Descent of Nightmare (Chapter Three)
Oct. 28th, 2016 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
Map of Kaldriel: https://i.gyazo.com/332b0c0172dcc60acb46a6ed078f4219.png
Rough map of Hatu: https://i.gyazo.com/ea4f9f51b9dc7b9d8b86d846f5331138.png
Chapter Three
Connect...
Vassek City, Hatu. September 23, 2277 Kaldriel time. Time instance 842N.
M stalked through the streets of Vassek City, dodging around a group of iguanodon headed towards the main gate. Despite all of the mechanization and augmentation of the world around them, animals were still one of the easiest ways to get things and raptors from one place to another. Most of the landmasses of the world were connected to one another, with only a few separated by small oceans that weren’t difficult to cross. Raptors had never had the same kind of issues with transportation that those on other planets usually had- M had been fascinated by the amount of vehicles and lack of large animals on Kaldriel.
Here, it was hard to find a creature that wasn’t bigger than you. He paused to let an allosaur pass, watching it obediently follow its Vorkath handler. It didn’t even have a muzzle. Humans couldn’t train their animals- animals smaller than them and nearly useless- to not bite, but a single raptor could train a half-dozen allosaurs to keep their jaws to themselves.
He shook his head and kept walking, re-focusing on his objective. He needed to get up to the council chambers and request an audience to bring Zatar’s breach of protocol to light. What he had done…
M shivered and kept walking, letting other raptors part around him when they drifted too close. They knew he was Mystrex, even if they didn’t know which one he was. And that alone was enough to make them give him a wide berth, mostly out of respect but out of a bit of fear as well. They knew what he could do to them, but they knew he never would as he was sworn to protect them.
He climbed the stairs to the top of the hill easily, approaching the gates to the council chamber. Two raptors- by their beads, they were either Shakons or Ezkons, but almost certainly the former as they held melee weapons- guarded the door. One of them stopped him, asking for identification, and the other one looked at her like she was nuts.
“Are you stupid? Mystrex don’t need to identify themselves.”
M pulled back his hood. “No, it’s fine. It’s best to be vigilant.” He pulled the collar of the cloak down to show them the two rings of beads around his neck and held up his arms to show them the two smaller bracelets on each wrist. “I am M, sixty-second incarnation. I seek an audience with the Council.”
The guards exchanged glances. “They’re in a meeting right now,” one of them said nervously, “but I can ask if they’ll see you.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Normally, a raptor couldn’t just walk up and request an audience. Mystrex, however, definitely could.
She went inside and returned a few moments later. “The Council will see you. They were going to send for you shortly.”
M raised an eyeridge in surprise but followed her in. She stopped at the end of the hallway and bowed to him slightly before turning back and returning to her post.
Technically, she outranked him, being a class higher, but most raptors treated Mystrex like members of the first circle and not the Sekaths they technically were. Second circle, third class. He shook it off and stepped into the council chambers.
The room was large and circular, with an empty center and several rings of seats. The Council was made up of members of the first circle only, so M bowed as all eyes turned to him.
“Ah, M. Good timing. We were about to call you in.” The speaker was a Kavakra- the absolute leaders of the race- named Vesk’os. He was the Speaker of the Council, at least for now, and thus spoke for the entire council when addressing those who entered unless another was granted a Voice. “What was it you needed?”
“I wished to report a breach in scientific protocol. Zatar took me to see what he has been working on in his most recent timewarp experiment, and upon seeing it I knew there was no possible way that the Council had approved it. He used the DNA from several beings on Kaldriel- DNA that he had me collect while I was there, although I was unaware of what he would use it for- to create living creatures, mixing the genetics and putting them in timewarp to study them.”
The Council murmured for a moment before Vesk’os cleared his throat. “That is...hard to believe, M. Creating living creatures out of alien DNA?”
“It’s Zatar, sir. You know how he is with his technology.”
More murmuring. “This is distressing news, although not surprising. He has been known to push the boundaries of what is allowed before. We will send an investigation after this meeting is over. Maaka, could you please summon another Mystrex? I wouldn’t entrust it to anyone else and it would be best if M was not sent, or at least not alone.” The raptor in question nodded and left the council chambers.
“Would that be all, M?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Excellent. So, as for the reason we were planning on summoning you, speaking of Kaldriel. Five years ago, the test concluded and you returned back to the nearest station, where you gathered a fleet and returned to retake the planet. You were not successful, judging after one assault that it would not be worth the resources and lives to retake, as it had been a low priority planet to begin with. As you should have, you consulted with the nearest general- the Nekra Varssen- and he agreed with you, releasing you from your mission on Kaldriel and sending you home. You gave your full report to this Council shortly after your return, three months after the failed invasion on Kaldriel, and then you resumed active duty as Mystrex. Is this correct?”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
“Good. Now, at the time you judged Kaldriel to not be worth the effort to retake. This Council, however, has reconsidered and no longer sees it that way.” M’s hands immediately tightened, claws digging into his scales. No. Don’t say it. “It’s a stain upon Hatu that a single world can break free of us with impunity. There is a material there- kartzal, you called it- that could be useful to us in some way.” The raptor tongue and pronunciation butchered the word ‘kartzal’ but it was close enough to understand. “We wish to retake Kaldriel, but we wanted the opinion of the Mystrex that had been there. What do you think?”
M took a few seconds thinking about his words before speaking. “I don’t think it’s worth the trouble,” he said carefully. “Kaldriel’s spirit can never be broken and continued enslavement only makes them more determined. It doesn’t have the resources to justify what we would spend getting it back, and its inhabitants would always cause trouble no matter what we do.”
“What of the stain on our honor?”
“That can be easily overlooked.”
“Perhaps for the Mystrex,” a council member hissed, “but not for the first circle. You are impeccable, you can do no wrong, you-”
“Sark! You have no Voice!” Vesk’os barked. “Be silent!”
“I only speak the truth!”
“You speak out of turn!”
Sark hissed but fell silent, falling back into his seat moodily. Vesk’os growled at him before turning back to M. “We apologize for one of our parts speaking without Voice.”
“Parts do not always listen to the whole,” M answered.
Vesk’os nodded, a motion that reminded M of the aven back on Kaldriel. They had been the most similar to the raptors of all the races he had seen, with similar head movements and sounds. He shook it off and listened as Vesk’os spoke.
“In any case, Kaldriel may be somewhere we will wish to re-obtain. Your words will be considered, Mystrex. You are dismissed.”
M bowed and left the council chambers, silently seething.
Retake Kaldriel! He didn’t know why the thought upset him so much- if he wasn’t involved, why would he care?- but he knew, deep in his heart, that he didn’t want Kaldriel to be enslaved once more. The faces of his friends- allies, he reminded himself, how could we be friends if they barely knew me?- flashed in his mind. He shook his head irritably and smoothed the feathers on his head with his claws, a long-time habit that he had begun to indulge again after returning to Hatu. Having his hood up for twenty years had been hard, but he’d had to hide himself and take no risks.
He wasn’t sure why that made him feel so awful.
Q fell in step beside him as he descended the stairs and he barely looked up. She was comforting, at least, but she and N were really the only Mystrex he’d willingly seek out, and many of the others he’d only tolerate. Neither of them spoke until they reached the bottom of the stairs, at which point Q nudged him.
“The Council wants me to go with you to investigate Zatar’s experiment. You’re only going to show me, while I’m doing the actual investigation.” She rolled her eyes. “Like they think I wouldn’t lie to protect you.”
“You won’t have to,” M answered. “And you shouldn’t do that. You’re supposed-”
“-to be unbiased, I know.” Q snorted. “Let’s get to the ships, buddy, and then you’re showing me where he’s got his science station at the moment. It’s the timewarp, right? So it’s parked right around Hatu?”
M nodded.
“Alright. You lead the way.”
~~~
M pulled his hood up before getting off of the ship, stepping into the station and waiting for Q to do the same. They moved together, two shadows, through the halls towards Zatar’s lab. M opened the door and came inside first, Q not far behind. Zatar turned and his eyes widened.
“What is the meaning of this? Get out! I’m in the middle of-”
“The Council has sent us to investigate you,” Q told him, voice instantly forgotten but words staying. “You’d do best to cooperate.”
“No! This is delicate research! You can’t just-”
“She can.” M ghosted up to him, staring the other raptor down. “Give her the data you have on the timewarp project. The one with the beings you created in a lab.”
“I don’t know what you’re-”
“There’s no point in lying, Zatar. We could go through your files forcibly, although I’d rather avoid that.” Q stepped forward to stand next to M. “Give us the data.”
Zatar bared his teeth and raised a foot, curved killing claw slashing at M’s underbelly. M stepped back easily, raising an eyeridge although it was impossible to see through his cloak.
“Really?” Q knocked Zatar over and planted a foot on his neck, tapping it with her claws. “Which terminal is it, Zatar?”
Zatar growled.
Q sighed. “M, could you hold him here? At the very least we can arrest him for attacking a Mystrex.”
“That was the most pathetic attack I’d ever seen, but I suppose it counts as one.” M took her place holding Zatar down while she went through the terminals, searching for various keywords that M suggested.
Eventually, she came across the files they were looking for and grinned. “Gotcha. I’ll send these to our ships.” She typed into the console and leaned back once it was loading, absentmindedly scrolling through the files. “It’s amazing. This means nothing to m...e…” She trailed off, eyes glued to the screen.
“What?”
“He...used your blood, M.”
“I know. I met him.”
“No, I mean...in two of them. One of them is dead, though. Hmm.” Q drummed her claws on the console. “A lot of these are dead, and they’re marked with different letters. Why, Zatar?”
Zatar only hissed at them, refusing to speak.
“Well, whatever.” Q shut down the terminal. “Let’s go, M. And bring him with. Even if this data isn’t enough to arrest him right off, him attacking you sure is.”
M removed his foot and let Zatar get to his feet. “Don’t try anything. You won’t get far.”
Zatar was silent the whole way out to the ships.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-28 11:24 pm (UTC)Raptors riding iguanodon? How does that even work? O_o
He pulled the collar of the cloak down to show them the two rings of beads around his neck and held up his arms to show them the two smaller bracelets on each wrist. “I am M, sixty-second incarnation. I seek an audience with the Council.”
Is M like some kind of code name that is passed down like James Bond?
“Excellent. So, as for the reason we were planning on summoning you, speaking of Kaldriel. Five years ago, the test concluded and you returned back to the nearest station, where you gathered a fleet and returned to retake the planet. You were not successful, judging after one assault that it would not be worth the resources and lives to retake, as it had been a low priority planet to begin with. As you should have, you consulted with the nearest general- the Nekra Varssen- and he agreed with you, releasing you from your mission on Kaldriel and sending you home. You gave your full report to this Council shortly after your return, three months after the failed invasion on Kaldriel, and then you resumed active duty as Mystrex. Is this correct?”
Yay the revolution kicked the raptors butts!
“Good. Now, at the time you judged Kaldriel to not be worth the effort to retake. This Council, however, has reconsidered and no longer sees it that way.” M’s hands immediately tightened, claws digging into his scales. No. Don’t say it. “It’s a stain upon Hatu that a single world can break free of us with impunity. There is a material there- kartzal, you called it- that could be useful to us in some way.” The raptor tongue and pronunciation butchered the word ‘kartzal’ but it was close enough to understand.
Really Council? You think that kartzel can be useful? The technology messing crystal comes back to haunt us.
Retake Kaldriel! He didn’t know why the thought upset him so much- if he wasn’t involved, why would he care?- but he knew, deep in his heart, that he didn’t want Kaldriel to be enslaved once more. The faces of his friends- allies, he reminded himself, how could we be friends if they barely knew me?- flashed in his mind.
Because you spent 20 years getting to know them M even if they didn't really know you, you care about them.
“He...used your blood, M.”
“I know. I met him.”
“No, I mean...in two of them. One of them is dead, though. Hmm.” Q drummed her claws on the console. “A lot of these are dead, and they’re marked with different letters. Why, Zatar?”
Zatar only hissed at them, refusing to speak.
I'm going to theorise that the dead ones are mixtures that didn't incubate to some level of maturity and failed.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-28 11:40 pm (UTC)Kind of, yeah. The Mystrex pass down the letter/name every time there's a new one.
KARTZAL /CAN/ BE USEFUL! Just. We don't know how.
Those dead ones are important. Remember them.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-28 11:46 pm (UTC)The name's M, just M XP
Yeah it creates interference and masks things, it glitches out cyborg systems, it is useful just don't know how the raptors would find a use for a material that fucks their technology up.
Remember the dead. Gotcha.