Calling Major Tom

2010 - 2350

In the early 21st century the United States of America fell into unprecedented economic hardship. With ever increasing debt and inflation threatening to bring the country to its knees and no politician seeming to have an answer to the problem, it seemed like it was the end for America. With the rest of the world fairing no better in the global depression, the US had no allies it could turn to for aid and support.

Then in 2032 the inevitable happened. Disillusioned with the seemingly broken political system in Washington, General Brougham, a high ranking leader in the US Armed Forces, launched a successful coup against the government and declared martial law, ending over 250 years of Democracy in America. Equally disillusioned and disgruntled with politicians in Washington that could do nothing, the people gave their support to this new President.

Knowing that no purely economic solution was in sight, President Brougham instead turned to conquest as a means to acquire more resources. With the collapse of the British Commonwealth in the years between 2026 and 2030, Canada had been left isolated in the North and was his first target. After that he turned his sights on the Caribbean and Central America, annexing every country all the way down to Panama with there being little any other country in the region could do to stop him.

Meanwhile the in Europe, the European Union had completely dissolved, with its former members now embroiled in an endless series of wars with both one another and with the Middle East over increasingly limited resources. Russia's government had become highly unstable and in 2033 fell to a Communist coup. Seeking to reclaim their former power, this new Communist Russia began to invade its neighbors and conquered them one by one with surprising speed.

Both America and Russia greedily devoured every nation in their path to acquiring more resources to support their ever struggling economies. It was inevitable they would come into conflict and so in 2039 they did and World War III began. Though no nuclear weapons were used, it was a horrible conflict that lasted until 2047 and ended inconclusively, with both superpowers having been unable to gain the upper hand.

Eventually, with the peoples growing acceptance of an authoritarian America, President Brougham declared himself President-For-Life and upon his death in 2077 his son James Brougham succeeded him as "President". By the time of his death, people had begun to think of the President like a Sovereign Monarch rather than a mere politician, and in 2144, his son Henry proclaimed himself Emperor of the "Imperial Union of North America".

Similarly, the Communist government of Russia had taken to calling itself the "Union of Eurasian Soviet Republics" with their newly acquired territory and power. With brutality unseen since Joseph Stalin, they kept a tight hold on their possessions which ranged from parts of China to parts of central Europe and the Middle East.

From here to the present (2355) many more wars between the two superpowers were fought, with many other nations caught in between their eternal warring. Earth was gradually transformed into a depleted and war torn wasteland. At last seeing that their planet was dieing, the current Emperor of the IUNA, Maxwell Brougham commissioned a state of the art star ship, the BOB (Beyond the Orbit's Boundaries), with the expressed mission of discovering an inhabitable world that the IUNA and it's people could evacuate to and colonize.


As the connection broke and the last message was sent back to Earth, the ship pummeled through space at the mercy of it's divine beauty and expansion. The sea that the small crew was lost in was enigmatic to detail. There was only so much that Earth knew about it, no matter where you were from.

That's when a ripple was found, only when one wasn't looking for it. The crew members shook within the ship as it gained speed and pace through the mysterious tunnel, knocking each and every one of them unconscious. Was it fate at last? Taking them to the heavens? Or perhaps just the air in which their bodies would rot?

The crew only woke up to a rather loud crash, the ship hit water and it had hit them back in the collision. Time was pressing against their lives, another test of survival. Still no connection to Earth. But where were they?

This question would have to wait. Their ship was sinking. If they expected to exit it to the surface and survive... Action would have to come first.

And fast.

---

Avarinne Y'leska - The Enigmatic Woods

"Iren'leska, bless me. I beg of you, mercy."

The prayer was spoken in a quiet whisper as Avarinne closed her eyes silently. Shame should have over come her. She, one of The Three of Council, was bested by some Kurekian imbecile. She now lay on her back, some kind of machinist sword device at her throat, awaiting orders to be carried out and end her life. The prayer should have been humiliating, but Avarinne kept her eyes shut; not tight, but gently closed, for if this was the end, she was going to calm her body through a peacefulness that could not be broken or taken from this villain.

However, secretly, the other part of her mind was waiting for the hesitation. Once it presented itself, swiftness of her arms moved the blade as her body twisted, her hands springing her from the ground, and brought up her legs, reaching to kick out. Her bare foot slammed in to the human's chest, sending them back on their arse as she continued the twist and landed upright on her feet in the opposite direction, darting towards the deep of the woods, a place the Kurekians had yet to be brave enough to venture to.

She thought them cowards, really, being afraid of a forest, but a small bit of pride also came when she knew she had struck that fear in to their hearts, be it a small or large fear. At the same time, thought she wouldn't admit it, she knew she was also a coward. It wasn't as if she'd stepped foot in to their land, either.

Hearing no footsteps behind her in pursuit, Avarinne darted behind a nearby tree that was big enough to be a home and peeked around the corner, eying the parameter.

She was safe again; lived to see another day in the endless cycle of the endless war.

---

Like every other aspect of Jadan City, colors, style, and simplicity adorned the great hall of the Jadan Palace. This hall was decorated as if a large feast was going to be held for 50 or so people, yet it was never used for dining in all it's existance. As of now, Stanton stood at the head of it, Queen Jada sitting before him at the head chair while his captains, the small number of four that there were, looked up at him from the closest chairs available.

"All I am saying, your majesty, is that with the way that the world appears to work, we should acquire a mercenary company."

"My commander, Jadan stands an isolationist city. Do ease my curiosity with the purpose of hiring men who slaughter for fortune if Jadan has no enemy to slaughter?"

"We wouldn't hire them for offense, my Queen." He bowed his head for a moment as he knelt to her side. At his height, his head and shoulders were still clearly visible above the table. He looked up at her, "I am more concerned about defense. My men, the volunteers, they do not take the military unit you have granted me permission to arise more seriously than I demand of them on my watch. Outside of the drills and camps, they proceed to uphold themselves as commoners. They go about their daily lives as if nothing is out there that could crush Jadan city in an instant."

"I beg your pardon, your Majesty," a captain spoke up, his eyes meeting hers before falling to the table and then to Stanton, "Commander, permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"Commander, are you suggesting that there is reason to fear?" His voice quivered slightly. "I-I mean no disrespect, but sir, Jadan has been in peace in all the queen's existance... If that were to change, it would be a dangerous topic and call to action."

"It's not that there is a threat currently placed upon our great city, your Highness." Stanton spoke before Jada's eyes grew wide at the captain, then Stanton for a response as if this troubled her for the first time, a thought that had never occurred to her. Change. "It is that there are forces out there who could, and if they so chose to, we would be ready for such a time if we had the hired help."

Jada's eyes closed slowly, her hands folded gracefully before her on the table. For a long moment, she did not speak and the room grew silent as if waiting for her opinion rather than forming their own, and why wouldn't they? Up until this idea that brewed in to Stanton's head naturally, the citizens of Jadan City had had no reason to fear, no reason to second-guess, no reason to do anything but what they'd done for so many years: live in harmony. It bewildered Stanton that the thought had never occurred to them prior to his arrival a few years back, especially when it was so easy for him to think about, to ponder and worry about.

Finally, she opened her eyes and Stanton felt his body's tension drop in defeat before she spoke,

"A decision will not be made when there is nothing present to arouse an interest in altering the lifestyle that Jadan currently has."

A simple nod from the captains and they were dismissed silently from Stanton before he stepped back, watching Jada as she arose from the table.

"Queen Jada, you... You can't be serious."

"I do not comprehend why my judgment is questioned for the simple reason that it not in harmony with yours." The words slipped through her lips as if this was nothing short of a simple matter at hand, something that could be easily brushed off the shoulder and forgotten in the back of everyone's mind until it ultimately disappeared.

Stanton cleared the area with his eyes at a side-glance before stepping forward and taking her gently with his hands, his thumbs rubbing her shoulders, "I only speak up concerns for your safety, Highness. You have only lived so long due to your quasi-immortality, but should you face the evil I speak of and your city may be left without a ruler."

"Commander," Jada let out a slight sigh, taking a step back, lacking the emotion to return to the devoted commander. "- Stanton.. Darling, you must not let your emotions branch our such fears. Technically, lightning could strike you down during a storm, but has it? Just because the possibility is there that my being may be endangered does not mean I shall live in hiding, be that physically, or behind a mercenary troupe. - Besides, I do not trust them. They--"

"Your highness! Commander! Quick! Some-- Something just-- The ocean! The Commander was right!" The captain could barely stand, he shook so hard before disappearing as quickly as he appeared, running down the corridors that connected the Palace together and making his way to the royal docks, facing the deep blue sea that touched the city so beautifully when the sun hit it.

Stanton charged after him, the queen following him, but at a slower pace. His eyes widened as he approached the docks' entrance. Up in the sky, some kind of ball of fire flew out of no where. As the queen arrived at the docks, the ball met the body of water and a large span of waves emitted from the source.

"Commander, what was that?!" The queen gasped, her eyes as wide as his.

"Trouble."

---

Kurek City Observatory

Miracles happen every day. Technological advancements, discoveries, and best of all, mistakes that branch out in to progression... This is all what Kurek is about. Conditions are hard, work is long, and the meals are shoddy since everyone around is a mechanic, not a chef, but... Things have been a lot better since the incident at Tohan. King Riddeon, at such an extraordinarily young age, has proved his persistence and patience at such a hard age to mature and brought out a change within the city. New laws. New conditions. Things aren't perfect, but they are changing.

Change. It keeps the city going. Everything within Kurek is almost like clockwork. Clocks are everywhere. Everything has a cog of some sort within it. Advancements have even led to steam-powered helpers, machines with the height and size of gnomes, but the strength of ogres. They were built to assist in minor details, such as heavy lifting, or small favors such as handing over supplies. Why replace the humanoid who did these before the helpers were invented? Well, Kurek believes in using every brilliant mind in the field, not wasting it upon a minor position.

Those whose minds aren't as advanced, at least not in the engineering field, either flee or make up a majority of the militant unit of Kurek City. In a morbid way, it's the city's way of 'taking out the trash', feeding the brainless or those who couldn't compete with the other civilians, the thousands of civilians, to the endless war with the Enigmatic Woods. They would either come back a war hero, or they would be taken care of, making a hero of some elf.

Yes, things weren't magnificent, but things were... Advancing.

"S-someong get King Riddeon!"

"What is it?"

"What do you see?"

The man returned back to his looking scope that was faced in the direction of the deep sea that was quite a FAR distance away from Kurek. "I.. I see... Something advanced! It's crashing in to the water! What a waste.. How will we ever dig it up and examine it?"

"A what? WHAT is crashing in to the water?"

"Just go get King Riddeon!"

---

"Captain," Jada spoke sternly, the site of the crash before her eyes.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Assemble the citizens before the square within the hour. I will be speaking publicly to them on this occassion, no doubt they've all witnessed it, once Commander Stanton and I return from the site."

"Return from the site?" Stanton and the captain spoke at the same time in confusion.

"Yes. We are going to find out what that was." She spoke with concern, "It looked like a vessel and that means lives and mortality. We need to save as many as we can who make it to shore."

Stanton let out a sigh before nodding dismissal to the captain who promptly sped off in the other direction to gather the other three captains. Jada looked over at the commander with a sweet smile, "Oh, where's your sense of adventure? You can plan out the wicked that will come this way, but you won't get the least bit excited about a surprise crash in the ocean?"

"You have a very morbid bright side, Your Highness."

She smiled.

---

Jadan City

The captains made their way through the city calling out the assembly within the hour and announcing ease to the new found panic of the once harmonic people. It wasn't everyday, or ANY day that change made its way in to their lives. Some ran to their homes. Some froze in place, their eyes glazed with shock. Others remained calm, faith in their Queen reassuring that she would have an explanation shortly and that nothing was to be feared until she gave reason for it.

They needed that security. Especially in a city like Jadan. Change could destroy their whole city's nature.

Or their life.

---

"Dekker. Dekker, wake up."

"She's bleeding bad, Major. She won't open her eyes."

"She's got a pulse, she's not dead."

"No, but we'll all be if we don't get the fuck out of here! We just crashed in to WATER, sir! WATER! We are going to SINK in a huge tank like this! We'll die!"

The voices carried on in panic and confusion and all Adrien could think as she lay there quietly, her eyes closed as she came to, was that they were wasting what little oxygen they had left over the possibility of death. Didn't they accept that possibility, maybe, when they took the mission offer? What did they think they were training for for the past four years? A field trip? The whole effort was a suicide adventure and Adrien knew it, counted on it.

Whatever happened, it meant a fresh start. No more EURS or IUNA. No more secret ops. No more missing family or past. All Adrien had to worry about was the future and the new life she would create once on shore. You had to think positive in a situation like this, or you'd go mad like the rest were already going over the wounds that she couldn't even feel, they had to be so minor.

"Shut up. You're wasting breath and my precious oxygen." Adrien spoke before keeping her mouth shut and her breathing slow and calm, steady so that she had a fighting chance to get to the surface of the water. She looked up at Major Thomas Carlisle for direction as she sat up from the floor where she no doubtedly slammed to in the crash. If he didn't give an order soon, she was going to leave the rest of these wounded people and use survival of the fittest as her means of safety.

"Got a plan, sir?"

It had been a long chase, Oller had to admit. Not because of the distance he had needed to cover - in reality he hadn't gone far - but because of his quarry's sheer cleverness. The team of Rangers he had brought with him had long since fallen well behind him, his skill elevated far above that of the standard Ranger - which was quite a feat, considering how far above the standard Kurekan Army the Ranger Corps was. They were several minutes behind now, still searching for a river ford that Oller neither used nor found; he had become so transfixed on the fleeing form of this elf that he had merely vaulted halfway across the river and swam the rest of the way.

It hadn't been long after where he had finally caught up to the elf, and managed to knock her down long enough to close the distance, preparing for the kill. And there they were, Oller standing in his sodden uniform, his hair falling errant from its crude ponytail and sticking to his face. Instead of doing the simple, brutal thing and shooting the elf dead with his crossbow - or, even more lethally, that tri-barrelled revolver that hung from his hip - the Ranger major closed to melee range, drew his blade and pressed the tip softly into the hollow of her neck. Oller didn't apply enough pressure to draw blood yet, though - his hand was stayed by a strange upwelling of emotion. Was this some new form of Elvish trickery? Oller's face twisted into a mask of annoyance and rage, but his hand held the sword steady.

The hesitation paid him dearly. He lost his quarry in his moment of error, suddenly finding himself planted on his rear, watching his prey fade into the swirling mists of the Enigmatic Wood. Oller growled and returned his sabre to the rawhide loop hanging from his gunbelt. At this point, the rest of the Rangers arrived on the scene, watching the patch of forest where the elf had disappeared. They nervously scanned the trees from down their gunsights, swaying as if a hard wind battered them. Oller stared for a few moments more, then shouted into the woods.

"Hear me, Elf!" His voice boomed like thunder, rolling through the trees ahead of and behind him. "One day I'll cut you down where you stand, and your forest will burn!" He quieted then, gestured to his Rangers, and headed towards the forest's edge, bound for Kurek once more.

They emerged from the wood and stepped onto the banks of the river when a low rumble from downstream brought the Ranger team to a sudden, alert halt. Oller's hand went to the interior of his longcoat and groped for something in its myriad pockets, eventually retrieving a spyglass, which he expanded quickly and focused on the sea downstream.

A mass of burning metal was falling from the sky, and had just made landfall off the coast of the ocean this river fed. Oller stood watching the falling vehicle for a few moments, intrigued, then collapsed his spyglass and pointed at the geyser of water that flared up from where the ship was sinking, its depressurizing compartments spewing air and water high into the sky. "Come on, gentlemen," Oller grunted, pointing at the crash site, "gather on the coast and prepare for reconaissance."

Three Days Prior…

“Please, consider it a parting gift between long time friends and business associates.” Luccio Valerian pleaded to Thomas Scippio, a wealthy entrepreneur within Jadan. The matter wasn’t about money per se, Luccio had accepted that even if he did have the funds to restore his shop that his reputation had been irreparably marred once several important clients lost their wares in the explosion. What he needed was a fresh start for his family in a new town where the news of this incident would not haunt him. There was only one major issue that had arisen; his stubborn daughter, Tavi, made it apparent that she had no intention of moving even if it meant living on her own. She was still relatively young by moogle standards and far too naïve to survive in Jadan on her own. Plus, Luccio knew he didn’t have the funds to both establish himself in a new town and provide a safe place for Tavi to live in Jadan; hence his visit to an old friend.

Thomas, a human of average height towered above the moogle, but in this situation felt significantly smaller. He scratched the back of his head as he contemplated the offer and how it would affect his life. “I just don’t have the resources or time to raise your daughter in your place. Hell I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid.”

“It’s not like that. Tavi is about as independent as they come and the only nurturing she requires is worldly experience. It’s not like I’m handing you a newborn babe, I just need to know that she is not sleeping on the streets at night and rummaging through dumpsters for food once we leave.”

The man sighed as he took this into consideration. “I really wish I could, but I’m always away taking care of business and can’t risk losing what I’ve spent years building up because I have to keep an eye on her. Tomorrow I’m going to be spending a week Bernadice and won’t have a moment to spare.”

Luccio’s ears drooped low as he desperately called out to his friend. “Please Thomas… I have nowhere else to turn.”

Thomas let out another sigh followed by a brief groan. “Bring her by on your way out of town tomorrow. I’ll see that somebody will be here to look after her while I’m away for the week.”

“Thank you so much, I am forever in your debt.”

---

Later That Day

“You want me to do what?!” Raaj Nasaug growled as though he had just been insulted.

“Look, it isn’t a big deal.” Thomas said with palms upraised in a pacifying gesture. “I just need you to look after this kid for me while I spend a week out of town.”

“Do I look like a babysitter to you? If this kid isn’t some sort of VIP or have a hit squad after her, then why would you even consider somebody with my credentials?”

Thomas felt his face redden as he answered in a near whisper even though Raaj’s keen hearing could easily make it out. “Because no other sitters were available for the week.” This caused a menacing growl to escape the Canim’s snarled muzzle. “Hey hey,” Thomas retorted with restored confidence, “as I recall, you are still indebted to me after what happened with our contract last month. Given the circumstances, I think you are walking away like a bandit.”

Raaj looked aside, feeling the sting of that comment. He was aware that he still owed Thomas and to deny him this task in reparation would go against his code of honor. There was no way around it, the Canim knew that he had to follow through with this contract even if it meant that his pride would have to suffer the consequence. “Fine,” Ra said gruffly, “if I do this we are square.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Thomas said happily before tilting his head to the side, exposing his neck in a Canim gesture similar to a salute or handshake. A gesture that Raaj returned in kind before mumbling to himself.

“I hate kids…”

---

Present Day

I hate kids…

“Come on RaRa! I want to see what that was!” Tavi said as she serpentine her way around the legs of all the people gathering for a better look of what had just crashed into the ocean, her progress as unimpeded as rainwater through gravel. Raaj’s massive size prevented him from being so successful in the sea of bodies. The Canim was well aware that he could easily charge his way through the mass by sheer force, but doing so would only put him at risk of being incarcerated for assault. Though that didn’t stop him from effortlessly shoving aside the more stubborn of people who refused to let him through. That was the only thing about the current situation that gave him any margin of joy.

This had been the epitome of the past three days of his contract. Tavi getting extra excited or bored, causing the moogle to go into a hyperactive state that would end up with Raaj chasing her down or pacifying some random person for her actions. For once, he missed the comparative predictability and ease of combat. He felt his tenant of not harming innocents and children becoming more negotiable by the day as he became more convinced that Tavi was the embodiment of some ancient demon of chaos. That and he absolutely despised the nickname she had given him.

“Tavi, get back here!” Raaj howled in annoyance only to be answered by a playful giggle by some invisible source within the mass of bodies. This only made the Canim more aggravated, which in turn made his shoving rougher as he pressed ahead until he had reached the railing overlooking the beach where a massive vessel could be seen in the distance, slowly sinking into the ocean’s depths. For several moments he looked ahead in bewilderment of what he was witnessing until he felt a tug upon his cloak that turned into a moving weight. The presence caused him to slump in exasperation.

“Ooooooooooo. What’s that?” Tavi admired the sight as she draped herself over his shoulder, now able to clearly see what had crashed.

“You know,” Raaj said as he turned his head to the side so he could see Tavi out of the corner of his vision speaking in a way that only accent his carnivorous teeth, “in another time, you would have been a petty snack for my people.”

Much to his dismay the moogle girl chuckled at his comment, not comprehending the meaning behind the words. “You’re so funny RaRa.”

The Major half-smiled at Dekker as she finally spoke, that same ever-present moxxy of her shining through without fail. In truth, a plan had been the farthest thing from his mind when they had hit the water: He had to make sure that his crew was safe and accounted for. Life support scans of the lower decks had shown minimal survivors, either from the crash itself or or from the water that was flooding in through the breeched hull of the IUNA ship, but there were still a hefty few survivors left alive, which was entirely alright by his standards. Thomas wrapped his arms around Adrien's back and under the crook of her legs, hoisting her up almost effortlessly before sitting her in a nearby seat.

"Buckle up and I'll tell you...as soon as I think of it."

He moved away from her quickly to the row of switches, dials and screens, everything blaring about them sinking and which decks were filling with water. To his right, his pilot, Nick Kane, still sat unconscious in his seat, his hands still gripped firmly onto the controls. The Major smacked Nick's cheek lightly several times. He felt the man stir and saw his eyes flutter open quickly.

"Rise and shine, Nick," Thomas said sternly. "I need you to override the lock-down in the Engine Bay-"

A nearby crewman stepped forward at this, the man's eyes wide with a mix of shock and horror that Thomas hadn't seen in a long time. The look questioned the superior officer well enough, but the man spoke anyway.

"That's suicide, Captain," the man yelled. "If we override the lock-down, the water will reach the FTL drives and cool them down-"

"A lot faster than they're used to, I know. I also know that the rapid cool-down will cause a catastrophic failure that will, inevitably, lead to a really big explosion. I also know that my calculations could be entirely off and that all of us could die in said big boom, but I'm a gambling man. More importantly, I'm the captain in charge of this boat and we're going to do whatever the fuck I think is necessary!"

The man stood down quickly as Thomas flipped a nearby switch to open all communications channels on the ship. "All essential personnel, report to the bridge immediately. Any others that just wish to save their asses need to make their way to the upper two decks as fast as possible. Blast doors will be activated on all other decks in four minutes."

With another flip of the comm. switch, Thomas focused his attention back on the pilot and nodded, signaling him to begin the lock-down sequence on all the decks aside from the top two, and to begin the override on the Engine Bay lock-down. Within a few more minutes, most of his officers and other essential personnel were around him.

"Here's the plan, boys and girls: The Engine Bay is going to fill up with water and trigger that catastrophic failure we were just talking about. The blast doors have been activated, and anyone on the other side of them is fucked, sorry to say. I need all of you to find a seat and buckle up, because when that boom happens, not only is it going to rattle everything, but it'll also jettison us pretty damn close to the surface. Evacuation of the ship will then proceed as every one of you has been trained. Understood?"

Douglas Fortune

Well, Doug knew that this mission was going to be anything other than ordinary. This whole situation though reached a whole new level of bizarre. Doug had been tending to his weapons down in the lower reaches of the ship, when shit hit the fan and sent chaos and mayhem spreading everywhere over the ship. A few crew members were trying to put out fires, others were crouched against the walls either wounded or winded, and yet others lay still on the floor, blood gushing from multiple lacerations. He didn't know many of the crew down here, in fact, he didn't know much of anyone on this entire ship. He was ordered to the ship, so he complied. Now, had he been given the chance, he would shove a shotgun up the general's ass and pull the trigger.

Doug had been trying to get his gear all sorted through, thinking that they had time to compose themselves and plan things out. However, when the water started rushing in from tears in the ship's hull, he could tell he was completely wrong. A few of the crew members panicked, but many kept their heads and started heading up to the upper decks. Doug cursed his luck at the unfortunate series of events, and picked up what he could. If they did get out of this, most of them would only be equipped with pistols. He wanted to make sure that they lived once they actually got off this ship. So, with that in mind, he quickly grabbed a automatic 'Dregger' shotgun, known for it's stopping power. Along with a frag grenade belt, and an ammo belt. He was most likely going to be the most armed individual up there, so it would be up to him to do most of the fighting should there be any.

"Please let there be no horrible giant monsters wanting to rip us to shreds with massive claws." Doug whispered this to himself as he forced his way towards the bridge of the ship. He had quite the distance to go, considering he was in the bottom of the ship. Hell, he was even lucky that it hadn't been torn open in the initial crash. Counting his blessings, he stopped to check the pulse of a man laying face down on the floor. No pulse, and no time to give him the proper respects. The ship shifted, and Doug quickly steadied himself against the wall as he waited for a moment to move again. Suddenly, the intercom came alive with the Major's voice.

"All essential personnel, report to the bridge immediately. Any others that just wish to save their asses need to make their way to the upper two decks as fast as possible. Blast doors will be activated on all other decks in four minutes."

Fan-fucking-tastic...only another two or three decks left to go in four minutes on a crashing ship that will soon explode...I've done this before I think. So, without further hesitation or thought, Doug quickly forced his way up to the bridge. The angle started to get steeper as the bottom of the ship filled with water and started dragging them down. Soon, it was a climb rather than a run, but Doug was determined to not die here.

Through sheer determintation, hardwork, and multiple swear words that some you will have to look up the meaning of, Doug climbed his way up to the bridge. His breathing was heavy, and one could easily tell that the heavily armed man was not in quite the peak condition that he often spoke of. Struggling, he made his way to one of the chairs, and strapped in. He had no idea what the Major was planning, but knowing the man's reputation, it was something either genius or madness. "Since when did we require climbing gear for hallways?" Doug said breathlessly as he finally got settled in. As the Major got into his spiel about what he planned to do, Doug could do nothing but give a laugh. "Well, if we're going to die, might as well be with a bang!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

T

"Fire! Fire from the sky!"

"Did you see that?"


"What was it!"

"Demons I say! Demons have come to kill us all!"

"Demons!? Are you mad? It's the Gods who are punishing us!"

All this nonsensical talk that was making it hard for the eight foot tall Junkie to understand what was really happening in the town. T had just arrived in Jadan City to a giant crowd looking over the ocean. Something had happened, but the talk and reports from the citizens were confused at best. Most he could tell, something fell from the sky and it looked like fire. He had no idea what it really was, or if it was even anything of importance.

T tried to force his way through the crowd, but found that his usual stature was not doing the job it usually did. Normally people would rush to get out of his way, or walk faster if they were in front of him. This time, no one attempted to move, and T was forced to make his way through the crowd. A couple of people finally noticed him and moved, but others he had to be more...forceful. He picked up a man by his skull, and placed him off to the side. Another one, he gave a rather forceful shove to the side, sending the man to the ground. A woman stood in his way, and he simply kept walking, sending her to the ground as well. Unlike other warriors, he felt no need to be gentler with the supposed weaker sex. He had faced women mercenaries and warriors before, and they had the same skills and abilities as the men did. To be more 'courteous' to them simply didn't make sense.

T's 'eyes' made contact with another being that he was familiar with in the crowd. A Canim by the name of Raaj if he remembered correctly. T had met the man working on a guard detail for a travelling caravan a few years back. T had gotten a few upgrades since then, most noticeably his giant ice spikes on his back, but he had no doubt the man would recognize him. He wasn't exactly the 'forgettable' type. As he made his way to the beast, he noticed that there was a small creature tugging on his cloak. From the posture the Canim was exhibiting, he had to guess they were together. Soon, he was close enough to the man to initiate contact.

"Raaj." T's soul voice was often something that startled most people when it was first heard. First off, it was heard inside your head, not your ears. Second, whatever language the recipient understood, is the language in which they heard from the Junkie. The Canim was actually taller than T, if he stood to his full height, but when he bent down like what he was doing, they stood at eye level. T quickly came up to stand beside the Canim, his eyes drifting over towards the Moogle on his shoulder. She was small, easily killed, and of no potential threat. T ignored her.

"What is going on. What is making the crowd...scared? Angry?" T's voice was completely neutral, almost to the point of being creepy. His question about the emotions of the crowd were legitimate as he was unable to feel the normal emotions of the people. He did his best to understand them, but he would never actually experience them. His eyes continued to drift onto the spot where the thing had crashed, hoping to get some answers from the large man before he made a decision as to what to do.

Some one up there liked Church, or perhaps it was the whole crew. Though that he doubted as he crossed himself before kissing his cross necklace. Church unbuckled himself his seat and stood up on uneasy footing, the landing had taken much out of him though not as much as others. Church looked back to his station which was once a state of the art communication system, however now was pulled apart and broken. Church had taken apart to try different things to try and get some signal, but now after the crash it was in not much better shape as others in the lower decks.

"All essential personnel, report to the bridge immediately. Any others that just wish to save their asses need to make their way to the upper two decks as fast as possible. Blast doors will be activated on all other decks in four minutes."

This caught Church's attention, and looking up at the few screen that survived the screen he was right. Several of the blast doors were already closing or closed, many who may had survived the blast was already trapped. Church was out of his chair in an instant, and ran down to the bridge door, looking down and watching others coming in. He counted the time in his mind as he shouted for others to hurry as they came up, some limping. He knew others, perhaps crawling were trying to make it. Church crossed himself and went into the coming darkness.

He kept the count in his head, as he made his way through the darkness as quickly as he could. He tried his best to listen for survivors but it seems as though the metal walls amplified the sounds of what water was still rushing into the ship. He shouted as he heard a single voice, and Church somehow found her. Church was quick to pick her up and make his way back through the darkness, remembering which turns he took. Church couldn't help but love the light coming through the darkness, but then he heard a sound which made his stomach churn. The door was closing, it was a mad few seconds. The final sprint and making it through the door were all a blur. He slowed for a moment as he thought he made it safely through the door or so he thought, because the woman fell from his arms as he fell flat on his face. "Get her strapped to a chair!" He shouted as he realized his foot was caught by the door.

Church reached over, as he felt several bone break in his foot from the pressure. He finally undid the laces and pulled his foot free as the rest of the shoe was easily crushed by the blast door. He made a limping run for his seat, but a roaring force from behind made him feel weightless for a moment. The explosion then violently slammed him to the cold metal, and Church's world went black.

Raaj had been brooding over being moogle perched upon his shoulder and how it must have looked to the thousands around him. It was annoying enough standing out in a crowd just by his sheer size, but with this child clinging to him like a maugi* infant to its mother would only bring more attention to him; specifically the type that would only harm his reputation of being a cold and ruthless guardian and fighter. I haven’t been in town long, nobody is likely to recognize me especially with this object from the sky to distract them. Once this contract is fulfilled, I’ll just move on to another town before the spectacle of me babysitting this runt becomes more than a fleeting observation.

"Raaj."

The cane’s ear twitched in aggravation at the utterance of his name. Fantastic.

”What is going on. What is making the crowd...scared? Angry?”

It wasn’t a surprise that he heard those words in his native tongue; the moment he heard his name from within his head he knew what had addressed him. He had worked with only a few junkies over the course of his mercenary career and felt only a little relieved by who had recognized him. Of all the mercenaries that he had ever associated with, junkies had never seemed to understand the art of gossip and this one would not be likely to mention this sight unless directly asked. Considering the general attitude most had towards his kind, casual conversation and the spreading of rumors would be kept to a minimum. Raaj turned his head just enough so he could see the junkie out of his peripheries, which was all he needed to recognize the fellow mercenary. There was only a few minor differences in appearance from when they last encountered one another, specifically the spikes that protruded from its back, but the majority of its shape remained the same. It took him a moment to recall what this junkie went by since Raaj rarely takes the time to commit anybody to memory seeing the need for making personal ties outside of business to be unnecessary. Had it been another race that wasn’t as rarely seen in these parts as his own, Raaj probably wouldn’t have had a clue as to their name.

“T.” Raaj said in acknowledgement, thankful that the nickname was so short. In his mind, small talk was never small enough and strived to keep his conversations as brief as possible. “Something fell from the sky and nobody knows what it is or what it means.”

“Oooooo! Who is your friend RaRa?” Tavi said in the high tone she gets when overwhelmed with curiosity; it was just a low enough octave to keep Raaj’s ears from bleeding in such a close proximity. The moogle clambered along his shoulder so she could get closer to the junkie, reaching out to poke T’s person. “Weird…” Tavi mused as she felt the ice and stone, surprised that it was ambient temperature rather cold to the touch. She continued to poke and touch T as her mind raced with how ice wasn’t cold and how a person can move when wearing so much stone clothing. “How are you doing that?”

A moment later, a section of the ocean in the distance erupted in a giant burst of water followed by a sudden shockwave and a roaring rumble. Such a display of power was unlike anything the planet’s natives ever experienced and although the shockwave felt little more than a strong, but brief gust of wind from that distance, a majority of the crowd panicked as they attempted to flee the area.

”It’s going to kill us all!”

“It’s the wrath of the gods! We’re all doomed!”

“It’s a beast from the heavens!”

Raaj and T were among the few who remained stationary and composed; the cane because decades in war had steeled his nerves and the junkie because they never seemed to comprehend emotions such as fear and terror. As the mass of people behind them began to fluctuate in a torrent of shoving bodies, Raaj remained focused on the enemy before him eager to see the so-called beast. “Wooooow, what is that?” Tavi said in awe. Raaj also noticed the figure that partially emerged upon the surface of the water about a mile from the shoreline, approximately half the distance from the site of the eruption. It’s getting closer, but why did it stop? As far as he could tell, it all but stopped its forward momentum only minutes since its sudden lunge. It also appeared to be slowly submerging into the ocean’s depths once again. Raaj squinted to try to see more detail despite the distance. It’s angles and planes seem too flawless to be natural, is this a creature or an object?

“There’s stuff coming out of it.” Tavi said in fascination. Raaj was actually impressed that she hadn’t become terrified like those behind them. Though he suspected that it was caused by her naivety rather than courage. No matter how hard he stressed his sight, he could not make out anything among the ripples in the distant waters. ”How can you possibly see that from this distance?” He could see from his peripheries as Tavi looked at him and smiled ”Magic. before returning her gaze to her hands which were held together in such a way that her fingertips touched to create a circle.

What he could not see was that Tavi used this gesture in tandem with her elemental magic to bend the air within the encircled space to make a telescopic lens. Even with it, she could not make out the finer details of the bodies, only that they were roughly human or elven in shape. She watched as several figures emerged from the odd object that slowly eased itself to the ocean’s depths. ”Is the big thing alive?” Tavi chuckled. ”Can’t you tell the difference between an animal and machine RaRa?” Raaj’s ears twitched in annoyance as he got the impression the moogle had just talked down to him and that she had not actually answered his question. His voice now bore the undertone of a growl ”I cannot see clearly from this distance, and unlike you, I do not rely upon magic.” Tavi chuckled once again, a sound that the cane was beginning to lothe. ”Why would you do something silly like that? It looks like some sort of beat up ship to me, but I’ve never seen anything like it before. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen that many ships before. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on one, especially the ones that rely upon steam generators rather than natural wind. You know, paddleboats instead of sail boats. I’ve always wanted to see the inner workings of a paddleboat, I mean I know the theory and mechanics behind it, but to see the actual mechanics in motion is exciting. The scale of the—“ At this point Raaj did his best to tone out Tavi’s ramblings as he continued to focus at the sight before him. A ship, huh? I know I’m not really current with technology, but I don’t think an explosion that large could have come from even the largest generators in production. Not to mention something that large came from the sky. Either a nation had been hiding their true technological prowess or this thing is not from this planet… Several minutes passed and the cane was finally able to make out the silhouettes of moving bodies swimming towards shore in some detail. ”—which is why I’ve never been a fan of fish; you know what I mean RaRa?” Without waiting for Raaj to answer, Tavi reformed her magical lens and returned to looking at the people finally reaching the shallows. ”Ooooh, they’re human.” Raaj reeled back slightly by that announcement. Humans? Had a nation actually developed the technology to make something that massive fly?

”OH NO!” Raaj suddenly felt the weight upon his shoulder shift before vanishing as Tavi dropped to the ground. When he looked back, expecting to see her running towards the city with the rest of the now scattered population he saw nothing but empty cobblestone between him and them. The sudden sound of flapping fabric came from behind him and he had turned just in time to see Tavi jump over the railing on her way to the sandy beach fifty feet below them. Raaj let out a gasp of alarm as he desperately lurched out to grab her, but she had already fallen out of his reach by that point. The canim’s pulse raced as he watched his contract fall a distance that stood a good chance of harming even somebody of his size. All he could do is watch in horror as she accelerated downward. As she was halfway down, he realized that instead of accelerating, a strong up current of wind began to slow her decent. Raaj looked around him for the nearest way down the ledge without dropping and seen a stairwell a short distance away that he hastily sprinted towards.

Tavi heard the wind rush around her as she focused her magical energies to divert a strong burst of air to slow her decent until she was only a few feet from the sand where she no longer had space to move enough wind to maintain the spell. Once her feet hit the sand, she fell back into a seated position with a grunt by what little momentum remained. She quickly kicked off her shoes before she rose ran along the sand towards the waterline until she was knee deep in the swells. After rolling up her sleeves, she submerged her hands in the salt water and closed her eyes in concentration. Controlled by her will, a small current formed in the water, quickly propelling a mass to the shore. Within a few seconds, the limp form of an oddly dressed human washed upon the shore next to her by an oddly shaped wave. The man lay unconscious and unmoving upon the dampened sand as Tavi moved to his side and placed her hands upon his chest, her eyes flashed to the odd patch upon his clothing that had odd symbols that looked like “FORTUNE”, before returning her attention to her magic.

She could feel the water within his lungs and quickly, but carefully guided it up and out through his mouth before channeling a small amount of air back into them. Tavi then switched to her healing magic, forcing the man’s blood to draw in oxygen and coax his heart to pump once again. Raaj had arrived just in time to hear the man let out then take in a deep breath as his eyes snapped open. The sudden motion and the alien attire alarmed the cane who was unsure of the man’s origins and intensions. Without hesitating, Raaj reached down and gripped Tavi by the back of her shirt and perched her over his shoulder where she would be safer than within the man’s grasp. The cane did not retreat, however, believing that one of the best ways to deter violence is to seem even more vicious than your opponent; looking menacing was something that Raaj could do very easily as he revealed his sharpened canines in a snarl, clawed fingers bent and ready to rend flesh, ears lowered, and eyes glaring furiously in warning. Should the man make any type of hostile motion, Raaj preferred a position where he could disarm and neutralize rather than be forced to be evasive and seek cover. His voice came out at a low growl as he spoke in a tongue that the alien would not understand, ”Where do you come from, human?”

---

*Maugi - Otherworld equivalent of a koala bear.

They say reflections are mirrors that look into the past of one’s soul. At least, that is what the people used to say. A broken mirror was a symbol of good fortune and was said to shatter the ties to one’s past.

If only that were true. Leon gazed into the water at his reflection and could only feel despair. It was true that the reflection was not of himself, but of his past. His face bore the signs of his curse. His golden eyes shone that sickly, bestial yellow. It was because he had just consumed blood. It was all over his face. Dried blood was so hard to remove, he recalled.

This picture was not him, at least, not the person he wished himself to be. He angrily shattered the reflection in the water with his hand. He was not a monster; he refused to be. Leon tenderly recalled a time in his youth where he had refused to eat of the raw and bleeding meat. He had been sick for days before his body, starving, forced himself to drink of the blood once more. His pale skin. His sanguine hair. His animal eyes. They were all because of his curse, the gift the faeries had bestowed upon his father.

The sins of the father shall be visited upon the son.

How long had it been since he had left his home of Bernadice? That he could not recall. He had traveled through the Soulieria Desert, past Kurek and through the Enigmatic Woods. Leon had been chased from the forest by the faeries and now he knew not where he was.

Now he questioned why he had come? Did he truly think that his people could be redeemed? The faeries did not have such short memories. And did he really think that finding Jada would solve anything? If not for her, his father would never have been turned mortal.

Leon moved his cloak which kept out the desert sands and looked down to his rapier. It bore the crest of the House of Bernard. What stopped him from plunging it into his heart now? The way his own people looked at him like he was a monster… some days he even thought them to be true. What good had ever come from his house? If fate were content to make the line of Bernard suffer, why not end the line at his meaningless life?

If only there was a sign that the heir of Bernadice would find what he is looking for?

That is when Leon saw it, like a shooting star falling from the sky. Yet, unbeknownst to the prince as he chased it to its source, it was no sign. It was much more and it would change Otherworld forever.

Douglas Fortune

"Major, what is the actual probability of us surviving this?"

"Probability of us surviving? Doc, let me tell you. We were hand picked by our nation's governments for this very mission. We are the best of the best, and no one else on Earth can match our skills. If anyone is going to survive this, it's going to be us." Most of Doug's words were said through a smile, as if he wasn't even bothered by the fact that a suicidal plan was their only hope of surviving a watery grave. Hell, in his mind, if he survived this, he could survive just about anything. As the time ticked down, Doug found himself wanting to close his eyes. He wanted to be able to just not have to worry, and be absolutely positive that everything would work out. Even though he had just spoke words of encouragement earlier, he too had his doubts. He didn't know if this would work, or if they would survive. He had to simply place his faith in his commanding officer.

Considering his past history, not exactly an easy thing to do.

Suddenly, the back end of the ship exploded, and Doug felt like he had been strapped to a rocket and thrust against a sledgehammer. The force was incredible, and Doug was able to do little more than gain shallow breathes. Finally, the acceleration stopped, and the force instantly went null. Doug was thrust against his harness, winding him, and not giving him a chance to recover. His arms flew wildly, and managed to hit the detach button for the harness. He was sent head over heels towards a hole in the deck, and barely managed to get through. However, that wasn't the worst part.

As he went spinning through the water, his eyes darted to the surface, and he started to panic. He had no air in him, and his vision was already blackening at the edges. Even as he fought to get out of the undertow from the sinking ship, he knew wasn't going to make it to the surface. He only hoped that the others would at least survive this incredibly FUBAR situation. He flailed, and he tried, but finally the conclusion became absolute as his vision went completely black.

He was going to die.

________________________________________________________________________

T

T continued to look over the ocean even as the Cane answered him.

"Something fell from the sky and no one knows what it is or what it means."

"So it would seem." T tried to get a better look at what was happening at the water, but he simply couldn't see that far. The Moogle on Raaj's shoulder cried in curious excitement, and started prodding him and poking him. As he looked over at Moogle, he gave nothing but a cold stare as she continued to poke and prod him to her heart's content.

"Weird...How are you doing that?"

"Energy reconfiguration, or what others have deemed as 'Assimilation'. A way of creating physical shell in which my people can protect themselves and do day to day things that would otherwise be impossible to us." Even as he said this, he realized that she wasn't listening. Something else had grabbed her attention. A gust of air hit the others around him, but he felt nothing. He deemed it to be because of his physical shell, and watched as the chaos engulfed the small area. People screamed, ran, cowered, or simply cried. The result was that of a nearly empty area soon afterwards. The emotion that would have to be running through the crowd could be nothing more than fear. He did not understand why they would all run away from a gust of air, but then again, he was not driven by emotional thinking, and could only speculate on the matter.

The Moogle appeared to be using some sort of magic to see farther distances. She and Raaj seemed to argue a bit, before he allowed her to rant on for awhile without saying two words. He seemed to...disapprove of the whole situation he was in if T was reading the signs right. Raaj had always been an aggressive beast and a great fighter, and it was different to see him caring for a something so small he could kill her with a flick of his wrist. Suddenly, the Moogle finally said something worth noting.

"OOooo, they're human!" T looked at her directly, than at Raaj.

"Human? They have created a giant flying device?" T then looked back to the water, and returned his gaze back to the two. "No, they didn't. It is obviously sinking and they are abandoning their craft."

"Oh No!"

T watched as the Moogle hopped off of Raaj, and ran for the nearest railing that prevented people from falling down to the beach below. She jumped over without hesitation, much to the despair off Raaj. That sealed it, she was a contract. T had never seen Raaj have any other emotions towards others, and the fact he was trying to grab her signified that he was at least trying to stop her from jumping, which would lead to protection, which then would lead to a contract being the only reason he would be protecting someone.

Emotions were a confusing, and sometimes difficult thing to understand.

T walked casually to the edge of the railing, and saw that the Moogle had escaped the leap of death by using more magic to slow her descent. It was an interesting way of getting down, but T needed no such thing to help him. He looked over to see Raaj running down the stairs towards her, and concluded that in order to find out what was going on, he would need to stay with the Moogle. She was the most curious, and would be more likely to find answers. So, without a moment's hesitation, T jumped over the railing, and landed hard at the bottom of the fifty feet. Raaj had beaten him down due to his logical and inspecting ways, and T saw just who was on board the flying machine.

They were human, of that he had no doubt, but his clothing was not from anywhere he had seen. The Moogle had managed to resuscitate the man, who was now doubled over puking his guts out. On his back was strapped a strange looking device. It was something that looked akin to a rifle, but bulkier. Finally, the man decided to look up. T had no trouble discerning what emotion was running across his face.

Fear.

________________________________________________________________________

Douglas Fortune

Doug didn't know what had happened, or how he came to be on this beach. He thought he saw something kneeling over top of him, something incredibly small, but it disappeared quickly and his vision was still blurry. He tried to roll over, and accomplishing that, managed to stand up. That was a bad idea as nausea instantly hit him and he threw up everything he had eaten in the past week. After a minute or so of that, he heard some sort of gutteral sound coming from in front of him. His vision cleared just enough that he could discern just what was in front of him. As he finally realised what he saw, his face went white. Fear and shock ran through his system as he fought just to stop from passing out from the realisation of what was staring him down and yelling at him.

"It's a fucking Werewolf! You're a fucking Werewolf!" With giant claws and fangs to render me to pieces...note to self, shut the fuck up. Doug tried to grab his shotgun from his back, surprised the little piece of salvation was still there, and brought it forward. Before his finger could pull the trigger though, he felt something incredibly strong grab his wrist, and literally drag him into the air. As he looked over, all he could see were two piercing, completely blue eyes staring at him from a rocky body. His mouth opened to say something, but he couldn't find the words. A Golem...A mother-fucking Golem! Doug could do nothing but wait awkwardly as the eyes seemed to pierce right through him. After about a minute or so of nothing, a voice seemed to pierce into his head. Something not heard with the ears, but from the brain.

"You're Human. From which city to you derive from?" Doug couldn't grasp the meaning behind this, and shook his head. The Golem seemed to be speaking to him, but there was no mouth moving, or even anything that looked like it could produce a voice. The creepiest thing about it was how calm it seemed to be. It was completely monotone, emotionless, and downright eerie.

"What the fuck are you?"

"That is not what I asked. I will ask once more. From what city do you derive from?" Doug didn't see any point in this question, but looking at the fact that this thing was easily almost three feet taller than him, made of stone, and was strong as hell, he didn't want to piss it off.

"I'm from Toronto!" There was a moment's pause before an answer came.

"Where is this...'Toronto'...that you speak of?"

"Toronto!? It used to be part of Canada before the Americans got greedy and annexed the whole country. Now it's Toronto of the Imperial Union of North America!"

There was another pause, this one longer than the other one. Suddenly the creature shook him violently, and Doug lost his grip on his shotgun. He fell to the ground on his ass, and looked back up at the creature. It seemed fixated on the weapon, and while it was doing so, he slowly reached for his grenade belt. Before he could pull it off though, the voice returned.

"If that is a weapon, I strongly advise that it kills me with the first hit." Doug bit his lip, and let his hands fall flat. He doubted that the grenade would have done more than buy him time to escape, and he really didn't feel like having this thing hunt him down. After a few more moments of the Golem looking over the weapon, it tossed it back to him. Finally, a real question entered his head.

"What planet are you from?" Doug looked back at the creature, and swallowed hard at the answer he was about to say.

"Earth."

Standing in waist high water, Nicholas could see the creatures standing on the shore. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, making sure what he was seeing wasn't an illusion. "Is that really a...Golem holding Doug?" he thought. Taking another look, he answered his own question.

"Keep walking towards shore, stay calm, and do not let them get suspicious," He thought to himself.

Nick reached down to the top of his right thigh where his pistol should have been holstered only to find an empty holster and no weapon.

"Damn," he said softly.

Stopping at the edge of the water, Nick took another look at the situation. The guards were starting to carry off Doug and Adrien had started to talk to what appeared to be the commanding officer of the guards. He slowly started walking towards Adrien and the commander making sure that he was keeping himself aware of the entire scenario.

Nick then began to feel very week and noticed that his abdomen was throbbing with pain. Looking down at his stomach he noticed the gaping wound spilling from it. Nick stopped where he was and fro the first time noticed the woman in the white gown. He was sure that this was it. He had seen worse wounds during the wars on Earth, but here in this strange world, he was uncertain of the available medical help he would receive. If any. Slowly his world started to fade. Then, blackness.

Nick awoke to an even stranger scene than the beach. Looking around he saw people rushing back and forth between beds, doing what looked like the work of nurses back home. There was no electric lights and the giant room had the eerie glow of candle light everywhere yet, it was extremely calming. As he became more and more aware, he noticed the beautiful architecture of the walls. Every surface resembled marble and the ceiling was intricately carved with images of the woman he saw on the beach in the white flowing dress. Suddenly, a very stunning and beautiful woman appeared over him.

"Where am I?'He said.

The woman looked at him with a quizzical smile, finished looking at his wound, and walked away. Confused, Nick looked around and saw Doug laying on the bed next to him.

"Hey, Doug. Where are we?" he asked.

"Not too sure Nick, but we ain't in Kansas...no small dogs."

With that, Nick looked back towards the ceiling and the only two things that crossed his mind were: What happened out there and where the hell is Adrien.

Cobalt

Diane Shepherd clutched the bolted down railings that lined her residential quarters. When she knew impact was coming, she started packing up. She had one bag that was filled with one other outfit, a few of her canister-sealed drafts, a gun, a knife, and she had been stuffing an inflatable pillow into there afterward, having a hard time zipping the bag after the thick air-filled pillow was shoved into it.

Well, because honestly, Cobalt knew she wasn't the greatest swimmer. She actually felt pretty uncomfortable about the crash-landing into the ocean concept. But with the small amount of actual content, and the size and taut filled nature of the pillow, she at least hoped it would help. After that, she waited. And wonderfully, the wait wasn't long...

Cobalt was suddenly jolted, like having a giant flat mallet slam into her back and send her into the floor. Her fingers parted from the rails and she extended her hands forward, slamming her palms down onto the floor and preventing her head from slamming into the hard flat surface. But then things began to tip, and her things began to slip across the floor, and she knew she had to get out.

Standing up in her dark grey long-sleeve and fitting khaki pants that fell over her boots, she took off. She grabbed her bag and slung the strap over her shoulder and put the bag on her stomach, resting that duffel swell beneath her breasts.

Cobalt ran fast, and was a fairly agile person. She stood about 5'5, so she didn't have the longest legs, but she did run with a track-star's manner about her. Her long coppery hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and seemed to tug as her boots gripped the floor and propelled her only further forward. Soon, she hit a sharp turn, and when she did, on her way to the bridge/cockpit, she was drawn away.

Water sloshed against her ankles suddenly, and she saw the ship tilting more and more. A sudden explosion shook the ship, and a loud groan came from the far left of her sound, the groan of thick metal pulling apart. After having heard it, it came. A wave came from the residential hall's far end, and she had to make it for the opposite direction. An inflated pillow wouldn't help her if it simply stuck her at the ceiling and didn't get her to the surface of the ocean. She'd drown with the ship!

Running in the opposite direction, she finally wound through the halls- covered in a sheet of deepening water, until she found her escape. One of the emergency airlocks. Cobalt made for it, and stopped just at the wide door. She grabbed onto the bar on the right side of the door with both hands and sucked in a deep deep breath, before swinging her leg up and stomping it into the Release Lock button- and shattering the small glass cage that had been around it.

A sudden sound rang out, and then the door opened rather suddenly. She held on for her life, because when that door open, the ocean swept in and smacked her with what felt like a few hundred pounds of force. She refrained from groaning in pain before soon afterward the wave from behind her clashed at her back, throwing her forward and back again, but her hands gripped that bar tight until things settled. The duffel bag beneath her chest was now slowly rising up.

She stuck her feet into the doorway and pushed out, and looked up as best as she could. So... so far from the surface...

The duffel bag began to rise more and more, and had slipped away from her. She now clutched onto the duffel bag strap with both hands and used all of her leg strength to kick. Harder, faster, she had to get there...

The light, it was increasing, that shimmering edge that was the surface...

So... close... almost out of breath...




Lalo


She was as quiet as wind itself, and trained to be deadly. Hidden in the tree's center was Lalone, wearing a dark brown hooded leather wrap that ended above the navel, and a pair of blue pants that hugged her legs and had brown painted ribs from a few inches above the knee on down until the ankle. Elsewhere she wore a pair of brown and beige heeled boots, a red coconut shell bracelet on her right arm, and a woven rope bracelet on her left. Around her neck was a loose and thin leather band, bearing an obsidian Skarn tooth on it. Her eyes were as pale yellow as the moon, and her hair was the purest white- almost so that it seemed to glow a bit.

A soft stretching sound was heard, a very quiet noise, something that you had to listen for to hear. This sound was made by the nimble fingers of the Novescan pulling back the thin string of her bladed silver and black bone longbow. The arrow was perfectly still, the sharp ebony tip at the shaft's end glinting barely in the light that rained in from the canopy's broken sheet of thick Yvascis leaves. A growling and fleshy noise came from across the small meadow.

There, the predator was snacking away on it's most recent meal. A half-grown bear lay defeated on the ground, eyes dull and sunken in as the wildcat lapped at the fresh blood. The cat was a Skarn, nicknamed the Shadow Panther, because of it's black coat. It was believed in Novescan lore that the Skarn once were pets to the Novescan people, due to the cat's ability to hide in the shadows and darken every aspect of it's body to the point that even its fur no longer shimmers in the moonlight. The only thing that can be seen of a Skarn in the night is their eyes. Even their teeth and claws are black. The Skarn was larger than any wildcat on Earth, it was almost the size of a horse. It's long tail swished behind it, and Lalo pulled her arrow back just a bit more.

Her bicep was tightly flexed, the string had no more give for her to take from it. The ebony arrow tip was level with her lunar iris, before finally she released.

A sudden whistle existed, and the Skarn turned quickly, quirking its ears and snarling in the split second it had before the arrow pierced perfectly into the chest cavity, with enough force from the rather short distance of about 15 feet to make the beast fall over on its side.

Lalone swung the longbow over her back and hooked it onto the tiny almost clear band that she kept it on when in motion. From there, she stood in the treetop and then jumped down, landing in a feline crouch before coming back to a stand. The beast roared and squirmed, but it was unable to recover from the fatal wound. Lalo came towards it, and knelt at its back. The beast snarled, whimpered, and roared viciously, connecting it's yellow eyes with her own of a only barely lighter shade. Lalo reached over its chest and removed the arrow quickly, and the Skarn cried out in pain, the angry beast obviously ready to devour her if it could. It went to snap at her, but she quickly slammed her hand into the throat, keeping its head down as it kicked helplessly.

She then thrust the arrow with her hand into the chest cavity once more, striking the Skarn's heart. The beast gasped, and its eyes met hers.

"Let the light carry you home." Lalone whispered in her native language, before running her hand over the beast's fur. As she did so, light formed in her palm and illuminated the fur. And like a beautiful disease, the fur turned white and slowly spread, until the Skarn was a pure white wildcat. This meant it was dead, when the light took it over. And it also was a sign to any who found the body should it be left, that a Novescan had claimed the kill.

She stood up and pulled her hood up over her head, covering her short white hair as she then heard something above... An... unusual sound. Tilting her head up, she raised an eyebrow and gaze curiously at the sky. Something like a large star was pummeling towards the planet... Then... it disappeared from the view she could get from the trees, so the huntress began back onto her own business. She grabbed the Skarn and readied to drag it back onto a tarp she had laid out, on which she would then carry the Skarn back to her nearby home to make weapons and utensils of its bones, and food of its meat.




Cobalt


She was spinning in and out of consciousness, but she could at least tell she was alive. The woman was floating along, her legs barely kicking every time she could summon the willpower. The water felt wonderful around her skin, soothed the ache in her now burning legs. Her arms were tossed over the duffel bag as it bobbed up and down on the water's surface. Cobalt rested her cheek on the bag and looked up with tired blue hues, seeing the shore in the distance and people collected upon it.

"Damn..." She began in a tired tone. "That's... a long... swim... uggggh..." And again she began to kick slowly, making a very paced, uncomfortable trek towards the shore- and trying not to have a meltdown from the fact that she was stranded in the ocean.

Remius smiled faintly as he sat twirling his cane. About twenty minutes ago, a ball of fire had careened through the sky, and landed in what appeared to be the ocean near Jadan. Remius had spent several minutes attempting to figure out where the object had come from, and he concluded that he frankly didn't know. He had ruled out the possibility of Jadan almost instantly due to their lack of technology that could produce something like that, and also the angle of the object was all wrong. Bernadice was the next to be eliminated. It didn't seem that the vampric people would have any real desire to create anything like that, and it was highly unlikely that they could. Kurek seemed to be the obvious answer at that point, but after a few calculations on Remius's part the trajectory of the ball of fire was completely wrong for it to come from Kurek. It seemed that the object would remain and enigma for the time being.

Remius certainly wouldn't let it remain so, however. It would provide some entertainment to discover the source of this enigma, and he hadn't been to a city in probably ten years. It should prove interesting. Remius sighed, the elves of the Enigmatic Woods wouldn't let him pass through anymore. After they had discovered his... activities in the swamplands, not to mention the grave robbing, the had vowed to never let him enter the woods again. Well that was if they found out about it. Unfortunately a full fledged journey through the woods would be far to risky. Short journeys to... liberate some corpses were simple enough, but a prolonged visit would definitely get Remius killed. It was rather convenient that Remius had be able to gather the necessary parts to create a small airship not a few months ago, and he had finished it's making last week. It was a perfect excuse for a test drive. It was settled then. Remuis would journey to Jadan for a little investigation. It would be unfortunate leaving his undead to roam about his home without adequate supervision, but at the same time he was sure one of the more intelligent of the undead would make sure Remius didn't come home to a smoking ruin.

That would simply be ten different kinds of inconvenient. The vast amount of time and undead required to amass the materials and build the damn thing was rediculous, and Remius certainly wouldn't want to do it again. He would definitely be forced to take only one of the intelligent zombies with him. A perk to the particular way he created undead was that the closer to death he reanimated the corpses, the closer they would remain to an actual human. He had only been given around four occasions to get a corpse while it was still warm, but it definitely paid of in the long run for they could also pass off as a living, albeit pale, person. Remius pulled away from his wandering thoughts by smacking his cane on the wood floor rather loudly. A member of the intelligent zombies came to his side almost instantly.

"What is it you require, master?" The unliving minion asked in a scratchy and harsh voice.

"Ready the airship. We're going for a little flight."

Well, F—k. Joe thought as their ship crashed into a sea on a far-flung planet in god-only-knew-where in the f-king universe. His galley had been tossed in all directions and he had to dig himself out from under a pile of heavy cast pans and half-finished foods that should have been on tonight’s chow line. The sounds of crumpling metal and blaring alarms half deafened him. Struggling to his feet, Joe shouted out for his line cooks as he rolled up his precious chefs knives up into their protective leather case and stuffed it into the back of his waist. Only J’mar answered him. Turning his head toward the sound he saw why. Garcia had been crushed by the huge walk in freezer that had been torn from its moorings in the steel deck. It wasn’t pretty. J’mar knelt beside Garcia’s remains, still trying to wipe the blood from the dead ensign’s eyes. The Chief weaved toward the young woman and jerked her to her feet violently, snapping her out of her shock-induced stupor. “Move it, Ensign! You can’t help him now.”

The Captain’s terse command to haul ass to the Bridge motivated both cooks and between them they struggled up from below decks making to the bridge in good time. The nervous conversation and speculation just made the Chief roll his eyes. Stupid bas… he started to think. A huge explosion at their feet cut off all thought as the bridge capsule was slammed upwards. His wiry frame felt like it was going to be crushed from the force of the G’s they all were experiencing. At the maximum height, in the odd moment of negative G’s, the Chief looked to see that J’mar had passed out from the force. Sunnuvabitch! Why can’t he catch a single break? Unbuckling himself as other were frantically doing, Joe pushed toward J’mar and struggled to get her unbuckled too. But, the device was jammed. He saw the door open out of the corner of his eye and felt the capsule begin sinking inexorably into the depths once more. He swore and ripped one of his many knives from his rolled leather knife carrier. Sawing through the web straps, he knew he was going to run out of time. One last desperate effort failed to free the hapless Ensign before the water was to his chin. He made the hard decision and left her.

He barely made it to the door against the in-rushing sea and pushed hard to escape the capsule, though his arm was wrenched viciously by the collapsing door... Only his experience with rip-tides and swimming saved him from the sucking of the sinking capsule. Barely able to reach the surface before blacking out, he realized his left arm had been dislocated at best…broken in a very shitty place at worst. Gasping for air as he tread water, he saw the shore some distance off and some of the crew already managing landfall. He couldn’t see just who was there, though. Grateful that the tide was running toward the shore, the Chief began the laborious task of hauling his sorry ass to shore. It was exhausting and he barely made it before simply dropping onto his face in the sand.

The next thing he remembered was waking in a weird sort of infirmary with his arm bandaged, surrounded by candlelight and nurses or Doctors quietly and efficiently going about their business. He started to sit up to get a better look round for his ship mates. A rather attractive young woman approached and spoke to him gently. He didn’t understand a word she’d said. But her tone and gestures were clear. Lay down you’re too weak. The Chief sighed dramatically which raised a smile from her and he gave her a wink. That caused a charming blush on her cheeks. Hoo. Got a live one, he thought. “Where are we?” He asked her. She smiled but shook her head at him. He tried several more languages he knew, even if those were only limited to asking for a beer or soliciting a good time. But again, no response. “Well. Ain’t that fine.” He grumped.

The first waves of the shockwave the ship had generated when it made landfall (well, waterfall) were now slowly beginning to trickle onto the sandy beach where Oller and his squad were gathered. It had impacted at high speed, but being that it was so far away - even from this range (well beyond the normal eye's range, and still far off even with the aid of a telescope), Oller could tell it was deep within Jadanian waters - even the greatest of rolling breakers slowed to a fairly large ripple.

But these ripples still carried wreckage. The scattered detritus - bits and bobs that had been torn from the ship on landing - drifted in occasionally and embedded itself in the sand; mostly pieces of hull-work, but occasionally something remarkable - a green board with various tiny pieces of metal embedded in it, making strange, intricate patterns that glinted in the light. A large, boxy object with several wires trailing from its cracked casing, splayed out like the innards of some great steel beast. And other strange, foreign looking objects.

Oller watched as these pieces washed up on the shore with mild disinterest, still confused and angry about losing the elf girl, but he could always trust his Rangers to bring him back to solid ground when his mind drifted. In this case, it was the technical officer, his heavy backpack laden with the prototype wireless communication system that went straight to Kurek's military command. As the technical officer - Volo, that was his name - as Volo ranged down the shore, looking at the bits of technology, he removed the speaking phone and listening piece from the backpack - big, flared brass affairs - and flicked a few switches in the pack.

The large leather satchel began to click and whir, and soon a voice, crackling and distant, issued from the big earpiece. "Major Dilarasse? Report."

Oller shook himself out of his reverie and moved to Volo's position, taking the speaking trumpet and all but shouting into it: "Dilarasse, reporting. We lost the elf, but we may have stumbled upon something more interesting."

"Define that, Major. How interesting?"

"Strange interesting. My squad was moving to their exit point when we observed a glow on the horizon. Upon closer inspection via telescope, it appeared to be some sort of massive airship or skyborne vessel. It made landfall - well, it hit the ocean, commander - well within Jadanian borders, but there is wreckage washing up on the shore at our current location. Requesting an airship to come to our position and aid in retrieval; possibly do a quiet run over the crash site."

Silence. Then: "There is an airship moored at Outpost Bastiphe, near your mission area. I'll send a wireless to its captain; pop a flare and mark your position for rendezvous."

"Confirmed, solid copy on all." Oller returned the speaking trumpet to Volo, then removed a rocket-flare from his belt. Striking a match on the scuffed heel of his boot, the Major lit the fuse and sent the flare arcing skyward. From then on, it was a matter of waiting for the airship to arrive.

Church thought he must be dead, it was the weightlessness that helped that thought. He felt his body roll softly, then settle as he felt himself float up. It was the contact to the hard metal of the roof that awoke church from his dream and slight hope of heaven. He found himself not far off from it though as what was left of the ship was filled with red tinted water. Some of the crew which made it to the bridge had still met their end by the blast. Church had thought for a moment of the girl which he brought into the bridge before his "nap". But the part of the ship which he last saw her being strapped too was a dense fog of red and Church felt his own body protest to any thought of checking.

There was a sickness in his stomach as he swam to the nearest exit he could, a mixture of guilt and the sea water he had inhaled the few moment he had his brush with heaven. His lungs burned for precious air as Church swam as quickly as he could to the light he saw though the blue water.

Church could feel his lung nearly burst as he finally emerged from the water. Coughing was accompanied by water as Church tried to keep his head above water. He had gotten out of the ship and began looking for land finding that he was very much behind the others. He quickly began to swim to shore, his body aching already from the punishment his body took from within the ship. Church reached the shoreline coughing madly, his lungs still carried a bit of the water and it was finally getting rid of the rest.

A fluttering glint of green caught his eye as he looked up from the sand to more trees healthy trees than were probably left on Earth. The whole world seemed as though it was a throw back to a time which Church had only heard about. It also finally struck him that he was finally as far away from the IUNA as well inhumanly possible. In fact the only thing still IUNA related in his life was the crew, but he was determined to fix that as soon as possible.

A couple of broken ribs and concussion was enough to get Church into the infirmary with a few others. Along the way Church had seen that the girl he had pulled out of the darkness of the ship had some how survived. He gave her a small wave and smile as he sat on bed. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice come from the side.

“Where are we?”

"We are are on an alien planet, just like we planned old man. And I think you may want to keep your charms to yourself till you at least learn the language." Church gave a smirk which had disappeared when the nurse which had been treating him returned to renew her insistence of him laying down. Church may have not known the language but he knew the look he gave her told her that it wasn't about to happen, he was ready to leave right now. He didn't particular care where either, he just wanted to do away with the last of the IUNA in his life.

"You know I remember people use to say music was the universal language. Maybe you should start off with that." Church said with a pained grunt as he got off the bed much to the obvious disagreement of the aliens.

“I need to reach Jadan City.”

Leon repeated once more to the captain. His patience was trying and the prince was getting agitated.

“Look, kid. That – thing – just crashed into the ocean and I am not about to sail the same waters as it.”

Leon drew his rapier making sure that the seal of Bernadice was clearly visible in the bright sunlight. “Perhaps, captain, you are forgetting who you are speaking to.” Leon sheathed his weapon as the captain backed away. “Now, you will take me to Jadan City. Now!” The young man was clearly agitated now and his eyes showed an evil that was only possible of someone who had spent such little time in the light.

“You will get me across that ocean if it means the end of you, understand me?” Leon could be cruel if he had to be, though he would surely scold himself later for letting the accursed sunlight have such an effect on his temper. There were questions Leon needed answers to and he was tired of waiting.

It felt as if he had been waiting his whole life for things that were never going to come. Like waiting for rain in the desert or sunshine in Bernadice. Waiting, always waiting.

As soon as Leon reached Jadan, perhaps he would be one step closer to finding the answers.

The odd human had been lucky that T intervened when he did. Although Raaj didn’t recognize the odd item the man had directed at him, the design and the manner with which the man wielded it suggested a firearm or some other sort of weapon. The cane had been a heartbeat away from sidestepping whatever attack was to come before rendering him into a mangled heap of mauled flesh that would have been unrecognizable as human. He would have done so at the first sign of aggressive movement, but Raaj felt that Tavi would not have appreciated him being the one to deal the first blow. It wasn’t that he owed her either of them any favors, but the last thing he wanted was to spend the rest of the day hearing her whine about how “mean” he was.

Raaj did not recognize the language that the human spoke, which unnerved him slightly given the circumstances. He had traveled a good deal and come across several dialects, but this one was entirely unlike anything he had ever heard. It didn’t necessarily imply that the man was alien, but he certainly wasn’t from a lot further away than any of the countries he had visited. Raaj’s eyes remained focused on the weapon as T held the man aloft, trying to study it for any suggestion as to its origin. Odd. It’s a lot slimmer than any model I have ever seen. Where is the steam compression chamber? Wherever he was from, the cane felt confident that their technology greatly differed from any that he had ever seen. His eyes drifted to the ship that was minutes away from being entirely submerged and felt confident that they were much more advanced too.

The pair listened to the translated conversation that ran through their minds thanks to the unusual abilities of the junkie. Raaj glared as the man answered the questions, not recognizing any of those places and felt confident the man was lying. That was until the man revealed his home planet without a moment of hesitation. The cane felt even more wary of the humans, or aliens rather; uncertain of why they came and what they plan to do now that they are here. Tavi on the otherhand was overcome with curiosity as her ears perked up with interest while she crawled up Raaj’s shoulder so she could clearly see the man. ”Earth? Where is that?” Now that she was no longer focused upon her magic, the moogle was able to look more closely upon the person and the items in his possession. Her eyes widened with interest of the unusual items. ”What are those? Can I see?”

"Do not bring harm to this man, I plead!"

Raaj turned his head and recognized the source of the voice as Queen Jada, though he felt no more allegiance for her than the next person despite her title. It had been years since he had realize that those in positions of power were no wiser, smarter, or better than the people who served them when it came down to it. To the cane, she was just another woman and had he felt he would gain from eviscerating the alien, Raaj would have done so already. Despite his indifference towards the ruling class, Raaj was not a spiteful being and felt no need to go against her wishes for the sake of ‘fighting the power’. Instead, he simply shrugged before turning and walked past the queen on his way back toward the city with Tavi upon his shoulder.

”I had no interest in him in the first place. Though you should watch this one, he seems impulsive and likely to attack without thinking of the consequences.”

”RaRa! I want to stay with him! I saved him, so I should be able to look at his stuff! I want to know more about this Earthanian!”

T

Earth

That was not a planet T had heard of, and he started to doubt the sincerity of the man's words. If he was lying about his origins, he would be killed. However, the man didn't seem to be lying, and his strange clothing and weapons seemed to solidify the fact that he wasn't from this world. The highest tech they had was steam powered rifles, and this man obviously used a weapon that was far past that point in technological evolution. "Earth..." T mimicked the man's word, trying to find a meaning for it but failing horribly. He didn't know what else to do with the man, other than ask him more questions about the odd technology and origins, but was distracted by another voice coming from just a small distance away.

"Do not bring harm to this man, I plead!"

T looked over, and saw a very prestigious person coming towards them. Queen Jada, Ruler of Jadan City and her people. T wasn't one for taking orders unless he was contracted to do so, but considering he was already doing what she was pleading, then he didn't really have a problem continuing to do so. The Queen rushed past him to the aid of the human, who looked like he was getting sick again. Most likely shock was setting into his system, and it would take awhile before he was truly on his feet again. Then another man entered the group. Stanton, Commander of the Jadan army, and right hand man to Queen Jada herself. While his stature was un-imposing to such a large being such as himself, T knew that he was a warrior of renown, and not to be taken lightly.

The more they concerned themselves with the human, the more T's curiosity started getting the better of him. He wanted to know more about the man's interesting technology, and how he could possibly use it to create a better shell for himself that would be the terror of all those who dared to face him in combat. As the man was taken away to be treated, Queen Jada turned towards him and thanked him for not harming the man. T stared down coldly at her.

"He was only in danger should he have chosen to attack." Seeing her recoil slightly from this response, he searched through his memories of how others reacted to what he could only guess was gratitude. After a short pause, T spoke again. "but you...are...welcome?" He didn't know if this was the correct response, but seeing as she made a small bow again, he could only guess that he had been correct. Another couple of survivors had moved to them, and one began talking to Stanton while the other seemed to keel over from a wound to the torse. T wondered if they carried any more of the weird technology, but her lack of clothing and his falling over presumably dead indicated she either dropped it or lost it in the crash, and he would be in no state to answer such questions. They were of no value to him, and he ignored them.

As they moved to transport the survivors to somewhere with medical care, T wanted to go with them. However, he felt his presence among the survivors would create quite the problem, just given by the man's reaction today. Everyone started walking away, even Raaj and Tavi, but he overheard her complain that she wanted to stay with the man. T approached the two of them, nodding his head in agreement. "I agree with the little one. I am curious as to what exact type of technology they have access to." Raaj wasn't one for any sort of social gathering, even T picked up on that through their brief encounters. Seeing as the Canim hesitated, T added slowly. "It is also a good opportunity to see if this new technology can assist us in our field of work."

"Yeah, let's go with Stony RaRa! I like him, he's a talking rock!" T looked over at her, his eyes locking onto hers.

"I am a being made of pure energy using this shell as my physical embodiment."

"You still look like a rock!"

"Stone is one of the components of my shell, yes. I am not completely made of stone though."

"And that is why I am going to call you Stony!"

"My alias is T"

"Stony has a T in it!"

Raaj finally entered into the conversation. "Forget about arguing with her T, she will keep going if you keep letting her."

Raaj seemed to hesitate a slight bit, and his lips almost pulled into a snarl as Tavi yanked on his hair asking; "Please please please please!"

"Fine, we will stick with you T." Judging by his facial expression and his posture, it was clear he really didn't want to be with T, but whether that was through relationship or personal social values, T didn't care. It was beneficial to him, and that is all that mattered. Tavi yelled in victory, and T looked over the curious little creature. T nodded at Raaj, and made his way to Commander Stanton, who stared T down as he approached. T carefully looked through his words to make sure they didn't sound like a threat. His words were chopped as it was easy to tell he was trying to pick the right words to use in the situation.

"If it is alright with...her majesty, we would like...to...accompany the...survivors back to see...if they have any...useful items or knowledge that we can use...in our field of work."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Douglas Fortune

Doug had no idea what in the good nine circles of hell was happening. It was like he had stepped through the pages of some fantasy novel made by some guy high on mushrooms who decided to pick up a piece of paper and a pen. Nothing really made sense, and it wasn't until some beautiful lady came running towards him yelling something that he couldn't understand that he thought the day might get better. Except than he remembered the last time a woman ran after him, and even the memory of that sent a sharp pain through the back of his head where the lamp had hit his skull. Well, she isn't carrying a lamp...only leading about a dozen or so guards. Well, at least they aren't even half as scary as Woof Woof, Rocky, and Plush Toy over here.

As the woman started getting closer to him, he felt the need to throw up once more, and felt his hands shaking and the blood draining from his face. He was falling into shock, and even though he knew it, there was nothing he could do to stop it. The woman bent over him, and started saying things in an unknown language. Then, a man came up, and started speaking in the same tongue, only to turn around and repeat it in English. Doug looked up in confusion. How is it he knew English when it was obvious they weren't on Earth anymore? The man then explained the situation, and seeing no other real alternative, and liking the look of the suggestion holding him up, he didn't put up a fight in the matter.

Doug didn't really remember the trip to the infirmary, or hospital, or inn, or wherever they were going. He kept lapsing into and out of shock, and next thing he knew he was in a bed while people who looked like aides of some sort wandered around him. The building was as low tech as it got. Candles lit the room instead of light bulbs, and everything that was happening around him was done completely by hand, and not by machines. He didn't know if that was a bad thing or a good thing, considering how dependent Earth had gotten on machines themselves. Doug tried to sit up, but was immediately pushed down by another woman, who only shook her head and said some words in the same language that he heard at the beach. He got the message and sighed. "Only because you're such a beautiful thing." He lied back down, trying to forget what just happened, when he saw the same woman push another man back down beside him.

Doug was glad to see that Nick was still alive, for that meant others had made it out as well. Maybe they stood a chance of figuring out exactly what was going on, and getting back to their own time. As the woman passed by him again, he wondered if he actually did want to go back. Nick suddenly spoke up to him.

""Hey Doug, where are we?"

"Not too sure Nick, but we ain't in Kansas...no small dogs."

Doug rolled over to get a better look at the man, who appeared like he came out worse for wear. "What I do know, is that we are in a place where werewolves and golems and plush toys all come to life! This place is insane, and we need to find out just how many of us actually made it out of there alive, and figure out what we are going to do next." Doug paused for a second to cough slightly, and continued.

"We need to find the Major."

Tom watched as everyone filed into the bridge before finding a seat himself. He strapped in quickly, silently trying to calm his own fears: What if his calculations were wrong? What if none of them survived this whole ordeal? He shook the fears away just as the explosion ripped through the hull and shot them up through the water, just as he had planned. A smile came to his lips just as the wind was knocked from his body from the force.


He woke from his slumber later on with a pounding headache and a smiling nurse standing over top of him. "Where's my cre-" She cut him off with a finger placed across his lips as she revealed a small white pill to him. He took it and studied it carefully before looking back to the woman and nodding. He popped it quickly and swallowed it dry, not really caring if he saw water for a very long time after the previous ordeal.

"Thank you," he said softly. "Now, please, where is my crew?"

She said something in a language that he didn't understand before feeling his forehead and smiling that same very sweet smile and walking away quickly. Tom sighed and closed his eyes, silently hoping that everyone was alive and alright.

The Chief turned his head to catch a glimpse of Church in another bed when the man answered his question. He grinned, “Alien planet? She’s human, can’t you see that?” He waggled his black brows when Church called him ‘old man’. “I ain’t that old. Just older than you.” Taking a peek around and seeing no guardian nurses close by, he slipped out of the soft bed they’d assigned him to and padded on bare feet toward Church’s bed. His arm was tightly strapped against his torso to stabilize it. But he wasn’t feeling much pain, so obviously they’d done something for the pain. From Church’s bedside, he could see Doug too. He was in a fine mood as usual. He grinned, “Major’s got to be here somewhere. She got out first, I think. But has anyone seen the Captain?” He kept his voice low so the attending nurses didn't come along to shoo him back to his bed. While the others spoke , he looked at the odd infirmary they’d been housed in. “And what’s with the torches and shit…I mean…”

Joe’s observations are cut off in mid-sentence when several human teen-sized felines walk past the archway separating the rooms in the darkened building they were in. They walked upright with loose tabbards over their slender shoulders and their tails swaying gently behind them as they passed by.

The Chief stared for the span of several heartbeats before he spoke out of the side of his mouth to Church. “Please tell me you just saw that.” To save his sanity just a little, as he always did, Joe made a joke, “Oh nurse? Another of those little pink pills please?” He wasn’t serious of course and threw a worried glance at the others. “Uh…did you…cats, right?”

The hustle and bustle of salesmen and buyers was a common affair at the port of Jadan, but it didn’t cease to amaze Leon. So many people selling their wares happily with one another. These ships sail in with treasures from all over the planet. It seemed as if everything was connected here. It was nothing like Bernadice: hidden, isolated, dark. This place was quite its opposite.

“You little rat! I’ll have your hide for this!”

The peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by the yelling of a shopkeeper. From the looks of it, someone – someone small – was running away from the angry man. The crowds quickly parted with shrieks and jumps. Whatever it was, no one wanted to touch it.

Leon raised an eyebrow when, suddenly, the thing make a beeline straight for him. Before he knew it, the strange creature was hiding behind him, gripping on to his right leg with tiny claws.

Leon looked down and saw a creature he had never encountered before. The small creature looked to be some odd crossing of a small human boy and a weasel. The boy was covered in grey fur that was matted and unkempt and he wore a dilapidated scarf that had seen better days. Whatever it was, it was trembling and holding a small apple in its hands.

“You filthy little –"

The shopkeeper stopped when he saw Leon. “Hand that little runt over. He stole from my fruit stand and now I’m going to have his hide!”

The creature hissed and spiraled up Leon’s body with such speed he barely felt anything until the creature was on his shoulder.

“Look, sir. I’m sure I can pay for this apple. It’s only worth a coin.” Leon opened his coin purse and paid the man. The man snarled and looked to the creature angrily. Leon motioned towards his sword and the shopkeeper backed down, muttering insults as he skulked away.

The weasel-boy began purring and cuddling with Leon’s ear. Leon laughed. “Sorry about that, little one. Hey – what are you anyway.”

“That is none of your concern, human.”

A voice came from above as an owl landed before him. Not an owl. A woman. Much like the boy on his shoulder. They were both some kind of hybrid that Leon knew not of.

The boy sighed and jumped onto the woman who never broke her cold iron stare on Leon.

“Let’s go, Kiva.”

And she flew off leaving Leon confused. Leon shook his head. Jadan was going to be a strange place.

Church looked around the room with some great curiosity. Though he was not at all as interested in it as he was with the world out the window. His mind was still racing with the amount of green he had seen, once at shore and on the way here. So many trees, more than he ever seen he was sure of that now. Not even his home had as many, and the war had taken care of the ones that were standing.

“Alien planet? She’s human, can’t you see that?”

"So hard to believe aliens may look like us? I believe there was a time in human history where they believed all intelligent life in the universe had to be humanoid." Church replied without look, as he watched the "aliens" move about the room to the others in their beds. Church gave a grin to the Chief after his comment about being old. Not like him to be so defensive about age, Church though before saying. "Right now that feels pretty old."

Church was about to answer Joe's questions, with an ready answer of just where the Captain could be for all her cared before his attention was caught at the same time as Joe's. Church watched as the creatures walk by and began to remember bits and pieces of all the kinda of creatures he saw on the way over. There was a few moments of silence once they had left the room before Joe spoke.

“Please tell me you just saw that.”

"Ok....if your not happy with alien planet, how about bad fantasy novel?" Joe cracked a joke which Church had missed as his attention again was on the room and occupants. "Maybe it's heaven," Church wondered allowed before adding. "If so I don't know what you heathens are doing here." And with that Church got off his seat, and made his way to the nearest window the "aliens" much to busy with the others to notice him.

The world he saw outside was breath taking, but nothing more so as the world he saw beyond the city walls. Even from where he was he could see the green and it seemed to go out forever. This was it, he thought to himself. He smiled as he looked back at the others on the bed. He knew a smile from himself had to had taken a few of this shipmates by surprise, since he had rarely done so since the start of the program. "Well folks," He spoke loudly surprising the aliens so much they didn't move. "I wish I could say it's been an honor to serve with you all for the IUNA but that would be a lie." With a wave of the hand he began to walk to the door, though now once again he was being harassed to go back to his bed. At least that's what he thought they were saying. Whatever they wanted, Chruch wasn't very inclined listen as he moved to the door. The arguing was now turning into shouting.

Commander L’dayel fell back as he followed the Queen back to the palace so she might address the people of Jada City. Calling his Captains to his side he gave them curt instructions to attempt to recover the capsule before anyone else did and failing recovery, ensure no one else managed it either. To another Captain, he instructed that rooms near the infirmary be prepared for the non-injured crew of humans and to post a heavy guard in that area to prevent the Earthers from wandering off and getting killed. He had some pointed questions he wanted answered.

Those instructions relayed, his mind went back to the shock of seeing Commander Grey here. Of all places. He shook his head as he strode after his Queen. If she was like she was when he knew her, she would prove a problem. Too independent, No sense of loyalty at all. His lip curled slightly. Just trying to survive. As always. She might end up dead if he couldn’t talk sense into her. He wasn’t worried about her, it was more a check list of possible scenarios that might arise.

His tactical mind next went to the other nations. They would have seen the capsule flash through the sky as well. This was going to get very complicated and he had no standing Army of any significance to fend off any incursions. He would remedy that as soon as he was able. But it was likely going to be too late. It was then that he remembered the Cane and the Junker. Two birds with one stone, he thought.

He lifted a hand and another Captain came to his side, matching his long strides with some difficulty. “Bring the Cane and the Junker to me. Tell them I have a business proposal for them. “ At the raised eyebrows and hesitation the Captain displayed, the Commander’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Did I stutter, Captain?”

The young man snapped to attention, saluted and stammered, “N-No Sir! Right away, Sir” He whirled on his heel and quick-marched back toward the beach to find Raaj and T.