Story

Stilts brought his form from the wall, and drew the attention of everyone in the group to himself. "Our group may be young, but we have fought together, and many of us have already seen comrades die. I was lucky enough to know all of their names before they fell, but I don't know many of your names. So, before we continue, I ask that from each of you. Let me know each of your names so that I may remember you as I hope you will remember me, Stilts."

Darryl walks forwards
"What a looser", or at least thats what most people his age would have said. Himself, knowing the pains of dieing, and the fear of of not being remembered came to Stilts and said

"Hi Stilts, I am Darryl. Nice to meet your aquatience, oh and don't sweat it, you allready knew mine." He then shook Stilts' hand before Stilts realized what was happening.

Kairk astral projected herself in-front of where she really was
"Hey guys, I am Kairk. As you may or may not know, I am invisible, and this is the only way you can see me, unfortunately it is quite taxing, so I will be invisible most of the time." Kairk then faded back to invisibility, "Oh, and thats what my "soul" or "essance" percieves itself as, so it is not purley my appearance."

Kilf then walks up
"I am Kilf, Kairk's husband. Nice to meet you, although we swapped names that one night, but you were pretty worn out. Sorry you didn't catch it. If you ever need a break, you know like if time is gettin to ya, just look me up."

"I am Epimor."
__________

"I am called Hanson. Though young, I intend to aid this world as much as possible by removing its greatest threats, a goal which, judging from the stories I've heard, all of you seem to share." Even if that includes removing my crowning achievement.

The giant stood proudly among the mortals and spoke in his usual rumble, "I am Vaniah Stoneheart, a hero beyond rank among the Templars."

'The images were brief, but vivid. His emotions bear scars. He's so young too. I know his pain all too well. He is pure.' Stilts jumped from one emotion, one thought, one feeling to another impulsively as they came. Stilts turned to Darryl, and said in a whisper "I'm sorry."

Stilts was surprised by the form that kairk took on. 'This form is very different from the actual her.'

Then came Kilf. 'He seems very laid back, It seems almost out of place.'

Then was Epimor. 'Short, and to the point. He really doesn't speak much.' Stilts thought back to when he "interrogated" the enforcer, the memory just wouldn't go away.

Then was Hanson. 'I hope we all share that goal.' Stilts thought back to when he felt Hansons mind, and how matured it seemed. 'I still want to get to know him more.'

Finally was Vaniah He voice was a loud boom as it always is. 'His boast seems well seated.'

Stilts smiled to himself, he was happy to finally know everyone's name. He went on with his own introduction. "for any of you that don't know," Stilts turned toward where kairk would be standing "I'm an empath. I read people thought and emotions through physical contact, So I already knew a lot about many of you. It's nice to finally have a name to go with the personalities."

Stilts looked down, not directly at the floor, but not at a level high enough to see anyone's face either. "We have the earth stabilized for now, but it' still falling apart." He brought his eyes up. "I think I know how we can save it, but I need to do a little more research first. I think there are other people like me. Empaths that can communicate with the earth. I think we may be able to guide the device through to where it needs to be by influencing the earth itself. The only problem is that I've only briefly communicated with another person like me through the earth, so I need more information. I feel like we are already linked...I just don't know how."

Dagon and 6(Who looks very ill at this point) pop into the meeting.

"Hello my name is Dagon, most of you know me but that is not the point, I shall serve as tactician, Field commander, and field medic as well as assassin. And this here ....."

"My name is Samantha, everyone calls me six though. I am a sniper and just recently a medic. I look forward to working with you all."

Dagon steps forwards and salutes to Illiad, Illiad then nods and Dagon sits down.

As Dagon seats himself, Illiad steps forward.

He agrees with Stilts, but points out that everyone has bigger problems.

He motions a nearby tech-priest forward, turning over the meeting to him.

He is an average man, with most of his augmentations in his upper body and arms.

"I am Master Information Administrator Boisen, and the problem is indeed serious. As you are probabily aware, one of the alien ships has crash landed in proximity. If this was a traditional enemy, this would be no problem, but these things are strange."

He brings up a display in the center of the room.

"These creatures that attacked us relentlessly are very strange in structure. They are not biological, nor any other material or conceptualization we can think of. But we have managed to learn something from our defeat at their hands."

The display shifts to a complex analysis of two similar, yet different compounds.

"The beings consist of two elements. One is fairly inflexible under most circumstances, an analogy would be the muscles, bones, and flesh in a human body. The other piece is incredibly flexible and seems to house their sentence. An apt analogy would be some kind of physical manifestation of the human mind."

He produces a small shard of dark material from his heavy overcoat.

"This is the inflexible element, which we refer to simply as "V". Without the influence of the other element, labeled "I", it is perfectly harmless."

He tosses it to Epimor.

"Here, pass it around, you might be able to learn something from it, even when our methods have failed."

He walks back to the display.

"But when it is under the influence of I, it can slowly be shaped to perform any application, most of which defy the laws of physics as we know them. The core of this ship we are in is made of that material, which we can shape over a period of months using massive amounts of energy. It is miraculous, and will even regenerate itself back to its previous state when damaged, although we find it very difficult to even scratch."

He enlarges the display of the second material.

"V is not the problem however. Any amount of V may be controlled by any amount of I. There are reports of creatures being constructed entirely of either, or percentages in different configurations."

"I is a different matter. The seat of their sentence, a microscopic amount could shape and wield an entire planet consisting of V. It is incredibly flexible and seems to have a power psychic resonance, powering the higher applications of V. It regenerates, but at its own whim, while it can take on any shape or change to the point where it almost lacks any form of reality."

"That craft you see out their consists mainly of V. Their ships consist mostly of V, with a core of I. When we rammed it, we plunged straight through their core, which drained from the length of travel, the magic shock of the grand spell that holds this planet together, and from firing its weapons repeatedly, so it was unable to defend itself."

"The V in that ship is harmless, and could possibly be a massive resource for us. But if there is even an ounce of I left, then that ship could turn out to be our worst nightmare. So the mission is thus: you need to travel to that ship and search it for any signs of I and if possible, destroy it."

Illiad steps forward and states that he will be joining them on a mission of this critical importance and that they leave in four hours. He gives them permission to access any of the resources of the Legion, adding that their identity will be a special ops unit to be flexibly used when needed.

He welcomes them to the Legion, then nodding towards Dagon, turns around to a nearby console to continue preparation.

----------------------------------------

The Lady-Warlord was furious. Those pirates had come space! They had taken over her entire domain and were now basking in their new found wealth, dirty pigs!

On top of that, the remaining Enforcers we now being forced to hide in the forest.

Oh! She wished her creation had not rebelled against her will. If only she had had access to something of that caliber, then she would not have failed so horribly.

At least she was able to get her arms back, and then some.

She sat in her tent. Plotting.

The Legion would pay. She was tracking the Culmination, which had stopped in the north, and had something to investigate. Oh, the Legion would pay a dear price for their transgression.

She always did love guerilla warfare.

"One thing, before we all disperse." Kilf stated.
"I know I have been aloof most of the time, and I may seem distant, but I have been thinking about things. The only combat I have seen with our combined force was with the culmination, and I believe we need to formulate a plan of action. We need to intimatly learn each-others powers, and learn how we could enhance each-other in the best possible way. According the the file we have on the Culmination that was aquired from the enforcers computers, this thing is a combination of biology, magic, and technology. Now, us working together has the potential to be much stronger, and much more versitile than this being. The thing I am proposing now, is that we form some kind of training group with us and the soldiers of this army. Does anyone have any ideas as to how we could safely accomplish this?" Kilf asked, finally breaking his non-chalantness.

"Oh, and I guess I will be ready for space. We can get back to this when we return, granted we are given the time to do such a thing." Kilf added as a last remark.

Dagon approaches Illiad.

"The others and I would like to requisition samples of this V, for study and use in the field."

Vaniah was stock still for a moment as the rest of the group began to start to have a chit-chat about tactics. Had not Illiad said we must hurry? At least that was the way Vaniah interpreted his tone. He was growing angry with them, quickly.

He calmy turned to Illiad, "Which direction is the alien vessel?" he rumbled. Illiad pointed in the direction, and Vaniah nodded.

He walked up to the group, and stood like a statue once more. They kept talking... and talking... then suddenly Vaniah's voice burst out like a canon shot, "I HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR THIS." His arms flashed out, and he grabbed the two nearest group members, Kilf and Epimor, and threw them over his shoulders. He turned in the direction that Illiad had pointed and started walking with his massive stride in that direction. He didn't look back; he expected the others to follow.

Gah, why?

People don't touch me. "Let me down." He dropped me roughly from his great height.

Ow.

Well, at least we were leaving. I get up and limp after Vaniah.

Hanson follows.

Stilts ran past the group, heading in the direction of the forge. "I have something I want to get before I do into the fight. Just go ahead, I'll catch up." Stilts ran as quickly as he could, his form close to the ground, wrapping himself about corners. He made it through the vast facility to the forge with some haste. He charged up to a tech-priest. "I want this electrified, as quickly as at all possible." As Stilts spoke he unraveled and immense amount of chain from about his body. The tech-priest gave him a strange look for a moment, and then spoke. "Not only do I not know who you are, or if your even supposed to be here, but you ask me to do something with no specifications at all, and ask me to do it quickly?" The tech-priests words were well founded. "I'm part of the new special ops group Illiad formed, he said we could come here and you guys would take care of equipment, and I thought you guys liked playing with the specs of things like this." A flash of realization came across the face of the tech priest, and he started to apologize. "Don't worry about apologizing, your comments were well founded. I am, however in a hurry, I'm supposed to be heading out on a mission right now." the tech priest looked at the chain, Stilts could feel his thought, and knew he was going to ask about specification. "I don't know anything about how this could work, and as long as it doesn't shock me when I'm using it I don't really need to know how it works right now. The tech-priest was a bit puzzled, but quickly went into action. He added an extension to the bottom of the chain, and added in a capacitor. He asked stilts for his coat. Stilts took it off with great care, and folded his form in close to himself as he handed it over to the tech priest. Underneath was a white shirt,and a white pair of pants. They looked pristine when compared to the overcoat, obviously they were supplied by the legion. The tech-priest ran a wire down the coat quickly, securing it with what looked something like tacks. He attached it to the bottom of the chain. He spoke swiftly. "The chain will act as something of an iron curtain as long as it's wrapped around you. Should you somehow get yourself shocked the wire in your overcoat will act as a ground and all you'll feel is a slight tingle. Also the capacitor takes a solid couple of minutes to recharge after each shock, so be careful when you use it." "Thank you so much." Stilts threw on his overcoat, and quickly wrapped the chain about himself before taking off out of the building. The tech-priest returned to his work. 'such a strange character.' After running for quite some time Stilts managed to catch up to the rest of the group. They had already progressed a fair ways toward the alien craft. "Sorry I took so long." Stilts fell into stride with the rest of the group, at what wasn't a sprint, but wasn't by any means a walk either. "This isn't going to be easy, so let's make sure we're all thoroughly ready when we get there." A smile came across stilts face. He was fighting for a cause he believed in. It was finally his chance to show everyone that he was worth something in a fight.

Kilf was distress at first, and even though it wasn't comfortable upon Vaniah's armor he decided it was better than running to maintain his pace, so he simply relaxed and did his best to enjoy the ride, his revenge would come later.
____________________________________________________________

Kairk and Darryl jogged to maintain the pace Vaniah had set, but didn't have to much trouble. As they neared the vessle, Darryl stopped for a second to catch his breath. He then walked up to the ship thinking 'I bet this thing has some good reactors' and wondered if he could find a device to store energy.

Dagon and 6 catches back up to the rest of the group after acquiring the necessary supplies.(MREs with plenty of iron rich foods, ammo, rubber, metal ingots) Dagon and 6 fall into step with the others. The two of them were now almost mentally linked as they were now able to broadcast information to receivers in their brains. Dagon felt a little chilled by this fact as he had always known 6 to be a little overbearing and forceful, she may try to use this to rip information out of his head or worse force information into his head. This was all very confusing.

"Every one, I need to give you these, They're GPS communication and tracking devices. They will help keep the group together if we ever are separated.

Illiad watched as Vaniah rushed off.

He made a comment about him being "energetic" before telling Dagon that the only viable sample they have of V is the one Epimor is currently holding, and that he should catch up to Vaniah if he wants it.

Stilt takes off in a sprint, and the others follow.

When they are all gone, Illiad asks Boisen a question.

"Yes," He responds " We have successfully scanned all of these newcomers and are beginning the long process of decrypting their individual traits."

He activates a display.

"The most promising is the time-dilation device on the soldier. We might have an operational prototype withing a few months, pending final results of course."

Illiad consents, then leaves the room to dawn his full power-armor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The whole group meets outside. There is a small squad of soldiers with the group, and a transport waits.

They all board.

The ride is not a terribly long one and their destination is visible in the distance after a quarter-hour.

A few minutes after that they catch up with Vaniah and Co. It is surprising that he made it that far. After hailing him and loading up again, the transport sets off at full speed, and the occupants settle in.

Illiad is integrated into the command seat, watching the time count change, resplendent in his massive power armor. The dull brown of the badlands rolls past under the cracked sky.

Then a massive chunk of V the size of a bus slides into view and Illiad calls the transport to a halt.

As they unload he tells everyone to stay sharp and that there could be I in this piece.

He turns to Stilts, mentioning that it is his turn.

Spoiler:

Stilts nods to Illiad, and then kneels down close to the ground. He holds out a hand toward the black material in front of him. It was so dark, but it felt so alive. Stilts was still a decent distance away, advancing slowly, his form held close to the ground, yet he could feel it. The material itself was thinking. It was full of energy, of emotion. Strange emotion though. It was like nothing he had felt before. It vaguely reminded him of his first real fight with this group against the tech priest. It's thought were not like normal peoples thought. It was in sensible. An entirely different language. It still felt calculated. A formulated, specific, formatted kind of thought. Stilts spoke slowly, quietly, trying desperately not to break his concentration. "The material is alive, there is definitely I." Illiad made a motion to the group, and they readied there weapons. Stilts kept his pace, advancing forward toward the piece of V. The feelings kept growing and growing. Stilts was trying to find the epicenter of the energy, trying to find the I. His hand glanced the material, and it came alive. Not so much physically as with feeling. It was panicked. Stilts was dazed. He fall back, his hands just barely making to the ground to catch himself. He spoke quickly, the situation was urgent. "It's running!" Stilts pulled his form up, and pushed himself around the ship. The legion behind him began acting, following swiftly. As they made it to the other side of the ship they saw a black shape, twisting off into the distance. It was large, and fast. The legion began firing, but Stilts new it was useless. It was too far away, and moving far too quickly for them to hit it. He turned back towards Illiad. "We just missed it. The I got away. It's more powerful than I expected it to be, and the way it handles that material is ridiculous. It's like it is the material. It directs it as if it's its own body. This fight is not going to be easy."

"I have a plan" Kairk replies.
As the others turn to stare at her she continues
"I am going to astral project myself into a peace of V, which you all will in turn be ready to annihilate an/or trap. This may not work as planned, but spare no expense in the fight.

They all seem to nod in agreement. Kairk readies to project herself into the peace of V, as the others stand ready to attack the I if should show up.

Spoiler:

As Kiark injects herself into the V, the world fades away.

She is floating in an ocean of darkness, and yet she can see. She sees the others standing outside the tank of black water she floats in. She perceives the entire spectrum of radiation and can even see the waves of vibration from their talking.
Throughout it, motes of light hang completely still, connected to each other in a web made of softly glowing threads.

The space extends around her on all sides. She reaches out to touch a mote, but trying to move it fells like bending steel. After a while, it eventually shifts slowly, but it requires her complete concentration. She gives up.

Eventually she retracts herself. There is no I left in this piece.

Illiad gives the order to move out. They continue on foot, aware for any movement, the tank trundling behind them.

As they go farther into the crash site, the pieces of V become larger and more numerous. Ranging from the size of a car up to a 20 story building, it is darker and colder here then outside, as the V absorbs ambient energy. It quickly begins to look and feel like a cold winters night as the light fades and the temperature drops.

Well, this is certainly interesting. Kairk can, evidently, project herself into this V. Something to remember.

Psychically, she could be more capable than she originally appeared. Anyway, there are more pressing issues.

I can feel the Scientist trying to come back already. It's slower than usual, but it is present. At this time, I can't even transfer my consciousness as originally planned. The V would likely interfere greatly with my efforts. The æther seemed, at this moment, dead. All ambient energy was being absorbed by the V; it was as though a heavy fog suddenly blocked all vision. I felt dampened.

Transferring my consciousness would make me lose it.

I look at the shard of V in my hand. Could this substance really cause my demise?
__________

Hanson sat himself next to Epimor and spoke to him.

"Please listen to me. However great your antipathy towards me is, you must realize how locked we are now. There is no reason to act disagreeable. I admit that I will try to stop you, and I assume your intentions are the same as last time.

"But a few questions are a courtesy I feel I deserve."

He is silent. Consent?

"What has happened to Synton?"

"Synton has been destroyed."

Hanson is silent for a time. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Her wounds were fatal."

He leans closer. "How is the æther here?"

Epimor leans back. "It is very weak. It isn't actively draining though - it just casts shadows. It's very disconcerting.

"I might not be of much use in it. I can't tell at the moment."

Hanson leans back again.

He can't finish Epimor himself. Others need to help.

Others need to sincerely believe Epimor is evil. But how to do this?

The structure was enormous, matte black, it was rather intimidating really. It was alive again. "There's certainly I here." Stilts was toward the center of the group. He looked around, taking check that everyone was with them. "I hope our knifeman shows up for this fight, we'll need everyone we can get." Stilts brought his eyes back to the huge and looming structure they were quickly approaching. "Only a few more minutes and we'll be on it. Be ready." Stilts checked his chain, repositioning it optimally, and making sure the capacitor was full to it's brim. He brought his form down, and led himself to the front of the group. "I'll try and find where the I is as quickly as I can."

Intruder detected.

Initializing Scan.

Results as Follows:
àÑà’ àÑÏ‚’‚Ï’ ‚Ï’‚ ¹ ‚¹à‚Å ’Ÿ”’¹””’Ÿà” ‚Ï ¹‚’¹’Ÿ ¹’Ÿ” à”à’” à7” Ï ‚’Ï„‚ ’‚Ñ’‚ Ï‚ ’Ï ‚
Tag_Limit: >3536

Threat Classification: Positive

Switch@ Transfer_Request

Activating Transmissor

Ping Sent

. . .

Response Received

Encoding Message . . .

Message Transmitted

Approval Received

Opening Cache

Received 0.01 m‡äïgc“ï½ï Element N

Switch@ Upgrade_trigger_offencive


Offensive Systems Activated

------------------------------------------------------------------

Illiad watched as Stilts moved ahead.
He gave the order to cover him.

The advance into the center of the crash-site, chunks of V the size of buildings lie everywhere, slicing upwards into the dark sky.

Suddenly, he had a premonition and dodged to the left. As he move, and massive spike of V juts up from beneath the ground, just barely missing Illiad.

Farther in the distance, a massive figure melts out of the V and begins moving towards them. It is a giant, almost 25 feet tall. Reaching it's arms out, it digs into a nearby fragment of V and lifts it up, lobbing the bus-sized piece of debris at the tank, forming a lance in midair and pricing the front of the tank, trailing a length of V. The dark creature begins to pull the tank towards it.

Even while this happens, turrets of a foreign design begin to emerge from the surrounding obelisks.

Spinning up his generators, Illiad powers all of the systems, standing 10 feet tall, and begins to open fire on the surrounding turrets, doing minimal damage.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Culmination finally reaches the top of the pit. It was a long and arduous climb, but never tired or rested. It began to wonder about it's purpose. Now that it had satiated its need for revenge, what was it going to do?

Then it notices a softly glowing ring on the ground, emitting a small intense aura of an kind it has never witnessed before.

It picks it up, recognizing it as the one that the annoying one had worn.

"The fool must have accidentally dropped it." It laughs to itself.

The Culmination thinks of the irony of the situation as it holds on to the ring, drawing on its power as it begins walk out of the library, the silence broken by its metallic footsteps.

Kairk witnessed as the turrets began popping up, and Illiad dodged multiple attacks. Kairk, remembering how she went into the V, and could barely changed it, decided it was the best course of action. She projected herself into the V, and saw everything diffrent again. The massive black thing was now a burst of pure light, but tainted. She the force the turret to move, blocking all other thoughts from her mind, and barely moved the turret, then all of a sudden it began moving slightly faster, and then she pointed the turret at the nearest turret, and began opening fire.
____________________________________________________________

Darryl felt the V hitting the tank, and then the tank began getting pulled towards the dark shape. He quickly jumped out, and activated his inhancing aura, hoping not to get by hiding behind a large chunk of V.
(not a turret btw.)
____________________________________________________________

Kilf knew the situatin was dire, and Kairk was unresponsive, she must be projecting herslef again. Thats when he noticed a turret slowly turning away from the group, and it pointed itself towards the turret across from it. It then began to fire, and he smiled, for chunks of the turret were falling down. He then aimed at the barrel of another turret, and fired down it's barrel, although it didn't do much, except draw it's fire.

This was madness! Stone turrets. I can't handle this.

I'm too weak. Too limited.

And too soon... but it has to be done. I have to grant the Scientist this body.

Hanson is next to me. I can do it.

I focus on the connections between my mind and his. I start breaking them. Success! I do my best to guide myself to Hanson. He'll not best me.

...
__________

Hanson worries. He had never received his armor, and was unsure of how to provide assistance against such powerful ranged fortifications.

"Epimor, are you well?" He was shaking. "Epimor!" His shaking worsened and he fell unconscious. Hanson was very distressed - though in opposition, Epimor was still his apprentice, of sorts.

He can't tell what's wrong.

Could the Scientist be returning?

'Here we go' Stilts brought himself close to the ground. He pulled the head of his chain out, and unraveled a small length. He stuck close to edges of the obelisks with turrets on top of them, staying under there ark of fire. As Stilts drew closer to the beast he realized just how massive it was. finally after he had closed half the distance between himself and the giant it lashed out. A spire came from the ground just to the left of Stilts, missing him by millimeters. Stilts could feel the ground vibrate before the spire sprang forth, and had time to adjust at first, but as more and more spires kept coming the timing became more difficult. Stilts lunged backwards. A spire flying up just in front of him. He turned, and began his retreat. As he ran the spires lessened again, and Stilts made it ways back toward the group. "I can't do this alone, we need to attack this thing in unison!"

Kiark is controlling the turret as she feels a wave of mental energy sweep over her. It is like a net as it drags her consciousness into through the darkness, into the form of the massive humanoid.

She can see a Light shifting mass at the center. As she comes closer, it turns towards her (so she thinks) and it feels as if it is examining her. She tries to escape, but can not, its grip is firm and it holds her in its sights. Then she notices at its center, shining like a sun, floats a tiny pearl which lets off bursts of lighting into the surrounding V . . .

She has 2 options. Stay trapped, or release her avatar and return to her body.

------------------------------------------

On the outside, the humanoid grabs the the tank and picks it up, crushing it like a tin can, then hurls it into the distance.

Illiad tries to transmit a message to the command, but the signal is absorbed by the V.

He calls out for aide as he begins to overcharge is capacitors, taking hits on his armor as he prepares to fire his plasma cannon . . .

But the deterioration of his armor grows faster then the power of his cannon.