INHERITANCE - Arc 1: Awakening

[Grey]

• Fahardrin
• Neylpsis
• Baskarmyna
• Chalaseek

• 
  Awareness blooms from inchoate dreams.
  
  
  A memory escapes, but leaves its strange taste behind.
  
  
  As the canopy of the Cradle - upright - begins to slide back, you see through it to the room beyond.
  
  
  Sterile. White. Terminals and slabs are arrayed in regular patterns towards the door, ten metres away.
  
  
  You are not alone. Humanoid shapes, unarmoured, unarmed in grey jumpsuits with brass trim. Heavy, uniform augmentation - brass-coloured helmets of hard moulded plastic perfectly enclose their heads with visible input sockets on the back. No visible eyes. In a moment they will notice the hissing carapace open. Their minds are stunted, constricted; some other will is imposed upon them.
  
  
  A voice over the datalinks comes to you.
  awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.
  
• 
  Awareness blooms from inchoate dreams.
  
  
  A memory escapes, but leaves its strange taste behind.
  
  
  As the canopy of the Cradle - upright - begins to slide back, you see through it to the room beyond.
  
  
  Sterile. White. Terminals and slabs are arrayed in regular patterns towards the door, ten metres away.
  
  
  You are not alone. Humanoid shapes, unarmoured, unarmed in grey jumpsuits with brass trim. Heavy, uniform augmentation - brass-coloured helmets of hard moulded plastic perfectly enclose their heads with visible input sockets on the back. No visible eyes. In a moment they will notice the hissing carapace open.
  
  
  A voice over the datalinks comes to you.
  awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.
  
• 
  Awareness blooms from inchoate dreams.
  
  
  A memory escapes, but leaves its strange taste behind.
  
  
  As the canopy of the Cradle - upright - begins to slide back, you see through it to the room beyond.
  
  
  The room is gently curved above you, but the deckplates which surround you are flat. It is dark, but this is no obstacle to you, and the decor has a jagged, vaguley shrine-like aspect. Unfamiliar scientific equipment covers work surfaces, and a small number of what you take to be technicians are peering at a softscreen between you and them.
  
  
  awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.
  
• 
  -POD COMPROMISED. INITIATING AWAKENING PROCESS TO AVOID CONTAMINATION-
  
  A cluster of four stasis pods, deep in the belly of a Magus ship.
  
  Derelict, now. As you emerge, the lights are flickering or dead, the tight confines of the stasis tomb overgrown with trembling biomechanical tendrils and pulsing veins. Eerie screams echo down the distorted corridors. The other three pods are empty, and overgrown by the same unknown lifeform that is probing your own pod with a questing tentacle.
  
  
  And worst, you are unarmed.
  

 

[Kittenpom20]

Fahardrin

Everything felt groggy, slow; Fahardrin felt as if he had awoken from a particularly disorienting nap. He didn’t recognize this room, the pod he had slept in, or remember why he was here in the first place. Everything was foreign, unfamiliar, except for the tarnished golden shell that appeared when he glanced downward. That he knew. Prem was his soulcage, and it looked about as he remembered, if a little worse for wear.

The guards in front of Fahardrin appeared, visually, to be going about their business. If that voice was correct, these figures weren’t friendly. He had to figure out what was going on. Fahardrin’s reach on their minds felt familiar, yet strange to his newly awakened self. Though he tried, he could recall nothing else about this ability except for how to use it. Something nagged in the back of his brain, reminding him that the Others were still a threat, but he couldn’t quite remember how he had gotten here. There were no Magi that he could detect, either, and no other Bandi in his view. Looked like he was on his own for now, and his first hurdle was figuring a way out of this place.

Without moving from his spot in the pod, Fahardrin probed the will imposing on the guard’s minds carefully. He wasn’t sure if their minds were occupied by some unconscious ability of his own or if there were other forces at play, but he could attempt to override them. He imagined his consciousness as long, shadowy tendrils that wrapped around their strange brass helmets. It startled him, really, how familiar all of this felt, almost like an instinct. So his command to the guards was instinctual: kill each other.

 

[Teh Frixz]

Chalaseek

Laid to rest holding her coiled body against her torso, Chalaseek was awoken. Unable to dream in the pod, her first thoughts awake were the same as the last ones she had before sleep. I have hope that all those I know are well off. As the Sensorium activated, alerts flooding her artificial senses and shunting wakeup routines directly to combat readiness, she knows that her hope was misplaced.

The pod fails to open all the way, but it is more than enough for Chalaseek to squeeze through and for a moment, it would appear that the tendrils had been inside the pod all along. Torso tearing through the opening, followed by the length of her segmented body. Emitting a chittering screech, Chalaseek grips the wall with all her legs. Her screech is one of disgust and annoyance and more of an expression of exasperation than an attempt to intimidate whatever entity had interrupted her slumber.

Moving quickly and keeping clear of tendrils, she scans the room and looks to identify any threats. Then hopefully find a way out, preferably into the void so she can orient herself.

 

[Cirno]

Baskarmyna

Baskarmyna registers weight. Her own arms wind under her midsection before looping up over her frame. Long fingers wrap around the base of her domed helm. A non-standard deactivation stance. Cumbersome.

With the canopy clear, her awakening Bandi vision of the surroundings is complete but without context. Thankfully, instruction is provided. enemies surround you. forget mercy.

Whatever information these technicians have prised out, it is not theirs to have. She keens her displeasure, racheting through disruptive frequencies--whether upon flesh or magitech, she does not recall. No matter. Neither personnel nor data may leave.

Signal unrelenting, she rises chest first, flowing up to stand upon the edges of the open Cradle. Arms unfurl as her head realigns with the rest of her. A single light cuts through the black of her helm. Her blinding gaze hones in on the closest target.

 

[Grey]

• Fahardrin
• Chalaseek
• Nelypsis
• Baskarmyna
• Angaravant
• Ashvath

• 
  
  Initially there is no resistance; their minds are weak, shackled, and though they lack weapons the six of them begin to struggle to throttle each other.
  And then you feel that other mind, something deformed and unrecognizable, something you realise is not a mind really, but it emulates one.
  An alarm begins to blare as the technicians pause, catch their breath. They begin to flee for the door, and two of them for a cabinet at the far end of the room.
  A bluish shimmer flickers to life on all them and settles to a dull sheen over their bodies - shielding technology of some kind.
  
  
• 
  
  The air is thick with free-floating bacterial drones that try to cling to you like spores. The tendrils wave in eerie synchronicity. Monstrous howls echo down the dim corridors and you are certain hostiles know your location.
  But more importantly, you know where you are - there is an armoury one room over, and a matching set of pods and armoury on the far side of the ship. The hangar lies in between and the bridge is one floor up.
  You suspect this entire vessel is compromised; best to find a way off.
  
• 
  
  The room goes dark. Not that it matters to you. At the same moment an alarm starts blaring, but the sound and lights are drowned by your darkness. The technicians try to turn on torches, but they have little impact.
  You watch them, secure in the dark, as they carefully try to make their way to the exit. One of them is angling for a secure cabinat near the back of the room.
  
• 
  
  You quickly absorb the details of these creatures - humanoid, with swollen skulls framed with metal reinforcement, crowned by metal horns. Their extremities are clearly prosthetic and their torsos are armoured.
  Gravity is lower, here, so perhaps they are maladapted for planetside operations.
  They clutch their heads at first, but one of them recovers enough to slam a button on a nearby console. An alarm, based on the low hum and flashing lights that come to life in response.
  They begin stumbling for the exits on the left and right of the room. There are only four of them, and they seem entirely unequipped for combat.
  
• 
  Awareness blooms from inchoate dreams.
  
  
  A memory escapes, but leaves its strange taste behind.
  
  
  As the canopy of the Cradle - upright - begins to slide back, you see through it to the room beyond.
  
  
  The room is gently curved above you, but the deckplates which surround you are flat. It is dark, and the decor has a jagged, vaguley shrine-like aspect. Unfamiliar scientific equipment covers work surfaces, and a small number of what you take to be technicians are tinkering with consoles further back in the room.
  
  In front of you, however, stands a figure peering into the Cradle. They have a confident, military bearing and wear a rifle on their hip. A violet-tinged, faintly snouted face is framed by a stylish helm with slots for the horns curling from their temples. They're well armoured, decorated with sigitls you do not know, and a mechanical tail curls on the floor behind them.
  You have mere seconds before they realize you're awake...
  
  
  awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.
  
• 
  Awareness blooms from inchoate dreams.
  
  
  A memory escapes, but leaves its strange taste behind.
  
  
  As the canopy of the Cradle - upright - begins to slide back, you see through it to the room beyond.
  
  
  Sterile. White. Terminals and slabs are arrayed in regular patterns towards the door, ten metres away.
  
  
  An alarm is blaring, and the room is empty. You can see a sealed door on your left.
  
  
  A voice over the datalinks comes to you.
  awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.
  

 

[Plutoni]

ANGARAVANT

His first waking moments within this unfamiliar universe were wracked with nothing less than the violent, primal tension of knowing you are just about to hit the ground. His Soulcage lay stationary. His mind had not. Sleep had not truly graced him as he’d lain within the Cradle - only a strangely depthless blip, a blink in time that had lasted for both a second and an epoch, and as filtered bluish light flooded his senses his mind began to bend to comprehend that the impact was not coming.
The impact was never coming.

awaken now. enemies surround you. forget mercy.

The familiarity of the voice only reassured him for the barest moment. Already disoriented and feeling oddly incorporeal, sensation was returning at an alarmingly slow rate as the canopy began to hiss open. His limbs were awkwardly strewn, he realised now, upper arm tucked behind the one below, the others bent up against the sides, and even the line of his hips lay a fraction uneven as if he had been pushed within and suddenly frozen. Indignity flared faster than he had even fully comprehended the sight that lay before him, but all notions of the strangeness of his waking dissolved as he stared sightlessly back at the armoured creature now in focus at his fore.

Why did it leer like a child at an exotic insect?

It was almost incomprehensible. They defiled his domain with their technology and their filthy, insolent gaze. They knowingly came before a Bandi with such insult as only a rifle to protect them. Angaravant knew not what they even were, but with an instant wordless disdain, he vowed then that he would rightfully return their expressions to fear.

He lunged from the Cradle in one jerking, explosive movement, seizing a horn of this strange enemy in one hand and twisting to hurl them with full might across the room, caring not where they would land. But he paused, then. He had seen himself for the first time in that fraction of a second of violence, the tarnish, the rust. He held all four hands up before him as if he believed his vision to be deceived, and Angaravant realised that he no longer shone.

 

[Teh Frixz]

Chalaseek

With the low light of the room, the impact of the spores against the segmented body causing a flicker as mana fueled shields burn them from existence. An irritating itch for now. Chalaseek would not linger for long, hugging the walls with her long body almost flat to the ground. The arms of her torso clambering over the floor, claws digging in as she moved quickly. The armory wasn't important, she was deadly enough unarmed. Her claws and fangs glint with magitech infused venom as if to make a point to herself. What mattered was making sure that the other pods were uninhabited.

Memories were returning, the layout of the vessel returning to her in fragments. A bridge, a hangar, armories, and pods. A mirrored setup with the hangar separating the layout. She chittered to herself as she ran, spiked feet moving silently over and over again. Decisions had to be made. She could travel quickly to the other pods but would likely encounter threats during the journey. She could bypass and move to the bridge, possibly venting out the vessel. That would at the very least hamper the foes as the void would take them as the atmosphere left the ship but it could harm non-hostiles or fellow BANDI in the pods. But it would give her an exit, hangar doors could be opened. Armoury could be salvaged much later, irrelevant now.

All of this could be useless anyway, pods could be empty or missing or worse. If that were the case then other actions must be taken. Deciding to mount the wall, her feet dig in and she starts for the other set of pods, going preferably by way of the bridge. Maybe systems could be accessed to remotely assess the pods there.

 

[Kittenpom20]

Fahardrin

At first Fahardrin felt somewhat victorious, watching the figures attempt to hurt each other without weapons. The nature of the mind shackling them was strange enough that it gave him pause, but he shifted his focus on getting out of here. Feeling certain they were distracted now, he fought against the strange feeling of a ‘cage not used in so long to get himself upright and out of the pod, intending to flee. His joints were sore from being stuck in the same position for so long - although how long, he wasn’t entirely sure - and it was with less grace than anticipated that he ended up standing on the floor next to the pod.

Fahardrin didn’t have enough time to be frustrated at his new situation, for it was at that moment an alarm started blaring. Whatever hold Fahardrin had imposed on their minds shattered, sending four fleeing, two to some cabinet on the other side of the room. Although they looked weak, easy enough to defeat, the blue shields shimmering around their bodies made it so that this might be more of a challenge, especially with his form still shaking off the effects of whatever sleep he had been in.

He headed towards the cabinet the two were running towards, hoping to intercept them before they got there, or catch them off guard and take whatever they were so intent on obtaining.

 

[Cirno]

Baskarmyna
Through her sensorium, the adjusted gravity affects everything with a ghostly outline, expecting physical matter to hold greater potential. Before her vision and her bearing self-correct, the alarm is going off.

She has erred. She lunges.

In the next sweep of the alarm light, she's fluidly rising through a crouching stance. In the same movement, her arms draw back while her knee pulls up to catch the underside of a work table. It cants into the air. Both palms slap the work surface, and it hurtles toward the desecrators making for the left exit.

Their tools ricochet off her cage and clatter on the floor. She leaves cataloguing damage to a background process, her body already pivoting to the right side of the room.

 

[Grey]

• Fahardrin
• Chalaseek
• Baskarmyna
• Angaravant

• 
  You reach the cabinet at the same time as one of the strangers, who with a gesture causes it to hiss and unfold revealing a pair of slim, blocky rifles.
  
  It hesitates, mere feet from you, and you can its terror - dampened, overridden, but the being under that jumpsuit is almost overwhelmed with fear of you.
  
  The Enemy had no fear. You know this.
  
• 
  You slither into a vent, which pulses around you like a living artery, and make your way up to the bridge describing an arc in your passage toward escape.
  You can hear clattering and howling echo nearby, and you burst into the bridge pursued by something.
  
  And the bridge is unrecognizable; the consoles are overgrown with those biomechanical tendrils and other, strange formations which dimly resemble various organs. The viewing window at the head of the room is sealed and resembles the inside of a huge eyelid. It's clear the systems here will be inaccessible.
  
• 
  Your shields remain full intact, the sense of warmth across your skin part of your synaesthetic tactical overlay.
  The fleeing desecrators are not so lucky, the heavy workbench knocking them to the ground. One seems to have been knocked out, but the other immediately scrambles to their feet. But they're slowed, at least, as you approach the other two from behind halfway to their escape.
  
• 
  A grotesque crack and metallic shriek accompanies the savage motion that propels the figure across the room.
  As you regard your tarnished form, the other strange beings stare in horror.
  
  The collective reverie is broken by the blaring of an alarm and the survivors flee for the exits.
  

 

[Teh Frixz]

Chalaseek

A fluttering rage fills the Bandi to the brim. This was perversion run rampant at best. Whatever this was, it wasn’t according to the designs of the Magi. At least she thought it wouldn’t be, but the fragmented memories she held told her that she answered to the Magi and she wouldn’t serve beings that embraced this existence. These things infesting the ship and that had tried to contaminate her very bed.

Scuttling over, towards the nearest exit it was clear she knew what had to be done even if it was foolish and likely ineffective. Making sure there was an exit first, the large fangs lodged in her ‘cage distend.

Ensuring she was sealed completely, the Chalaseek attacks. Inside the false being that was attempting to become something was where she wanted to be. The being breathing and pulsing was connected and spread throughout and she’d inadvertently stumbled into what seemed to be the core.

Her eyeless cage stares at the eye for a moment before suddenly flitting about the bridge, biting and envenomating anything that remotely seemed vital. Her poison was pain, her poison was malicious, giants had fallen in agony before and they’d do it again.

As soon as she was satisfied that any exposed organs had been bitten, she hurried in a hasty retreat, heading towards Whatever exit presented itself first.

 

[Kittenpom20]

Fahardrin

He wasn’t surprised, really, that they were reaching for weapons when faced with an unfriendly Bandi. These beings were terrified of him - as they should be, truly - but part of him pitied them. Their small, shrunken existences. What a strange life it must be to be afraid of things stronger than you, different than you.

Mercy wasn’t an option here. A life spared now could mean a dagger - or a bullet, in this case - in the back later.

In the moment that the technician hesitated, familiar hands found the stock of the rifle, pressing it against the shoulder of the Prem. Although he had no memory of ever using a firearm such as this, the familiar sensations, again, said otherwise. Fahardrin, with a glance, checked that the safety was off and pulled the trigger with the rifle pointed towards the technicians. He hoped whatever shield was only protecting against his psychic abilities, or wouldn’t be able to protect from a rifle shot at nearly point blank.

 

[Plutoni]

ANGARAVANT

As if suddenly unplugged, smoke jetted at once in two great plumes from his core, a roar of flame that consumed him in mere seconds and shimmered the air around it in a shockwave of heat. Alarms began to wail. His mind was spinning. How long had he been down? He had never seen a Bandi undergo such deterioration. Had he? Angaravant hadn’t even thought it possible. Try as he might, he kept circling round and round back to the only two possibilities he could see - either he had been in stasis for such an incomprehensibly long time that even gold turned to rust, or he had been tampered with. As his head jerked up to see the technicians running for the door, he knew immediately which one he’d rather believe. Already roaring with great, rolling jets of flame - and how good did the power feel - he rounded upon them, driving clawed feet hard into the floor, and burst into pursuit.

The thrill of the chase was beginning to melt and fuse with the humiliation and mounting fury he felt towards these hateful purple creatures into an ugly, roiling blood-lust. Lower lifeforms, unquestionably so. Feet pounding upon stone, world blazing, he unleashed with the sweep of an arm a snaking eruption of red-gold fire towards the rear of the group. Not enough to catch the one in front, of course. He would try to leave one alive. He was no savage. After all - how would they send the message to their leaders if none survived?

 

[Transparent]

Ashvath

Ashvath's first moments awake thankfully afforded him a moment of contemplation. He would not dally, taking the command he'd been given into mind, but a moment to orient himself was in order. Summoning up a gust of wind Ashvath slammed the lid of the cradle open and levitated himself out and firmly onto his feet before letting the winds disperse.

Ashvath’s first thoughts were inward, attempting to chase snippets of dreams or memories, he wasn’t quite sure which of the two. They proved to be elusive and only seemed to fade more as Ashvath struggled to bring them into focus. With naught but disappointment in hand Ashvath brought his awareness once more to his surroundings, giving himself a vow to learn of the reason behind his amnesia. For now, he’d been given a command, enemies surrounded him and he was to show no mercy. Perhaps they might be the cause behind his lack of memories, perhaps not. Ashvath would have to get to the bottom of things somehow.

Taking stock of the once more of the room around him Ashvath proceeded to roll his neck and shoulders to shake the remnants of his slumber from his frame. A slight humming noise began as Ashvath generated a voltage throughout his arms, bringing them together and letting the electricity crackle between them a moment before it arced out into one of the blank terminals with a crack. Satisfied that all was in order Ashvath made towards the door. With a flourish of his hands, he aimed to magnetize the door to whatever the first metallic substance beyond it could be.

 

[Cirno]

Baskarmyna

She darts towards the right, unharmed. Mana shields. The warmth she's felt this whole time are protections laid down by her creators. Contact has triggered memory. What memories might this next collision grant?

Her arms sweep out wide, hands swooping for their necks. Easier to grip than their antlered heads.

The alarm keeps sounding its hue and cry as she squeezes.

 

[Grey]

• Fahardrin
• Chalaseek
• Baskarmyna
• Angaravant
• Ashvath

• 
  In retrospect, the result should not have surprised you.
  
  The rifle does not kick; it's a direct energy weapon, you realize, as a heat-haze and flash sparks from the muzzle. You can clearly see that at normal ranges, those shields of theirs are specifically designed to ablate beams. At this range the field is rapidly overwhelmed, fizzles out, and the weapon sears a fatal wound just far enough through the body to drop the target.
  
  The other stranger hesitates, but you can sense the fear deepening and know, as one knows the arc of a thrown object, that they will run.
  
• 
  The whole facility spasms and shudders, and a deafening cacophony of screams echoes throughout. As you scurry for the exit, en route for the hangar bay, a pair of foes skid into the room and keep moving directly toward you.
  
  They might have been human, once, but now they're a twisted, sinuous, quadrupedal shape. Spines and small tentacles line their backs, breaking out from between repurposed chunks of deck plating. The head still has a roughly human shape, but part of a security monitor is fused into the right eyesocket, the left is a bulging, blind organ, and the jaw is deformed to accommodate long plasteel fangs.
  
• 
  Their necks are just narrow enough to wrap your hands almost entirely around. Reinforced, it feels like, or full of carrier cables for their augmentations.
  
  They struggle, and one even turns violet, offended and snarling as it tries to strike you. The blow rebounds harmlessly from your shielded form - it would have been no more than a kiss of the wind even without.
  
• 
  The screams drive a brief spike of pain into your head. No volume, not even the suffering, really.
  Visions of a burning residential hab, unrecognizably blackened bodies still flailing and trying to scream as melting plastic fuses with charring flesh.
  
  You are not sure how many seconds that reverie consumed, but as the smoke fades you see your chosen messenger did escape, leaving you alone in the room.
  
• 
  Spinning a field through the door and beyond, you quickly realize you can more easily manipulate the internal mechanisms to force the lock open and then drag the whole thing into its wall recess.
  Beyond it is a dark corridor that splits into two a short distance away; left and right. Either there's an emergency involving power restriction, or whomever inhabits this place doesn't rely on vision.
  
  Somewhere nearby you hear screaming.
  

 

[Teh Frixz]

Chalaseek

Each pair of limbs taps the ground, rhythmically rolling out a contemplative melody as the upper body of Chalaseek swayed back and forth. While confident in her abilities, the condition of the beings gave her pause.

If it had been a single creature, she’d have already moved in for a kill. Long body excelling at grappling and manipulating opponents. But registering the second beast was enough to give pause for a moment.

Once again, her powerful fangs distend from the approximation of a head, only to be joined by the claws extending from her digits. Venom flows alongside hatred from the Bandi. The connection she’d expected them to have to the shuddering facility was weaker than expected, they wanted to fight despite the fact they should know the feeling of her sting.

Her swaying form chitters a response to the creatures, a final warning given out of mercy as more of her ancient venom begins pooling inside her.

Whatever they did wasn’t fast enough and Chalaseek erupts a thick spray of venom from her jaws at one of the creatures, dashing in with incredible speed at the other, wrapping her form around it and biting over and over again.

 

[Kittenpom20]

Fahardrin

Hm. This was good. Fahardrin kept a metaphorical eye focused on the other technician starting to run away, gently kicking the one he had shot to make sure they were dead. They moved with the force of the impact, but didn’t awaken. He felt a twinge of guilt as he glanced at the lifeless body, shield still dissipating from their form. He picked up their weapon, somewhat pleased that he had acquired two weapons without damaging himself. He felt much better with something else that would scare away anybody stupid enough to try to engage him in combat.

Fahardrin followed the living technician at a distance to watch which direction they went in after exiting the room. Wherever they were hiding, he wanted to be sure he knew where they were going.

 

[Cirno]

Baskarmyna

Nothing comes to mind, inelegantly leaving her hands full. And there is still the barely hobbled one. She need not turn her head though. Her head light dims slightly just as a second one in the back opens wide and bright, as she gives the captured two an experimental shake.

Their bodies are resilient, yet their blows prove them weak, barely hatched things. Easy enough to return them to a nest, where they may squabble amongst themselves. She returns to the Cradle with gliding steps, stuffing them in (here the antlers prove useful) before tucking the canopy in around them with a few fist strikes.

All the while, she keeps an unblinking eye on the egress of the last technician.

 

[Plutoni]

ANGARAVANT

He stiffened almost mid-stride. The fire guttered, and Angaravant caught himself just before he stumbled, immediately hunkering down on some reflexive, animal instinct as if to defend himself from the unknown assailant that sent such daggers through his head. There was none, of course. It was all him. Rationality was still failing his disoriented mind amongst these strange halls and creatures and rust and detached memories of fire.

At last, with some mercy, the vision ebbed, a slow tide out having now spent its fury. He stilled himself, letting flames die down to curling smoke and drawing slowly upright once more, and for the first time since his wakening he truly began to consider his memory. Had that terrible inferno been his doing? Who even were they? An uncomfortable twinge of uncertainty shot through him just then, a sensation largely unfamiliar to the Vala. Why could he not remember? There was only haze as he tried to pry. Strange. But no, he reasoned - if it had been his doing, and it likely was, then by his past judgement it was entirely, unquestionably warranted. He had unerringly razed the enemies of the Magi in glorious fire before, and he would do so again. He even placated himself with the thought that he would not have been standing helpless as he watched innocents burn. He feared no fire - he was fire. He would have charged within the hab, to shield them, to rescue them, proof of the hero he and his people knew himself to be. The thought of his prestige, of course, satisfied him. He held himself up further once more, now confident in whatever actions of the past had led him thus, known or not. Still. A small corner of his mind made note to perhaps check the records once he returned to his home planet.

His vision regained focus upon the exit, now open and entirely empty if now stained with soot. He was in no hurry now, but with a quick glance around the room he decided there was no reason to delay. Angaravant resumed his stride on towards it without sparing even a glance for the charred shapes upon the floor, simply stepping over them should they lie in his way, and he moved out into the passages beyond with thoughts of his past success - no matter how little he could truly remember of it - bright in his mind’s eye.

 

[Transparent]

ASHVATH

Taking a moment to contemplate his options, Ashvath decided to head for the direction of the screaming. Perhaps it's owner could help him figure out where they were if he or she hadn't died yet. Striding down the corridor he honed his senses, attempting to notice anything else behind the rhythmic tapping of his steps. Curious, Ashvath sent the slightest breath of air outwards from his location, attempting to sense for any forms or any sort of presence through the change in air pressure. He wasn't quite sure if it would succeed but the task felt natural and effortless nonetheless.

 

[Grey]

• Fahardrin
• Chalaseek
• Baskarmyna
• Angaravant
• Ashvath

• 
  The technician turns left and runs to turn a corner, stops, and then turns back to you.
  It's paralyzed by fear. Caught between you and...
  
  Your psychic comms network chimes. A patch of heat and pressure appears on your skin. A name appears in your mind.
  ASHVATH
  
  Another Bandi, right around the corner.
  
• 
  The first creature writhes and wails as the venom takes effect.
  The second struggles but is so overwhelmed by your ferocity it can't even pierce your shields before it succumbs.
  
  Analyses are already being run on the blood you draw with every bite.
  
  50% optimized human tissue, thirty iterations advanced from last known benchmark. 40% inorganic materials, cannot analyze. 10% unidentified biological material, interfacing organic with inorganic, host to unrecognized power-
  
  
  YIELD TO US. LET US IN. BECOME ONE WITH THE NEW FLESH.
  
• 
  The last technician flees and is lost to sight as the door slams shut.
  
  A security lockdown. You should not be surprised.
  Since they are not purging the room, most likely reinforcements are en route. If there isn't another way out, you will likely have to burn a path through once the door reopens.
  
  And then you sense a soft chime in your mind. Familiar. The psychic song of another Bandi's presence broadcast over the datalinks.
  Angaravant
  
• 
  The corridors are dark, rounded. You get the distinct feeling this facility is spaceborne or perhaps on a small planetoid. Gravity is low but not quite indicative of a ship or station.
  Evidently these creatures have not mastered spacetime as your people had.
  
  As you pass a junction, finding your way simply by least resistance, you feelhear a chimetouch over your synaesthetic telemetry.
  Behind a sealed door to your right is another Bandi.
  Baskarmyna
  
• 
  You detect the alien before you see it, displacing your whiskers of air.
  It runs around a corner, freezes as it sees you, and then turns to run the other way- and stops.
  Curious. It puts you in mind of a cornered prey animal.
  Your extended senses carried on the air detect another figure beyond them - and your spellware pings in recognition.
  Another Bandi!
  Fahardrin
  

 

[Teh Frixz]

Chalaseek

The spike of the unknown causes a jolting shock inside the Chalaseek. Enough of a shock for the voracious Bandi to actually release her prey, reeling back. The lengthy body of the Soulcage spinning and rolling over itself as if trying to tie knots with her own form. Ancient symbols of the Magi flash across her vision and intense feelings of warning flood the bestial mind.

YIELD TO US.

No, I am Bandi. We are the unyielding, you are the writhing weakness of the pathetic galaxy

LET US IN.

No, I shall not. I eject, I reject, I hate

BECOME ONE WITH THE NEW FLESH.

I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE I HATE


The Bandi spasms again, rearing up in the air with half her body and rhythmically regurgitating the substances held inside her form. There was no true system of digestion inside the Bandi except the false, Magi interpretation of one. The ancient chunks of matter held inside her body from before her internment splatter against the ground alongside thick black bile that hissed as it struck the deck.

The Bandi shakes again from the exertion before her body self rights and in a quasi-conscious state, begins frantically heading towards the silent call of the void. Warnings flashing over anything and everything it could perceive as her body flared up from the desperate activation of shielding measures. Venom production was prioritized and continued in excess as it concluded that anything moving was the enemy and should be dispatched at a range until she left the vessel.

 

[Kittenpom20]

Fahardrin

Fahardrin was delighted that there were other Bandi on this vessel, and he wasn’t the only one being poked and prodded at. He was glad to have at least one ally for now. He sent a message to Ashvath through the comms system, his inner voice sounding confused and somewhat frustrated, but happy nonetheless.

Nice to see you, friend. Any idea what the hell is going on?

The technician, stuck between the two of them, looked back and forth frantically. In the meantime, Fahardrin approached them and lifted the rifle with one hand, shooting at about the same distance as he had shot the other.

 

[Cirno]

Baskarmyna
She peers about, initially expecting some gas to start venting or a disruptive wide-field sweep to initiate. She has no recollection of how the Enemy operates their cursed security.

Angaravant

The chimetouch fades into a hollow roar, the surge of heat from righteous flame. She starts twittering before the link for a channel is confirmed. A relieved rush of BandiBANDIBA--and she starts overlapping, slowing as she emits the sound of the alarm still going--di! Baskarmyna stops with a guilty chirrup.

At the same time, she rights the thrown table. She scoops up the first technician, holding them up by where their arms join to torso. Ignoring whether they have regained consciousness, she haphazardly jiggles them about in front of the door between her and Angaravant, hoping to activate whatever sensor allowed the last one to pass.