical attention of possible re percussive damage but it was obvious that would not happen till later...maybe much later.
Although her body seemed to be covered in crystals, her fingers were soft, and delicate, yet strong, and focused, as she moved them around his neck. He knew this wasn't the time, she radiated beauty and elegance in almost everything she did... He stood still, staring at the doctor, until she made her comment. He glanced over at the walkway that lead to the docking bay, where he could hear Kaite introducing himself to the new recruits. Although he had a job to do as the Captain of the ship, he couldn't feel comfortable with leaving Rae with the assassin.
"Tango. I need you to go greet the recruits that just arrived until I get back. Make sure Kaite doesn't get too carried away." He said out loud.
"Yes, Captain. the robotic voice answered.
Ray then caught up to Luirae, watching her move with little effort as she carried the would-be-killer. Dynael. He remembered what he was, or what he thought he was. There was only one known shapeshifting race to the Galactic Committee. He was quick, strong, and talked way too much. He bested Ray in a fight. He could think of a lot of reasons on why he didn't win that fight, but it wouldn't change the outcome of it. Why did he want to kill him? Who hired him? and how did he know so much about him?
Luirae was half surprised at the fact the Captain had chosen to actually join her in dumping the shapeshifter into a cell and also realized that logically, he would want to see everything over personally since his life had been threatened by the individual. She was not sure how this would go down since obviously this needed to be reported but it wasn't like they had not interrogated prisoners before they appeared to the council. She had swayed a few of the Committee Member's voted with words before and got them aboard the ship when she felt they deserved it. It would be a matter of one, did the being on her shoulder deserve it and two, if she could even convince Raymond if the shapeshifter was in her eyes an asset. It wasn't long before they reached on of the many cells in the block and bent down slightly before dumping them onto the floor with as much grace she could manage when being irritated. Rae stood up, making her way to the back of the room, rolling her shoulder bit before leaning against the wall.
The holding cells were renovated like everything else when Raymond got a hold of her. The room consisted of a heavy duty locker for confiscated items, instead of iron bars, the cells were engulfed in a dark red laser wall. If the power in the ship were to go out, an emergency iron wall would immediately fall, though. You could never beat the classics. Raymond watched the Doctor toss the shape shifter into one of the cells. He was deep in thought, his hand shaking slightly due to the aftermath, and anger.
"We should inform the Committee. I don't think they'd give a shit about my well being, but I bet they'd like to know that there are still some Dynael around... You are a Dynael, right?""This one?"
"Number thirty-two. Shows great promise in assassination, but has not been overly responsive to control treatments. Honestly, we had this one low on the list. We have enough assassins already."
One of the man takes a closer look into his eyes.
"We may as well. Too many purebloods are refusing to accept this action. Assuming twenty-five pulls though, we will only have ten survivors of this entire program. You want to tell the Archon-General about it?"
"Fuck off."
"That's what I thought. Is he awake?"
"Yes."
"...Good. Lets get started..."Kellian's eyes flicked open, instantly forgetting the dream and taking in his surroundings. He had last been strangling the human, then he heard a noise, and finally, he had woken up here. He must have had an ally nearby.
Ugh...this was stupid of him. He planned to pack a pistol in his engineer bag, but decided not to, at the risk of being searched. Yet, he had not been. Goddamn security in this place was a joke...
He looked up, at the human again. He noticed, with no small measure of amusement, the look of discomfort on his face apparent. And...Hel-lo...Crystal girl was even cuter up close. Realizing that the human asked him a question, he looked into his eyes.
"No, I'm that other shape shifting alien race your committee never told you about." He giggled, and spoke again.
"My turn for a comment. I never realized you were so tall. Then again, everyone looks smaller with my arms around their neck..." He laughed out loud."Your turn?" "Big talk coming from a guy locked up." Ray responded with the same tone in his voice. He had dealt with these types all the time. Cocky, thinking they're clever. A lot of those types of people joined his crew... not many made it out alive.
"So who was it that hired you to wrap your arms around my neck?"Kellian looked at him for a moment, then shrugged.
"Not a clue. They paid through proxy." He proceeded to sit back, as if this was a relaxing conversation.
"My turn. Is your crystal friend seeing anyone? Because I like a woman who can throw a decent punch." He paused for a moment.
"...that didn't quite come out how I intended, but you get the idea." Luirae raised her brow a bit at the shapeshifter's comment but stayed leaning back against the wall calmly. She usually would have stated that she had a name so use it and left the other comments to be ignored but she understood that now wasn't really the time for that so she remained silent.
Raymond clenched his fist behind his back, but ignored the last question.
"You said you got paid in advanced. You're that good? Has the guy hired you before?"Kellian laughed out loud, clapping his hands together.
"Oh, thats cute. Ignoring my question. I wonder why that is...oh, and...maybe. Its impossible to tell for sure. People dont just walk up to me on the street and ask for someone's death. And they are hardly going to give their real names to a hired assassin! If they did that, I'd own half the Committee by this point..." He got up, stretching his arms and legs.
"And that, my human friend, is all I plan to tell. So, what do you intend to do next? Torture me? I doubt you could do worse than my dearest dad. Give me to the committee? I would escape in minutes. Kill me here and now? That would be interesting..." "Yeah well, who doesn't have an abusive father...Tango? You still have the Code 88 prisoner protocol? You know, the ones for uncooperative prisoners?""The one with the flamethrowers?" The monotone voice filled the room.
"Nah, I was thinking the ones with saws and flamethrowers..."Kellian was laughing again, seemingly ignoring everything.
"Oh please. If you are going to make rubbish up, at least make it somewhat plasible. Saws? Flamethrowers? Any idiot with half a brain would make up something about chemical and mental based interrogation devices, at least those work nowadays. I've been on the receiving end of plenty of them. Lets just say that you humans have...interesting preferences. I've had to put up with them for a while. I still hate hearing the sound "Nya"." "Of course, if you are going to try and make me upset, I suppose I better try and do something similar. Don't whine because I play hardball when it comes to these things..." He smiled, and his features began to shift again, this time his face became older, his shirt turning into military armour.
"Hey son. " said Kellian, now in the form of Ray's lost father.
"You really ought to be smarter for an assassin. That form is asking for a death wish in a way I won't even bother to describe since it would take up a vast amount of time and two, I cannot stand this...what is it humans say....pissing contest? Either way.... Luirae said calmly, before pushing off the wall and continuing,
"Yes, we do actually have a chamber such as the one the Captain described, well at least the incineration part as I prefer to kill things with fire when contamination is involved. Obviously, threats aren't the correct way to deal with you as you are too busy hiding behind this fake facade. Does it make you feel better? To hide behind the masks of others with your shapeshifting? Are you afraid to look at yourself as you truly are? Or is it a matter that you wish others to not see you?" Kellian stood up, and chuckled.
"You make a fair point." He said, switching back to his standard form.
"This specific form, I wear out of respect. He was a human agent who hunted me for over a year before the Dyanel Infiltrators incident. Lots of twists, turns, explosions, shooting and near misses before I managed to trick him and killed him on his own frigate. Destroyed the frigate too, just to be on the safe side. Let his crew escape, yknow, also out of respect. Pretty boy. This face has been useful. As I bet you can imagine, Ray..." He walked up to the shield, almost touching it with his nose.
"And more to the point...what am I supposed to do? I am the last Dyanel pureblood. A manipulator, assassin, yada yada. What would accept me? Could I just go to the Committee and say "Hey, I'm a member of that race of deceivers that almost brought you to your knees a few years back. Oh, but don't worry, I'm the only one you can trust. I'm sure they will take that wonderfully. If I'm lucky, I'll get shot on the spot. If I'm unlucky, they will send me back to the hegemony and I'm sure you can guess what will happen to me there if that happens." He sat back down, crossing his arms.
"So yes, my dear. This does make me feel better, and I dont want people to see me as I am. Because if I do, I will die, or worse, and I would like to feel better than that." "What are you suppose to do? It is simple. Be something more than yourself. You have a gift to be anything you wish which means you have the choice to do anything and yet you choose to stay in the box that everyone has lined out for you. An assassin, a manipulator, a deciver. They tell you that is what you are. That you are nothing more. Do you honestly believe that is all you can be? I see the potential for so much more. It is a shame that you do not see the possiblities that could lie before you. Do not let anyone hold such power over you."Kellian raised an eyebrow at her words, barely hiding a satisfied smile.
"Your words do make a medium of sense. yet, you say you see so much more. What is that then? What do you see in a shapeshifting killer like me?" "A Marauder, as much as I hate to say it." Raymond replied, stepping foward.
"You aren't the only one who's hated by the Committee. Turns out some of them don't approve of a ship full of criminals exploring the galaxy... Raymond sighed, still shaking a bit with anger from seeing the face of his lost father.
"So it seems we all gotta settle with some decisions. You going to take your chances with the Committee, or the crew of the Monroe?" Oh yes...how exquisite... "Well, I might have had you wrong. There is some steel in there after all." Kellian said, getting up and walking over to the field again.
"I accept your offer." He chuckled.
"Be honored. This is the first time a Dyanel has ever sworn allegience to a non hegemony power. It's likely to be the last, as well." Raymond was hesitant to press the button to let the assassin out. Call him crazy, but he wasn't too comfortable with letting his would-be-killer loose again... But he knew how the Committee worked. They would put him on this ship if they turned him in, and offered him the position. He just hoped that this wasn't the leap of faith that would kill him. He activated the button, and the laster wall fell, freeing the man.
"Don't make me regret this."What is it they call you since I find calling you shapeshifter unpleasant?Kellian walked out of the cell as if he was on a pleasant stroll, a smile on his face as he walked up to the two, keeping his hands free so they wouldn't think he was about to attack. He turned to the crystal woman, and smiled at her following her question.
"It's Kellian. Kellian Sythrac. Former Dyanel Intelligence Corps commander, and the last survivor of the pureblood project. I wouldn't mind knowing your name either, my dear." He said, in his smoothest voice.
He turned around to look at Ray, the smile still on his face.
"I assume there's some sort of orientation?" He walked up to Ray, keeping his hands free as he placed one on the soldier's shoulder.
"Thank you. This is going to be very interesting. I look foward to knowing you all better..." He said, whispering the last sentence near Ray's ear as he gestured at the exit.
"After you." "Luirae Driani and I insist you go first."Rae replied politely with a gentle smile, gesturing to the exit. There was no way, in this universe that she was willingly going to let someone she didn't know walk behind her. That just asked for trouble in her opinion.
Raymond once again ignored Kellian's last comment, and looked over at Rae after her own comment.
"its time to meet your new crew mates. He said, leading the two out of the the cell block. Now that this little situation was "settled" he had to meet the new guys and brief them on their new mission. And inform the Council of what happened today.
