Nova (Closed thread)

Her first thought, when she woke up, was that something had gone horribly wrong. It was a pretty good thought, considering the circumstances! Her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, and, for whatever reason, she was in a cage with a bunch of strangers. Elith rubbed at her eyes drearily, sitting up and trying to take in her surroundings. There were... three metal people, and one that wasn't. She'd seen plenty of metal people since she'd left Minthri, some of them created, some of them made into it. It was the sort of thing they'd love to study back home. As it stood, though, she couldn't tell the difference, so she knew better than to press.

The one who wasn't made of metal looked almost like the people they called colonials in school, but a little bit - odd? His eyes were yellow, and he had plants growing all over him. The second part left her staring for a little longer than she intended, and once she realized, she quickly looked away, cheeks flushing a deep blue. Looking away, though, she noticed more people in an adjacent cage - more strangers, mostly, both flesh and metal, and - one familiar.

"Hesjing!" stumbling to her feet, she ran up to the bars. He was here, too, which meant - she'd made a mistake. She hadn't been careful enough. Someone had managed to take them, and - her hand went to the side of her bodysuit - took her sympathizer as well. "Don't worry, Hesjing. I'll figure out where we are."

She turned to the people in her own cell, folding her arms and putting on a stern, no-nonsense expression.

"...where are we?"

Oh hell, what had she gotten herself in to. 

Sevvi woke with a groan, eyelids heavy and head pounding. She knew immediately she was on a ship, on account of spending roughly half her life on one. Problem this time, though, was that it was not her own. She was meant to be heading off to pick up a real big time offer, something that would, in the best case scenario, pay for some replacements back home for her pa. Instead, however, she was in a cell, on an unknown ship, surrounded completely by strangers. Unsettling, to say the least. Surely it had to be one of the cartels, one of the gangs she had run ins in the past with. Someone with connections, power, money, something.

She picked herself up from the cold metal floor, wiping a tiny bit of drool from her mouth as she took stock of her surroundings. A cell, using energy bars. Five other people in here with her, a divider, also energy bars, and another group of folk. Not a single familiar face, except the one outside the cell, hanging from the ceiling, though she couldn't place the name. Odd, she was pretty good with names, she thought, anyways. Two of the others, real official looking lady and a man who was swiping his hand through the air like he was trying to interface with a holo-console.

Yep. This was definitely prison.

"Unfortunate is right, I got places to be. Either of you two recognize that feller? Seems pretty beat up, but he's out there at least. Maybe he can get us up n' out of here?" she said, looking between the two, and their yet to awaken cellmates. Cooperation was always best in these situations, especially when you couldn't remember a damn thing.

It was a bit like suddenly remembering how to breathe, a quick cut of sterile air through her nostrils as her eyes fluttered open. She could feel the light on her skin though the thin weave of the blanket they had draped over her. It wasn’t quite pleasant, light came in many different tastes, smooth or sharp, some coaxing her to sleep while others set her on edge. This light was harsh and thin, almost as sterile as the space itself. Perhaps almost as unpleasant as waking up in a hospital after she had…

Wait. Her mind lurched forward as the dregs of sleep were chased away. Had there been some sort of accident while she was aboard the — she had boarded a new ship hadn’t she? Her eyes darted under the sheet, attempting to make sense of blurry blobs as she searched her memories for the missing pieces. She had found a new ship, she was certain of that, but what happened after that?

She was still on a ship, engines didn’t whine deep and heavy like that on planetary hospitals, but was it the same ship she had joined? And, there was another person in the room. The doctor? Some orderly? She fought back the urge to tear out the things she could feel sticking to and sometimes poking into her skin, but she could hear the quickened pace of her heart as dull metal taps filled the air.

Okay, okay, okay, before she tried to do anything silly why didn’t she just check? She flexed her wrists first, and then her ankles, but she didn’t feel anything tying her down. She pinched the thin sheet between her index finger and thumb and gently drew it down until it slid past her eyes and gave her a view of the room.

The bubbling of a small stream filled the air in melody with singing birds and blowing winds that rushed through tall grasses, the sounds whispering in Alidreas’s ears as he methodically raised his tool and buried it’s head in the ground, pulling back the loamy earth and folding it upon itself before repeating the motion. With each stroke he would step back, the suns beating upon his already leathery skin in a blessed and unrelenting warmth.

This has already happened.

Dry, dusty earth fell upon the covered bodies, their lives ended with taut skin and brittle bones, their nourishment returned to the earth for what bare essentials they could offer. Alidreas had offered them portions of his food, turned away daily with his “blasphemous” dehydrated goods like the pariah he was. Still, daily he would visit, offering tempting fruits, dried meats, and other nourishments he knew the others would never eat. Those starving eyes had seemed tempted, and even once a skeletal hand had extended for the briefest of moments, but the strength of the dogma that had ruled his people for eternal generations was not so easily broken that starvation would render his offerings viable. The tear that fell to the dust below him held within it bitter sorrow and regret.

And I continued..

The soil had finally yielded results, and the juice of the fruit in his hands was sweeter than anything Alidreas could remember. He found that odd, his memory so easily rendered lesser by the immediate slaking of his craving despite his knowledge that the fruit in the past had likely been much sweeter. Indeed, this had been grown without magic from a saved seed, planted within soil that held only memories of the magically fed ancestors it hailed from. That lack of magic, this adaptation that Alidreas had only hoped would occur, was nearly guaranteed to lessen the taste to some degree. Alidress smiled as he bit into the fruit again and let the juice run down his chin. No, this was easily the most delicious fruit he had ever tasted, after all, he had grown it with his own hands.

Still yet, this is but a memory.

Alidreas patted the furry creature on its head, silently thanking his years of experience for the wisdom not to name the thing. Naming things made them a part of you, and once that part was gone it could never be recovered. This logic led him to leave his entire world without a name, simply existing in it and maintaining its new equilibrium without label or bias. For him there was no distinction between the different forms of life on his planet, they were all the results of countless time studying and researching the technological ships that had been left on his world in its dying days. Even more immeasurable clicks went into the application of that knowledge, of genetics and bioengineering, of horticulture and animal husbandry. After many toils and far more failures Alidreas had slowly set about the reincarnation of his home. To see it fully realized was the only gift he needed.

Yet, he had received more. Recently he had felt it, the surge of it rocking as it returned to him with feral power unlike the controlled sense of the past. No, this magic was younger, less tied to the laws Alidreas had spent decades committing to memory so long ago. Despite the difference, it was magic, and having it returned filled Alidreas with a strength nearly forgotten. Ancient bones and anachronistic flesh felt lighter with the renewed vigor, and as Alidreas looked to his work in that moment he knew his fate was to leave it behind. There was no sadness in it, no resignation as Ali had known that the day he would depart would come soon enough.

Okay, that’s enough. Time to wake up!

To any of the other prisoners who might have been watching there was no change, but Alidreas snapped into the present, out of the peace of sleep, in an instant. He kept his eyes closed, instead using his other five senses to assess his current situation. There was a hole in his memory, and thought that might seem natural for one with as many memories as him it was quite uncommon for Alidreas not to remember. He could remember the day of his birth, the day of the week he learned to walk, and everything in between. The gap in his memory may as well have been a missing appendage, and Alidreas wanted for its replacement just as strongly.

The last memory he could recall was really quite nondescript. The ship he had built had finally exhausted the last of its fuel, and the magical transistors he had brought with him were too antique to replace the super dense core of the ship’s energy cell. The moment he had sought to charge those ancient batteries they fractured and exploded, damaging a good portion of his ship in the process. Like an injured bird Alidreas had barely brought the ship to port.

And then nothing. It was infuriating, and judging from the tones of those imprisoned with him he was not alone in this feeling. Cautiously Alidreas reached out with the gift, that sixth sense that separated his kind from others of his species. He felt the pulsating magic like a sheet stretched tight over reality, saw it with something other than his eyes as it gave definition. It was only after he had gathered all of the information he could with his other senses that Alidreas finally opened his eyes and sped his breathing, breaking the illusion of sleep as he lifted his head. He had been sitting upright, a sleeping habit formed long ago and kept for the sake of convenience.

Wordless he rose to his feet, white robe settling on his shoulders with a soft rustle as he stepped over to the glass door. Alidreas inspected the door carefully, cautious not to touch it or the bars around it as he took note of what components he could see. With a click of his tongue he sat back down on the cell floor, next to the door and where he could see all of those present beneath his bushy brow.

“Feel free to do so, and if you survive be sure to tell us what you experience.” Though Alidreas spoke to the colorful man his eyes were fixed upon the man who silently called out to an unresponsive third party, the subtle turn of his wrist betrayed by the reverberations of his power through the veil. Something felt familiar about the man, though not in the same way that the chained captain seemed familiar. Alidreas regained his silence as he continued to study those around him, curiosity balanced with the bleakness of the situation. With a mental chuckle he realized that of the entire group of prisoners he was the most decrepit, and so the most likely to die. So it should be that elders fall before the youth.

There is no greater honor to the fallen than triumph. A concept rooted into the core of society, a foundation from where their sprawling empire sprouted, a tenet for which their sons and daughters gladly threw themselves into the maw of death, and a curse those who kept on living carried deep within their chest. That day should have been a celebration, the sharp hiss of warhead in a crescendo, a blanket of fire sprinkled through their sphere, and the cheers of the dead roaring into the heavens as the enemy crumbled. A once-in-a-lifetime thrill.

Helsjing had lived in this day for ages now. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see it as vividly as a dream, the subsiding flames leaving not but a trail of ash and a tale of what had been.

He stood on a balcony, witnessing the diseased and the cold below, their plight unanswered by nature. The wrath within still boiled, seeing as once mighty and proud warriors thumbled so far. Who was to say how much further they would fall... It took the claws piercing his shoulder to get his attention, General Harn's untimely visage, one could barely distinguish the nuances, yet to those who knew the man saw it clear as water. Indescribable despair. The metallic scent of blood filled Helsjing's nostrils, Harn's mouth moved, yet the words never matched his lips, and an infernal buzzing drowned out all the meaning behind the veil.

"Helsjing!"

It was not Harn's voice.

His eyes opened slowly, a masochistic desire to stay behind - see those days play out again as they did - weighing Helsjing's eyelids. Flickering lights crossed the exit before him, a cast of distinctly colorful characters presenting itself. Unknown, as he had expected, all for the most talkative - his obligation. A child sent on a task she never understood to begin with, now locked up for her misguided pursue. The Voskari was silent, two wide yellow spheres poking through the dimly'-lit cell. He reached for his weapons first to no avail, not even the hidden. Then he reached for his journal, also taken from him. They were not there for him, not with so many different people he had never seen. No, there was something else to this.

It all pointed to the very source which pulled him from his dreams. That oddly familiar-looking fellow, one Bassius Chadwick if one of the voices were to be trusted. Helsjing was never one for long-lasting friendships, his people died as quickly as they reproduced, there was no guarantee you'd ever see friends again. Which meant this was a contractor of sorts, and one with deep pockets to lure so many. At least that was his safest assumption so far.

"I would not act so rashly." He spoke, eyes fixated on the one calling themselves Bebop. "You will cook yourself alive. Terrible way to go." The lizard shook his head. "No, we know too little. The chromed one had the right idea. Rather than forcing one's self out, we should learn how we got ourselves in."

Sienna



No, not a hospital. Not at all.

A laboratory, where strange aliens floated, suspended in green gel in a series of tanks lining the walls of the lab. Their faces frozen in horror and twisted - mutated perhaps. On the table beside Sienna laid the body of a Colonial man, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as his heart monitor beeped weakly. His ribs laid split open and his chest was near empty. 

Facing away from her was a lithe being clad in a long white coat, its eyes fixed on a table of metal instruments and a holographic display showcasing Sienna's portrait and a reading of biometrics - a tad too far to read properly. 

 ~ ~ ~

Dolly/Saeed



Vogrot Twice-Shunned had never been the most alert member of his brood, and he hadn't gotten any better since joining Grask's crew. He went down hard against the floor, slamming his head against the wall before settling. He never knew what hit him - for lack of a better term.

Jennic froze, he'd been promised she'd be under for another hour - more than enough time to dispose of her. His hand floated over his gun, but staring down a barrel froze his limbs - cybernetic or not. "Woah! Okay, um..." he mumbled, his voice came not from a mouth but a subwoofer where his lips would be. "I see I'm at the disadvantage here, what can I uh... do for you?" His mind raced, this wasn't a good scene but maybe this would give him time to think.

~ ~ ~

Vaetris

The others seemed just as confused as she was. Pity, she had been hoping they'd know more than she did. Still, more numbers meant more of a chance to get out, and none of them seemed unfriendly yet. An android posited opening the door, a simple idea but it was worth a shot.

Vaetris placed her hand on the clear glass door. Lines of blue light traced the edge of her hand and flickered for a moment. Then, the light turned red and pain followed. Heat, a flash so fast and so hot it felt cold. Vaetris recoiled and clenched her fist. "I don't suppose anyone else wants to try?"

An organic spoke up, a Minth. She introduced herself as Elith, and seemed quite kind and calm despite their circumstances. While Vaetris wasn't quite as eager to simply wait for her captors to return, she understood her sentiment. 

Her left arm held a fist and laid over her heart. "Well met, Elith. I am Vaetris of Celonae, Sixth House of the Yotei." She turned to face the other android, Grim. "I have not caused any transgressions I know of, I know not why we are here. Have you committed crimes worthy of such punishment?"