The Game: Beyond the End IC

Subject: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:51 pm

The Game: Beyond the End

In the space between, something stirred. A single tentacle hovered over a tiny speck on the universe bellow. This was where it would all begin, unbeknownst to the miniscule lifeforms residing within. The gargantuan mass had gone over this several times, but there was nothing else to do. It kept close watch on everything there ever was, is, and was going to be. Figuratively speaking. The being had no eyes, it didn't need any, it didn't want any. It sensed all things, down to every quark of every atom. Each neuroelectrical impulse of every creature in existence clearly spelled their thoughts to it. Nothing was hidden, but the time of change could rewrite it all.

This cycle had been relatively uneventful thus far, but the quiet was not to last. The combined devastation of all galactic wars past, present and future paled in comparison to what was to come. The Dreadmind could see the dead solar systems, hear the screams of the fallen, smell the burning worlds, and taste the blood spilt. Throughout it all it remained calm, indifferent. Every reset ended the same, and it wasn't its place to intervene. All it ever did was watch from the sidelines, that was it always had done, since before time itself existed. If and when the races failed, it would be there to pick up the pieces.

On the Garthedus homeworld of Titus

An armored shuttle docked at the massive ring surrounding the planet. Typically soldiers would rush out as the doors were opening, but this time the doors stopped in position before anyone disembarked. A lone man in a dark colored, organic looking exo suit jumped out and headed on his way. Only after he was gone did the shock troopers pile out.

Not all of Crystalis's missions required his personal transport, and his superiors thought it was good for the soldiers to see a legend in action every once in a while. He personally didn't care for glory, but he got plenty of it. That was for sure. His face was on recruiting banners and all over the net. There probably wasn't single citizen that didn't know about him. All would go silent and every eye would be upon him had he landed on the surface, here the full time guards and workers paid him less mind. The worst of his fans were the children, who possessed a bravery that others lacked. They came straight up to him, wanted to touch him, get pictures and autographs. He always disappointed them and just kept on walking.

Ahead of him there was something drawing attention other than himself. His sensors picked up the vibrations in the floor before making visual confirmation. It was none other than the robot bounty hunter, Atlas. The machine strode past him, clearly making it's way to the docks. Garthedus high command was one of it's top employers, in fact it was getting assigned missions that would normally go to him. Crystalis didn't care so long as the job was done right, and so far it has impressed. If that came out of Arkhan, what else could they have? They were at peace with the robot empire for now, but mining disputes were frequent. The machines are difficult to negotiate with as they only want raw materials, which is what they were searching for at the site anyways.

Crystalis was right about Atlas's destination, but not it's objective. It was picking up it's payment from last mission, not going on another. It found the number it was looking for and transmitted the code it was given. The blast door on the container opened and it scanned the contents. Everything was in order, and a portal swallowed the shipment whole. Most wouldn't be content with never getting a share of their labors, but Atlas was perfectly content.

Now it would pace walk around the ring offering it's services to anyone who pay it. It walked from one ship stall to another sending the same transmission. "Atlas. Hired muscle for raw materials." Most of captains didn't have need for it's services or wouldn't be able to pay it, so it continued along. It also was constantly checking for communications from any part of the galaxy from a potential employer.

On the Volinadi homeworld of Lumen

Tresi was in the temple of fate predicting the future of anyone with enough reputation, when she received a telepathic message. The council has need of you. She scowled and finished with her current task. Once finished with the fortune, she motioned for one of her sisters to take her place. With a quick look around to make sure everything was in order, she disappeared into thin air. Her destination was a blinding white room, where nine elegantly dressed members of the various races sat in backless seats suspended above her. It was always a challenge to hide her contempt from the weak minded political heads that thought themselves above all others. Her duty was to the good of the empire alone, not these soft fools.

Nonetheless she waited for one to speak, and they took their time, as always. Another show that they in control here. Since the birth of the Volinadi the separation of religion and politics had always been a big issue. Until they started taking in outsiders, and letting anyone believe what they want. Tresi refused to believe that anyone would forsake the true gods or accept enemies if their halls. In her mind it was a ploy to grant the council power over the church. It sickened her. One day she vowed that she'd have her chance to give them what was coming to them, but for now she played docile.

The priestess took to a knee and looked up. "How may I best serve the Volinadi?"

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:04 pm

Meanwhile, on the fringe of Harbinger territory, in a system inhabited by the Minotaurs, a figure floated slowly towards the center of the system. It was metal, ad looked of somewhat ancient design. As it traveled, a small particle struck it in its torso. In response, orange light began to shine from the slits in the joints of the being, and its eyes glowed orange as well.
Erebos awakened. He looked around slowly at the stars, contemplating how long it had been. Something on the order of one billion years by the looks of it, especially if he had been drifting for awhile. He fired energy from his feet, rotating himself so that he was pointing toward the inhabited planet. There was the technology, there was the metal, there was the power sources. He fired more energy and flew towards the planet.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:56 pm

Spoiler:

The 4284-2700 Maverick, currently 700,000 miles from Titus

The officers of the 4284-2700 Maverick was lined up single-file line across the ship's bridge. The bridge was remotely wedge-shaped, with the room's perimeter lined with computers and instruments. At the bulge of the wedge was a set of stairs which lead up to a luxurious black leather armchair: the captain's chair. On either side of the captain's chair was a panel of buttons which were the master controls of the ship. Behind the captain's chair was a frosted glass sliding door leading to the captain's quarters. A gold plaque on the door read in cursive script "Captain Richard Jackson". Those doors slid open, and from out of them came Captain Jackson; a 5'7" Oriental-looking man. His freshly-pressed silver-and-navy uniform was devoid of imperfections, and his ribbon rack practically sparkled. Jackson was a man who liked things to be neat and organized. As he reached the top of the stairs, the crewmembers simultaneously saluted. Jackson smiled and slowly began to descend the silver stairs. This was a good set of officers.

"At ease!" Jackson said when he reached the bridge's freshly-polished silver deck. The crewmembers dropped their saluting arm to their sides and kept perfect posture. Jackson smiled, and walked to the left end of the line. One-by-one, he shook the hands of each officer. Most were humans, but a few were some other humanoid species. About a third of the way down the line, Jackson found himself shaking the hand of his first mate, Melissa Morgan, a very attractive young human lady with pale white skin and black hair with streaks of blonde in it.

"Captain Jackson." Richard said when he shook her hand "And you must be Lieutenant Morgan. I've heard many good things about you from the Academy".

"I'm glad to be of service, Captain." Morgan said in a smooth, crystal-clear voice "I am honored to be such a high-ranking member of your crew. I will not fail you".

"Excellent. I'm sure that you will do an incredible job, Lieutenant." Jackson said, about to move on to the next crew member "By the way, that's a nice flower on your lapel." He pointed to the black rose with white edges pinned to Morgan's right lapel. She smiled lovingly as she looked down at the rose.

"Why thank you, Captain." she replied "My lover back on Titus gave it to me before he passed away a few years ago. It's one of my most precious objects".

"I'm sorry for your loss. You have my sincerest condolences." With that, Jackson moved to the next person in the line. When he concluded introducing himself to every crew member, Jackson walked over to the base of the stairs and ordered Lt.Morgan to retrieve the ship's mission orders, which were closed in a safe in the bridge so that no one could know the mission before the safe was opened. Melissa Morgan saluted, said "Yessir!" and turned on her heel in the direction of the safe. She strutted gracefully towards the safe and rolled her eyes when she knew no one could see them. "This disguise was particularly ridiculous," Rosea thought "Such a sob story". She arrived at the safe, a silver cube the approximate size of a microwave. The machine scanned her iris with a green laser and, affirming that this was indeed the first mate, opened with a loud whooshing sound. The moment the safe opened, the ship sent a signal to command on Titus saying that the mission had officially begun. Rosea took out the ship's orders, which was miraculously printed on real paper, and discreetly stowed them in the pocket of her jacket. She took a different set of orders out of the pocket on the opposite side of her jacket, and closed the safe. "Melissa Morgan" made her way back to the Captain and handed him the orders. He thanked her, and she took her position in the line. Jackson broke the seal on the orders, and read them to the crew. He activated a microphone on his collar which would broadcast what he was saying to the rest of the ship's crew.

"Crew of the 4284-2700 Maverick, your mission is to travel to Sardonne, an Enigma colony built on an asteroid in the Agneron Star system approximately 43 lightyears away. Once you arrive at the asteroid, you are to send diplomats chosen from amongst the officer's corps to negotiate a trade alliance with the Enigma colony. The colony leader, infamously known throughout the galaxy as the Wolf of Sardonne, has been notified of your arrival and intentions". Jackson finished reading the letter, which mostly reaffirmed the identity of the bridge crew members, and stowed it in his jacket pocket to store in his quarters later.

"Alright then!" Jackson said, his mic still on "All crewmembers to their stations! We're off for Sardonne!"

---

The Enigma colony of Sardonne is an egg-shaped asteroid nearly 3,000 miles in diameter. The asteroid shines intensely from the light of the blue sun Agneron. Most of the asteroid is covered in a metal shell in which the colonists live. Under the shells are mine shafts which pull up the diamond and take them to jewelers to be cut and sold. The colony is the richest in the Enigma Federation, and is worth over five hundred-seventy-quintillion drodes (the Enigma currency). Standing at the edge of the asteroid's primary hangar near the door to the colony's interior was an infamous figure throughout the galaxy: The Wolf of Sardonne. He stood with a guard wearing a heavy set of Lumien armor at either side of him, and his corgi Adele at his feet. He bent down at pet the dog on the head affectionately, and then stood up straight, his hands behind his back, clutching his black cane. He had two appointments today, one with the Harbingers, and one with the Garthedus. The Garthedus ship Maverick was supposed to get orders to attack Sardonne in retaliation for Enigma pirates taking over two military vehicles a few months before, but Wolfe didn't feel like fighting so he had the orders changed. Having an armada of shapeshifters was such an asset in a hostile universe. So now all Wolfe had to do was wait for his appointments to show up.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:48 am

"Delegate, you must understand that this will be a very touchy mission! We dont want to get on bad terms with the Enigma!" the captain said, putting his fingers around his snout in the equivalent of a human pinching his or her noes. "Okay, okay, okay. I got this. Okay... Lets try and figure this out. Because I highly doubt they're going to peacefully agree to give us the technology for an OMEGA bomb and singularity weaponry."

The Centaur on the other side of the communications rubbed it's chin, trying to think. There was no way they would allow both technologies to go to another race without wanting something in return, and the Harbingers didnt exactly want to give them a 'Hydra creation guide'. So they would have to do something else. "What about the singularity weaponry? The OMEGA bombs can be negotiated at a later date, but the singularity weaponry we might have a shot at getting them to share. Focus on that. We have scheduled an appointment with the Wolf of Sardonne on, you guessed it-" the Centaur began, only to be cut off by the captain once again. "Sardonne. I get it. Get in try to negotiate singularity weaponry, say thank you, and then get out. I will contact base for further instruction if there are complications. Anything else?" the captian questioned, crossing his arms across his chest. "No further instruction. Good luck Hunter Saro." The Centaur said, before hanging up.

The glass that was a head of the ship, affectionately named The Arrowhead, flickered as the Centaur delegate signed off. The captain turned around, and looked to the command and control crew that were at the head of the ship with him. "Alright ladies and aliens, lets move, lets move! We have our orders! Exi, set the course for Sardonne and fire up warp drive!" the Captain said, moving to the master board chair, where he sat. The captain was a large tall and muscular being. He was almost like a cross between a bird, reptile, and human. He had large and muscular triple joined legs with two large toes at the end of them, and had arms that by comparison seemed short, even though they were longer than the average human arm. His body was covered in light but strong armor underneath the clothing he wore, and an electrical energy shield protected his entire being from any sort of external damage. He had bright, yellowish green eyes that seemed to almost glow. His entire being radiated with an aura of intelligence and strength. His body was capable of seemingly impossible feats of athletics, such as sprinting at incredible speeds, jumping thirty feet high, or more. On the sides of each oh his two legs a holster sat, each holding an advanced pistol like weapon.

The ship jolted off, using it's warp drive and launching off in it's directed course. The ship flew at breakneck speeds through space, and was soon upon it's targeted location. The captain signaled down to the asteroid, making an attempt to connect to the asteroid below. He was received rather quickly, but that was normal, he was expected after all. "This is Captain Saro, captain of The Arrowhead and general of the Harbinger military orbiting Asteroid colony Sardonne, requesting permission to land in or near Sardonne's primary hangar. Awaiting direction." He said, standing up straight with his arms behind his back, as they could see him, but he could not see them. His response was a voice only reply. "The Wolf expects you, permission to land, granted."

Saro smiled and bowed slightly, which was customary of his culture, and as he stood back up to his full height spoke two words that were so seldom spoken. "Thank you." He said. The call was then ended, and the ship went through the standard landing procedure, which was entering the Asteroid's gravitational pull, and not crash landing, which as usual, because of the Arrowhead's stellar crew, was a perfect success. They landed the medium sized ship (which is still a few hundred feet easily) and maneuvered it into landing position. The captain, who was fully aware that they had landed, removed the guns from their holsters, and made his way to the bottom of the ship where he could exit. Several other Harbinger of various races joined him on his way down, having business themselves on the asteroid to tend to. He would wait by his ship until he was summoned, as he had been alerted that there was another meeting the Wolf had scheduled that day besides his own. So he would not intrude. Someone would have been notified of his arrival, after all, he had been given permission to land, and it was hard to miss a several hundred foot ship landing in a base's back yard.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:35 pm

(A little short for the music I know... but still.)

1... Blackness... The ever present color -Or lack thereof- that dominated the vast expanses of the universe. 2... Distant stars, hundreds-thousands-millions-billions of lightyears away, shining their feeble light, to illuminate the silhouette of The Challenge. 3... A bright flash, contrasting greatly against the dark backdrop of space. Then nothing, as if the ship had never been there at all.

Meanwhile 160 light years away, the ship reappeared, accompanied by another bright flash, as the fabric of reality realigned itself.

Glycius flexed his long arms, bumping his hands on the ceiling, and pressed a button on she ship's faintly glowing console, which activated the ship's quantum computer, starting the teleport sequence. The scene shown through the glass changed to one of color, as he drew closer to a multi colored nebula of turbulent gas. The HUD projector -Affixed to a pair of glasses, that more clung than sat, on the front of his face- showed that this was the nebula called: The Orion Molecular cloud.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:54 pm

Erebos came within range of the planet and began his descent. Energy fired from the bottom of his feet to slow him as he fell feet first through the atmosphere, ahead of his, the air thickened slightly, slowing his fall but parting enought to avoid the usual reentry flames. He steered towards a civilized area where there was a larger concentration of space craft coming from.
He impacted the ground with a thud, much softer than any meteorite would have. The ground cracked under him slightly, as he stood up. He then proceeded to walk towards the spaceport of the Minotaur planet.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:06 am

Also on the 4284-2700 Maverick, currently 700,000 miles from Titus

Artifex was currently miffed. She had just finished overseeing the theft of some beautifully done botanical pictures of plants native to the immensely biodiverse planet, Azulu and was just about to go home to a nice spa and maybe a fancy espresso and some bon-bons, depending on if Mark had raided her refrigerator or not, when she had been called off to both spy on a covert Enigma operation and then, depending on how suckish they were, offer a certain amount of help from her employer. Needless to say, she was as far to the left of happy as was emotionally possible for her.

So, that being the case as well as her foul mood for lack of coffee this morning, it was only logical for her to disguise herself as Captain Jackson’s coffee mug, absorbing the original contents before discretely pushing the mug off the control console and into a nearby trash bin with one console patterned tentacle while no one was looking, to distracted by Jackson’s introductions, before taking the mugs place, shape, size and color. She even left Jackson a bit of coffee, although that was now mostly the dregs and would probably taste like it had snot mixed in as well if Jackson tried drinking it. She’d get a laugh out of this whole thing if nothing else if that were to happen.

Anyway, Jackson was doing his overly optimistic introductions and so far the go-get-em attitude of the captain and the crew were boring her to death, although the sad sally sob story with the black rose was a bit humorous given Jackson found the girl attractive initially. Initially because you don’t tend to flirt or sweet talk someone after your first attempt at a compliment brought up a tragically deceased lover. That’d be bad form and would result in only resentment. Which could be entertaining to watch if Jackson turned out to lack a truly impressive amount of tact. Which, so far, he did not. Oh well. It was going to be a long and boring trip to Sardonne.

----------
Meanwhile, on Sardonne:

Nothing. Nothing. 4 cats, allergic, gift from his granddaughter, sentimental. Nothing. Affair. Nothing. Contemplating abortion, no proposal forthcoming. Bleh. Nothing. Nothing. Why is everyone so determined to be as boring as possible today? Ugh. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Boring. This is boring. The universe is boring. Why is everything so boring? I should file a complaint. No, no, no, it’d get lost in the quantum foam under a pile of branal paperwork. Pointless. Useless. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing!

Just as Exo was about to do something stupid like try and swap the contents of the two people in front of its bags to see how long it would take them to notice, something, or rather someone, marched through its field of vision, with an overly self-confident expression despite the fact that Exo had seen her on the news about a 2 hours ago pleading ‘the good people of Azulu’ to come forth with any leads or information they might have about a series of thefts from the planets world heritage sights. And now she was marching through an airport terminal with a look of upmost confidence and seemingly not a care in the world.

Oooh, now that’s suspicious…

Exo turned in heel, causing two humans and an Enigma to dodge out of the way while toting shopping bags and carry-ons at its sudden change in speed and direction. Exo was too engrossed in trailing after a relatively short ethnic alien dressed in rather elaborate and native Indian clothes walking in the opposite direction of the Azuilan terminal to either notice or care about the disturbance it had just caused.

It followed her around the corner of the terminal and had to pause for a few seconds, peering out from behind the white plastic wall that separated the dimly lit airport terminal passageways from the contrastingly brightly illuminated open sphere shape of the shopping center into which its quarry had just entered, making a bee line for a high end jewelers store adjacent from a clothes store and a barber salon. Drat. Exo could hardly follow her in there. It recognized the shop keeper who had wanted to pay it to relocate a rather large collection of stolen diamonds a few months back and it had made a point of telling him that it would never in a million years waste its time or money on a useless assortment of rocks that you couldn’t even bash people’s heads in with. At least, that’s what it remembered saying. It could have been something very different as it was a little bit intoxicated at the time. By no fault on its part of course. It could hardly be held accountable for angry coworkers and beta inhibitors. Either way, there was not the slightest chance it was going anywhere near the shop owner as that could only end up disastrously for it and ruin any and all animosity it had at the moment. So, it was either the barber or the clothes store, and seeing as it had no hair to speak of the barber would only looks suspicious. Clothes store it was.

It sprinted across the 30 foot open space of the mall, ducking behind a few trashcans half way through just for the heck of it before doing a completely unnecessary ninja roll into the next spot of cover which just happened to be an outlying circular clothes rack covered in about 50 different children’s costumes, mostly populated by spandex super hero outfits and sparkly pink dresses. Clearly it was around Halloween time. Good, so it knew what month it was again. It had lost track once the pink and green eggs started appearing in storefronts around the universe. It was only then that it realized it had been whistling the mission impossible theme song since spotting its newest suspect in the Azulian World Heritage theft. Oh well. It was a rather good song; no reason why it should stop now, the suspect was too engrossed in examining a fairly expensive set of Carbyne -Carbyne the strongest known material to date- necklaces to notice a clothes rack apparently whistling the Mission Impossible theme song. It stood up from a crouch and looked out of the center of the clothes rack at the people around it, almost all of which had, incredibly, not noticed its antics. Stupid self-absorbed people. Hardly their fault though, their brains were like peas suspended in a layer of jello. Useless and quite frankly disgusting. So, seeing as everyone here currently belonged in the category of life form that encompasses nearly everyone, idiots, it figured it would be perfectly safe to try and move the entire rack of clothes with in hidden inside closer to the Jewelry store, ensuring the shop owner wouldn’t stand a chance of recognizing it.

Gradually, it began inching the clothes wrack closer and closer to the Jewelers store, but only moving in quick one foot bursts before freezing again for a few seconds, hopefully to minimize the amount of people who would notice it, and partially to see how many would.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:40 am

On the 4284-2700 Maverick, currently 700,000 from Titus

Agent Katherine Hunter was present with the ships officers, but she wasn't a part of the crew. High Command had given her a different set of orders, unbenounced to anyone else here. One's that she had no intention of carrying out. You see the real her had been completely incinerated, no evidence remained. The imposter that took her place was a perfect replica of the woman in every way. Even the personality all the way down to habits and nervous reactions were identical.

If anyone else had been impersonated the Enigma's plan would have failed, the real agent would have contacted Titus about the fake orders. The Garthedan government may be compromised, but not all the way up the ladder. However this was no lucky break for the Enigma, they weren't the only ones working behind the scenes. They themselves had been infiltrated, and were being used as much as Garthedus. Her hands were folded neatly behind her back as she waited for Captain Jackson to finish his speech and take them to Sardonne.

Once the officers went back to their stations, Eris stood against the wall behind Jackson. She didn't say a word, simply standing rigid and looking past him at the stars stretching by. In her hand was a holotablet, and she idly marked something on it. For the time being she still had to send information back, or the whole thing would be blown. Another reason was to put both parties on edge alike. The crew might assume they were being evaluated, while her presence was a clear sign to the Enigma that they didn't have all the intelligence. Turns out neither did she.

The mug was recognized for what it was, through advanced detection methods, but Eris didn't know exactly why it was there. It didn't really matter to her. The more parties present when she executed her plan the better.

In the middle of nowhere

A sudden anomaly appeared in range of The Challenge, the teleportation system and engines went offline simultaneously. It appeared to be a brown spec in the distance, and it was getting closer. The ships censors registered that the object was square, before the edges were distinguishable to the naked eye. It quite clearly resembled a giant cardboard box, scrawled on the side was Teh Black Market. The the ship stopped. Everything was now dead except life support and the hatch.

For a few minutes everything was still, and Glycius was stuck in his ship. But then a cardboard tube extended from the box and made a tight seal around the hull. A hatch appeared on the vessel, and it opened on it's own accord. The sound of a rabble could be heard from within.

(I'll have a better post once he goes inside, unless you want him to sit in the ship of course.)

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 3:09 am

Vanos'Vrarock.

Just another day on the job. For one of the universe's finest (Or most reckless and insane) mercenaries; Vanos. He had arrived at the Wolfe of Sardonne's ship's hangar. Taken his magical space bicycle straight there. It was rare for him to be hired by such... Illustrious galaxy-scale criminals. It stroked his ego harder than ever before. He had been hired to come here for some mission. He forgot what... Bodyguard? He'd figure that these bo-zos would gladly tell him what he was going to be paid. It didn't matter what he did - As long as the money's good, he'll do anything. Unless the mission is rigged, or not worth it, of course. Then Vanos has the common sense to back out because he doesn't want anymore problems on his plate. He's already just a drunken scumbag to the galaxy at large. Vanos stood in the center of the hangar, arms crossed. There was one thing he knew not to do when on a stranger's ship; wander around like an idiot. That'd be like painting a shoot me sign on his @ss. He was hired to come here, it'd be unlikely that his arrival would come unnoticed. Vanos knew there'd be people here soon.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 4:53 am

Spoiler:

Across from the jewelry shop where Agatha was and the boutique where Exo spied on her from was a music store selling a wide variety of musical instruments from all over the galaxy. The gargantuan shop was about three times larger than the average boutique in the mall, and was filled with everything from bongos to violins to strange alien wind instruments. Near the front entrance of the store, where the Lumien instruments were sold, stood Flaeron Atramakis-Ansaie, a young Drae'kon clad in a black kimono-like uniform. Colors were very symbolic to Drae'kons; the color black meant quiet and peace, though some interpreted it as meaning deception or thievery. In Flaeron's clawed hands was a small black lyre-like device with strings made of green lasers: a light harp. Flaeron looked down at the tag, which read "300 D". This, of course, was not very expensive for a spacefaring secret agent, but a lyre was cumbersome when on a secret mission. Flaeron took the lyre up to the cash register, who was manned by an Enigma disguised as a young teenaged human girl who looked absolutely thrilled to be working on a saturday evening. He slipped her a few Drodes and asked her to put it behind the counter for when he got back from the mission at hand. There were pirates afoot, and Flaeron had just found a great adversary to assist himself and Myre in thwarting them.

Flaeron thanked the cashier politely and walked across the marble-floored hall to the boutique in which Exo was hiding. He politely nodded to several people, and bowed ceremoniously to a fellow Drae'kon which he came across, who was wearing a green kimono. They chatted for a few moments in Drakan, the Drae'kon language (sounds like a mixture of Japanese, snake hisses, and African clicking), and then moved on. Flaeron nodded curtly to the cashier at the front of the boutique, and began to browse a few racks of clothing near the one in which Exo was hiding. He approached Exo's hiding place cautiously, and began to sift through the clothes.

"Good evening, my dear friend." Flaeron said, not making eye contact with Exo "I assume that you're here tracking Ms.Agatha of the Fruillian Empire? I do not know why she doesn't have a last name, though. I do not like addressing people by their first names unless I know them well, for it is impolite. In my culture, referring to an elder by their first name is punishable by public humiliation. It is often the root of duels as well, as our people are so proud of their families." Flaeron, not wanting to blow Exo's cover, never once looked directly at him and instead perused a selection of 40% off silver sport coats. They were quite eye-catching, but Drae'kons could only wear certain clothing in accordance with their traditional customs.

---

Three Enigma guards, both clad in the same Lumien battle armor as the first two, soon approached the Harbinger landing party. Two took position in the front of the group, and one in the back, making a triangle around the diplomats.

"The Wolf has been expecting you." the two in the front said in unison "Follow us and we shall take you to him". The Enigma guards turned and began to walk towards the entrance into the inside of the shell. They took an elevator down to the mall floor, and were joined by four more armed guards at the bottom, who formed a square around the triangle of guards. The group made their way down the marble halls, passing the boutique that Flaeron and Exo were in. Flaeron made note of them but did not act any further; Myre was already in possession of Wolfe's location. After about ten minutes of walking, the Enigma arrived at the hangar, where The Wolf of Sardonne was now waiting inside, his two guards still standing resolute.

"Ah, velcome, velcome." Wolf said when the Harbinger diplomats approached "I am le Wolf of Sardonne, the president of this colony. I am pleased to meet your acquaintance. He shook hands with Saro "May I have your name, monsieur?" he finished with. Vanos was soon greeted by two more guards wearing that same armor. They walked towards him in unison, as if they were robotically controlled, though both were Enigma.

"You are Vanos'Vrarock of the Zarethian Monarchy, appointed by The Wolf of Sardonne as his personal security detail. You will come with us to meet the Wolf". They turned and began to walk towards the hangar doors slowly.
---

Spoiler:

(keep playing the first song, and click on this one. Awesome combo)

The crew members were all at their stations, and a report came up from the Engine Room that the compression drive was ready to fire. Captain Jackson now reclined in his chair, the touch screen master panels at either side of him all lighting up green. At the bottom of the stairs were two security guards, both wearing a traditional grey-and-navy blue military uniform and both holding railgun rifles. They were the captain's personal security team, and were responsible for protecting Captain Jackson and the master control panels by his chair. Lieutenant Morgan stood at his right side, her hands folded behind her back and her head held high, surveying the bridge. The massive computer monitor opposite the captain's chair showed a front view of the ship, which now consisted of a flurry of far-away stars and the blinking hazard lights of a few stray cargo starships. Jackson exchanged glances with Morgan, and grabbed his coffee cup.

"Start the compression drive!" he yelled out "Set co-ordinates for 666, 323-Alpha Quadrant!" A flurry of typing from Lieutenant Chrism, the ship's navigator, could be heard, and he replied in a Germanic accent "Co-ordinates queued captain! Are we ready to start?" Captain Jackson looked over the control panels and took a sip of his coffee. He grimaced when the bitter, slimy brew touched his lips, causing him to put the cup down on the ledge atop the left control panel. All systems were go; everything looked perfect.

"Fire compression drive!" Captain Jackson said, hitting a green button on the touchpad panel. Another flurry of typing waved across the room, and a loud roaring like the bleat of a jet engine overtook the cacaphony of the bridge. The noise stopped, and the space in front of the ship seemed to zoom out, an effect of faster-than-lightspeed travel. Soon the cosmos displayed on the screen stopped zooming out, and the screen began to flash with the blinding light of a million stars passing them by. Even at however-many-thousand times light speed the drive was taking them, it would still take about a half hour for the ship to travel to Sardonne. Captain Jackson sat back in his chair and hit the reclining toggle pad on the right arm. The chair reclined about twenty degrees, and a footrest popped out, supporting the captain's feet.

"We're on our way, captain!" Morgan said with a fake girlish smile on her face.

"Yes, we are, though I suppose the bigger issue right now is the government officer leaning against the wall behind the two of us, who may come and address me now that she is no longer secretly watching. "Morgan" pretended to jump when she turned and saw the woman standing behind Captain Jackson's chair, though she obviously already knew that the woman was there. Rosea didn't miss details like that, which was one of the reasons why she was still alive.

"So tell me, ma'am." Captain Jackson said "How did you get on my ship? I was not told that someone of such high rank had been posted to my crew, and I did not see you when I introduced myself to the officers." Rosea motioned to the security guards, who turned 180 degrees and began to walk up the stairs towards the captain's chair. So here was her first threat; having a government official onboard was going to cause problems when the ship arrived at Sardonne and didn't attack. The official had not heard the new set of orders, and so would be a big problem if Jackson read them to her. Rosea internally smiled, though externally kept a slightly shocked look on her face, like a damsel in distress from an eighties soap opera. She would have to "take care" of this official before the ship came home.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 4:54 pm

Exo peered out of the space between two of the shirts Flaeron was pretending to be examining, a extremely sarcastic expression on its face. “In my culture, ergo everyone’s culture, knowing more than the common man is punishable by all manner of things ranging from name calling, attempted humiliation and in extreme cases death.” It looked back at what Agatha was doing, -handing over a thick stack of Drodes in exchange for the necklace- then turned back to Flaeron and stated in a matter of fact tone; “That’s a stupid tradition.” It looked Flaeron over suspiciously as if trying to place where it might have seen him before continuing. “Names are for identifying objects or people and if half the population of your planet had different first names but the same last name and you’re supposed to address everyone only by their last name, how are you supposed to tell them apart?”

It paused, doing an impression of some haughty individual with its nose stuck high in the air and spat out in a annoyingly nasal sounding voice “Willson, my last name is Wilson.” Then immediately changed to impersonate a ridiculously shocked expression and exclaimed in mock amazement and enthusiasm;

“O’realy? My last name is also Wilson, Mr. Wilson! Isn’t that such a coincidence! Everyone I’ve met today is called Wilson! If only there was a way to tell each Wilson apart, It’d make everything so much simpler!” As soon as it finished talking its expression changed abruptly back to its usual slightly irritated state.

“See the problem with that custom? It defeats the entire purpose of a names function, just to appease people’s overly large egos for the sake of heritage pride. I believe Agatha’s culture selects a random member of their populace for ruler at random and defects anyone who is happy about the change. Thus why her entire outfit is constructed of weapons of some form. She probably was a harvester for the Droslea Corporation originally so she has a distinct distrust of her fellow man as the drug trade on Azulu is extremely cut-throat. And in that environment, the last thing you want is a last name that can be traced back to your family. It’s a safety measure more than anything. Although if you must have a last name for her, you could just call her Christie and that should get a good laugh if nothing else.”

Exo shrugged as if the potentially scandalous and not publicly recognized information it had just doled out was entirely inconsequential before adding on in an extremely flippant fashion “Oh yeah, and I know you’re here on a mission –what with the no-eye contact and pretend shopping- but I don’t think we’ve ever met, although as you’ve started off with ‘My dear friend’ and avoided saying my name, as I only have the one –Which I got the same way the Americans got the song Yankee Doodle from the Brits- it’s apparent you’re already aware of who I am and are either seeking to recruit me to your mission -which likely has something to do with Wolfe- or are just here for a chat which would be odd as we’ve never met. Unless of course, I got the date wrong again and am in the wrong timeline which is looking more and more likely be the second.”

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 03, 2013 10:04 pm

Erebos walked through the entrance to the spaceport, and took in his surroundings. Somewhere here was a suiteble transport, or at least a method of transport. He began to walk toward the docking area, looking for one that suited his neccesities. No doubt the commander of the vessel would be less than enthusiastic to part with it, but he didn't care. All these beings were merely useless occupants of the universe, all of them expendable.
He approached one of the ships, and made a crushing motion with his hand, crumpling the door and any security fields. He entered the ship, going to the bridge first. Once there, he put his hand on the control console. Immediately he began to download the database of the navicomputer, giving him the required information for faster than light travel.
Once this was complete, he went to the engine compartment, searching for the FTL drive. He located it, and explored it, learning in seconds how it worked and everything else about it. He waved his hand, and the machine separated from the rest of the engine, and settled onto his back. As it did this, his back began to shift, as he integrated and absorbed the drive into himself.

A minute or two later, he walked out of the ship, and continued out of the spaceport through the same doorway he had entered from. Once outside, flames poured from the bottom of his feet, and the air ahead of him parted as an invisible force moved it aside, setting it back into place behind him and providing a boosting effect as Erebos rose quickly into the sky. After he had attained orbit, he consulted his navicomputer, setting a course for the nearest planet, and jumped away.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:24 am

On the Volinadi homeworld of Lumen

Tresi couldn't believe her current assignment, her impression of the council dropped even further, if that was even possible. They had just told her to do the impossible like it was the most casual task. Not only that, but they had assigned her partner. One she absolutely couldn't stand. The man was a monster, a freak. The laws prevent the use any test subject that can feel pain, so he experiments on himself. It'd be one thing if he was in the cosmetic industry, but instead he creates bio enhancers and chemical weapons. It was a wonder that he wasn't more mutated, or still alive for that matter.

Still that wasn't the biggest issue at hand. They were expected to work with another Garthedus, to bring down one of the most notorious being in the galaxy. Wedge. There was very little known about him, except that he's a thief that can bypass any security. He's even taken items from dimensional vaults. His suspected motives is thrills, simply because nothing he takes is particularly useful by itself. Machine and weapon components, furniture, clothing, knick knacks, and other random things. He appears, makes a mess of things, then leaves. What's also interesting is that every time he seen by at least one bystander. Surely that must be intentional, right? There was no way of knowing. For the first time in her career Tresi accepted the possibility of failure before getting started. There was no way this target would be found, unless he wanted to be. They would have been better off sender her after Eris.

Her path was taking her into the bowels of the floating city, into the restricted section. Thing's weren't so bright and elegant in it's depths. The walls were a steely grey, and halls were minimally lit. While Tresi did have night vision, she'd hate living down here. Most of those that worked down in the place lived on the surface. The doctor was an exception. She hated having to fetch him herself, why didn't the council summon him along with her? She was above doing this.

She stopped in the middle of the corridor and waved her hand at the wall. The material seemed to shimmer, and the priestess stepped on through. Inside was more or less what she expected, a large laboratory. An operating table table covered in various instruments was directly in her way, making clear that nobody had entered or exited for some time. One side of the room was covered in a bank of holo projectors; there was numerous security feeds, video logs, and the news network. She could see herself on a screen, but where was Valom? The man was odd, so it wouldn't surprise her if he was hiding among the large chemical vats that dominated the room. Tresi pushed aside the table, making sure to make a loud noise. It would be best not to startle him. As she made her way around the center, something caught her attention. A syringe was unceremoniously discarded on the floor, there was still some liquid left in it. As she bent down to examine the label, a thud came from behind. The air rippled and there stood the muscular lizard man.

"I'll count this trial as a success, it was convenient that you happened by. I had no way of gauging the true effectiveness of the cloak prior to now." He pulled out a tablet that looked tiny in his oversized hand and enter some data with his clawed digits. "Now please, follow me."

On the Garthedus homeworld of Titus

Crystalis received a transmission from a secure channel, over it spoke the familiar voice of the Garthedus leader himself. "We have another mission for you, and this time you won't be alone. Atlas has been effective, if blunt tool. You two are going to rendezvous with two of the Volinadi at these coordinates." The location was automatically inputted into the suits navigation system. "For this mission consider them your superiors and do whatever they ask." The message ended abruptly, which wasn't uncommon. He didn't like knowing nothing about the assignment, and especially taking orders from another government. It must be really important or they wouldn't have lent their best soldier to the task.

The moment the line closed the incessant soliciting of Atlas was replaced with. "Under new orders." It back tracked until it came upon Crystalis. "When will you be ready to leave?" The machine almost sounded impatient, like it wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible so it could accept another one. There was still some time to kill before they were to meet up. "Thirty minutes and we'll go." No response was issued, Atlas remained motionless and silent. Crystalis started off towards the hangar, and it followed.

On the 4284-2700 Maverick

Eris didn't waste a second in replying to the Captain. "I walked on board just like anyone else, high command wanted to keep tabs on this mission." She pulled out a slim tube with button on top and a projector down one side. With a press her badge and clearance were presented to Jackson. She gave him time to read it, meanwhile she continued talking. "That means I'm doing my job correctly. Allow me to make your acquaintance, I'm Agent Hunter." He'd already have seen her name on the projection, but it was only polite. At this time she put away the badge and put on a friendly smile. "Just go about business as usual, like I was never here." At that moment something popped up on her tablet. "Excuse me. I've got something I need to attend to." With that she took a step back and tapped back a correspondence.

She was also looking over the woman who appeared startled to see her. To most eyes everything looked in order with the exception of the black rose. It was uncustomary for a Garthedan to be wearing any sort of flower regardless of the occasion. Of course that alone wasn't enough to suspect her of anything, could just be that she transferred from another empire. Unless of course she was never a real person and was just added to the computer system. Eris found Gartehdus to be particularly easy target for data manipulation. The other empires were not much more difficult, for her at least. Her knowledge of the parties in this operation was evidence of that. Lieutenant Morgan was none other than Madam Rosea, a skilled operative of the Enigma. Maybe the black rose was a trademark of hers. Wearing it openly showed confidence on her part, and exposed the nativity of Garthedus on matters like this.

It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what she'd be thinking. Agent Katherine Hunter was a liability to her operation. Rosea would likely wait until she was alone and try to take her out least she reports that there was a change of plans. Eris was anticipating this before she set foot on the ship and already had it planned out. The sake of her plan relied on Garthedus and the Enigma being unaware of her presence. If she fought back like she normally would her cover would be blown. This situation was going to have to be handled delicately.

Orbiting the Enigma colony of Sardonne

A mechanical gyroscope, 50 feet in diameter passed over the inhabited part of the asteroid. It looked rather fragile, barely held together, parts and wiring exposed. Despite this it had a certain menace to it. Guns pointing in every which direction will do that to just about anything. The proximity to the outpost would definitely require identification, if they didn't just open fire for already being so close and clearly armed. However, a powerful cloaking field prevented this from happening. Diva never asked permission before going anywhere, but she did decide to wait for an inbound ship before touching down.

This happened to be the Arrowhead. Diva waited until it had almost touched down before beginning her own descent. It remained in stealth all the way until the moment she landed, at which time the contraption just disappeared. This left the android like entity just standing on the landing pad. The group that escorted the other party away was long gone. She just started walking, waiting to see how long it'd take the Enigma to notice a unauthorized person in a place generally only accessible to ships

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:00 am

Vanos'Vrarock.

Maxx wrote:: "You are Vanos'Vrarock of the Zarethian Monarchy, appointed by The Wolf of Sardonne as his personal security detail. You will come with us to meet the Wolf"

"That I am." Vanos spoke, blankly. Observing the two guards very closely as they approached. Just from looking at the way they walked he could tell that they were well trained - Or very good robots. He couldn't tell. Then again those Enigmas are weird. It was best that he keeps on their good-side. He had no intention of starting trouble - If anything does go down, he's going to haul @ss for the hangar and grab a ship... Which would work great until he realizes he can't fly an Enigma ship. Well, it wouldn't exactly be the worse situation that he survived. Vanos started walking, arms crossed, his posture appearing somewhat awkward. As a sign of good-will, he decided to keep his hands away from his guns. So, he walked to the Wolfe's position, following behind the two guards that were sent to escort him. All he was hoping for was that the pay was good and the job was easy.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:09 am

Somewhere near the Orion molecular cloud

Glycius sat, seeing as drastic measures were not quite necessary yet, observing the object until it was close enough that he, having extremely sensitive eyes, could discern the writing on the box. The box extended an insubstantial looking cardboard tube, which clamped on to his ship, and a large hatch appeared where the tube had connected. Frowning, Glycius determined that reality must be being warped in order for his ship to go dead and a door to appear "out of thin air".

Glycius checked the power room, the wiring, the quantum generator, and the power supply couplings.

Donning a light space suit that was essentially just a radiation/gamma/beta ray shield, and a tightly fitting space helmet, Glycius peered through the doorway that had appeared in his ship. Slightly garbled voices and and cheesy music were relayed over the speakers in his helmet. What else is there to do? I don't really have much of an option other than abandoning my ship.
Glycius teleported to the end cardboard hall, and looked into the room before him.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:49 am

Teh Black Market

A large bar dominated the room, but it was no ordinary bar. It was a giant, golden, floating cube, with gears all over it. It was approximately 50 feet away and just as far off the ground. There were patrons on all six sides of of the thing, as if gravity was different for each surface. The occupants on the bottom were right side up to Glycius, the bottoms of the bar stools on the side facing him were exposed, while the left and right groups were seated sideways and those on top upside down. A closer look would reveal that all of the customers looked identical. Small, brown, and fury. Not a single one order alcohol, instead in all of their hands was a purple soda can labled Dr. Wedge.

The floor below was also bustling with activity. The same rodent like species were purusing stalls, or playing carnival style games. All the merchandise and prizes from these were ancient junk. Car tires, old leather boots, rusty cans, and so on. A look around would reveal that all the other walls had different activities going on. A combat arena with a brown mass of spectators encircling it. Explosions could be heard from a full scale race track on the opposing wall, where it looked like missiles were being fired at the racers. On the ceiling flashing lights from slot machines could be seen amongst card tables and various other casino games. The far wall was completely enshrouded in unnatural darkness, making what lies within impossible to discern.

From the side of the wall Glycius entered from a lollipop fell from a candy factory above. Following it came a four foot all beaver, it's mouth completely stuffed with cigars. When it hit a cartoon like hole shaped exactly to it's silhouette appeared in the cardboard floor just in front of him. The cigars didn't break, and were included in it's shape, nor did breaking through let in the vacuum. A moment later Wedge crawled out of the hole and took grasp of the sucker. He then attempted to ram it into his already loaded mouth repeatedly without any success. No attention was paid to Glycius whatsoever.

Mid Jump

An unknown force pulled Erebos out of warp, reducing him from FTl speeds to a sudden halt. A little ways in the distance was the same cardboard box that Glycius had been drawn to. Except his ship was nowhere to be found on it's outside. A moment later it started to get closer and closer until it looked like it was going to ram him. At the moment of impact instead of colliding with the box, he phased right through it. Everything was dark, and demented looking smiley faces surrounded him. Then Erebos was deposited unceremoniously next to Glycius and Wedge, who ignored this newcomer as well.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sun Dec 08, 2013 7:04 am

Erebos studied his new environment. He was surrounded by technology and metal.....but it was different...and in fact rather useless looking apart from raw material. He looked over at the rodent that was licking the lollipop and smoking the cigars at the same time with disgust. What place is this? he wondered to himself.
He stood up, easily dwarfing Wedge and Glycius. He looked at the rodent, and was about to pick him up, but he noticed that the cigars seemed to be putting out a tremendous amount of heat, more in fact than they should ever have been able to. He decided that perhaps it might not be a good idea to get any nearer. "Who are you, and what is this place?" he asked, addressing Wedge.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 09, 2013 5:56 pm

Sardonne

"Ah, so you've been time travelling again." Flaeron replied, a smile still on his face. He knew Exo well despite Exo's not knowing him, and knew that Exo's insulting his culture was not meant to be offensive; it was just what Exo did. This strange quirk often perturbed Flaeron, but he would not criticize Exo for it, as this would be sinking down to the level of his accusers. Drae'kons were taught the virtues of patience and acceptance. Drae'kon children are taught the idea of turning the other cheek to enemies when combat can be avoided; this is a lesson that made the Drae'kons so peaceful before the fighting with the Lumiens began.

"I will not speak out against your misunderstanding of my people's customs, Exo." Flaeron replied politely "But I will not compromise my beliefs. Anyways, I am Flaeron Atramakis-Ansaie, a friend of Agent Myre's an an IGIA agent myself. Myre and I are here investigating an Enigma crime syndicate lead by the Wolf of Sardonne. Perhaps you would like to assist us? I-" Flaeron froze when he saw something in the corner of his eye move. His tail rose up in a scorpion-like manner, ready to strike any attacker. Flaeron backed up a step, and looked around. Something that shouldn't be moving had definitely just moved. He looked around frantically for a moment, his warrior instincts kicking in, and leaned back on the clothing rack.

"Exo, I think we need to go right now." he said "We're being ambushed. I AH!" The round clothing rack shot up several feet and smacked Flaeron in the jaw. He stumbled backwards, and slashed at the rack with his tail, slicing it. The silver jacket on the rack that he had just been examining flew off of its hanger and extended its sleeves elastically. They wrapped around Flaeron's neck and squeezed tightly, choking him. Another similar jacket grabbed Exo by the throat and threw it across the store. Exo went careening through the glass and crashed into a potted plant in the middle of the mall hallway, which shattered explosively upon impact with it. Flaeron stumbled backwards, wrestling with the shirt, and was eventually able to slice its arms off with his tail. The "shirt" screamed and turned into the teenaged girl from the music store, who was indeed an Enigma. Both of her arms were missing, but she didn't look particularly perturbed about it. The bleeding stopped almost instantaneously, and the girl grew two new arms. "Like, totally not cool dude!" she said in a perfect valley girl voice. "This is why no one likes teenagers." Flaeron said, drawing his sword and poising his tail to strike.

In another part of the mall, the hangar doors slid open. The two guards entered with Vanos and bowed when they saw Wolfe. They stepped back to either side of the hangar doors as they closed shut, leaving Wolfe and Vanos with another set of guards and the adorable Adele, who sauntered up to Vanos and began to sniff him cautiously. If anyone ever tried to hurt Adele, Wolfe would execute them swiftly and painfully, causing the dog to be rather curious around strangers.

"Bonjour, mon ami." Wolfe said to Vanos as he entered "Velcome to Sardonne. You are Vanos, oui?"

---

The Maverick, currently in hyper drive en route to Sardonne

"Yes ma'am." Jackson said begrudgingly, calling off he guards and saluting "My apologies for the misunderstanding. Lieutenant Morgan, could you kindly follow me into my office, please?" Jackson slid his key card through the locking mechanism of the door to the captain's office, and the door slid open seamlessly. Morgan followed Jackson into the office, and the door closed again behind her, the lock making a decisive "click" noise as it locked. The room was about 20ft x 20ft, and was extravagantly furnished with well-polished carved mahogany furniture. In the center of the room was a carved mahogany desk with a touch screen built into the counter and a few spare knickknacks -a Newton's cradle and a scale model of the Maverick. Jackson sunk into the black armchair behind the desk and reclined, burying his head in his hands. He sighed loudly, and clicked a button on his tacpad. A few moments later, the door slid open and lieutenant Arthur Crism, the ship's navigator, entered the room. Crism was a tall slim man with blonde hair cut short but spiked up, obviously as some sort of counterculture-esque statement. He seemed like a rough type, not somebody you'd expect to be an officer on a naval vessel. He wore a uniform similar to Morgan's and Jackson's, and had a tacpad on his right forearm, showing that he was left-handed.

"You called boss?" Crism said, sitting in one of the floating wooden chairs across from Jackson's desk. Morgan sat in the other one and leaned back slightly, studying her nails. Jackson was silent for a moment, and hit a button on his pad. The door was soundproofed and all surveillance systems were turned off. The three officers sat in silence for a moment or two, and then Jackson began to speak:

"Did either of you find anything particularly odd about our mission papers?" Jackson asked rhetorically. "Morgan" was not phased at all by this -she knew Jackson would figure it out, but it would be easy enough to convince him of her innocence. So naturally she was the first to speak, as a criminal would never point out their own plot.

"I was thinking the same thing when you read it." Morgan said "Why would the Garthedans want to negotiate with Wolfe? He's a pirate and a drug smuggler."

"Yeah," Crism said in a husky voice "doesn't he have the Sound of Drumming too? They passed through his airspace a while ago and got attacked."

"Exactly." Jackson said flatly, sitting back up in his chair. "I think we're being set up." "Morgan" tried to look as shocked as possible, inciting a sharp glare from Crism, who didn't seem too phased. He had been at this job a long time; pirates didn't scare him anymore.

"But shouldn't we tell Agent Hunter about this, captain?" Morgan said, shocked "I mean, she can radio back home and figure out what's going on."

"No," Crism said, pulling out his nickel-plated rail pistol from its holster and examining it "I've been on pirated ships before sweetie. By this time they'll have rigged the compression drive so we can't turn back. By the time we get to Sardonne our radio will have 'broken'. If we try to investigate, we'll get killed and replaced with a perfect Enigma copy. The best thing we can do is play dumb and let them think we're sitting ducks. Then when we get there we put a bullet in Wolfe's head and make off like bandits."

"Killing Wolfe will only get us in more sh!t." Jackson replied "He's got a team of guards. When we get there, we kidnap him and demand that the ship be released in exchange for his life. I can do a bioscan on the head engineer and if he's not Enigma have him beam us up with Wolfe. That way we get away and apprehend the deadliest crime lord in the galaxy."

"Second deadliest." Morgan cut in "There's still Zalphar out there. God help us all if he's in on this thing."

"He wouldn't be." replied Crism to Morgan "Enigma and Acirians hate each other for some reason. Anyways, what about agents? I'm sure someone onboard is an Enigma. A few inanimate objects are too, like that angel statue in the back of the room that's supposed to be looking to the right, not the left!" Crism stood up and fired with his rail pistol point-blank at the statue. The stone cracked, and black blood began to flow from the bullet hole in the statue's stomach. The "statue" let out a scream and fell to the ground, shattering. It soon took the form of a teenaged male Lumien with red body hair, wearing a Garthedan naval uniform. Crism turned around abruptly and fired again, this time at Jackson's bookshelf. The bullet struck the second copy of the thirteenth book of the Galactic Encyclopedia. The book let out a cry as well and fell to the ground, still burning. The book soon transformed into a young female Lumien with light pink body hair; she was also wearing a Garthedan military uniform.

"How..." Morgan began to ask.

"Why would you want two copies of the thirteenth book of the Galactic Encyclopedia? Terrible disguise. You should be ashamed of yourself." The female Enigma hissed loudly at him and clutched her chest, which had a bullet hole in it right in her heart. She gushed black blood like a faucet. She was hyperventilating at first, but a few moments later slowed down and died. How embarrassing. Rosea thought I thought we trained our agents better than this Rosea had a part to play, however, so she had Morgan scream and jump back, a terrified look on her face. Crism turned back towards her with a knife. "Hold out your hand." he said. She did so, and he sliced the tip of her finger just enough to draw blood. Morgan jumped and tried to pull away but Crism held her by the wrist tightly.

"She's clean." he yelled to Jackson, who was picking the other agent off of the floor. He was still alive, but was gushing black blood from his stomach; he wouldn't last long in this condition. Jackson sat the Enigma down in one of the wooden chairs, and grabbed a first aid kit off of the wall. Crism then walked over to Jackson and slit one of his fingers with the knife; the blood was red. Then, just to prove that he was human too, Crism cut his own hand. All three of the officers had red blood.

"What was that for?" Morgan cried out, examining the cut on her left middle finger.

"Enigma blood is black." Crism replied flatly "I've never met an Enigma before who can change the color of their blood." Normally Rosea would take this as a challenge, but, once more, she was in character, so she had to pretend to be surprised at this. Only very good Enigma like herself could change their blood chemistry, and neither of these agents were very good Enigma. Jackson went to patch up the remaining agent's wounds, but Crism stopped him.

"Don't bother." he said "The bastard will heal himself soon enough. Restrain him. I want to have a few words with this b!tch in-person."

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:55 am

Saro tensed up slightly as the guards encircled him and the rest of the party. While he was used to this, he could never completely quell the nervousness that arose in his being when several armed guards surrounded him. He was a sniper after all, and being surrounded like that was never a good thing. His species were rather large, and we was taller than most of the Enigma at his height, but he knew better than to play on this. They demanded respect, and he would treat them with it.

Saro and the Harbinger group followed the guards closely. As they walked they entered a different hangar, and Saro saw the wolf for the first time. While he didnt look that intimidating, he knew full well looks could be deceiving. He kept his guard up to make sure he didnt slip anything he wasnt supposed to. As the Wolf began speaking to him, he noticed the peculiar accent. Strange, he hadnt heard it before. He payed no mind to it though. He shook hands with the Wolf and nodded respectfully. "Indeed, as am I." Saro said, before continuing on to answer the Wolf's question. "I am the Nessus Hunter Saro, Captain of the vessel, The Arrowhead and one of the higher ranking officers in the Harbinger fleet. I was told you had another appointment today, may I inquire with whom?"

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Wed Dec 11, 2013 2:07 am

The first thing that popped into Exo’s head when it was grabbed around the throat by a gaudy silver superhero outfit was Oh god, its Spearhead from Space all over again. However, it was quickly replaced by a more logical sequence of thoughts that could actually help improve the situation. Enigma; hatred for Acirans –Grudges grudges, gridges- pretend godcomplex enforced by a death sentence if anyone finds out they are anything but glowing balls of all powerful deathrays when in their true form, when in reality they just look like fat blobs of tar with tentacles attached to the sides. Motives; Employed by Wolf, recognized me, confirms date error theory in Flaeron’s mind when he figures it out, puts me at a severe disadvantage but implies later smoothing over of history by my future self. Which implies messing up of the present by my present self. Wonderful. Likely working to preserve the integrity of their piracy operations based out here, wouldn’t want me screwing that up, which, I’m exceptionally talented at doing. So, my reputation precedes me on both sides of the spectrum. More cons than pros in that situation. Weaknesses; godcomplex and resulting frequent underestimation of enemies especially when it comes to intelligence and trickery. High water content and extremely sensitive and flexible yet regenerative tissues make them unusually vulnerable to microwave radiation, specifically when on the 170GHz+ frequency. Causes extreme pain, and given enough exposure time (10-30 seconds) temporary paralysis. Longer exposure time can result in severe tissue swelling and death. Results: Adjust microwave gun, cook till Al Dante and serve. (sorry, but it’s a microwave gun, food analogies are required in order to maintain optimum universal balance.)

However, by the time it had worked all that out and had on hand gripped tightly around the Enigma’s appendage-sleeve to maintain the impression that it was in fact, possible to kill it via suffocation, while it yanked the microwave gun off its belt changed settings to 170GHz, and was looking for the part of the enigmas disguise that likely contained the highest amount of body mass, thus finding the most effective place to target, it was unceremoniously lifted off its feet and thrown through a shop window and into a plant pot by nothing less comical looking than a gaudy silver sequin coated superhero costume. It would normally have laughed at how completely retarded the whole scenario must look to the bystanders, but was currently too busy rolling around on the floor pretending to have the air knocked out of it and possibly a broken rib or two while it waited for the Enigma to ditch the superhero costume disguise, and try and finish off its now helpless victim who was apparently in so much pain that it was doubled over on its side conveniently hiding the microwave gun now pointed in the direction the Enigma was likely to approach from. Time to test just how highly the perceived antagonists think of me.

---

The second the person that had been tailing her smashed through the window of the store adjacent to the jewelry store she was ordering a new carbine necklace from, then skidded the ground for an impressive 15 feet before smashing into a large plant pot and wiping it out of existence in a large spray of dirt and leaves, Agatha was immediately on the offensive as it was clear that the Enigma were no longer content to simply lie and wait for them to step into a dimly lit, unoccupied area before attacking. In about the blink of an eye had two 4 foot long blue tinted Urumi swords clutched in either hand that would have appeared to have materialized out of midair if you weren’t paying close attention to the metallic blue spiraling arm bands that were now nowhere to be seen. However, with the elaborateness of her costume, most people would never have noticed such a small detail vanishing only to be replaced by two deadly weapons of exactly the same width and coloration. Another small change that most wouldn’t have noticed is that her usual metallic high heels were now transformed into the more ergonomically healthy shape of a sneaker with the unusually thick heel of the shoe now transformed magnetically into a 6 inch high, completely hollow wheels that was held tractionless, in place by two super conductors on either end of her shoe that depending on how she tilted it, would either accelerate or decelerate her speed. So, with both weaponry, speed and maneuverability now on her side, she made a hurried apology to the flabbergasted shop owner and skated out of the store towards the Enigma that was currently threatening Flaeron since he was both closer and not tailing her while humming the mission impossible theme song. When she got within 6 feet of the ‘teen’ she extended the sword in her left hand then with all the momentum of her forward movement behind her, changed direction and looped around in an extremely tight circle in front of where Flaeron was preparing to attack, her speed causing her to be close enough to the ground that she could reach out and touch it with one hand, as her circling motion carried the flexible blade of the sword into the Enigmas midsection before her circling motion caused it to transform into what could best be described as a razor sharp whip which sliced through the Enigma with such force that it split it clean in half

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:29 pm

On the 4284-2700 Maverick

Agent hunter made sure she was clear, allowing Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Morgan past unimpeded. She swiveled around and watched the door close behind them. Such primitive security. Not only could she bypass the key card, but she could make her own entrance through the wall. Eris watched and listened to them from the main deck, all the while pretending to do her job. Sound proofing or any other security measures made no difference. The real Katherine wouldn't have the slightest clue as to what was going on in there, so she could let nothing betray that she in fact did. So he's not as big a fool as he could have been. A lot of Garthedus is thick enough to accept all orders without question. She mused as the Captain explained to his higher ups his scepticism of the mission at hand. The mention of Wolfe and Zalphar position in galactic crime made her chuckle inwardly. Of course they were correct. Only because she was no crime lord, but a solo act of an entirely different caliber. They'd all get what was coming to them, and those two were no exception.

The thing that surprised her was Crism's expertise in dealing with the Enigma. Another wrench in Rosea's operation. He managed to identify and draw upon two of the secret watchers in just a few seconds. How unprofessional. Morgan was doing a good job of playing it off though. She even has red blood. Although, all it would take is bioscan to ruin everything and start the commandeering of the Maverick prematurely. Something that Eris wished to avoid. The demonstration she had planned was more for the Enigma's benefit than Garthedus. If the ship never arrived at Sardonne she'd lose this chance to take Wolfe, and would have to settle for just Rosea. Whereas Jackson and Agent Hunter are extremely expendable to Garthedus. It'd have to be an individual like Crystalis to even put a dent in their strength and morale.

On neutral station delta

Tresi paced back and forth in front of one of the Volinadie's prototype teleporters. This thing was supposed to take them to Wedge? Sure it could do the trick, but Valmon hadn't exactly explained how he managed to locate the rodent. She shook her head it was absolutely preposterous that an over sized animal possessed abilities that even magic couldn't counter. Her train of thought was interrupted by the lizard scientist. "Come look at this he said motioning to a screen above a control panel. It displayed a map of the universe and several areas marked. "There have been energy outburst on such a magnitude in the past twenty four hours that I have managed to pinpoint them. See look here, one was outside of the orion cloud not long ago."

"So what makes you think it's Wedge?" Said Tresi not quite impressed, it be any manner of other anomaly. Regardless it would have to be investigated.

"A few of the locations were just outside our systems." He was referring to Garthedus, Lumien, and themselves. Each empire had a share in creating this station, just as each would have a place in this mission. "Deep space probes managed to pick of this footage." The screen switched to several feeds of a giant cardboard box with stars as the backdrop. Each feed lasted long enough for the box to rotate and reveal the label Teh Black Market before it just disappeared. "What I don't understand though is the timing of the energy bursts. It's always in the exact middle of it's stay. It doesn't coincide with arriving or leaving, which means something else is going in there. Something big."

At that moment the security door at the end of the lab slid open. The unmistakable steps of Atlas could be heard before either one of them turned to see Garthedus's reinforcements. Valom and Tresi were heads of this operation, nobody else they called in was expected to have anything to contribute intelligence wise. Which suited Tresi just fine. She liked having all the facts and authority. "Good you two have arrived. I'll let Valom brief you on the situation while we wait for the Lumiens."

Atlas plugged into a port on the console then simply walked away. It had everything it needed or cared to know. Crystalis stared at Tresi, he had dealt wit her before. He knew that she went outside of orders to cause havoc, he'd worked with her before. There was never anything linking her to it, but he knew. In any case she hadn't been targeting Garthedus, so it wasn't too much of a concern. He wordlessly went over to the man who's name he'd only heard before. He was responsible for much of the Volinadi's advancements, and was one time considered a high priority target when the empires were new to each other. That was a long time ago. How he was still alive was a mystery to him. Right now that didn't matter, he had his orders.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Fri Dec 13, 2013 3:22 am

Glycius didn't flinch as the 15 foot robot tall materialized next to him, instead looked skeptically down at the small furry creature that was now crawling out of the hole in front of him. "You aren't going to give up that candy disk are you? And more importantly, who are you? You are obviously not biological; your body heat alone tells me that, and judging by the fact that everyone in here looks like you, I think that you have a problem with cloning, IF I am talking to the origional."

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:47 pm

Teh Black Market

There was a long pause of silence before Wedge realized that his visitors weren't going away, the fact that he brought them here didn't even register. He turned his head and looked up at Glycius and Erebos. "You really shouldn't interrupt a man when he's feeling lucky." Somehow his speech was unimpeded by his full mouth. In fact he had a very late 1800's or early 1900's like gentleman voice, not that anyone in this cycle knew what that was. As he stood up he suddenly sported a top hat, monocle and a cane. "Right this way gentlemen, I know just what you need!" With one leg lifted in mid stride he fell right back on his bottom and started bouncing towards the cube in the center. His path was straight and didn't avoid any of the stands set up selling junk. "Excuse me! Pardon me!" He hollered as he crushed or knocked aside anything or anyone in his way. The occupants of the market began screaming and running in octagons. "Tally ho!" Wedge said as he poked a fellow Wedge that strayed too close in the eye with his cane. The victim became paralyzed and fell straight on his back with a loud clang. "Chop chop you two!" He called behind him. "Anyone tries to stop you, just give them a good wap!"

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:01 am

Erebos was somewhat taken aback by this strange being. It seemed to be able to transform at will and was willing to cause damage without thought. He looked over at Glycius with disgust, then stomped after Wedge.
Several of the Wedges that had been running in octagons got in his way and were unceremoniously smacked aside by his arm as he approached the giant cube.

Subject: Re: The Game: Beyond the End IC Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:43 am

Glycius returned the robots' look with a raised 'eyebrow'. (really just a small bump of skin)

Glycius snorted derisively, a carnal gesture, he knew, but followed nonetheless, instantly teleporting to directly below the massive cube. "What is it exactly that you think we 'need'? I know that I 'need' my ship, working and functional, as soon as possible." Glycius stated flatly.

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