Galactic Society (Open/Lounge RP, but READ FIRST POST)

[Zack McCloud]

--- Indari Manor Grounds, Draco city, Dragon'taan ---

Zack stood there in silence for a moment taking in all the informative questioning before loosing his composure for moment. "Nx0 te 0ei succ mo mem?!",Zack repeated back to Krystal while looking away from Markus and started marching towards his dumbfounded mother. In this moment as he did so, a small glint could be seen as his cybernetic arm opened up and a small jeweled rod fell from his forearm and into his hand which extended immediately, before staking it into the ground at Krystal's feet. "Kxo wavk 0ei wulo mo veihkood 0ouhj uwe.", Zack stated with a subtle look of confusion, wrath and dismay. "Before you left", Zack added with a small crack in his voice as he fought back his tears while his mind cycled back to when he lost Star M. Alexander and ran into her clone. On closer inspection one could see his right hand clutching what appeared to be a necklace of some sort tied to his belt loop.

[Rayleonarde]

*Unknown Planet*
Ray chuckled darkly, as Zuka’s words reached him. ‘Well, I can see how this is gonna play out,’ he thought. ‘Sith’s gonna take her hostage and leave without us.’ He checked his weapons again, before leaning back against the Razorback.


*Dromund Kaas*
“No offense, m’lord,” Ickthis said. “But Mongdrigan’s have been fighting since before you could walk.” He motioned at the camp, as those inside wandered out to help with the yozusk. They talked and debated the best way to carve the beast up.
“We’re a people of violence. Of struggle. Where goes war, so too, eventually, go Mongdrigans.” Ickthis smiled. “Doesn’t bother us much, either way.”

[Weaver]

*** Unknown Planet ***

"Got it," Weaver said quietly. He didn't know exactly what awaited for the group down in the facility, but he had a guess that once they entered, time would not be on their side. Bullets were limited and the enemy were without number. Speed would be the name of the game. Run 'n gun. Shoot 'n scoot.

[Romulan_Furry]

*** Unknown Planet ***

Supplies had been gathered, the group was assembled, and orders had been given. Only thing remaining was to make for the Forerunner facility and get through it. The entire convoy made best possible speed for it, and it seemed to get more ominous and imposing the closer they got to it. In a way, the facility resembled the great "Libraries" that had been present on the Halo Rings. The computer core they likely would be after would likely be at the very center of the facility.

On arrival, everyone would pile out, where Alduah would approach the sealed entrance, placing a hand on the thick, heavily-reinforced metal door. Moments later, he retracted that hand with a frown on his face. "Strange," he commented, "I do not sense the Flood on the other side." He growled subtly, then stepped back. Drawing on the Force, he shot the door with energy, and it glowed a dull white light for a brief moment. He then went to a nearby control panel, hit a few commands, and the door grumbled, rumbled, and finally parted to reveal an empty doorway.

Zuka walked beside Alduah, who had again returned to his original position before the door. "Still don't sense them?" he asked.

Alduah shook his head. "No," he answered. "Which is highly unusual. Last time I was here, I could. It's... almost as if they've abandoned this facility."

"Whether that's true or not, we still have to proceed as though they still occupy this facility, don't we?" Zuka inquired.

"Indeed," Alduah stated, igniting one of his lightsabers and starting inside the facility. Zuka turned to the others.

"Weapons ready, safeties off - let's get the hell out of here," he told them before venturing inside himself. The Androids were right behind him, followed by Spartans Jace and Kaylee.

*** Dromund Kaas ***

"I'll leave you to your work then," Malgus said. He then started for a speeder before stopping, sensing something in the Force.

*** Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

"Hnh... given your response, I'm guessing this isn't something that normally happens," Blythe stated.

"I'm guessing this isn't the first time that pig has caused trouble in here," Katt surmised.

*** Indari Manor Grounds, Draco city, Dragon'taan ***

If he is your son, this only means our family is a bit larger. And that I have another son I can dote on, Markus responded to Krystal, projecting warmth and happiness to her.

"Easy, son," Fox cautioned Zack. "Just tell us - in plain basic - what happened to you. Whatever it is, we can fix it. No one in our family can afford to ignore each other anymore."

"Take it from me, kiddo, after what we all have been through, we can help you," Falco added. "You're not alone."

"Falco's right," Markus agreed. "The circumstances may not be the best for you at present, but you came to the right people. Plus, my children would be thrilled to know they have a half-brother related to Fox McCloud himself."

*** Ruusan ***

"I don't know... but we'd be better-defended inside the cave than out here," Jaden pointed out.

[Alessia Starfurr]

*** Unknown Planet ***
"That's a disturbing revelation." Tigress grumbled as she walked to the console to disable the field "The flood are not known to posess the ability to hide from the force, you'd have to sense them at least a little." She finished opening the field and holding her gun up ready to fire, her helmet materializing over her head

Kelsey stood ready for just about anything


Tigress two spartans stood beside her weapons ready.

*** Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

"Not typically she doesn't tend to go without contact for more than a month at most." Keri replied.

"No in fact he's been banned from the establishment, about 2 weeks ago for trashing some tables and a customers meal." Kelli replied. "He's also got a pretty decent 'rap sheet' with the local authorities, somebody keeps letting him out..."

*** Indari Manor Grounds, Draco city, Dragon'taan ***
'I'll have to run a DNA scan later when i get the opportunity, but for now, Heh the bird speaks of wisdom for once, that's not like him.'


"Didn't know you spoke  Aurebesh,  Fox." Krystal let out.

*** Ruusan ***

"Alright then, let's go." Asara sighed walking towards the cave followed by Jayd Riku and Nari,

Spyra stood there for a moment taking in the surroundings as if she had some 6th sense about the matter before huffing and turning to follow the others.

[Zack McCloud]

--- Indari Manor Grounds, Draco city, Dragon'taan---
Zack stood there fighting the tears in his eyes as he took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. He released his grip on the set of dog tags that hung from his belt loop, then suddenly jerked the staff free from the ground as it started to retract and placed it back in to the compartment of his cybernetics. He looked to his father, then Falco, Markus and back to his mother.  He then looked down at the ground for a moment staring at the small crater. A ringging in his ears
grew louder and louder flashes of recent events zipping in front of his eyes before he snapped back to reality. Zack pulled a flask from his bag and took a good swig from it, the faint smell of alcohol lingered in the air as he took another breath and said, "I kept loosing... First was you dad, then when you stepped in, mom stepped out, I went looking for her, found and technically made friends, faught and won difficult battles lost Star, found both of you then, lost my arm... Then I found the love of my life, who happens to be long lost daughter of your infamous rival...dad... Talk about poetic justice, we even had a child on the way", Zack starts to choke up at this point. "And I Lost Both Of Them!", He added with a louder voice his fist clenched and shaking as he took another swig from the flask. "Cleaned up your mess!", He said pointing at his dad. He then retracted his hand whencing a bit knowing his statement wasn't entirely fair. Zack took another deep breath and let it out. "Crashed into the remains of a broken abandoned home only to find that my own mother doesn't  know who I am..." At this time time tears are rolling down his face his whole body shaking as he finished off the flask. "So yeah... I've always kept loosing, but not everything...", Zack then pointed at his mother with his cybernetic arm losing his composure even more "AND I'LL BE DAMNED BEFORE YOU FORGET ME!! I'MA ACTIVATE THA-", just then a feminine voice emanated from Zacks arm. "Ema Activated, oooOoo wow what is this?!", Zack dropped to his knee as his cybernetics went haywire for a good 3 minutes as his new found AI adjusted to her environment. "Oh it's you!", She excitedly responded as Zack gained control over his arm.

[Weaver]

*** Unknown Planet ***

By the time the convoy had parked itself at the entrance of the facility, Weaver's heart was already pounding. He took a deep breath before hopping off the vehicle. What a story this would be if he made it out alive. 'If'? He needed to replace 'if' with 'when.'

Weaver frowned upon hearing Alduah, "Abandoned? Or did something kill them all? There isn't a second exit is there?" There was no way they got this lucky. An entire infestation that just disappeared? Something was wrong. It couldn't be an ambush, unless the Sith was lying to everyone. Did the facility have some kind of automated defenses? That couldn't be it or else the flood wouldn't have been here earlier. Whatever the case, Weaver kept his gun close to his chest and followed the group in. With a third arm however, he held out his explorer's tool, something he had forgotten about until now. It had a suite of sensors, one of which crucially at this moment was a motion detector. It couldn't differentiate between friend or foe, but it was something.

[Rayleonarde]

*Unknown Planet*
Ray stepped from the Razorback, the tanks of flamer fuel clanking as the swung and hit each other. He kept the SMG trained on the now-open facility, until Zuka and company entered. He momentarily contemplated gunning the Sith down, but decided he would have a better opportunity later. Slowing his pace, the agent made to take up the rear, going so far as to wait beside the door.


*Dromund Kaas*
Ickthis returned his attention to the celebration, and did not see Malgus stop. He was proud of what little remained of the Mongdrigans. He hoped they’d return to their planet one day, bring it out of its interstellar quarantine.


*Deep Space, Uncharted Sector*
A whirring. A clunk. Sparks flew about the facility as the main reactor began startup procedures. No one started it, no one alive even knew it existed.
Whummmm


The reactor reached capacity, power surged through the facility. Cables sparked and jumped, snaking their way to the central hangar.
To the Commander.
The great steely-blue robot rumbled to life, standing to its full one-hundred and twenty-five foot height. The single red photoreceptor lit up, as the AI began its startup routine.
Booting…
Startup complete…
Analyze………Complete…
Facility Offline…Prepare Onboard Construction…Complete.


As the hangar’s lift carried the Commander to the surface, the exterior blast doors opened with a pneumatic hiss, knocking down trees and tearing apart the earth.


Directive…Error…
The Commander stood on the lift platform for some time as its AI restored old files. The Commander looked about with childlike wonder. The world was beautiful, if it could process such thought. A wonderful thing, to be cherished and treasured. Kept for all time.


Then the Directive arrived.


Last Recorded Activation…999 millennia.


Truthfully, it had been much longer. The AI simply chose to stop counting. But The Commander knew what to do now.
One of the massive gun-like attachments on the Commander’s arm charged, firing a network of beams out, sweeping them across the trees, plants, and animals. Each particle of the beam bound itself to whatever it hit, converted it to energy, and returned it to the Commander.
Soon, the area around the hangar was stripped bare, down to useless dirt. The Commander then pointed the ‘weapon’ at the empty space. A projection appeared in its eye, and the ‘weapon’ discharged. Particlized energy floated to the spot and rematerialized as matter, shaping quickly into a structure. A set of spinning half-domes, rotating opposite each other, generated energy. After a few moments, the Commander fabricated another structure. It looked like an open-air 3d printer. The factory activated, pushing out in only seconds, the first autonomous builder rolled from the platform, and began fabricating its own factory, as the first restarted production. And so on and so on.


Days passed. Weeks, months even. The planet was covered in production facilities. In a titanic citadel, the Commander sat, the AI networked throughout the planet. It was time to expand.


Scanning local system….
Scanning…
Scanning…
Scan complete…no signatures detected. Begin expansion protocols.


Satellites; small, unarmed, and unmanned, but laden. Left the planet in droves, seeking out new planets, or their quarry.


*Trade-Port Gamma Five, Deep Space*
A satellite meandered its way into the Trade Port’s orbit, before shifting orbit to the moon. There, it landed and released its cargo; a builder. Quietly, hidden from the planet’s view, it began to build. A large, horse-shoe shaped structure, almost a football-field across, began to assemble from the particulate energy.

[Queen_of_Spades]

*** Unknown Planet ***
"Do you mind if I go inside the facility?" Jade asked hesitantly "We are already aware I can't be infected so I should be relatively safe."

*** Dromund Kaas ***
"I actually have, not long ago. It felt like some kind of invisible fist hit me. I actually staggered from it." Magnus replied.
Spade made a connection "that sounds like what happened to you Wrath. It looked like you were hit by something invisible."

[Romulan_Furry]

*** Unknown Planet ***

"Be that as it may, we all need to be together for extraction," Zuka said. The facility halls stretched out before them, ominous and foreboding. In direct contrast to the outside, where the wind and ambient atmosphere provided a constant flow of sound, the interior of the facility was deathly quiet, with only a hollow booming to disturb the near-perfect silence.

"To answer your question, Weaver, there is no secondary entrance or exit that I am aware of - and if the Flood in here somehow got out of the facility, we would have encountered them by now," Alduah told Weaver. "It's... almost as if the Flood inside here just vanished without a trace."

"If the Flood is gone, this would be a golden opportunity to drop the dampening field and beam out," Zuka stated. "Let's press on." The team would head deeper into the facility, never encountering so much as even an infection form. The whole facility seemed truly abandoned. As Alduah lead on, he stopped suddenly, a subtle growl creeping from his throat. His head looked right, then left, into an adjacent hallway surrounding a ramp going up. He paused, then started ascending the Ramp. Zuka and the androids kept close by. When Alduah got to the top of the ramp, he came on a scene he wasn't expecting:

All manner of material was set up as makeshift barricades surrounding what looked to be the computer core. Weapons, dry power cells, bullet casings and empty magazines littered the floor. Blood was present, but no bodies. "This must be where the UNSC personnel from before made their final stand," Zuka surmised.

"This wasn't a final stand," Alduah said. He examined the computer. "... The UNSC personnel were trying to contact UNSC FLEETCOM. This computer... yes, this computer controls the dampening field and the communications array." Alduah looked back at Zuka. "You said you had a ship in orbit?"

"Indeed," Zuka affirmed. He looked to Tigress. "Plug in, get a line to the Allegiance... and pray she's still in orbit."

*** Dromund Kaas ***

"Indeed," Wrath agreed. "Interesting that the Force has brought you here. It is entirely possible your destiny lay with us."

*** Indari Manor Grounds, Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

Fox went to his son's side in an effort to console him. He went to try and pull Zack into a hug, to let him cry on his shoulder. Kyle and Markus both had the same question, but it was Markus who put it to words: "Mind explaining what exactly is going on, Ema?"

"Well, I'ma go grab a bite to eat - where's the best restaurant?" Falco asked.

"That'd be Sol's Bar & Grille, in the Restaurant District," Kyle said. "But you might want to wait till we calm Zack down."

*** Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

"Strange," Blythe stated, "You'd think something happened..."

"Maybe he'll steer clear now, now that he got his a** handed to him by a woman," Katt commented.

*** Ruusan ***

Bahkriid ventured into the cave, deeper and deeper, until she came to the central chamber. What was there wasn't the thought bomb - but it was still something she wasn't expecting to see. What seemed the spirit of a Sith Lord sat meditating in the center of the chamber, seemingly oblivious to the fact he now had guests.

"Lord Kaan..." Bahkriid whispered.

*** Torgus Prime ***

"Not what you were expecting, I know," Torrentus finally spoke to Travis. "You've done good work for me, mister Drake. And I am pleased. Credits were transferred to your account, as agreed."

"Thank you, my lord... but something else came up," Travis said. "The last target let slip something about a planned op against someone named Indari. Said they'd strike as soon as they had an opening."

"Did they?" Torrentus asked. She thought for a moment, then said, "Might be referring to Kyle Indari... regardless, we'll want to warn him."

[Alessia Starfurr]

*** Unknown Planet ***

"Something feels off here I don't have any telepathy, nor the force ,but something tells me that something is about to happen." TIgress grumbled as she  walked up to the console  and began to try and contact thier ship. "What about the field though?" Tigress asked as she typed. "This is definitely an older forerunner system." she added.


Kelsy kept a good watch using her thermal vision on her helmet to see if she could spot anything hiding. "It's too quiet in here, even for a Forerunner structure."


*** Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

"Not much I can do about it." Keri replied.

"Maybe ,but this is the second time , first time I drop kicked him to the ground,  but i'd expect freebirth scum like him to be weak..." Kelli replied, walking back to her table, and sitting down "Did we get our food ,yet" she asked her mate sitting at the table "Or did that pig screw things up again?"



*** Indari Manor Grounds, Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

Krystal just stood there, seemily unphased by what was going on in front of her, it appears she was ignoring Zack. A hologram of another vixen appeared on her shoulder, Serena her old AI looked at Zack, evaluating the situation. "Why do you call me mom? And this time in basic so the others can hear you." Krystal asked again, with a bit of irritation in her voice this time for having to repeat herself, her hand moving to something on her belt, the memories of Cornerians  insulting her in more than just voices coming back , her eyes beginign to glow.. as the anger inside her began to rise.....




*** Ruusan ***
"Who is this Kaan?" Asara asked as she stepped near With Spyra jayd and Riku near her, Nari remained back in case her 'powers' effected the spirit.

[Rayleonarde]

*Unknown Planet*
Ray grit his teeth, sweeping the interior of the facility with his weapon. As the team reached the ramp to the ramp to the computer core, the agent knelt, keeping the ramp covered. He waved back at the team, without looking, signaling them to continue without him. One, the agent figured, he’d be able to stop an ambush before it happens. Two, if the Sith rat tried to run, Ray would gun him down. Two birds, one very upset and lost Foundation Agent.


*Dromund Kaas*


The scent of the yozusk’s meat roasting on open fires filled the air, as Mongdrigans took shifts in cutting the fallen tree apart. It’s timber would be used to fuel their stoves, as well as being carved into various objects.




*Trade-Port Gamma Five*
The little builder unit discharged the last of its particulate energy, and the teleported frame activated with an almighty roar, sending a massive energy surge through the local space.
A sudden power surge from the dark side of the moon would register on almost all available scanners.
But it was too late.
Warbots, designed for ground domination and air/orbital suppression marched in an endless, ten by ten stream from the teleporter rift. Among them scuttled more builders. They had their own cadre of defending warbots, as they moved in seemingly directions. But it was all calculated.
The builders separated themselves from the teleporter, driving hundreds of feet away from each other. They began carving into the lunar surface; large, flat, square depressions a hundred feet long on all sides.

[Weaver]

*** Unknown Planet ***

Weaver had a very bad feeling about all of this. Clear signs of a battle, but no bodies? It was more than just the Flood that just vanished. And what did Zuka mean by 'still in orbit'? He had a guess of what had happened. Perhaps the crew above sent down another rescue team, having narrowed down what was causing the interference. Then perhaps the team fought their way to the console, and told the ship to beam the team up, except that the ship beamed up more than just the team, and included the Flood too on accident. Maybe they thought they had other survivors with them? Or perhaps the facility did something to interfere with the teleportation and just vaporized everyone.

"Hang on, you don't think your ship accidentally beamed up the survivors along with all of the flood?"

[Zack McCloud]

---Indari Manor Grounds, Draco city, Dragon'taa---

"Rosuijo 0ei uho", Zack weakly responded as he pulled himself up to his feet with a hurt look in his eyes.

Ema piped up to Fox. "To be honest, I'm missing key details since I just got here, but I do have this recording from my predecessor instructed to be played upon my activation."
Just then a hologram Of James appeared projecting from Zacks cybernetics, his eyes widen as he looked apon his fallen AI "are yo-",Zack managed to get out before abruptly being cut off with a hand gesture from James, "before you ask no, I'm not the James you knew, I am but a limited prerecorded algorithm", James noted before continuing.
"I saw this coming... 369417639 possible outcomes and this is the one where you survived, I sadly could not, which is why I worked on Ema in secret, she is young, but very bright with full spatial awareness and reflexive capabilities. I know after your battle with the appiroids would be a true test of will, I know you are hurt in more ways than one, but don't lose hope... He's out there... Your so-" , the hologram cut out  before Ema spoke again, "The file is corrupted beyond that."

[Romulan_Furry]

*** Unknown Planet ***

Zuka shook his head. "No, they didn't. If the Allegiance beamed them up, they'd have beamed us up, as well," he said. "Whatever UNSC Personnel were here... they were taken by the Flood."

"Scary," Jace commented.

"We need to stay focused," Alduah said. "Contact the--"

It was then that the voice of Zuka's Spartan Companion, nickname "Frosty", filled the air. "--repeat, any UNSC personnel, if you can hear me on this channel, please acknowledge this transmission!"

"Frosty, it's Zuka," the Sangheili spoke.

"Zuka! I was worried - been trying to raise you for hours. What's your status?" Frosty asked.

"Let's just say we're eager to get the **** off this world - place has been a deathtrap every step we took," Zuka said. "I'll explain once we're aboard, but we need to beam out ASAP."

"I'd love to, but there's a dampening field in place that's scattering the transporter beam," Frosty reported.

"We will be dropping the field soon, just be ready," Zuka advised the Spartan.

"Dropping the field to get us out is gonna be tricky," Alduah said. "We can start the process, but for a field this big, it'll take time according to these readouts. And there's another danger - failsafes. Ten to one, the creators of this facility rigged the equipment against this kind of tampering - failsafes would kick in to raise the field back up when we drop it. Needless to say, we'll have only one shot at this."

"Fortunately, one shot is all we need," Zuka said, drawing his Storm Rifle. "Do it." He nodded to Tigress.

The instant she would start the process, however, there would be an alarm klaxon, followed by an alien, primal scream from multiple sources that echoed everywhere. "That doesn't sound good," Kaylee commented. "Everyone, ready weapons! We make our stand here!" Zuka cried out. "Ray, get your *** behind the barricades if you want to beam out with us!"

*** Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

Katt sat patiently waiting for her food when a pink dragoness walked in. She looked behind her. "Come on, you big softie, let's find us a table."

*** Indari Manor Grounds, Draco City, Dragon'taan ***

Fox sighed, then looked back at Krystal. For a bit, he didn't say a word. When he did, he said, "Krystal, we can't ignore this. I came here to reconnect with you. You have a happy marriage to Markus - and I have no intention of disrupting that. But look at him..." Fox indicated Zack. "... he needs you. He needs us. We can't turn away our son."

"Fox is right," Markus told Krystal. "This in no way hurts us. Zack needs our help, Krystal; look at him. I can tell by looking at him he's telling the truth. He is a broken man who's lost everything. We can make this right - you can make this right. You did it for me... do it once more for your son. Our son. I may not be his father, but I would still consider him family."

*** Ruusan ***

"Lord Kaan, leader of the Brotherhood of Darkness during the Sith Wars," Bahkriid said. "I... had thought his spirit disappeared when the Thought Bomb here was undone."

"There has to be a reason he's here now," Jaden suggested.

*** Warship Tanuklanav, Torgus Prime Orbit ***

Travis walked onto the bridge of his ship where his crew snapped to attention. "Helm, plot a course for Dragon'taan, maximum Transwarp Velocity," Travis commanded as he assumed the Captain's chair.

"I take it we have our next assignment," surmised Travis' XO, a male deer.

"More or less," Travis responded. "But we need to hurry."

"Course laid in, captain," reported the female fox at the helm.

"Engage," Travis said, sitting back. The Tanuklanav turned a fill 180 degrees, made for the edge of the system, and went to Transwarp.