[WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

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Razor One
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Razor One »

Blackrune grunted in pain as she came to, the feeling of hands, Copperspike’s tending a painful wound to her shoulder. Memory came back in dribs and drabs, setting out at the start of the day, gathering ore… the arianesin.

She started at the memory and earned a scolding glare from Copperspike. The group’s medic was always tetchy when someone under her care tried to move.

'Copperspike, the Arianesin…!' she sent.

'Dead, both of them,' Copperspike replied placatingly.

Blackrune breathed a sigh of relief. She remembered the first one being felled by the group before being struck in the shoulder in a running battle by the second one. The fact that it was dead and she was still alive was a relief.

'How did it die?' she sent.

'Natan and Firebrand, with a birrir and a firestarter,' replied Copperspike, just having finished cleaning the shoulder wound.

Blackrune’s eyes went wide as the details became clearer to her. She had studied Natan’s weapon and found it crude but effective, something that would allow one to fell an arianesin with only a modicum of luck and skill.

Though she may have had some doubts about Natan’s ability to hunt without it, the image of him holding a birrir against a charging arianesin dispelled that doubt entirely. She had full faith in Argent’s leadership and judgement, but there had always been that nagging feeling to hold Natan back in camp and protect him as was only proper. Him charging to their rescue was almost embarrassing.

Almost, until she remembered something crucial.

'Copperspike, where is Argent? I must see her, now!' sent Blackrune urgently.

'She is with Natan and the others, why?' replied Copperspike even as she finished the last of the stitching for Blackrune’s wound.

'Arianesin hunt in only two ways. Alone or in packs. These were only scouts!' she telepathically shouted at the prospect of having to fight an entire pack of arianesin.

'There are more?' sent Copperspike, her alarm clearly ringing through the sanzai.

Blackrune forced herself to be calm as she tried to recall everything she knew about arianesin.

'The scouts for a pack tend to range far from the main group, about two dozen strong, and usually in threes. If we haven’t killed the third one by now, it has already begun returning to the main pack and it will lead them all back to our position. If we are lucky, we have two, perhaps three days to prepare before they strike.'

Copperspike did not waste further time interrogating Blackrune.

'Go, find Argent, she must know of this now and there are other injured to tend to. We will need everyone if you are right.'
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novius
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


Argent felt a sense of dread when she felt one other Loroi - Soepoii, she recognized - approaching... no, running towards them with a sense of agitation and urgency in her thought.

Only after catching her breath her sanzai became clear and coherent enough to be understood, and she felt as if the ground opened up and was about to swallow her. Scouts? A herd of them, about two dozens strong. Two, or three days.

"Moio sinol...", she breathed. Natan never yet learned the exact meaning of the second word, but Argent's thoughts alone were explanation enough.

'Recall everyone to the camp! We have to prepare...', though at the moment Argent wasn't even sure what to prepare for.

News about the impending attack spread like wildfire. Nathanial's half-trained mind starting to build up a headache because of the agitated sanzai chatter. The threat was met with diverse reactions. A large group opted to stand and fight - they didn't build all of this for nothing and they would not cede everything to a pack of animals.

But that wasn't the only group. About six other Loroi - mainly part of Firebrand's old bunch - argued for fleeing. Far and fast. What could they do against twenty to thirty of these beasts, except dying?

And five more sat around, staring into emptiness. Nathanial saw that look on the war veterans in town. The look of someone who lost all the fight, when living and dying wouldn't even matter to them anymore.

Nathanial wouldn't have any of it. Arriving back in camp, he quickly sought out Blackrune, extending his hand to her.

She looked askance.

"I need to know everything about them. How they live, how they hunt... all of it. I don't want any misunderstandings. I know this is ... uncomfortable.", Nathanial paused, searching for the correct word, "But we have to."

Blackrune blinked, her eyebrows furrowing, but after a long moment, her hand quickly latched itself on to his wrist.

'I see your point. What do you want to know?', her thoughts came crystal clear.

'They send out scouts, so they can act in an organized manner... How do they live? Are they nomadic, wandering from place to place, or do they have a den?'

'Nomadic. They usually hunt a place empty before they move on. First, they hunt rather solitary, but when pickings get slim, they use the group strategy to bring down larger prey.'

'Not good. Nomadic means that all of them are mobile. But perhaps nursing mothers or animals too old and too infirm might not commit themselves to hunting', Nathanial mused.

'Perhaps. But they'd be still too many to fight them.'

'We might not need to fight all of them. What happens if he kill the pack leader? Will the others back off if he's killed?'

Blackrune shook her head. 'Her. The pack leader is always a female. And killing her might throw the others into a frenzy.'

'Got it. Killing the pack leader, not good. But what would their primary motivation for attacking? Just hunger or would they be out for our blood because we killed the two scouts?'

Blackrune's eyes went wide. 'Are there really animals which would take revenge?', she sent disbelievingly.

'I heard a story about a bear. A bunch of moonshiners were accosted by a brown bear and her cub passing along. They managed to kill the cub and wound the mother bear. But she came back and killed the moonshiners one by one and wrecked their equipment. Not only that, but the bear returned again and again for the oncoming months and killed everyone daring to set up shop again.'

'No...', she shook her head, 'Areanesin are known to even eat carcasses of their own.'

'That could help. If we manage to ward them off and scare them away long enough so that they see we're not easy prey, they might head for easier picking. We have to disabuse them of the notion of us as food. I think we can do this...'

---//---

It took a lot to get the scared and dejected diral back into shape. Natans plans did sound feasible. Several rows of birrir, stuck at a fourty-five degree angle, facing outwards into the earth. Onrushing animals would get skewered on them. They didn't need to be well-made, branches and small tree trunks large enough, sharpened to a point, would do it.

Or just broken off, that they might cause even more grievous wounds.

That's what disturbed Argent most with Natan's plan. His intent was less to kill them, but scare them away, and if they make it for the arianesin a painful prospect to reach the diral cabin, he said that it serves the goal pretty well.

And that explains the trench, too, Argent thought.

Natans idea was to cook the fats and oils out of the meat of their catches. They already did this - oil is a good medium to quench the steel for their blades, after all, but his idea would take up all the remaining oil they had and then some.

The trench was to be dug between the first and second row of the birrir, so when the animals break through on a broad front, they had to cross the trench... which would be filled with hot oil, and perhaps set ablaze.

Argent winced at that thought. Oil burns hot and sticks to the skin. If they aren't already deterred with the prospect of being skewered by more of the poles, they'd be in a world of pain by being burned.

In addition, if time allows, Natan even envisioned a trench or a series of pits around the outer perimeter, covered with branches to form a pit trap, preferably with spikes at their bottom.

Coldfire picked up on Argent's stray thought. 'I never imagined Natan to be that ... vicious.', she sent.

'Me neither. But from what I picked up humans can be downright ruthless if they see the ones they care for in danger. And, get this, with them it is the male's duty to protect their female and their offspring.'

Coldfire shook her head. 'The male's....? Inconceivable!'

'He saved even Firebrand's life! Sure, she finished it off, but he drew that beast towards him to get impaled on the birrir he planted against the ground. You know there was little love lost between the two, and still he risked his own life for her.', Argent stressed.

'So, overall we need to make them attacking us a painful prospect while at the same time offering some easy pickings to them somewhere else.', Coldfire summed it up.

'That's the general idea. If we manage to scare away a good part of the pack, perhaps the alpha, they may think twice about attacking us again. Even apex predators know that they best avoid fire.'

'I hope that Blackrune is right with her assessment', Coldfire hedged.

'You and me both. Our life depends on it.'

In fact, Nathanial's ideas set most of the diral aflutter. Some of the Loroi echoing Coldfire's thoughts - planning and setting up defenses are a warrior's job, not that of a male - and other argued that building something is a Gallen's job, not a Soroin's.

Argent had none of it.

'Right now we are neither Gallen nor Soroin, we are initiates and a diral. We WILL do what is required of us to survive and pass the trials. When we get out of isolation - granted we survive - what do we want to tell them?'

Undecided murmurs followed her sanzai.

'We could tell the proctors that we tucked our tails in and fled from a pack of animals.'

The murmurs got louder. Some would go for it, causing some dissent, but Argent wasn't finished.

'Or we could tell them that we took on two dozen arianesin's and there are the trophies to prove it!'

That brought everyone up short. And one by one, Argent felt their wordless assents.

'Then let's shore up our defenses and show those beasts what Loroi are made of!' Argent finished.

The following wave of 'YES!' stung in Nathanial's head. He was blinking away the spots in front of his eyes when he felt a hand creeping up from behind on his left shoulder. Turning around, he was surprised to see Firebrand, head held low.

'...Can we talk?' She sent. 'I wish to ask for apology.'

'?', came Nathanial's wordless query.

'I... did see you as a male and an alien with no place amongst true Loroi warriors. The male's duty is for encounters, the warrior's duty is to protect them. Easy enough, right? You being here turned the way things were upside down. You did save me from that arianesin - if not for you and your birrir, I'd be severely maimed, or dead. If that's not an enlightening experience, what would it be?'

'Uh... my pleasure...', he sent with a reassuring note, 'Eh... what do you mean with the male's duty is for encounters?'

Firebrand blinked in surprise. Stars, he cannot be that ignorant. He looks definitely mature enough...

'Perhaps...', she started slowly, '...perhaps it's best for Argent to explain it to you. I've seen the looks you gave her when you think she wouldn't notice.... And the same looks she's giving you, too....'

And Argent should do it quickly. I'm still not convinced that your species don't feel The Flames, too... You saved my life, I am sure about it... if Argent doesn't save your life in turn, I will do so. Firebrand thought to herself.

'Alright...?', Natan sent hestitantly, puzzled about her evasiveness.

Firebrand hestitated for a moment, and Nathanial got the impression that she was considering to place a brief kiss on his cheek, but she simply smiled and fixed his eyes with hers.

'If there is anything you need, just ask', she sent with a note of seriousness, then she pulled back her hand and slowly walked away.

Nathanial looked after her, completely flabbergasted. What was that about?

"Girls...", he shook his head, before going back to the task of gathering more straight branches and small trunks. They'll need a lot of lances.

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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »

Quickriver and White Thunder had been oozing unhappiness about the current state of readiness and work to improve the diral’s stronghold. Although participating in preparing all defences, both had lost confidence in the effectiveness of only a static line of barriers when they were digging the trench. On behalf of most other initiates they had formally conveyed their concerns to the diral's leadership.

Argent’s rallying call earlier on that day had helped with morale, but a terse comment by Copperspike, who had taken a short break from tending the wounded, about ‘that ditch and a bunch of toothpicks that won’t even stop the cubs’, reflected the wider group’s consensus. Late that evening nobody felt secure enough to sleep except Nathan who’d otherwise have fallen over. The cause of all anxiety was that, despite hard work by all available hands, it would be a stretch to expect that the barrages and ditch could stop a determined assault by even a handful of arianesin, let alone a pack of thirty on a desperate hunt for food.

Unfortunately arianesin were smart. Working in a pack the animals exhibited a large degree of altruism between siblings and a strong loyalty to the matriarch. They were driven to fully capitalise on any sacrifices made by individuals in the pack. Natan had been right with his own early assessment that arianesin would coordinate their actions. Known to be relentless, especially when hungry, the animals would try, fail, iterate and try again. It had set them apart as a product of suspected bio-engineering and natural selection on Deinar, which had never provided plentiful food that would help sustain large carnivores.

The darkest scenario was that, at the cost of perhaps four or five, the arianesin would trash the barricades with their bodies. They would lose two or three more in the handful of pits with spikes or in a direct confrontation. After that the rest could penetrate the clearing by crossing the ditch that the diral initiates had dug with so much effort. There wouldn’t be enough fuel to keep the fire in the trench burning long enough to outlast an arianesin’s patience. Known to wait it out for well over a nanapi, especially the “burn-it” part of the plan felt delusional. There wouldn’t be enough material on or near the clearing to sustain a large fire for more than half a day, perhaps only a little longer if they’d take apart the log cabins.

Arianesin on the clearing would clearly be an end game because the diral would be as good as defenceless. And while absolutely none of the initiates considered running or calling the Elders a viable option, they still needed a better plan to stop any animal from breaking through the perimeter around the clearing.

Working all night and exploring the options Argent had called in Blackrune again, whom in turn consulted Copperspike. The latter’s extreme honesty about casualties and wounds after fighting just two arianesin had triggered a wider debate that had also involved Coldfire and Poisoned Claw and some of the smiths from the dizoin group. The discussions in sanzai were shared within the entire diral while Nathan was sound asleep.

Blissfully unaware that the static defensive concept to which he had contributed and in which the Loroi had already invested a lot of effort would be supplemented with an attempt to make offensive weapons as well, Nathan woke up with the sound of Loroi that were placing something on the roof of his cabin and was greeted by the noise coming from blasters that fed oxygen into the raging fire of the dizoin oven. Also recycling the CO and CO2 combustion products, feeding those back through the molten iron in the oven, the group had finally started to produce its own steel.

Two large crossbows for launching pikes that should cover the clearing and the treeline were under construction. The plan was to assemble them on the roof of both cabins. Initial tests to fire them all failed because the wood wasn’t flexible enough to withstand the tension of a fully stretched bow. With tension reduced the contraptions were ineffective as a weapon.

During the night the group at the dizoin oven had cast a small steel talli anvil that would cool off more rapidly than the larger normal talli. From remaining material the group had produced long thin ingots and eighty sand-cast sharp metal darts with fins for use in handheld crossbows. Everything was left to cool slowly to retain ductility, but nobody knew whether they would ever be able to use the metal in time.

A still sleepy Nathan found himself looking at one of Blackrune’s prototypes for a handheld crossbow. Also here the problem was to find a material that wouldn’t break when the bow was streched, while it should still be able to fire a dart with sufficient mass and velocity to kill an arianesin.

“So, did you have the chance to find types of wood or materials flexible enough under a large load?” Blackrune had asked him in Loroi trade.

“Only for a hand bow” Nathan had responded, he retrieved the one he had made to allow her to study its construction.
"I need to learn a couple more things about arianesin", he then asked her.

Walking over to Argent a little later, he found her looking pale and exhausted when he greeted her.
“Hey, I thought I’d been clear yesterday about trying to keep them away, rather than having them test our defences?”

Argent absorbed it with an absent minded look. Nathan gently placed his fingers on her hand.

‘I've learned from Blackrune how little arianesin eat. They only need three hoppers a day to stay nourished! The idea is to pull them away from the homestead by feeding them elsewhere’.

‘Feeding them?’ she sent totally surprised.


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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »


“Look at that! I’d never have imagined this!” Coldfire exclaimed in Loroi trade, caring to also share her thoughts with Nathan.

Coldfire, Nathan and Argent were looking down at the pack that currently counted eighteen animals gathered in the natural corral at roughly an hour walking distance from the diral’s stronghold. Group White and Blue were extending sanzai reach to the stronghold, while also hunting prey and collecting coal. It had taken some effort to organise an extra daily catch of roughly 60 hoppers and other small game, but it was easy enough to build this into their routine.

Two pregnant arianesin are given extra food’, sent Coldfire. ‘we’re handing it to them from above.

The behaviour of the pack was remarkable, as if the animals had been domesticated for generations. Well fed they didn’t exhibit aggression, showed no inclination to wander off or to wreak havoc. They liked being taken care off! From their high vantage point they were looking at the peaceful family life of a species that only days ago would have razed their entire stronghold.

In sanzai Argent sent to Coldfire, ‘Finding this out must have been part of our trials. And I totally missed it’.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all missed it. Most dirals geared for battle would. Be happy with the turn of events!’

Both girls looked at Nathan who was staring pensively at the animals in the corral. With a grin he turned his head towards them upon noticing they were watching him.

Wow’ sent Coldfire.
Cut it out Lennalein!’ Argent replied, though answering Nathan's grin with a very big smile.

Walking around the cliff some moments later, Nathan looked sideways at Argent’s face. He had never really felt left out when the girls in the diral were using sanzai amongst each other, but it would be nice to be able to listen in and also talk with them without touching. He felt self-conscious about broadcasting his thoughts to the entire diral when touching Argent. And awkward about the prospect of leaking intimate thoughts and emotions when touching any of the Loroi.

By now he could imagine where the selan to avoid physical contact came from! You could’t keep the slightest thought or feeling to yourself! He had shown more restraint in touching Loroi, but the truth was that he was longing to touch Argent again.

Glancing at her he saw how happy she looked. How the sun made her hair sparkle and he felt funny and excited inside. He had grown to like her beyond what he ever conceived possible. It was an overwhelming feeling, too much and too big to find the right words for it. And he needed to distract himself lest she suddenly touched him. Perhaps cooling off and swimming would help to celebrate the taming of the arianesin?

“There’s a small lake nearby, can you swim?” he ventured, perhaps disrupting a silent conversation between the two diral initiates with his spoken words.

Argent decided to tease him a bit, “What makes you think a Loroi warrior can’t swim?”

“Hah, I never said you couldn’t. I meant to ask if you would like to swim”.
Nathan’s head started to colour. He had doubled down and upped the stakes! What was he doing?

Coldfire shrugged and spoke up in Loroi trade again “I would, but I also want to talk with the dizoin team at the stronghold”.

“I’ll come along with you to this small lake Natan”, Argent replied.

His heart almost skipped a couple of beats when she said that.

novius
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


The lake, Nathanial knew, was a bit downstream of the rivulet where the diral gets the water from. In fact, he knew of that lake even before the Loroi decided to settle in this place.

Come to think of this, settle they did. A herd of arianesin in a pen, who would have thought? What next? Do we need to breed hoppers to keep them fed? If they're that much like rabbits, it should be easy enough..., he tried to distract himself from Argent's presence as she closely followed him through the underbrush.

By now, Argent herself was sure that there has to be a very strong selan around many aspects of relations between human males and females. She wasn't blind - she saw him colouring his peculiar red hue in his face whenever he had a good look at herself or, to an extent, one of the other initiates and she saw some other ... physiological reactions on him, especially when he was sleeping. That one dream she caught from him had definitely not been a singular instance.

When we arrive at the lake, we'll see, she judged.

That made her think. How do humans go about encounters and offspring? With Loroi, it was easy. Apply for an encounter, get it approved, pick your priority list from a list of eligible males, and there you go. But, from the pictures she had seen in his mind, and the subtext, it seems that human males and females form long-lasting partnerships to raise their offspring - and not just a single one, but several, one after another.

How strange. How would they go even considering a potential mate if they can't even look at each other? She puzzled.

The path Natan took distanced them a bit from the rivulet and sloped downwards, but after a sharp turn she realized why.

The rivulet was cascading down some steps and widening into a sizeable pool, overshadowed by a number of large trees. On the far side, thick undergrowth extended into the water, but the near side offered a bank smooth enough to get into the water with little hassle. The water itself looked crystal clear, and looking at the slope, Argent was sure that the pool was large and deep enough to swim comfortably... well, if there are two, or three persons inside, but not the whole diral, for sure.

Nathanial watched Argent stopping, and just simply looking in awe at the scenery. Seeing the pure joy in her eyes made him feel... invigorated. This is what he longed for. To see her happy, to care for her, to....

His thoughts trailed off. He had vague ideas about what he wished, but no words to describe it.

"Ready to get in? The water is a bit crisp, though.", Nathanial spoke softly.

Argent beamed. "For me it would be quite right, then? And even if not, there is someone who can warm me if it gets too cold...", she teased.

That hit, dead center. Argent saw the color rising in his face again, and she filed that away as another piece of the puzzle.

Then, Nathanial saw another snag in his idea.

Loroi obviously have little to no idea about modesty.

He already sort of got accustomed to their usual clothing which was already quite shockingly form-fitting, but nothing prepared him for Argent simply starting to disrobe herself in plain sight. The time his shocked brain kicked back into gear she was already topless.

Argent saw him taking a sharp breath, getting even redder than she had ever seen before, and swiftly turning around, almost losing his footing.

"What are you doing?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

Incoherent mumblings, even less understandable because he turned away, came from him, and it took several attempts for Natan to form an understandable sentence. "You-you... you're getting naked."

"This is a problem? Is it forbidden to see each other naked?" Now Argent became really worried.

"No... YES!... It is....", Nathanial trailed off, at a loss of words.

Definitely a strong selan, even against seeing each other naked? How could a species even survive like that?, she wondered while shedding the last pieces of her overall.

"Is it... is it alright, if I step into the water and get under the cascade? Then, you don't need to look at me.", she asked, trailing off with a decidedly dejected tone.

"O-okay... I'll just... follow you then."

Argent didn't need to wait for long. As promised, she waited under the cascade, luxuriating in the feeling of the water dropping down on her scalp, as the shift in the currents told her he was approaching. She held out her hand.

"Are you sure?", he asked.

"Coldfire knows where we're off to, and we're far enough away from the diral. Even if we touch each other, there'd be no risk of your thoughts leaking out."

Nathanial nodded and gently laced his fingers with hers.

'How I missed this...', neither could say whose thought it was, but it was wholeheartely shared between the two. The past moments flew through the mindscape, and Argent saw that his hestitation was not because of herself, as she feared, but because of a deeply ingrained cultural conditioning. Humans, as it seems, are much, much, much more restrictive than Loroi are.

And she felt something else.

Try as she might, she had never guessed how deeply committed Natan feels himself to the diral, but that paled next to the depth of his commitment to her. She glimpsed at the pictures of herself in his mind, and by his reckoning, she was the most exquisite, exotically beautiful being he ever encountered in his life.

Argent felt some subtext to this picture and followed it to a memory in his mind. It was a bit unclear, which was common for aging memories, but she saw a rather populous settlement of wooden buildings, humans milling about to and fro. Natan's attention was drawn towards a particular house at the outskirts, garishly decorated and featuring a red lantern next to the entrance... and a rather skimpily clad woman in front of it, the bustline of her bodice, if one would call it that, barely enough to cover the essentials. Said woman must have noticed Natan's interest and she addressed him. "Whoo, what a strapping young lad. But aren't you starting out a bit early?". Natan himself had no time to answer, as two large (to a child's perspective) hands quickly covered his eyes and a sharp female voice - his mother's, Natan's mind provided - commanding "Nathanial Hutchins! You get away from these ... floozies ... THIS INSTANT! I thought I raised you better than that!", and him being led away in a different direction.

What a strange culture. Overly sexualized behavior on one side, and strictly forbidding on the other, Argent mused.

Neither Argent nor Nathanial knew how and when the simple linking of their hands turned into a full fledged embrace. She must've floated around and closer to him, and ended up astride on his legs, a deep green set of eyes locking gaze with brown ones.

Words were not needed. Fully formed sanzai was not needed. She felt a primal desire welling up in her, washing over both of them, back and forth. A wordless question formed in her, and an equally wordless consent was given.

She pulled herself closer, skin meeting skin, and her lips closing in on his, sealing them in a deep kiss.

---//---

Coldfire almost dropped the tools she were holding as a wave of unbridled bliss washed over her.

She let out a shuddering breath and tried to gather her thoughts. Stars, Body-play has nothing on that. I hope it was because I'm the strongest of the lot in sanzai and closer than everyone else to Argent and Natan. Else the whole diral knows now what they did.
(EDIT: Added scene)

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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »

Before Coldfire reached the stronghold she already learned that the amplified sanzai wave had washed over it. All the pickets between the pen with the arianesin and the diral had registered it and were now relaying messages with comments.

One of the first reactions from the stronghold was Copperspike’s mirthful ‘I’ll have what she’s having’.

Soon after a discussion started about the incredible clarity, high information density and the range of the message. The consensus was that it had come from Natan, although also Argent had been involved in sending.

Coldfire noticed there was no feeling of alarm. The message gave no rise to that. All the diral initiates had precisely sensed where it had come from, they had registered Argent’s well known signature and - in the fleeting moment the surge of information had lasted - a new one of which most of them had only felt aspects before: Natan without impenetrable telephatic shield. New for everyone was the unprecedented strength and level of detail the message itself had carried without it being the sanzai equivalent of a shout.

By the time Coldfire arrived at the clearing Copperspike, Posioned Claw and Blackrune were waiting for her.

‘We need to step up our efforts with his training’, Copperspike said, ‘and find out more about it, because this was truly exceptional, and...’, she hesitated for a moment, ‘... it’s also our duty to help Natan to keep his encounters and his thoughts private. He deserves it.’

We all got to know him a lot better and we are endeared by what we saw, Coldfire realised.

The images, detail and context had indeed been exceptionally vivid and rich. It contained a level of detail usually absent from sanzai because it could only be included by highly skilled senders who set out to include it and then only with considerable effort. Sanzai via a direct contact was open to following up on hints, thoughts or emotions and, like a conversation, usually was an iterative process. Here it was as if an entire package comprising encyclopedic knowledge about Natan had been conveyed.

Argent swimming towards Natan with a slow breaststroke. The two standing in a place where they could just stand on the sandy bottom and keep their heads comfortably above water.

The exceptional aspect was that everyone who had experienced the sanzai wave could in retrospect describe the exact structure of those grains of sand, the water temperature, the sound of streaming water, the smells, the type of light that fell on the watersurface through the trees...

This was complemented with imagary of what happened, the laced fingers, Natan's feelings such as his initial shame and awkwardness, the purity of what he felt for Argent and his friends of the diral, and this had comprised an additional layer carrying a vast amount of cultural context and information about Nathan’s life on Earth. This conveyed knowledge about his selans, knowledge about forging steel, all the sessions with his father teaching him how to maintain firearms, load them and how and when to discharge them, together with detailed scenes about his family, the writing lessons his mother had given to his older sister and him, the reading sessions from the Tales of My Mother Goose during the winter with everyone gathered around the hearth, and how his people on the frontier lived in a permanent state of alertness in a challenging and unforgiving environment.

Interlaced with information about what happened when Argent approached him, was the sensation of her cooler body touching his warmer skin and when she wrapped her arms around his neck. The regret he felt again when seeing the scar on Argent’s upper arm, including the context that he had almost shot her when finding her in his cabin when they first met. The relief he felt upon Argent's reaction, kissing any regret about it away. All had been packed in a handful moments of sanzai, up to the part with the fireworks and bliss.

When Argent and Nathan reached the stronghold that night they were greeted by the four Loroi. They had been walking hand in hand and Argent hadn’t picked up the comments via sanzai yet although she knew a powerful message had been sent out.

Coldfire carried the communicator. An encrypted message had arrived on it which could only be opened with Argent's private key.

edits: typos (sigh)
Last edited by Zarya on Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:23 am, edited 3 times in total.

novius
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Joined: Tue May 26, 2015 10:33 am

Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


Argent took the communicator from Coldfire with shaking hands. It didn't take sanzai for Nathanial to know that something dire must have happened, or is about to happen.

Speaking of sanzai... Something had changed. Since they did... mate? Would that be the word? ... he was sure he felt Argent's mind, even the moments they didn't touch each other, on their way back. He felt Argent's elation, and her mood taking a downturn when Coldfire approached them, this 'communicator', the strange thing Argent used while teaching him their language, in hand, but didn't dare disturbing her.

Argent's mind put up one scenario after another up why in the world the Elders would break communication silence, none of them favourable, by any means. They were prematurely recalled and treated as failures. She did a grievous mistake by mating with Natan - or any male - without an approval. They learned about Natan and wanted to take him away. These and other thoughts were running through her head while she was entering her personal code to unlock the message.


To: Diral Leader Argent

Be advised that during the processing of satellite data ranging back to four tozons we came across several anomalies, most importantly a single discharge of a hitherto unknown energy signature, coupled together with several changes in the topology and environs. After lots of deliberation it had been decided to send you this warning that you may face events or phenomena which is never intended to be part of your diral trials.

We will continue parsing the remaining satellite scans, and depending on those, an investigation team may be deployed in your area. In order to maintain course of your diral trials, we'd suggest you moving location, as contact with the investigation team may count as a premature end of the traditional isolation, and depending on reason and severity, may count negatively to your overall assessment.

Mizol Parat Nelonial


Argent blinked on reading the signature. Why would a Mizol....?

'What is a Mizol?', Natan's thought popped up in her head, startling her.

She didn't try sending to him, granted, she didn't actively try shielding her thoughts.

And, she didn't touch him.

'Natan?', she tried, wide-eyed, 'Did you just...?'

'I... could feel your mood, and thought I should at least try sending to you.'

Message completely forgotten, she tackled him in a flying hug, showering him with kisses. 'Natan! This is ... wonderful!', her thoughts trailed off in a wave of pure bliss.

Unluckily, they were not completely alone. Coldfire watched the scene unfolding, completely puzzled, and when Argent quieted down a bit, she tried to cut in.

'Could one of you explain what just happened? And what is it about this message?', she sent, with a slight tinge of impatience and annoyance in her thoughts.

'Natan sent to me without touching!', Argent burst out in a joyous tone, 'Maybe because we...', she didn't finish that thought, ear tips turning a darker shade of blue, eliciting an "Ah!" of understanding by Coldfire and a decidedly measuring look in Nathanial's direction.

'...best not to give them another reason. They're almost queueing up for their turns as it is', Coldfire sent with mild aplomb, 'But what is it about this message?'

'And could one of you please explain now what a Mizol is?', Nathanial knew that he sounded much like a petulant child, but he picked it up from Argent that this little bit might be something important to know.

'Oh. Right. Mizol. It's like this way...', Argent started off with a rundown of their caste system, something Nathanial sort of recognized. 'Military, Army, Navy, Command ranks, Medics...', his thoughts provided.

'And we are to be Soroin. The... rank and file of the armed forces, you would say, right? Mizol are... well, the diplomats and spies. Everything is about secrecy around them, and they're about the only ones who can actually tell a complete untruth in sanzai.', Argent summed up.

'Sounds scary. And these ... secret police types would come to investigate?', Nathanial asked.

'Likely. They have satellites.... eyes in the sky...', Argent clarified, '...which could look down upon us and actually see what we built here. So far, they had no reason to look in our direction, but now they found one. Perhaps the means of your arrival, I don't know. But once they start looking, they WILL see your cabin, the diral cabin and the pen - we simply can't hide them.'

'And this would be strange enough for them to come here to have a closer look.', Nathanial concluded. 'Aren't you supposed to be, well, on a trial and isolated from outside help?'

'We are. We'd be supposed to move away if there's an investigation team arriving. Problem is, they won't simply leave if they come across our camp, so waiting them out might help us little.'

'...and there's little chance that we can fool them thinking that the cabins are completely designed by us - the very idea of building a house out of tree trunks was already a stretch.', Coldfire provided.

'So once they see the cabins, they likely start digging for more and they won't relent until they found it. Me.', Nathanial sighed.

Argent drew in a sharp gasp and pulled him into a fierce hug. 'I will NOT allow them taking you away from me! NEVER!'

Coldfire was shocked at the vehemence of Argent's declaration, but after a moment she placed her own hand on Nathanial's arm.

'Count me in', she sent with grim determination.

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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »

Soon after Blackrune and Poisoned Claw added their hands, Argent proposed to move inside the large Diral cabin.

Sitting in a circle, they reestablished physical contact, forming a group of five, able to instantly share thoughts and concepts, with Nathan participating for the first time. One of the effects was that he could sense the whereabouts of the initiates, either with a strong presence when nearby, or fainter when located farther away. He even felt how initiates sensed wildlife within their own sanzai reach and overheard them communicate with each other. Mimicking the others, he tried to clear his mind from random thoughts, which appeared fairly easy to begin with.

Nathan felt Blackrune’s presence and voice come forward. Much like recognising a face and a voice he knew it was her. Opening the session, Blackrune started with the proposal to open up a wider discussion to include all diral initiates, highlighting that any decision taken would affect all of them. Nathan felt how Argent agreed and approved. Within moments the entire Diral was in a plenary session.

Blackrune continued by presenting the message to all, concluding by adding ‘it’s a detail but I do want to mention that after opening the encrypted message our communicator sent a read-confirmation to the Mizol. Parat Nelonial knows that Argent unlocked it about forty bima after its arrival.’

Argent sat up and readied herself before adding, ‘First, everyone should know that this message is bypassing our Elders. It is unusual to be contacted during the isolation phase, and it is quite something to be contacted by someone else. Our Elders may not even be aware that we’ve been contacted. Secondly, based on what the Mizol tells us, we have just one choice and she threatens us too. Finally, what I want to specifically highlight right now is that this particular message doesn’t ask us any questions, nor does it require a response. I’ll share my opinion about what I think about the threat later’.

Blackrune nodded and continued: ‘The Mizol’s message arrived moments after Natan and Argent sent out their powerful sanzai wave. The message doesn’t refer to it in any way... so... I'm inclined to think it is unrelated with the sanzai wave we all felt. Also, her message doesn’t appear to be composed in a hurry, while also mentioning "lots of deliberations".
We don’t have a good idea about the exact range of the boosted sanzai signal, it will have carried far. Someone outside the diral may have picked it up. If there already is an investigation team in the region then they certainly registered it.’

Nah, it’s unlikely that an investigative team landed so close to nightfall’, Poisoned Claw sent. 'most of us are positioned in and around the stronghold, the farthest sentries are close to the pen with arianesin and some others are returning with ore from the meteorite impact site. We’d be aware of landers bringing in Mizol teams in the region.
What I do want you to think about is that this region is - or will soon be - under surveillance from the air. When that happens the Mizol will have special attention for anything that we do here.‘

With that Poisoned Claw conveyed imagery of a craft flying at a high altitude eying the entire region, registering any movements and passing on everything it saw to observers in a remote location.

Argent clarified, 'One of the reasons to sit inside is that we don’t want to expose Natan to this type of surveillance. Assuming that they didn't already start monitoring us. I hope we're lucky with that’.

Nathan felt how the wider group considered the presence of an investigative team as a low probability. Most expected that the arrival of investigators was imminent, and that surveillance would indeed be very likely, although it would also be in direct conflict with the initiation rules and traditions they were familiar with. While not a certainty, it contributed to a further buildup of a silent kind of anger and determination within the group.

For a moment Nathan also thought about the machine that soared like an eagle in the sky, looking down and sending images of what it saw to a different place. It fascinated him. Inadvertently losing his concentration, he played with the idea of colouring his skin in a blue hue and dressing up the armour of the Loroi with furs to better blend in. Immediately he received a ‘that’s a wonderful idea, I’ll help you with that!’ from Copperspike and an approving sideway glance and nod from Blackrune.

Coldfire pivoted back to the part of the message that spoke about lots of deliberation. ‘When asked our Elders would have objected against Mizol investigators entering this area, especially when forcing us to relocate after settling here in preparation of forging the weapons for our trials. I believe the threat related to our assessment comes straight from this Mizol, not from our Elders. And - whatever we do - we should work on producing as much blades as we can, before even considering moving out”.

I agree with you Coldfire, and was thinking about playing for time without entering into a direct confrontation’, Argent replied, ‘it appears the Mizol investigation is initially focused on something in the region - perhaps as close the Soia ruin - and it looks they don’t want us around while they’re investigating. Make no mistake about the requirement to move out though. It seems the easy way out, but we’re not done with them after we move. Keep in the back of your mind that Natan’s cabin was built prior to our arrival here, then the fact that Natan is here, and that our tracks can be found throughout the entire region, including to and from the place that has their interest. We may already know too much about what they’re after.’

Nathan could literally feel how these statements bounced around in the wider diral, and like many of the others he reconsidered the exact wording of the message, trying to read it also between the lines. Indeed it didn’t suggest any wrongdoing, they were simply required to move, fast, although no timescale for that was given. The fact that it mentioned topographic changes and hinted at events and phenomena not being part of the trial just sounded ominous. No further questions asked... at this time...

In a flash also the thought passed of Mizol helping him to return to his family.
He rejected the possibility outright, based on a very strong gut feeling.

It almost appeared as if the group around him firmly held their breaths with that...
Then, from far away, came a reaction from Firebrand ‘Very good Natan, many share the same feeling about this!’

Blackrune sighed ‘The strange thing with this entire message is that, while an eye is normally kept on large meteorite impacts and wildfires with small satellites in a low orbit, this isn’t usually done by the Mizol caste, but by automated systems for standard planetary monitoring and conservation. The systems are cheap and designed to last for a short service lifetime just outside the upper atmosphere. Mission hardware lasts two or three years and the image resolution isn’t great with off the shelf optics and sensors. It would be a challenge to see our current clearing with two cabins. High altitude mapping flights are also possible of course, but those are definitely not routine in this region. There were always good reasons for organising diral trials here. So, I don’t think there will be that much changes visible in archived data going back four tozons, unless the changed features really stand out. The Mizol don’t have a very detailed insight in all topographic changes over the last four tozons in this region. If they claim they do then it’s probably bluf’.

Copperspike frowned, ‘Well then, it must have been the energy signature that they’ve been looking for. And somehow that must have been brought to their attention, although not instantly. And now they go through a lot of trouble shooing us out before they send in their investigators.'

Nathan kept silent, he was still amazed by the concept of talking like this with the others, to consider the concept of flying observers and of other machines keeping an eye on things while falling around the planet. Just the vision of the planet, seen from above and covered by a thin layer of atmosphere, it was all totally new for him. Yet everything that had been shared had been readily accepted as a fact by the others. Again he cleared his mind - like he had felt the others do as well - preventing to inject the noise of his own thoughts into the deliberations, while continuing to absorb everything, even though so much was totally new to him. He sensed that his resolve was picked up by the four others, and they all subtly encouraged him: Coldfire squeezing his hand, Blackrune was smiling at him, Copperspike gave him a serious looking nod and he very clearly felt Argent’s affection.

Blackrune resumed, ‘The only visible changes in this region - at least the ones that I can think of right now - are the meteorite impact site. That one is really big enough to see. Our current enlarged clearing with the cabins should be barely visible. Of course with closer surveillance they’d see almost everything, our pathways through the forest, and anything under the trees’.

Having made up her mind Argent weighed in...

I don’t want to talk, or bargain, with a Mizol that is interfering with us and disrupting our trials. Leaving this region on the basis of what she is prepared to tell us is also out of the question. I don’t want to be threatened and bossed around.

It’s not perfect as a plan, but there’s just two things I want us to focus on right now: we must start work on forging our weapons immediately. This includes finishing the smaller and two large crossbows. Even the Mizol know what it means to disrupt diral trials for a group that has already set up camp and that needs to work on meeting all requirements. Issuing a threat about our assessment is a grave insult and I think we need some countermeasures to shield ourselves from them.’


So, here is what I propose: no direct confrontation, rather an attempt to shield ourselves from them, while we create a reason to work on our weapons and not to move out right away. We could recreate a crisis for that, one that allows us to play for time and make it that much harder for them to get to us during our trial period.

This crisis should last long enough to allow us to continue to live here for at least the next two of three nanapi without having to deal with the investigators. And it should make it impossible for them to come close to our stronghold.’


Argent turned to Blackrune, ‘i hope you can tell us how long it takes for our pack of arianesin to get hungry and run amok again. I want to position them tonight in the area between the Soia Ruin and the Stronghold’.
Last edited by Zarya on Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:29 am, edited 4 times in total.

novius
Posts: 654
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


'Excuse me, but I don't think a stampede would deter these ... Mizol ... for long.', Nathanial cut in.

His words were met with several set of Loroi eyes, some rather inquisitive, some a bit offended, but most of them surprised, since while Natan gave some good suggestions in the past, this was the first time ever he actually voiced an objection.

It took a moment for the sanzai chatter to calm down, and it was Coldfire who called the assembled initiates to order with a calm 'let him speak'.

'Well...', Nathanial continued, a bit self-conscious on feeling the attention of all the Loroi on himself, '... you make them sound like secret agents or such, but they are still a military outfit at its core? Scouts, Recon and such?'

Collective assents.

'Where I come from, there are big, massive animals. We call them 'Buffaloes'. They travel in vast herds, and if they get panicked, they could turn into a dangerous stampede - you don't want to be caught up in one, sure.', he sent, tacking on a picture of a buffalo.

'That thing could give an arianesin pause...', Argent admitted.

'Right. Now imagine a group of these Mizol being caught up in such a stampede. If they manage to warn their superiors, they'd send a larger, better equipped group, capable of dealing with the arianesin. After all, they surely wouldn't want it to be known that they were beaten by a horde of animals?'

'...Point.', Coldfire sent, grudgingly.

'So, just sending in the arianesin would incite a fiercer reaction from these Mizol, perhaps the next group would come here with an armed escort and then things would get really ugly, you mean?', Argent asked for confirmation.

'That's what I think. I think the best idea is to throw them a bone...'

'?', Copperspike and Blackrune blinked.

'...Sorry.', Nathanial sent sheepishly, showing them a picture of a mean, aggressive dog which started to happily gnaw on a bone which had been tossed to it.

'Ahhhh... Give them something to be busy with so they wouldn't be bothered with us, I take?', Blackrune asked.

'Exactly this. We sort of give them what they were looking for. Sort of, mind you, and at the same time we give them enough reason to never come back. I think I have an idea on how to do this.... It might be a rather ... personal question, but is there something you Loroi collectively fear?'

'I'm... not sure what you're looking for.', Argent hedged.

'Argent, you've seen in my mind images about the indians. They do believe that the world is filled with spirits, some beneficial, some not, but one doesn't cross them lightly. There are places sacred to the different indian tribes and would ferociously fight anyone trespassing. Is there something like this amongst your people?'

Subdued sanzai chatter followed.

'Actually....', Copperspike cut in, '... these 'indians', they sound much like some of the clans who up to date still resist the Unification. They try to continue living their own way of life and turned more and more isolationistic and aggressive towards 'outsiders'.'

'And, there is the legend of Tempest. She was a great war leader who was betrayed and secured herself the help of the Bedein to exact bloody vengeance on her foes. There more to this, but that's the gist. Thing is, the Bedein are in themselves vengeful spirit... Natan, what are you getting at?', Coldfire asked.

Nathanial grinned.

'Perhaps this is enough to put up quite a show. What do you think how the Mizol would react if I show up like this...', there Nathanial showed them a picture of himself, colored in blue, with a headband covering the tips, or lack thereof, of his ears, decked out in sort of indian style clothing, complete with geometric patterns on the leather, but showing a good part of his chest and abs, 'and say they are trespassing on holy clan ground and would face the consequences if they don't turn around?'

Nathanial never noticed it, but the picture he presented them was more then enough to make several sets of ears turning a darker shade of blue.

'Rest assured that they'd first try to get an eyeful before they ever consider the warning, then they might be confused that it would be a male addressing them in such a manner.', Argent laughed.

'Second, let's say we managed to train the arianesin to selectively attack anyone looking distinctly Mizol - perhaps if we stuff hoppers in dummies resembling typical Mizol we could condition them such - how would it look like if the horde of arianesin would rush on them, completely ignoring me, on my command after they repeatedly disregarded my warning?', Nathanial closed.

Stunned silence.

'This... is.... crazy.', Argent breathed, 'So, in essence, you pose as a shaman, is that the word, of a clan, warning off the Mizol, and if they don't leave, you sort of 'show your powers' by siccing the arianesin on them? I see - A simple stampede is just that, but you add yet another, unknown element to it. That could be enough to give them pause.'

'And since the Mizol expect a diral, and never a male, you put credence to the tale that this is clan land, belonging to a clan with even more outlandish traditions to allow males to be in such exposed roles.', Coldfire added.

'And, remember his Lotai. If he even looks more like a Loroi male - an extraordinarily large one, for sure - he'd definitely put the fear into them when they see they cannot detect him. Especially if he manages to harass them further after they had been thrown into disarray.', Blackrune finished.

'This is crazy enough that it could actually work. If there are no objections, let's start out with training our arianesin. Natan, I trust you can tailor your... well... mystic garb... yourself?', Argent send with a mischievous undertone.

'I'll do my best.', Nathanial sent.

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Werra
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Werra »

Hundreds of kilometers above the surface of Deinar, a twice daily ritual happened. As Kakiri station swung around Deinar, the sun sinto view. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. The stars fading to golden light reflecting from oceans and clouds larger than any mountain range. The green forests of Deinar coming to life below.

For the six Loroi it had become a mundane annoyance. They blinked until the automatic viewport in the room had adjusted to the abundance of natural light. For these shipboard Loroi it was pure coincidence that their day had also just started.

One of their number, sitting at the head of the conference table now rose. She was a Mizol Parat with ivory white skin contrasting with her long black ponytail. She rose and stood with an unspecified sense of urgency about her. Some of the others had seen her like this before. Parat Nelonial always grew impatient when the time to deploy came near.

"I am pleased to see you gathered here this early." she send to the room. "As you know we will soon depart on an excursion onto Deinar following up on energy readings of one of our satellites. Lennai Songbird will brief you on the mission now."

Lennai Songbird was Nelonials assistant, as the others also knew. While the Parat sat down again, she begun to send. This was a routine briefing, yet a very slight sense of nervousness was about her sending. Songbird was inexperienced like most in the room.

"Yes, Parat. One of the satellites picked up an unrecognized energy reading in a remote part of Deinars forested wildland two tozon ago. Since then there has been a low base energy in the area, marked by several spikes in readings. We can't identify the source, as of now it could be anything from geological phenomena, an old garbage dump radiating or even some technological generator. As the area is covered in dense woodland and lightly hilly, we can't take precise readings from orbit.
Therefore we will travel to Deinars surface where Ranzadi Neat and Tozet Coral will take field readings under the direction of Parat Nelonial and myself. Narrat Anchor and Pideir Bast, you will assist with setting up the equipment. Anchor will otherwise stay in contact with Kakiri; Bast, you will be on guard for wildlife.
You can expect the trip to not last longer than two weeks, but it's almost autumn in that part, so pack for chilly nights. We will depart from hangar bay four in the Cloudsail-12. Are there any questions?"

Gallen Ranzadi Neat rocked forward on her chair. She was a short Loroi with dark grey skin and blond hair.

"What kind of wildlife can we expect?"

Songbird answered that question easily: "You aren't from Deinar, are you? On that continent there are several predators. Most are quite harmless to Loroi. We really only need to be aware of Arianesin."
With a helpful sending of what an Arianesin looks like, Songbird continued: "They are usually solitary and prefer easier prey. I do not expect much trouble with them, but we need to be aware. Everybody will carry a sidearm and Pideir Bast will also carry a long gun."

"Do we need to get our own from the armory?" Bast asked at that.

"No, the Cloudsail is already stocked with a full compartment of ballistic weapons. Bullets have more stopping power than energy weaponry in this case. You need to pack clothes and wilderness gear and what else you need. But keep it light, as things will be crowded with all the heavy survey gear already."

"Who did the preflight checks on Cloudsail-12? An hour is tight for that and packing." was the next question, this time by Narrat Anchor.

"Well..." begun Songbird. Parat Nelonial stepped in.

"We will meet in an hour in the hangar. There is still some equipment to load, so you will have time to do the checks. The Gallens assured me that the plane was freshly serviced."

That satisfied the Teidar, who nodded before politely tuning out of the conversation. Undoubtedly already busy with deciding what to pack.

The last Loroi to speak up was Tozet Coral. She was an unusual tall woman, who had gotten her name from the tight curls of slightly pink hair on her head.

"Is tthat Diral still in the AO? Ballistic weapons are rather loud and I'd rather not have to babysit them."

Nelonial took that question again. She regarded the Mizol with a smile. It was no surprise that the Listel was thinking ahead. Apart from Nelonial she was the only one with real combat experience.

"That is a valid concern. I don't want to meet the Diral either. A few weeks ago I send them a strongly worded message prodding them to move out or at least make preparations. By now they should be ready to avoid us for a few days.
I don't expect trouble from them, as we will land an hour or two from their base camp anyway. If they should decide to visit us, try to not get taken prisoner, unless you want to teach them a bit of survival in exchange for your freedom. Should we need to take scans closer to them, I will shoo them away with another message."

"Works for me. I hope we'll see an Arianesin. We could do with some roast to our rations." send Coral.

"What if the kids don't listen, Nelonial?" came from Bast.

"Apart from Coral all of you are barely older. How quick you forget.", thought Nelonial to herself. But she had prepared for the eventually of a bunch of kids not listening.

"If they don't move and if they sit where we need to scan, we will barter for "safe passage". There's a box of sweets behind the cockpit."

The Parat surveyed the room one more time. All questions seemed answered. Everything was ready to go.

"Good. If everything is clear, then you are dismissed for the hour. I expect a rather uneventful trip. Let's take the chance and enjoy the countryside while we are at it."

novius
Posts: 654
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


'Unbelievable', Coldfire shook her head.

'Agreed. Had someone told me this three nanapi's ago, I'd have scarce believed it, likely I'd have judged the initiate delusional and unfit for a warrior tour of duty.', Argent agreed.

'You and me both. How by the stars did he manage that?'

Argent shrugged. 'He once told me that on his planet people have many animals they train for several tasks. Some are just foodbeasts, like these cows and pigs he mentioned, others are actually trained to guard said livestock against wild animals and poachers, and they use even animals to carry them around and pull their carts or power heavy machinery like mills or even cranes.'

'This sounds ... primitive.', Coldfire sent hestitantly.

'For us, it is. But see for yourself what he accomplished here and ask yourself, out of the two of us, us initiates and him I mean, who is the real primitive here.'

Coldfire took another look at the scene. It was still unbelievable to her - somehow, with a mixture of cajoling, forceful appearance and rewards he managed to garner obedience from the arianesin, especially the younger animals. Just now she watched one particularly large beast stop in its tracks, solons away from gutting a dummy, just on a sharp gesture by Nathanial.

'He told me that the arianesin felt to him like they were supposed to be domesticated - or actually had been - and they just went feral again. What he meant is that they are supposed to be receptive to such treatment and training', Argent added.

'Do you think the Soia used them for a similar purpose? As guard beasts?', Coldfire asked.

'No idea. Are the other preparations set in place?', Argent retorted.

'I think so. Whoever tries to make her way through the woods will be in for some surprises. Really. Snare traps? I scoffed at that idea but let me tell you, I stopped laughing once I saw Snow dangling upside down from a tree sapling. And that weapon he fashioned himself...'

'What weapon?' Argent's curiosity was piqued.

'A hollowed out reed. He calls it a 'blow tube', and said a specific tribe, the Cherokee on his planet used them to great success for hunting. You can shoot darts with it. Not very accurate, but completely silent. Blackrune picked up on it and is already thinking about making an improved version of it. Better materials, more precise workmanship, you know. And both Copperspike and Natan said the arianesin poison could be used to coat the darts.', Coldfire reported.

'This is scary. We were warned when we found the arianesin hide in front of his cabin when we arrived. But now we see how much better he is at woodman's lore and survival than we'd ever be.', Argent sent, shaking her head.

'What do you mean?'

'Take us. We're accustomed to technology. We have shelters made from hi-tech materials, a water filtration unit, a communicator, and that was deemed the barest minimum a diral is sent into isolation with. We knew about nothing about the woods and little of the animals living here. Then, take Natan. He came from a world which doesn't even have electricity. And again and again he showed us how he can make do with whatever he finds here and how to use everything at his disposal to great effect. By all accounts he is better adapted to this lifestyle than we are. And I think, the Mizol, even older and more removed from their diral time, might be in for an even nastier surprise than we had been.'

'Sounds about right.... For something different. Since your outing to the waterfall, I watched you several times coming out of his cabin early in the morning. It's likely that others noticed as well....', Coldfire left her comment open-ended.

Argent sighed. Of course someone would bring up this topic, it just had been a matter of time. She felt relieved that it had been Coldfire and not someone else.

'Yes, it's true. Ever since the waterfall, I ... couldn't get him out of my head. He's up there, in the back, always. It's ... disconcerting, and I know that this is wrong to get so attached to a male, but why does it feel so right?'

'I don't know', Coldfire hedged, 'Perhaps it is because he's a human and not a Loroi. We know that his people do things differently in that regard. Count yourself lucky that so far no one else had seriously made a move at him. But I've already seen some eager looks in his direction, perhaps it'd be just a matter of time - what would you do if, say, Firebrand, seriously tries to have her turn as well?'

'I'm not sure', Argent sent dejectedy, 'Perhaps I'll leave it up to him to decide. If he declines, the matter would be settled. But if he says yes... I couldn't stand in his way.'

Of course the subtext of Argent's sanzai told Coldfire her feelings on that matter.

---//---

'The readings seem to come from a Soia ruin, judging from what the scanner told me. Artificual structure, mostly comprised of ceramics and stone, but with a slight energy reading in it. Not enough for an active device, more likely it's dormant or damaged. Strange... there are numerous deposits of meteoric iron as well.', Tozet Coral reported.

'Do you think it has something to do with the deforested area you just scanned earlier?', Parat Nelonial asked.

'I don't think so. There were some oddities with the clearing, though. I read a number of Soia-Liron lifeforms, but can't make heads or tails of the reading.'

'Looks like we have two mysteries at hand, now. First, the Soia ruin, now that clearing. Any sign of this diral, though?'

'So far, nothing conclusive.'

'Too bad. Narrat Anchor, any place to touch down?', Nelonial turned to the shuttle pilot.

'The ruin ist mostly overgrown and I'm not sure I'd want to set down in an unknown clearing in the middle of a forest. My suggestion would be near the edge of the forest closest to the ruin. That would bring us in striking distance to both the ruin and the clearing. Still, be prepared for a hike through the forest', Anchor reported.

'A hike through the forest', Lennai Songbird sniffed derisively, 'how difficult could it be?'

Nelonial gave her protege a rather pointed glance. 'More difficult than you might imagine. We expect a ruin where we can drop off our Listel to do her sciency stuff, and maybe deal with the diral if they had not vacated the place. So yes, maybe add a bunch of ornery kids to the mission's risks in addition to the wildlife. Anchor, bring us down.'

Sending a wordless assent, Anchor broke orbit and directed the shuttle down to the landing site she envisioned.

---//---

'They're coming! They're here!' Poison Claw called out.

Nothing could have really prepared Nathanial for the noise that followed Poison Claw's announcement. A sort of whistling of something large piercing through the air, coupled with a deep thrumming that went right into his bones.

And the sight.

Something large passed high in the air, in front of the pre-dawn sky, lowering down and heading in the general direction of the ruin. Light reflected on a surface that must be metallic in origin. Argent tried to explain it to him, but still his mind stopped at the thought that this is some sort of ship, sailing through the air, and that there are persons in it.

And I'm supposed to scare away people who accomplished things like these - maybe I've taken too much on my plate with this. Nathan thought, doubt clouding his mind.

'Everyone to positions. Natan, Poison Claw, you take point and scout out the intruders. Remember, if they come close, don't hestitate to touch each other. Natan, don't be shy and let Poison Claw under your Lotai, as you've practised', Argent directed the diral as a whole.

Both human and Loroi sent their assent, though in case of the human with a some trepidation and distaste.

'Hope it won't take too long. I think the blue color gives me a rash if I need to wear it for longer than maybe five thousand solons.', Nathanial sent.

---//---

They timed their planetfall on their desired location in the early morning hours, local time, to spend the time before sunrise to set up a base camp and have a full cycle of daylight for recon. None of them were eager traipsing through a forest in the middle of the night, and they planned on reaching the ruins mid-morning to noon, ready to set up necessary instruments.

Sadly that required carrying some of the heavy gear from their base camp to the ruins, much to the chagrin of Gallen Ranzadi Neat and Soroin Pideir Bast.

Lucky for them the forest was not that dense that it required them hacking their way through the undergrowth, but it was dense enough that their sight, even under best conditions, ranged only several meters. Large rocks blocked their sight even further, putting the Loroi on edge.

"Halt!", a voice sounded out from the right, making Nelonial - and the rest of the group - stop in their tracks in surprise.

A male voice.

Turning to the source of the disturbance, the Loroi were treated to one thing they never, ever, expected to face in the wilderness of Deinar.

'Do you see what I see?', Neat sent disbelievingly.

'If you mean a large male with an almost bare chest... No, you are not male-starved, or we both are, because I see the same', Coral answered, flabbergasted.

'Oh, good. Since you see it as well, now I can be sure I'm not imagining things', Bast sent with mild aplomb.

'All of you, quiet', Nelonial cut in, 'first, what by the stars is a male doing that far out here and not succumbing to the Flames, second, how did we manage to get past by it and why don't I sense it even now?'

'You think the diral catered to its needs?', Songbird suggested.

Further deliberations were put on hold as the male spoke again.

"You tread on sacred ground. These lands, all you see, belong to the Hu'tin clan. You ... conformists ... are not wanted here. Turn around, and leave in peace. Continue trespassing, and suffer the consequences."

'Conformists? What does it mean?', Songbird asked.

'There are still clans clinging to the old lifestyle, refusing to be subsumed into the order of the State. They call us conformists, because we all conform to the modern lifestyle they don't wish for themselves. It's ... not a nice word.', Nelonial provided.

Nelonial herself listed the options in her mind. This seems to be a contact situation, with a potentially hostile populace. Trying to sway the male by any means necessary seems to be a futile effort - she herself put much effort in her looks, but that male didn't even spare her a second glance.

Nathanial himself went all out with his garb. Gathering motifs from several indian tribes, he opted for a leather vest that showed off much of his chest, along with matching breeches and soft-soled shoes, all bedecked in dyed patters, some abstract, some resembling animals. Finishing off he wore a headband, conveniently covering the upper part of his ears, showing off a pattern of triangles across his brow.

Argent was sure that it would have quite an effect on these Loroi, and she was proven right, as the younger ones positively raked their looks up and down on his body.

That got suddenly much more complicated, Nelonial thought with a sense of trepidation, I still cannot sense it, even if it is right in front of me. Perhaps that's why it spoke, rather than sending?

"We wish to seek passage to investigate a Soia ruin in this forest. Our orbital scanners registered an energy fluctuation two tozons ago and we need to..."

The male cut in. "The location you speak of is our most holy ground. No outsiders allowed. Whatever your eyes in the sky have seen is of no consequence. Turn around and leave. You have been warned."

Having delivered the warning, the male turned around and disappeared in the underbrush.

'Piss artist! Where did it go?!', Coral exclaimed.

'This way, I think', Songbird pointed forward and headed out in the given direction.

That was creepy, she thought to herself, Males are supposed to be docide and gentle, and that one actively threatened us. And the size.... Males aren't supposed to be that large, what...

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't watch her path, only to be rudely interrupted by something latching itself around her foot and violently jerking it upwards.

A snap, a rushing sound and a wordless yelp in Sanzai told the rest of the away team that something was amiss, but only Nelonial had a good view on the scene as it happened. Songbird's foot got caught in something, and a solon later a bent tree snapped up into upright position, pulling her foot high up, enough for Songbird to dangle upside down from a roughly spun rope.

'Get me down here! If I see that shit boot male again, I'll....', Songbird ranted, much to the enjoyment of Neat.

Cutting her free was easy enough, but the experience left the away team quite rattled.

'Traps? They set traps?', Coral asked with disbelief in her sanzai.

'Looks like it. Seems they really don't like outsiders. Anyway, let's proceed. Cautiously.', Nelonial warned.

---//---

Originally, they planned to be at the ruins by noon.

Now it was late afternoon, and they still were nowhere near the ruins, and morale took a turn for the worse.

For every trap they had found, at least two more were sprung on them. Coral suffered some scratches courtesy of a branch slapping right into her face, Nelonial herself got caught in another snare, and both Nelonial and Songbird dropped down into a pit, after breaking through its cover.

After examining the branches and saplings which made the pit's cover, Neat told them that it would have easily carried one Loroi, but not two of them. Or one Loroi carrying heavy gear.

After this, they spread out to avoid being trapped in the next pit.

Which turned out to be a mistake as well.

'Shred this! Something just stung me!', Bast exclaimed, her mood already turned sour after having been caught in another snare as well, and tried to slap the offending insect in her neck.

Her fingers came back dabbed with a drop of her own blood and some yellowish-green substance which made her index finger feel numb.

'What is this? I don't feel so....', her throughts trailed off the moment her legs gave way and she collapsed on the floor, out cold.

"You were warned", the voice of that damnable male sounded, much to Nelonial's shock.

I still can't sense him... he must have followed us!, Nelonial realized, a feeling of terror creeping up in her.

"Shit boot! Show yourself!", she exclaimed.

"You were warned", he repeated, "take your wounded warrior and go back. Proceed, and we won't be so lenient anymore."

"More traps?!", she screamed in his general direction.

"Worse.", he said, and even without sanzai Nelonial got the feeling that there were no words lost.

'I've had enough with these savages. Coral, do you have any idea what's wrong with Bast?'

'I'm no Doranzer', Coral hedged, 'but it looks to me like a venom. Arianesin perhaps, it does act like a strong soporific. Their typical hunting strategy, if they can't subdue their prey at once, is to wait out until it passes out and follow its tracks. Scans show that she's stable, only in deep sleep.'

'Since we're getting nowhere here now, let's set up a camp. Guard at all times. We don't want any more surprises.'

---//---

Argent was shocked at the ruthlessness with which Nathanial harassed the away team. She, Coldfire and Poison Claw watched, meticulously keeping their distance, to not to be picked up via sanzai, where Nathanial, under the guise of his Lotai, continued to tail and pester the Mizol.

'Looks like he tagged one of them with this 'blow tube' of his. She's seems to be out cold.', Poison Claw reported.

'Natan promised to keep things rather harmless for now.', Argent remarked.

'Rather harmless? One of them got bruises in her face, one is down by arianesin venom, and two might have wrenched tendons by the forces they were yanked up by their feet from the slings. I don't think I wish to know what Natan thinks to be harmful', Coldfire sent exasperated.

'He said he could have spiked the pit, for example.', Argent told the two initiates with mild aplomb.

'Looks like they decided to set up camp. Think they want to wait out the night?', Poison Claw asked.

Argent never answered because Nathanial turned up that very moment. Even if the three Loroi were already accustomed to his perfect Lotai and not sensing him, they couldn't help but be startled.

'Looks like they're here to stay', Nathanial sent to the three, 'If they really wish to stay, I'll give them a night they won't forget.'

'Do I want to know?', Coldfire asked.

'I'll let them off the hook for now. Let them feel safe in their camp. At least until nightfall or if they decide to break camp earlier than that. Whichever happens first, I'll make another entrance, with a group of arianesin at my beck and call.'

Argent tilted her head, waiting for Nathanial to continue.

'If that sight alone won't make them wet their breeches, perhaps a pack of arianesin trashing their camp might do the trick to show them we mean business.'

---//---

Night fell over the camp of the Mizol, and morale seemed to be equally low. Bast woke up just a bit earlier, with a ponding headache and the matching disposition to boot, and both Songbird and Nelonial suffered from a wrenched ankle, the medkit did little to alleviate.

Yet, that male didn't show itself again but Nelonial had the creeping suspicion that his last confrontation hadn't been an empty threat as well.

Everyone in the camp was on edge. Waiting for the second proverbial shoe to drop.

A low, rattling growl made the Loroi flinch. A second growl, with a slightly different pitch followed, from a different direction, then a third.

"Turn around.", the voice of the male sounded again, making Nelonial whirl around and face him. There he was, illuminated by the light of the lamps they set up.

But he was not alone.

To his sides, two arianesin stood erect, snarling at the group, fangs bared, ready to jump. And by the sounds, several more were there, too, almost surrounding the camp.

The Mizol reached for her sidearm, followed by the rest of her team making similar movements.

Solitary hunters, she said. Little to no threat, she said. Shred this! Explain five or six of them, I dare you. And a male who seem to have managed to turn them into weapons!, Neat thought, casting an ugly glance at Songbird.

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Werra
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Werra »

Songbird had heard it all in basic training. Anxiety and fear, the instructors had drilled them, were more dangerous to warriors than any weapon. She had never believed it. Now she did. It was an ugly thing that moved in their group now. Being a telepathic species meant that everybody knew what the others felt. The fear of one became the fear of all. It infected each of them in turn, growing out the fangs of the snarling Arianesin around them and deepening the setting shadows of the wood.

Her revolver started quivering slightly. Songbird cursed inwardly and gripped it more firmly, her knuckles turning white with effort. Poor form, she chided herself.

"Songbird, keep him talking." came from Nelonial. It was directed at the whole group and the Parats calmness a beacon to focus in on.

So Songbirds training finally kicked in. She focused on the male standing about two dozen meters away from them. She could feel the weak minds of the Arianesins next to him, she could clearly see the male, but there was no mental signature at all.

"Now wait a moment. We weren't even doing anything." she said to the male in what she hoped was her best conversational tone.

"Everyone, pick an Arianesin. Aim for its head. Once I say 'Fire!', you shoot and then immediately put two more rounds into center of mass." Nelonial kept sending, forcing Songbird to split her attention between the male, her and watching out for the Arianesin. She decided to push the Arianesin out of her mind for the moment.

"Turn around. You aren't wanted here." the male insisted.

"Coral, aim for the legs."

"Understood."

"Look, we got off on the wrong foot. It's not our intention to cause you harm. Can't we talk first?" Songbird tried to assuage the male.

"No, you are treading on holy ground. Leave now or suffer the consequences." the males words were underlined by the Arianesin next to him rising to its hindlegs and snarling deeply. Songbird saw the Arianesins teeth shine yellow in the low light. That would be hers, she decided. For now she lowered her gun to her side.

"We can't leave now. Not at night, not back through all your traps. We can leave in the morning but no sooner" she informed the male.

"Where you come from, there are no deadly traps. Go!" the male remained uncooperative.

"Keep ready."

"That is a strange accent you have. What did you say your clan was called?" Songbird asked, catching the eye of the male with hers directly for a moment.

The male wavered for the tiniest moment before he answered.

"We are the Hu'tin. Leave, or you will be attacked." he said. It sounded like Songbird was finally getting somewhere with him.
"Hey, we don't want to hurt you. We would have fired already otherwise."

"No, before you could reload, the rest of the Arianesin would be upon you. You lie!" the male protested after a short deliberation. She had got him to argue with her, his attention was now split between watching them and forming arguments. A success, Songbird thought. But what did he mean with reloading? Their guns were fully loaded.

Whatever the reason, Songbirds musings were cut short, by Nelonial. The Mizol had finally finished preparing and gave the order to fire now.

Almost immediately a salvo of five revolvers and one automatic rifle rang out through the woods. The noise was deafening. None of the Arianesin had ever heard such a thunder. Neither did the male, Songbird saw from his face. Her first, hasty shot missed her chosen Arianesin but the other two hit its center of mass.

A wave of terror washed out from their midst, riding on the soundwave of death and amplifying the pain and confusion of the Arianesin in their animal minds. Nelonial had timed it right after the shots and the Arianesin broke.

The ringing in Songbirds ears supsided. Their group was now alone again. No Arianesin in sight. The male was nowhere to be seen either.

"Where is the male?" Nelonial asked.

"He broke with the first shots, but I think I hit him." answered Coral.

Songbird couldn't believe what she heard. Coral had shot a male? And Nelonial was okay with it, had even ordered it? She gave both of them a disbelieving look, that was shared by the rest of their group, too.

"Shame, I am very curious to find out how his Lotai is done." Nelonial stated.

"I'll check for tracks, Parat." Coral send and moved through the bushes outside their camp.

"What now, back to the ship and call this in?" a calmer but still nervous Neat asked.

"No, there is a Diral in the area of a hostile tribe laying claim to the Emperors territory. For religious reasons...whatever those be. New objective, we push through to the Diral and see what the situation is. We might need to evacuate them." Nelonial stated.

"There are tracks here, alright." Corals sending was firmly disbelieving. A moment later the whole group gasped, as she sent an image of what she saw. A smudge of blood on a tree, about shin height, glisteningly fresh and red. "Yeah, I definitely hit that male."

"A male bleeding red, how can that be?" Bast echoed the question everybody had.

"No idea, it's imperative we meet up with that Diral. They might be neck deep in piss and rain." Nelonial decided.

novius
Posts: 654
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


Poison Claw was close enough to witness everything.

She took a great risk, coming that close, but she reasoned it with them having their attention on Natan and the arianesin and possibly missing her own sanzai presence.

On hearing the shots she instantly knew that things went wrong. Horribly wrong. Fear welled up in her, Natan could be hurt, or possibly....

No! Don't think this. He cannot be killed. He must not!, her mind reeled, trying to fight down the panic.

She dared to get closer. Natan might need help.

---//---

Focusing on the blood spatters and the visibility down to only a few steps ahead due to the darkness, it was only a matter of time until another trap may be sprung.

Unbeknownst to Songbird, Neat shared her misgivings. So far, these traps were not designed to be hurtful. Had they intended them to be, the pit for example could have been studded with spikes, as well as the branch hitting Coral, resulting in much more grievous injuries. Or the poison that they used to knock out Bast was relatively benign.

So Nelonial's decision to command Coral to shoot the male - and Coral going through with it - had escalated things past peaceful reconciliation. Piss, Songbird already had that male talking beyond threats, was that all just a ruse? Damn Mizol!

Shoot him in the legs, she said. She could have easily hit an artery.

'Your handling of this situation was completely unwarranted for. Shooting the arianesin is one thing, but shooting a male is something completely different.', Neat sent openly, but directed at Nelonial, her ire showing through.

Nelonial turned around, fully facing the Gallen Ranzadi.

'Do I hear critisism for my actions, Gearhead?', Nelonial sent, dangerously low.

'You do. Actually, you as a sneak should have known better. Ancient clan laws have it that deliberately hurting one of their few males warrants a death sentence, especially if it's one of the smaller clans. By all accounts, Coral's life could be forfeit.'

Bast and Songbird gasped audibly.

'This is Empire grounds. The clans are to be disbanded. Their idea of laws mean nothing.', Nelonial stated stubbornly.

'Don't tell me that, tell it them.', Neat locked her gaze with Nelonial.

'Are you prepared to underline your words with your blade?!', Nelonial challenged, reaching for her dagger.

'Stop it! Nelonial! There's someone here.... I feel a presence.', Songbird sent.

'What? Where?'

'A bit further down the path, in Coral's direction.'

Nelonial took stock. Bast, taking up the rear. Neat, facing her off. Songbird, a bit further ahead, Coral, out of sight. Everyone accounted for. But who....

'CORAL! It's one of them! It's a trap!', she sent with impressive strength, amplified by the urgency.

'The presence.... is gone! I don't feel it anymore. It didn't move away, it ... vanished!', Songbird sent, panic lacing her thoughts.

Shred this tilted field! Do they ALL have such a Lotai?!, Nelonial thought, her own fear adding to Songbird's.

'Coral! Abort! Return immediately!'

'Aye, my Parat.... Ouch! Something.....', Coral's thoughts faded out.

'Follow me!', Nelonial ordered.

Both Mizol advanced. Slowly, cautiously. Their progress down to a crawl, searching for more traps in the light of their torches, and trying to keep the underbrush in view. Fear crept up in Nelonial as she realized that in all the tozons of her duty, she relied on her sanzai to pin down foes. Now.... she felt betrayed by her sixth sense utterly failing her.

Songbird's light fell on a prone body. A Listel in wilderness gear. Coral. A piece of cloth lying on her chest, with a crudely written note on it, in red ink.

"Leave now.", Songbird read, Not ink. His blood. His red blood, she thought, after smelling this metallic but completely unfamiliar tang.

Nelonial looked over her shoulder, curious at what had captured her protege's attention.

A rushing sound, like a sharp exhale, sounded from the right, and she felt a sharp sting on her right upper arm, then her world began to tilt sideways before going black.

Panic gripped Songbird as her mentor collapsed.

Piss artist.... we're losing! They're taking us out, one by one!

She gripped her communicator and activated it.

"Cloudsail-12 from away team! Two down, hostile encounter! Need exfil, on my position, stat! Warning, extraction zone hot!"

---//---

Natan needed help, Poison Claw quickly noticed. A wound in his thigh hobbled him and he was losing blood. Even if she didn't know how much blood a human may lose before it would be dangerous it looked quite serious.

And then there is that damnable Listel hot on his trail, leading everyone of the away team right towards her!

Natan's Lotai! Argent did tell her what to do!

'Forgive me for taking such a liberty...', Poison Claw sent to him while she placed her hands on his chest and, after a brief moment, placing a kiss on his lips.

It must be the heat of the moment..., Poison Claw thought flabbergasted, surprised by her own action. Focus.

Turning back, she saw that the Listel was looking around, though with less determination and a mixture of trepidation and confusion. But still she was getting closer.

'My blow tube', Natan sent, his thoughts already being a bit blurred and laced with pain.

Poison Claw understood. Picking up the tube and the small quiver with darts, she waited, sitting next to him, with his hand resting on her left leg, maintaining skin to skin contact.

'Let her come closer', Natan directed her.

'Closer.'

Poison Claw loaded a dart and raised the tube to her mouth, slowly inhaling.

'Closer.'

She set the tube to her lips, lining up the sights.

'Now!'

Poison Claw exhaled sharply, and saw the Listel flinching, then wobbling, then collapsing on the ground.

The Listel going down called the two Mizol on the scene, trailed by the Gallen and the Soroin bringing up the rear. Poison Claw furrowed her eyebrows.

The older one commanded Natan to be shot, she thought, her ire rising.

She loaded another dart and lifted the tube to her lips. And waited.

And waited.

They came closer. More cautiously. They were searching. Expecting danger.

But their torches made them excellent targets to aim at.

And the light showed her the target she had in mind.

Mizol Parat Nelonial, Poison Claw thought grimly after seeing the rank highlights on her wilderness gear. You will pay.

Poison Claw inhaled through the nose. And held her breath.

And waited.

Close.

Closer.

The younger Mizol found the Listel and bent down to check her vitals and the note she left behind. Nelonial looked around, then stepped closer to the younger Mizol and the prone Listel.

A sharp exhale, and Nelonial lost balance and collapsed.

Poison Claw saw the younger Mizol panicking and reaching for her communicator, frantically speaking into it.

'Natan! We have to get out of here! She called for her shuttle, it'll be here in maybe three hundred solons!'

Nathanial grimaced, trying to get up, but ended up being half-carried by Poison Claw as they made their egress.

Just in time.

The whistling/thrumming sound in the air heralded the approach of the shuttle, and a blinding light shone through the foliage from above. Poison Claw jerked to the left, narrowly avoiding the search beam which homed in on the away team.

They didn't even look back to see that ropes were lowered from the floating shuttle, allowing to hoist up the downed away team members in fireman's grips by the lucid ones.

The shuttle turned away, rising in the air and accelerating, plunging the forest in darkness again, save for the lamps which still illuminated the away team's camp and the gear they stacked.

novius
Posts: 654
Joined: Tue May 26, 2015 10:33 am

Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


Nelonial was livid when she woke up and noticed they were back on Kakiri station. It took not-so-subtle threats from the Doranzer to restrain her for her to not to storm off and find those responsible for the 'cowardice in the face of the enemy'.

So there she was, silently fuming while the Doranzer continued running her tests, but at last, she gave Nelonial an injection she said it would fight the headache Nelonial must feel, and an otherwise clean bill of health.

'How long was I out?', Nelonial asked.

'Since you arrived, four hundred bials. It was highly concentrated arianesin venom, that stuff would have brought a full grown grass stomper on its knees.'

'What about Coral?'

'She woke up almost as soon as you arrived back on station. Not a moment later she made a beeline to the science lab and didn't come out ever since, as far as I know. Oh, and before I forget: Just a few solons ago, Bastal bade me to send you to her for debriefing, as soon as she can stand on her own two legs and not keel over - these were her words.'

That sounds bad. Very bad, Nelonial thought with trepidation. 'Thanks', she sent as she exited the sickbay.

Being a Mizol Parat, there aren't many persons she'd need to report to and obey orders from, but Mizol Torimor Bastal is one of them, and one Torimor Bastal in a bad mood is something one better stays far away from, given the choice.

Given the choice, Nelonial thought glumly on entering the sparsely decorated office.

Once again Nelonial noticed how few personal items are present in said office, and especially on her desk. Of course, Mizol are a bit tight-lipped about themselves, in word and deed, but many of them do keep some mementos and keepsakes as well if they could.

Not so Mizol Torimor Bastal. Her desk just sports the computer console, some tablets... and nothing else. All business like.

Not so much the look Bastal's violet eyes meet Nelonial's blue with. The look, the slightly furrowed eyebrows and her posture made it clear, Bastal was livid.

'You wanted to see me?'

'Damn right I wanted to see you', Bastal sent, red-hot ire lacing her thoughts. 'Explain me this: You set out for a recon mission to verify some anomalous readings from about two tozons ago. There is a bunch of Soroin initiates in the target area, and you chose to try shooing them away without even contacting their Elders.'

Nelonial nodded, not daring to interrupt Bastal with a sanzai of her own.

'Then, on your trek from the LZ to the area of operation - an unknown Soia ruin - you encountered... how did Lennai Songbird put it...? Right. An overly large male with a nigh impenetrable Lotai, declaring this area to be clan lands of the Hu'tin clan and off-limits to outsiders?'

Another nod.

'Then you chose to ignore the warning, only for your team to be harassed by traps which, by Ranzadi Neat's admission, were of a rather harmless variety, and that they could have been much deadlier if they had chosen to, as she put it.'

That bitch!, Nelonial fumed, with that she made the male and his ilk the aggrieved party!

Nelonial tensing up was not lost on Bastal.

'Then you set up camp in a decidedly hostile territory, and while I commend you for your swift action against the arianesin this male used to threaten you with, what gave you the idea to command Tozet Coral to shoot the male as well?'

Faced with a direct question, Nelonial had no choice but to answer.

'I thought it best to subdue him to stop the harassment.'

'So... even after he mentioned a clan, twice in fact, since Songbird actually got him talking you never had the thought that that male might be not alone? Even simple male biology should have told you that he simply cannot have been alone, and that the rest of this clan - I'll get back later to it - might exact retribution for hurting or killing him?'

Nelonial's slight flinch told Bastal that she was spot on with her assumption.

'Then you chase off after the male. In the night, with almost-zero range of view, in an area littered with traps and with an unknown number of hostiles you evidently had trouble to detect because of their Lotai, while you yourself were ill-equipped for a full combat sortie. It took Coral and you getting down for Songbird to call for an exfiltration. Count yourself lucky that they showed you more mercy than you showed them, else you wouldn't stand here in front of me, but the Doranzer would perform autopsies on your corpses, if the rest of the team had had the time to retrieve your sorry carcasses!', Bastal harangued, her sanzai getting more and more forceful throughout her rant.

'It looks to me as if I had chosen the wrong leader for this mission. Faced with a contact, by the accounts of Tozet Coral and Ranzadi Neat it was Lennai Songbird who got much further in negotiation than a Parat Nelonial did. By their accounts it was clear that she had him talking beyond issuing threats and you still carried through with your command to have him shot, allowing the situation to escalate from harassment to outright violence. And, to restate it again, you were equipped for a recon mission, facing aggressive wildlife at most, not for a full-fledged combat sortie or scouting in potentially hostile territory. And, do you have any idea what you had done, had you managed to kill him? Stars, even wounding him is already bad enough.'

Nelonial looked askance, making Bastel scoff in disgust.

'Clan or not. You know the foothold of our caste on Deinar is tenuous at best. We are diplomats and intelligence by trade, trust is a rare thing to find on this planet. We try to ingratiate ourselves to the positions of power left and right, and they are waiting for a chance to stuff us into the next cargo carrier and haul us back to Perrein, all of us, and you handed them such an opportunity on a silver platter. The Empire wishes to disband the clans one by one by bringing them into the Council's fold, but it is not our place to maim or kill their males. Empire laws have an officer court-martialed for wounding a male, and Clan laws would put Coral's and your life into their hands. If your actions ever see the light of day it would be in their rights to demand your extradition and I couldn't even deny them if we are to retain any hold on this planet we gained over the years.'

'What else should I have done? Report in?', Nelonial sent, only to flinch on feeling Bastal's ire flaring up.

'DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD HAVE! The second worst enemy every away team faces is mission creep, and you FAILED at recognizing it! As soon as you noticed that the mission would escalate WAY beyond its original scope you SHOULD HAVE at least ASKED for new directives instead of stubbornly trudging on into this cluster piss artistry! This debacle almost cost YOUR and Tozet Coral's lifes, if not for this male's and his companion's leniency, and the whole gear your team stacked at the camp.'

The whole scanning equipment, Mizol's finest to boot, camping gear, emergency medical supplies and provisions, plus two repeater rifles and spare ammo..., Nelonial tallied up the losses with a sinking feeling.

'Let's hope for you that whatever Tozet Coral brought back with her proves itself to be one good thing coming out of this heap of crap. Dismissed!'

---//---

One moment, Nathanial struggled to stay upright in Poison Claw's grip, the next moment he turned into dead weight, dragging her down. His legs gave way.

'HELP!', Poison Claw sent, her sanzai fueled by desperation, 'Anyone!'

Several calls heeded her cry. Argent. Coldfire. Blackrune. And, surprisingly, Firebrand. Poison Claw relayed what had transpired, to be answered by images of Nelonial and Coral facing some gruesome ends for hurting their male.

'Poison Claw!', Firebrand sent through the hubbub, 'He's in shock. Too much blood lost. Place him on the floor. Raise his legs. It is imperative that his brain continues getting enough blood and oxygen. Once done, bandage his wound. And stay with him. Check his pulse.'

Doing as told, Poison Claw remarked that the wound on his leg seemed to be a grazing shot, but deep enough to bleed profusely. Taking Nathanial's headband and a strip of cloth, she tried for a makeshift bandage. Hope it holds. It must...., she thought.

'Fast pulse, but weak. Almost two beats per solon.', Poison Claw reported, after checking the large artery below his jaw.

'Hypovolemic shock', Firebrand diagnosed, 'Listen. Whatever you do. Make sure that he doesn't lose any more blood, and by the stars, keep him awake. Stay with him. Talk to him. Send to him. Anything!'

'There must be something we can do!', Poison Claw stressed.

'Normally I'd say we need to replace his lost blood, but without human blood, any saline solution roughly matching his blood plasma would do. Hope that their gear has a medkit with a scanner and a suitable solution. If not, hopefully something to make one. I would even go for a saline solution of slightly higher osmolarity than his blood plasma, in order to draw water and electrolytes out of his body cells into the bloodstream...'

Argent cut in. 'We're on our way. Firebrand.... how do you know these things?'

Poison Claw felt her mental shrug. 'Originally I tried for Doranzer. I practically devoured the biology and medicine textbooks as a child. But it was decided that being a Soroin would be a better career choice for me than Doranzer. Yet with some extra tutoring in field medicine.'

---//---

Impossible, Coral shook her head.

The crude message itself wasn't that much interesting, but the stuff it was written with even more so. Coral redid the scans. For the second time.

Red round cells with an indentation in the center, containing an iron based component which transports oxygen.

Clear cells which seem to engulf and digest foreign components.

And smaller cells which emitted a fibrous mass to bind them together, turning the liquid to a semi-solid crust.

Components which had their likeness in Loroi blood.

No two ways around it. This is blood, completely alien, yet eerily similar to ours in the function of the separate components. Even the electrolytes in the plasma are quite comparable. It is as if....

Coral hestitated to form the next thought. The conclusion would be almost blasphemous.

...he did look like our males. Larger, more muscular, she felt her ear tips warm up as her thoughts strayed, ... but still similar enough. The scans don't lie, he's an alien, but after we found the Nibiren and compared them to the Barsam. Nelonial, we might have found this one thing that could rewrite our history and you made me shoot it?

A beep from her console interrupted her thoughts. Coral went to check the results of the other inquiries she put up.

Hu'tin clan... no matches. And no records of any clan residing in this region. If there had been, the area would have never been designated as a training ground for dirals.

The fingerprint on that message. Left index finger. Belongs to one 'Poison Claw', Soroin initiate, current location...

...in the diral isolation phase, right at the designated location?


Coral blinked.

An unknown energy signature two tozons ago, an unexplored Soia ruin, some alien male that could be our template species, a clan that doesn't exist and is connected to the diral that just happened to be in the area of operation. What by the stars have we gotten into?
EDIT: Extended scene.

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Razor One
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Razor One »


Copperspike was sleeping when she was jolted awake by Coldfire’s very urgent, very pointed, and very loud sending.

“Natan is hurt! Get here now!”

Half asleep, she fumbled for the medkit in a daze as the others filled her in on what had happened.

Stupid male. Was her first thought. As hardy and knowledgeable as Natan was, she felt it in her bones that no male should be without at least two escorts, and given Natan’s rather brazen attitude to his own safety, four escorts would have been better.

Even stupider shitbooting pissartists who shot at him! Was her second thought as an uncharitable fury welled up inside her.

She was still building up a good head of steam when she reached Natan, Firebrand and several others fussing over him, to say nothing of Argent who was in a semi-controlled panic. All the while, the area was suffused with a hubbub of sanzai.

“Is he going to be okay?”
“Will he die?”
“Who could shoot a male?”
“Why didn’t we escort him?”
“He can’t die! He can’t!”
“Stay with us Natan, please!”
“Firebrand save him!”
“We need to call the elders.”
“We can’t call the elders, we can’t fail our trial.”
“They won’t fail us for trying to save Natan.”
“What if the Mizol come back to finish him?”
“What if they finish us?”

“Clear out you noissome parasites!” Copperspike sent as loudly as she could, “Give me room to work and get me more light so I can work the problem!”

The hubbub died off as the onlookers backed away to give their prickly medic a chance to work on Natan.

“He was shot in the leg, he’s lost a significant amount of blood. He’s undergoing hypovolemic shock and needs saline solution to bolster his condition,” reported Firebrand.

“Piss,” swore Copperspike as she saw just how much blood Natan had lost while assessing him, “there’s saline powder in the other medkit. Go get it while I tend to the wound.”

Firebrand hesitated briefly but nodded before sprinting. She turned to the wound, adding clotting agent to soak up the worst of the blood, and began to look it over, noting that Argent had refused to leave alongside the rest.

“If you are going to stay here, then talk to Natan, reassure him, keep him awake,” sent Copperspike.

“I am!” sent Argent, her distress and outrage mixing at the extremes.

“Cooing at him like an injured child is not helping. Hold his interest, give him a reason to live,” she sent.

Argent nodded and set to her task, promising him various things, places they could go, things they could do.

Copperspike tuned out the irrelevant conversation and focused on her task. The clotting agent was doing its work and she could see that in most respects both humans and loroi were utterly similar, which meant that she could work this without too much difficulty.

Unfortunately, the shot had lodged itself by the femoral artery. Though it hadn’t been sliced open, leaving the bullet in was not an option. One wrong move would cause the artery to be cut or punctured and he would bleed out in moments. Even disregarding that, the risk of infection would be too high to tolerate, though losing the limb was preferable to losing Natan outright.

Her diagnosis was interrupted by Firebrand sprinting back with the second medkit. In moments she’d pulled out an empty bag for the saline solution, added the salt and was mixing the water.

“We have to remove the shot,” Copperspike sent, relaying her diagnosis to Firebrand, “prepare the anesthetics and antiseptics. We’ll pull the shot, clean the wound, and dose him with antibiotics to ensure the wound doesn’t get infected.”

“We can’t do that, it will kill him,” objected Firebrand.

“What? How? It’s medicine!” snapped Copperspike angrily.

“He is alien!” sent Firebrand heatedly, “He uses a different biochemistry! Our medicine might harm him more than it helps! It might even be poison for him!”

Copperspike paused as she digested Firebrand’s reminder that yes, Natan was an alien and chastised herself for ever forgetting that, given how much he ate, slept, and how warm he was… how warm he was supposed to be.

“Shred this tilted piss!” Copperspike swore, mixing her metaphors as she reran her diagnosis from scratch, “Get him something soft and tough to bite down on then lest he swallow or bite his tongue. This is going to hurt him a lot. As soon as the shot is out, we need to warm him up as quickly as possible. Is the saline ready?”

“Already in,” said Firebrand.

Copperspike was both annoyed and impressed by her sudden helpfulness. She resolved to speak to her about why she’d never volunteered for medic duty in the first place as soon as Natan was out of danger.

Whoever did this I swear I’ll sew all their openings shut. She thought darkly to herself.

“Alright, Argent, explain to Natan what we’re doing and that it’s going to hurt a lot,” sent Copperspike.

“He understands, he’s heard all your sendings,” sent Argent.

“Good,” sent Copperspike, glad that she had Natan’s trust in this and that she wouldn’t have to waste more time explaining things, “I’m going in, prepare yourselves and be ready to hold him down.”

Though the surgical tweezers she was using were a delicate and fine instrument, her first attempt at reaching the shot must have hit something tender, as the outright howl of pain that issued forth from Natan’s throat almost completely unnerved her. He jolted involuntarily as Argent held his head and shoulders whilst Firebrand used her full body weight to hold his hips and legs as steady as possible.

“Get me more light!” she demanded tersely, trying to remain utterly focused on getting this done quickly.

Copperspike waited until he was still again before making a second attempt, leveraging the better lighting to improve the odds before once again trying to reach the shot. This time she was more successful, feeling the telltale sign of metal at her implements end as Natan merely moaned painfully.

Gingerly she raked the bullet with the medical tweezers, trying to tweak it in just the right way so as to get a good grip on it without nicking the femoral artery. Finally she managed to get a grip on the offending object and pulled.

She immediately wished she hadn’t. This time Natan’s howl of pain was sent over sanzai, a loud, wordless, and utterly primal call for his mother in the face of what felt like death. It caused her to fumble slightly on the way out, turning her hasty exit into a clumsy one and catching a smaller vein on the way out.

“Tempests shit!” she swore, reaching for more of the clotting agent and all but dumping it in the wound to soak up the excess blood while she lunged for a pair of clamps to close off the veins.

“What happened?” asked Argent, visibly shaken by Natan’s cry.

“Bullet is out, vein got cut, need to fix,” said Copperspike tersely, busily clamping the veins shut and reaching for the suturing tools… only to be met by Firebrand passing her exactly what she needed.

She grunted by way of thanks and continued to work.

Fortunately the suturing was a simple affair and, given the number of wounds she’d had to sew shut since their first battle with the arianesin pack, a well practised one. The moment she was done Firebrand was already on hand with both antiseptic and antiviral sprays that they had used before on Natan the few times he’d scratched himself during their time with him.

Thoroughly disinfected, Copperspike did one last inspection of the wound for anything she might have missed or any foreign objects that needed removal. Finding nothing amiss, she rapidly sewed the wound up. Natan seemed to be holding up as well as could be, with Argent keeping him focused on a very deep and very private conversation.

When the last stitch was in place, Firebrand was immediately on hand to bandage the wound, gently but firmly, ensuring that the work they’d completed wouldn’t be undone by either Natan’s movement or their own.

“We need to keep him warm, he’s too cold here,” Firebrand sent.

“I’ll arrange it,” said Argent, rising from her communion with Natan with a look of utterly unsympathetic rage lighting her eyes, “go clean up, Copperspike. We’ll need to have a meeting with everyone about what happened.”

Copperspike nodded, noting the blood on her gloves and arms, dully. Now that the impromptu bout of surgery was over she felt all the weariness and fear about what she’d been doing wash over her and shivered at the unleashing of tension.

As she washed her hands and arms clean of Natan’s blood, her thoughts returned to Firebrand. She’d had her pegged as the troublesome one of the group, the one to drag her feet and be useless in all things, the one they’d have to carry in spite of herself. That she was applying herself in such a way was a good turn, but one she couldn’t help but be curious about. It was rare, in her own opinion, that she ever pegged someone wrongly. It bore investigation when she wasn’t feeling so utterly drained.
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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »

Mizol Torimor Bastal had already lighted the end of her stick before she was dropped amongst the trees at a short distance from the settlement of the Diral. The bright light she carried on a stick held pointed into the air was an ancient custom from Perrein. A signal she was unarmed, alone and here to parley. The custom was that she would be able to talk before anything else would happen and this should be known to the initiates. The anything else could be anything else really. It usually depended on how the talking went, carrying a light-stick wasn’t a guarantee for survival.

She didn't look up at how the shuttle pulled away and left the area, opting to stare into the darkness. The only remaining light coming from the stick that illuminated her immediate surroundings, her armour with the backlit insignia showing her rank and also her face and head with its long nose and ears. She knew it was very unflattering and that it showed her full age, but expected it would also command a bare minimum of respect.

Bastal looked around, then started to walk down on the path in the direction of the clearing. And it didn’t take long before she was halted by a voice command.

“Stop!”

Bastal was surprised, she hadn’t sensed the two Loroi that stepped out of the undergrowth and she still couldn’t sense them. The amount of control and discipline needed to pull that off was stunning. Yet, these girls did it effortlessly. Over parts of their armour the initiates carried fur patches in the shape of a short jacket over their shoulders and as wraps around the wrists and below the shin guards. The Mizol had to admit the look was creative, and that it made them look dangerous even without the weapons they carried. A piece of the breastplate of one of the warriors had been repaired, it had obviously been broken (which was nearly impossible). The repair of it was another clear indication that the diral had made metal tools. Both initiates were carrying a falcata and, even more impressive, were equipped with a crossbow which they currently loosely aimed in her direction.

If Bastal hadn’t seen them with her own eyes or heard the voice command they might not have been there.
There was noting she could sense or do with sanzai so she broke the silence.

“I’m Torimor Bastal. I came here to talk with you. It’s important that we do”.

“Someone’s already coming Torimor. Stay put where you are”.

It was not just the inhospitable sounding answer that felt unsettling. The initiates were clearly using sansai amongst each other but it was perfectly screened off. She decided this was another good reason to talk, and cursed Nelonial again for screwing up so badly.

novius
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by novius »


Earlier...

The discussion was long, arduous and heated. Argent was torn between staying at Nathanial's side and stepping in front of the diral, but it was Poison Claw who elected to watch over him.

'Go', she sent, 'They need both you and Coldfire. I'll watch over him.'

Answering with a wordless thanks she stepped out of the cabin in front of the fireplace, where the rest of the diral had already gathered, the sanzai flying around quieting down when one set of Loroi eyes after another focused on her.

'He's stable for now, thanks to Firebrand and Copperspike. Thanks. I mean it. You did marvelous work in there. For now, they're gone. We ... managed to chase them off, so much that they abandoned their gear.', Argent sent hestitantly, trying to keep a grip on her roiling emotions.

'I don't know if Natan succeeded in convincing them that it's clan land and off-limits, but it's a moot point now. Poison Claw informed me... they got a sample of his blood', Argent elected not to tell them that it was her mistake, with the note she left behind - it would not matter, because the Mizol saw him bleeding red, 'and now they surely know that there is an alien in our midst.

They will be back.', Argent closed.

Mutterings in sanzai flared up, some of them arguing to run, far away, others to take the fight to the Mizol.

'I want the head of that Mizol who ordered him shot. No matter if the body is still attached to it!', one initiate sent, and the thought was picked up by several others as well, promising a world of pain if they get their hands on that Mizol.

And I cannot fault them for this. Truth be told, I'd cheer them on if they get her burning at a stake., Argent thought.

'I cannot fault you for this, but if we allow to escalate things to violence, we'd first fail because of attacking superior officers, if we're not summarily killed in the fighting that ensues', she tried for reasoning.

'Tempest's sagging left buttock! They started with hurting a male, we go to protect our own, so who should be called warrior and who shouldn't? As if sneaks could be warriors anyway!', a sharp sanzai rang through, coupled with a number of assents.

'We protect him best if we stay alive! If they come to the conclusion that he is an alien, they simply declare him outside our laws and perhaps call for his extradition. We are the only thing that stands between them and him! And they will come back. Maybe in full combat gear, and our traps and the arianesin would do nothing against them anymore.'

'What then? Run?'

'Natan is in no condition to walk, let alone run. Even carrying on a stretcher would be a risk, Copperspike said. Whatever we do... we either have to stay and defend him if we must, or abandon him.'

As Argent had expected, the thought of abandoning Natan was met with a storm of vehement denial.

'When running and fighting is out, there's one other thing we can do. Hiding. We could leave the traps in place, make it still troublesome to move. Everything to slow them down, but nothing to escalate things further. We have to become ghosts. They won't see us, they won't sense us. All they may see would be an abandoned camp. Blackrune, Snow... Try to salvage as much of their gear they left behind as possible. Even if it's of no use to us, perhaps they'd be anxious to have it back. That could be our bargaining chip if they actually try to parlay.'

'And it helps us how?', another sanzai voice asked.

'If they had been Soroin or Teidar, I'd have said 'nothing', but these sneaks profess themselves to be diplomats, too? As long as they talk to us, they wouldn't shoot Natan... or us. And judging from Natan told me before he fell asleep there had been at least one level-headed person in that group, besides that Mizol Parat Nelonial and her pet Listel.

And be sure if any of these two shows her face again, Tempest's tits, I'll make a trophy out of it.', Argent finished darkly.

---//---

Unbeknownst to the diral outside, Nathanial had woken up again, trying to find his bearings.

I'm back in my cabin... OW...., his thoughts were cut off when his brain registered the stinging pain in his leg. Looking around, he saw that a fire has been stoked in his hearth, but still he felt somewhat chilly and dizzy.

And he felt something - no, someone - stirring next to him in his bed. Turning his head, he noticed dark hair, almost black, not white, and a slimmer figure.

A slimmer figure out of her armor and in very light garments, right next to him under the fur covers.

He felt his face heating up on realizing that it was Poisoned Claw in his bed and not Argent.

'Shhh.... Lay still, your wound is still fresh', her thoughts came.

'Wha... what are you doing here?', he thought, his face fully aflame now.

'Copperspike said to keep you warm. And even if we are colder than you are.... supposed to be, I thought it best... Argent is outside, addressing the diral, and I felt that you need someone here when you wake up', she sent shyly.

It didn't help Nathanial that, given how close she was to him, he noticed that her scent - somehow exotic - was very much similar to Argent's, yet subtly different. But equally enticing.

'If Argent sees you... right here...', Nathanial started.

'She knows.', Poisoned Claw countered, 'Now rest. I'll watch over you. No harm shall come to you', she added, placing a wispy kiss on his temple.

Drifting asleep again, he felt the touch of her lips on his skin and listened in to the sanzai of the diral just outside.

Many thoughts wandered through his head, his own, being keenly aware of a certain waifish Loroi right next to him, and foreign thoughts, discussing how to hide and become ghosts.

Becoming ghosts...., his mind mulled the thought over the moment he crossed from the waking world into dreamland.

---//---

Blackrune and Snow recruited six more initiates to make the trek to the abandoned camp and retrieve the gear the away team lugged through the forest. Still it was difficult to pack everything together and distribute the load and Blackrune was seriously considering leaving parts of the gear behind.

Medicinal equipment is definitely a must. Their weapons would come in handy, too, as well as at least some of the spare ammo. Then there were some devices which look like scanning and analyzing equipment, and some more Blackrune hadn't the faintest idea of what they could be.

On their way back, Blackrune noticed something strange.

The diral was ... gone. Not silent. When they were silent or asleep, she would still have felt their minds, especially on her way halfway back to the camp - she must be in range now.

But... nothing. As if they packed up and left. Or were deported. Or her own sanzai was failing.

'Snow!', she sent, laced with panic, 'Can you feel them?'

Startled Snow needed a moment to gather her thoughts. 'Feel whom? ... What? .... Where's the diral?', she sent, adding to the fear with her own and bouncing back and forth through the other five members of the retrieval team when they noticed that they couldn't sense the diral as well.

'Something has happened! Drop the gear, weapons out. We're going to find out!', Blackrune commanded.

Covering the remaining distance in a brisk stride, the team arrived at the clearing, only to see that there seems to be nothing amiss.

But they still couldn't sense anyone of them, much like they couldn't sense Natan, most of the time.

Or anyone touching him when they played 'hide and seek'.

"Argent!", Blackrune called out vocally.

Argent turned into Blackrune's direction, eyes widening, then getting the focused look, then widening again.

No sanzai.

"What.... How?", Blackrune voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"Do you think Natan turned us into ghosts?", Coldfire, having just stepped forward, asked.

"I have no idea, but if he did, I could just kiss him.", Argent noted.

Blackrune guffawed, despite, or maybe because of the strange situation. "We all know that you went way beyond kissing, but you're right..."

A high-pitched whine cut through the night sky and a small shape blackened out the stars to the south. It was flying low, very low, and slow.

Words were not needed. Everyone knew what that sound and sight meant.

They were making detail scans of the area using drones. No way the diral camp was missed.

---//---

Present...

"Someone’s already coming Torimor. Stay put where you are", Snow said, keeping her eyes on the Torimor, having the crossbow at an at-rest position, but ready to be lifted and fired at a moment's notice.

Bastal felt the bials almost stretch out to an eternity until the rustling of the underbrush announced a new arrival.

She chose to make herself known. I'm sure she could have been as quiet as the other one here. Stars, how many of them are in hiding right here? And still I can't sense them....

The Loroi came into view. Tall, white-haired and with a dark hue of her skin. There aren't many Loroi matching this description in the diral, and her armor being in an even better shape left no doubt who this initiate would be. Seeing the seii sheathed at her belt only reinforced Bastal's suspicion.

She exchanged looks with the first Loroi.

No doubts, they do use sanzai, even if I cannot sense them, despite them having right in front of me. Even seasoned operatives would be hard-pressed to achieve that.

"Initiate and diral leader Argent, I presume."

A short nod, even if Bastal's words were not meant as a question.

"Let's be frank. You know we were searching for something, and we know you have found something. Let's talk, and I'm reasonably certain that we could come to an agreement we all can live with."

"What about Mizol Parat Nelonial?", Argent shot acerbically.

A single tic made Bastal's left eyelid twitch. "She has been punished... most harshly... for that gross mishandling of this situation. Even given the scare you have put into the away team - and I'll have to hand it to you, whatever you did was quite effective - her response was over the top and uncalled for."

Conflicting feelings warred on Argent's face. Anger that she won't get her chance at revenge, relief that she might be spared the conundrum of attacking a superior officer, suspicion that that Torimor's words were outright lies.

"Be it as it may, I see a diral right here that had managed a lot more than a diral is usually supposed to - as far as I know the Soroin initiate's 'trial by fire', you'd trounce the defenders even now - and I would very much like to meet whoever is responsible for your resounding success."

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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Zarya »



“What makes you think our achievements aren’t our own?” Argent threw back.
She couldn’t help but feel provoked, and the last thing she wanted was exposing Natan to scrutiny by a Mizol.

Bastal’s mouth formed a thin stripe as she pressed her lips tight against each other. She realised she had come across as presumptuous, not just stepping on long toes. Frankly these youngsters had been pushed around enough.

“I have to apologise for my remark, I do not want to offend you. I want to openly explain what I already know, what my regrets are and how I propose to rectify the situation. If we get to it I’d then want you to know what I hope to achieve.”

Bastal sighed, and wavered with the light-stick. She was obviously beginning to have some trouble keeping it up. Argent noticed how Snow slightly moved and barely held back as she instinctively wanted to help the Torimor.

Bastal straightened her back, holding the stick up again with a fresh resolve.

“My team made several unforgivable mistakes. This all happened on my watch and I am responsible for that, but before I shave my head, I want to discuss a couple of things with you. I shall be bluntly honest, as far as you can trust a Mizol. We can do that here, or we can choose to do it on a more comfortable place where I do not have to keep this damned thing pointed up all the time”.

While Argent mulled over that Coldfire weighed-in, sending “I think she’s very old, we should indeed show her some respect now, let’s take her to our fire pit”.

Argent acknowledged and broke the short silence that had fallen.

“Torimor, I guarantee your safety for the duration of our discussions.
And I invite you to come to our clearing. We shall talk there.”

For the first time in a very long time Bastal was pleasantly surprised.

Giving her guarantee, Argent had used the Perrein formulation for inviting the emissary to a more hospitable place. This could be seen as a conciliatory step, and at the very least it was a token of respect. She decided to repay this by being frank and open to the diral’s leader.

“Lein, prepare seats around the fire pit and make sure nobody kills her” Argent instructed Coldfire.



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Werra
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

Post by Werra »

Following the youngsters to their fireplace proved more precarious than the short distance had led her to believe. If not for Bastals Perrein eyes helping her in this low light, she would have even stumbled into some of the traps dug by the Diral. So she had to be pulled aside only once. It was done gently, with the repsect befitting her rank and likely more so her age, she noted with pleasure.

The Dirals fireplace was in a clearing by a small stream. Two blocky buildings, one large, one small stood there, as well as a manner of smaller utensils such as racks to dry skins and furs on. All in all, Bastal judged, a rather well done base camp.

Bastal sat down on a log by the fire with a certain relief, which she decided to display honestly to quiet the hostile faces of the Diral members around her. Most of them wore the same kinds of furs on their armour and all were armed with metal weapons, to which their hands strayed dangerously close.

"This is an impressive camp and so quickly built." she remarked to Argent who had sat down beside her.

"Thank you, Torimor, but you haven't seen much of what we have built." Argent replied.

She is touchy, judged Bastal and decided to not mention that their huts didn't follow any style known to Deinar and were therefore built by that alien.

"Is that meteor iron your weapons are made out of? Your gatherers must have had good fortune for so many."

"We have found a lot." Argent admitted. An admission Bastal decided to ignore for the moment. Instead she worked the positive effect her advanced age had on the Diral by allowing herself to ramble a bit.

"That is fantastic. In my Diral we only had our leaders blade. The rest had to make do with wood and stones for two years."

"You didn't find any usable metal at all?" Argent asked surprised. Bastal used the opportunity and worked the angle a bit more.

"No, we were in the lowlands. Metals are rare there. We hunted for two years with wooden spears and clubs. Oh, don't give me that pitying look, young one, it wasn't all bad. We saved up the beaks of the landsquid we killed to stud our clubs with." she recounted.

This achieved two beneficial things for Bastal. First, one of the Diral handed her a wooden bowl with some steaming broth in it. Bastal made a point of taking it in her hands as if they were cold. The second thing was Argent shaking her head, as if to clear it and being the impatient one.

"Torimor, with all respect, you didn't come here to tell us stories." Argent stated.

"Oh, forgive an old woman for remembering her youth surrounded by youngsters." Bastal assuaged her before continuing. "You are right, of course, I came here for a reason. It's clear that you have found an alien, a male remarkably similar to us, but with amazing Lotai. You understand why we Mizol are highly interested in him."

"The last one didn't show it." Argent replied.

"Yes, she didn't. She was punished." Bastal agreed.

"How?" asked Argent entirely predictably. Therefore it wasn't a lot of effort for Bastal to keep her voice level and her face relaxed.

"As harsh as possible, given the circumstances. She has to reimburse the state for the equipment her actions have lost."

"What? That is all?" Argent exclaimed and the rest of the Diral shook and wavered around Bastal in silent agreement. No doubt they were sanzaiing to each other wildly, while she couldn't even sense one of them. Sensing was superfluous to read their aggressive intents anyway.

"Hm, oh, she did make grievous mistakes. You made her situation very difficult though. This isn't clan land or your Elders wouldn't have sent you here. So she was faced with a new clan suddenly laying claim to the Emperors land. Backing down would have been ..dishonourable for any Soroin." Bastal explained.

"She ordered a male shot!" Argent practically shouted. But Bastal knew it was important to remain calm right now.

"A male with a Lotai strong enough that two Mizol can't sense him at all? Not pursuing would have been dishonourable for any Mizol."

"Mizol honour? You are sneaks and liars!" Argents insult was predictable with Bastals experience and quite harmless in the scheme of things. She had heard worse.

"You'd be surprised, Argent." Bastal said. "In particular, we do operate within the laws. I charged Nelonial with the most I could in a disciplinary action. Shooting a male is a court case."

"Do that then. What did you come to us for, Torimor?" Argent asked bitterly.

"I don't want this to go to court." Bastal admitted. "Nelonials only crime would be attacking a male, but after walking through your traps and after being poisoned, being surrounded by dangerous beasts, in charge of a bunch of beginners close to panicking...her chances look rather good, before the court hears the male is an alien." she admitted to the Dirals dismay.

Bastal continued: "And you, do you want the courts to get involved? The aliens presence would go public, your Elders would hear about it. They'd question whether you had outside help in your Diral so far. At the very least, the alien would be taken into custody. The whole matter would be a black mark on your tender reputation. We Mizol wouldn't be making friends either." She had eased on the old woman routine while speaking and was now focusing Argent intendly.

The leader seemed introspective, no doubt thoughts racing through her head. The conflict showed on her face. "You are leading up to a deal of some kind. The problem is, that I can't make one with a Mizol. One of your number has attacked us, attacked our male. She even got off lightly for that. You seem to have no honor, Torimor."

This time the insult was less hot but spoken with more deliberation. Bastal found herself slightly irked even. "Argent, as much as I would like to be rid of Nelonial, experienced Parats and infantry leaders are hard to come by on Deinar. I must make whatever use of her I can. The knowledge of ..your male..would help greatly in my mission and advance Loroi knowledge considerably. We're outside the normal laws here, but I am honorbound to attempt acquisition of the alien."
Bastal allowed Argent and the Diral a moment to process her words. Discussions in Sanzai going on all around her. Then she continued.
"You need to trust us to make a deal and one can only trust the honorable. Therefore, I aim to prove that Mizol are proper warriors to you all."

"You, Torimor?" Argent said, mustering her old, weary form.

"Oh no, not me personally. I wouldn't put up much of a fight to such spry young things such as yourself." Bastal said.

"What do you mean then?" Argent asked.

"When I said that you'd trounce your "trial by fire" I meant it." Bastal said, loudly enough to be heard by everybody in the Diral. Astonished looks of pride were exchanged around her just as she had intended. "Let's agree to the following. We'll be conducting our own trial. To prove our honor to you and for you to prove yourselfes to us. If you win you have shown yourself capable of safeguarding the alien male until the end of your Diral. We Mizol will agree to leave you completely alone."

The possibility of being rid of the Mizol was meant to be exciting to the Diral. A full success, as Bastal judged from the speed with which heads turned. Poor Argent did her best to hide her excitement from the Torimor in front of her. Bastal didn't mention that once their Diral would end and the members transfered to their academy, the male would be discovered and end up with the Mizol sooner or later anyways.

Argent had managed to calm down and spoke to her with a forced voice.
"What if you win, Torimor?"

"Then you, as a Diral, agree to take on a new identity with the Hoste Blec clan where you will finish your training." she bluntly stated. A moment later she sweetened the deal a bit for good measure. "I have no doubt that your experience with this new form of Lotai will make you prime candidates for a fruitful career working with the Mizol."

"What about N..the alien?" Argent asked with suspicion.

"I see no reason you couldn't keep caring for him with the Hoste Blec. We would need to run some medical tests on him though." Bastal said.

The Diral leader thought this over for a moment. Bastal noted, that she never looked to the side, like if she were making her own decisions. Good, thought Bastal. A clear leader would make things easier.

"What will this trial look like, Torimor?" Argent finally asked.

"You will face the same away team from last time, albeit prepared and fully equipped and you will have to come to them this time. They have a box with them, about this size." she indicated a small rectangular with her hands. "In a week from now you will have from dusk till dawn to get that box. Inside it is a communicator, which I will call in the early morning. If you answer the call, you win, otherwise it will be routed to Nelonial or Songbird and you lose."

"Nelonial?!" Argents temper flared up immediately.

"Yes, she besmirched our honor, she will restore it. The team will be equipped with non lethal weapons. I trust in your honor that you will keep it the same, Argent." Bastal explained.

"Three weeks, Torimor." Argent demanded.

"Two, I want this matter settled soon." Bastal conceded, suspecting that this was about the alien.

"Fine, we will be ready." said Argent.

With her work done, Bastal put her empty bowl down beside her and rose. "Tow days beforehand I will send you the coordinates. A bit of travel will be involved. Prepare accordingly."

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Zarya
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Re: [WP] New Frontiers (Story Thread Only)

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Argent, I don’t like this’ Firebrand sent extremely loud to all.

She then stepped into the light of the fire looking straight at the Mizol.
She cleared her throat, mustering courage.

“Torimor, my mother is a Mizol and I have fought her long enough to recognise what you are doing with us. I don’t like it and I advise my diral’s leadership to take all the time it needs before committing to anything!”

Bastal stared at the girl, angered by what she considered insubordination.

Argent, realising she had been rushed into something grasped the opportunity.
“Firebrand, speak up. We’re not in a hurry to make mistakes tonight and we will weigh all views.”
Nervously she glanced sideways at her guest.

Blackrune and Copperspike positioned themselves next to Firebrand.
Blackrune spoke up with a strong clear voice

“Torimor Bastal, we do not need to conquer anything by way of a test. Our test is to make weapons, the initiates will hunt with these and use their skills to feed our diral. This test has been given to us by our own Elders, and it is doubtful if someone else can force us out of here, or make us take another test. Especially against a group that used firearms and threatened us right from the start with their Tempest’s shit message.”

Copperspike looked like she was going to say something, stepped forward, shook her head, then clearly outraged spit out

“My mother is a Mizol too!”

This was too much for Bastial, laughing and coughing she had to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
It took her a while to recover.

Coldfire sent to Argent “Before she turns into a witch again we should ask why she is so interested in the Soia ruin’.

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