Hellsquad: The Threat from the Past

[Mike The Dracopyra]

To whom it may concern…

If you have found this letter, then I am gone, as is this once sacred world. You who have travelled far across this wondrous galaxy, this infinite realm space to come here, it is likely you will find a world far from your own, now likely dead. Once I was king of this world and its people, a race thought to be the kin of gods and monsters alike. We were as powerful and prosperous as we were prideful and arrogant, and like all who were like-minded in their self-imposed beliefs, our feelings of supremacy and indulgence paved the way to our self-destruction.

We were treated as gods, and like gods did we fall and fade. Our existence brought a great darkness to our lands, and our hubris invited its wrath.

As I write this, a great cataclysm unfolds upon the land, cursing our once great people to powerlessness and teaching us – for the first time – the inevitability of our extinction. I have naught now but a daughter to call my legacy. My kingdom is finished, my people are doomed, my world has ended.

But I will not be idle and accept my fate without resistance. I will banish this cataclysm from this universe, even if I must drag it out myself. My kingdom will rise again, but not by my own hands.

But by yours.

You who journeyed to this world for reasons I cannot possibly fathom, the great darkness that brought about our end stole our precious treasure, gems imbued with our power. You may use them as however you wish, but should your desires be vast, find them all and return them to this place. Do this, and your wish, however impossible it may seem, shall be granted onto you, and you shall rule this land once closest to the gods in my stead.

And to my daughter, if you be the one who lived to find this, to you, I deeply implore, for these stones and this world, are your birthright.

Signed,
King of the Forgotten.

It has been 5 years since Mike formed his elite group of mercenaries, a group of powerful people from all walks of life. Though it's unknown how Mike gained such a powerful group of individuals to help him in his quests, no one can deny the respect he holds.

Our story began one peaceful morning on a space station known as Blue Garden, where Mike had brought one of his squad mates to help one of his kids who had gotten sick. "Sorry about imposing this on you during your short leave, Alice, but no one else was available during this time." Mike said to her, clearly apologetic about it.

With a big yawn, the rather drowsy Alice walked over to them from the ship, her glasses, and white lab coat uneven and clearly a little too big for her as the sleeves were larger than her arms, while oddly enough carrying a guitar case on her back. She looked as though she just woke up from a day or two of hibernation. Still, she looked at them with as much of a smile as she could muster, her eyes barely opened.

"Oh no, don't worry about it, chief. I'm…always happy to help." She said, making a big yawn during her pause. Spending days performing research medical practice and how to apply her magic to the mix has tired her out. They were supposed to all have a day off today… But a doctor's work is never done.

Mike would notice his wife, who had been seated next to her child's bed up until now, rising to her feet after she had been comforting the young boy by gently brushing through his hair. 'Come now, Mike, I'm sure Alice doesn't mind.' Nari stated gently, walking over to her husband and lightly gripping his hand in hers. The woman still resembled her younger self, when she and Mike had first met, although she had grown to be more mature and graceful over the years. 'I told you Fenor would be fine, didn't I? He takes after his father, after all.' she smiled softly, placing a small kiss on his cheek as her many tails brushed along his hip. One of her ears flicked and turned to the side, and her attention was drawn away for a moment before she turned back to the man standing beside her. 'I think Sael is throwing a tantrum again, could you go take a look, dear? I know Navir doesn't mind her raging about, but I'd hate for her to be rude.' she stated, a slightly perturbed look on her face.

Alice walked into the room in question, seeing the little boy looking utterly miserable in the bed. He wasn't moving much, but he was breathing a little heavy, and showing an expression that suggested pain. Grabbing a plastic bottle of apparently coffee she had in a pocket of her guitar case, she immediately drank some to wake her up and walked over to him.

"Hey, little guy… I'll be your lil doc for the evening, so let's see what's wrong with ya."

Mike blushed softly as she kissed him and felt a tingle go through his body as her many tails brushed him. It was a calming technique as Mike took a deep breath before he smiled and said "Such a temper that one, wonder where she got that from. Certainly not me."

"Oi, Romeo and Juliet, you wanna flirt about, I'm sure there's a balcony somewhere for it, time for Hamlet to have his monologue." She said outright to both her boss and his wife. Nothing wrong with flirting under normal circumstances, but it's not very classy to do it in front of their bedridden son. Besides, the fewer people in the room for confidentiality reasons, the better.

He winked at Nari before chuckling softly as he walked out to the training ground in their garden. Mike designed and made this when Nari first became pregnant, knowing how powerful their kids could become, especially if one gained both the abilities of a werewolf and a kitsune.

Though he did think that would be quite an impressive feat, his ears twitched before he approached Sael and Navir. "Why can I hear my beautiful daughter having a tantrum? What is Navir doing? Hmm." He said in his strict father tone, he loved all his children dearly but can be very serious with them as well.

Putting on some gloves, Alice began observing the body to see where it ached, noticing several oddities throughout the body. Elongated arms and legs slowly rescinding, enlarged canines in the mouth, nails on the toes and feet shrinking and reforming slowly from a claw-like hook shape, and most notable of all those black dog-like ears on top of his head. She had an idea of what was going on, but she had to make sure.

"You wanna see something cool?" She asked. Without waiting for an answer, she unzipped the case on her back to bring out a rather stylish – if not 'edgy' – electric guitar, and positioned herself to play it. Rather contrary to the appearance of the guitar, She played an uncharacteristically soft melody. With every reverberation of the strings, sparkles of light burst outwards, darkening the room until the area around Alice and the boy looked like a beautiful part of the cosmos itself.

The sparkles then coalesced into the blue colony they were on, and the moon nearby, its shadow creeping slowly to consume its entire surface.

"Looks like there was a full moon a couple of days ago. Hmm…" She then grabbed a thermometer from a pocket of her lab coat and stuck it in the boy's mouth, noting a high fever. She stayed silent for a bit, before then grabbing a small glass vial and a syringe.

"This might hurt a little, but I guarantee it'll be worth it, so just hang in there for a bit." She said, sucking up the vial's content into the syringe and the syringe into the arm, pushing in whatever was in the vial into his bloodstream.

"You're doing great, kiddo. Now the next couple of days are gonna still be tough, but that should make things a little easier on you. Just keep resting here for a while, don't get up unless you need to, K?" She said, giving a kind smile to him.

"Oh! Before I go, wanna see another cool trick?" She asked the boy. Again without waiting for an answer, she counted from three with her hand, snapped her fingers, then closed her hand into a fist, opened it again, and as if out of nowhere, a bottle of pills appeared.

"I'll be sure to show you more tricks next time, so be a good boy and rest until then." She said to him, patting him on the head. She then turned around and tossed the pill bottle towards Nari.

"If he seems to get any worse, pop him some of those, but only if it's getting worse. Any earlier and it might make things worse instead instructions of when to take them's on the bottle, nothing else I can do right now." She said to her before walking off to catch up with her captain.

Nari, who had kept watch over her little one while Alice worked on him, nodded as she caught the bottle of pills she was thrown. 'Will do, thanks for the help, Alice.' she stated with a smile, returning to the kitchen as the doctor stepped out.

Upon stepping outside, Mike would be greeted by an oddly familiar sight; a young, white haired kitsune child with a wooden staff in her tiny hands, furiously swiping at a woman in a regal looking, black dress. Navir was dodging the uncontrolled swipes with an expressionless face, hands linked behind her back as she jumped around gracefully. Sael was nearly reduced to tears in her rage, angrily stomping around as she pursued her opponent, but clearly not getting anywhere. When Mike's voice reached them, the young girl froze for a moment, only to drop the staff and trot over to him with tears streaming down her face. 'Dadddyyy!' she cried out, jumping into his chest, burying her face into his shirt.

Navir silently approached the two as Sael was blubbering into her father's stomach, sobbing uncontrollably. She waited a moment as the girl calmed down slightly, sucking in breaths of air between sobs as she attempted to speak. 'N-Navir. Keeps. Dodging. Me.' she managed to exclaim between cries, only for the reaper to sigh slightly as she crossed her arms in front of her.
'I am attempting to teach your child the importance of anticipating your enemies movements. Unfortunately, her emotions get the better of her.'

'THEY DO NOT!' Sael roared angrily, turning around furiously with tears in her blazing eyes. Navir didn't even flinch, only cocking her head to the side and rolling her eyes ever so slightly. 'As much as I could educate you on the fluctuations of your soul right now, I will refrain from doing so. If you find me so mean for not accepting your hit, I will indulge you.' she stated, flicking her hand towards the fallen staff. It was lifted off the ground and drawn into her hand by magic, before she handed it back to the sulking child. 'I will allow you to hit me once, come then.' she stated, taking a step back with her arms still crossed.

Sael seemed to hesitate, but after a moment her eyes gleamed mischievously as she accepted the staff, a cocky smirk appearing on her face. Her father was unceremoniously pushed aside with her tiny arms, before she got into a stance and lifted the staff high above her head. 'Take this, Navir!' she yelled excitedly, before swinging the piece of wood down hard. Being a child of a kitsune and a bloodwolf, Sael had an innate, unnatural strength to her. Without direction, her power could be very destructive, hence their training. Unfortunately, she was in for a rude awakening.

When the hit landed, a gust of wind erupted from the force of the strike and caused a cloud of dust to explode around them, covering the field and blocking the two of them from sight. A sound could be heard, the clattering of wood on stone, and when the dust settled, Sael's excited face faded into surprise. Navir had not avoided the strike, as promised, but had lifted a single finger to block the staff when it came down. The weapon was split in half, the bottom half resting against her outstretched finger, with the middle part in splinters around them on the ground. A small bit of the top part had remained intact and had fallen to the ground as well.

Sael's mouth was agape for a moment, before her eyes shined with adoration, and she erupted into a stream of excited blabbering, until Navir silenced her with the raising of her hand. 'Do you understand why hitting me makes no difference now?' she asked softly, crouching down to the young girl's level. 'If a mouse attacks a lion, the lion would not care, yes? Our difference in strength is too great for your attacks to mean anything.' she explained calmly. 'But, if you can anticipate where I am, your attacks can reach me. If you can anticipate where I'm going to be, you can predict where my attacks will be as well. Even a mouse can escape a lion, remember that.' she stated. Sael's eyes went wide, before she excitedly nodded, only to forcefully throw herself into Navir's arms for a hug, causing the reaper to look rather sheepish for the first time since they got here. 'Thank you Aunty Navir!' the child exclaimed, causing Navir to sigh softly. 'I'm not your aunt, now run along and go see if your mother made lunch yet.' she stated bluntly, yet not unkind.
'Alright Aunty!' Sael laughed, seemingly disregarding Navir's words entirely, before running off towards her house.

Navir rose to her feet, brushing the dust off her dress, before making her way over to Mike, back to her stoic expression. 'You have three of these running around? You must have your hands full.' she commented absentmindedly as she looked at the house in the distance. After a moment, she turned to Mike, seemingly having cleared her mind. 'We should get going soon, we have a meeting scheduled at twelve.'

"Ah, there you guys are!" Alice said, running towards the Captain and first-mate, before stopping in front of them.

"Finished on my end. … Your kid, Chief, has had a severe case…of bad luck. There was a full moon a couple nights ago. … Your kid's got Post-Lycanthropic Shock. Body transforms for the first time, its human state doesn't know what's going on and can't really prepare for it, so the insides get rocked. The body goes back to normal and the insides basically have to take a while to reboot like a computer. To make matters more complicated, your kid caught a cold during his nightly travels while the immune system was still down from his transformation, which exasperated everything else. Gave him a dose of Antiviral medication, but it's possible his immune system might overreact on account of getting a cold while it was rebooting. So just in case, your wife has a bottle of immunosuppressants on standby. He's gonna feel like hell for a little while, but he'll be fine." She explained to him.

Mike sighed in relief at that; "Maybe Nari's right and I did overreact. Glad to hear it's just a cold, it's been a long time since I've had to deal with the lycanthropic shock. I forget how much it affects the body and systems" Mike said, clearly thinking back to his own experiences, before saying "Alright I'll inform Nari. Then we can head to the ship, shore leave is ending early as something massive has just happened. Did you hear the broadcasted message from this King of the unknown? Those gems he mentioned, I'm pretty sure I know their origin and if that's true, we need to get moving ASAP before everything hits the shitter"

Mike then took the chance to say goodbye to his family, promising Nari he would come back home safely, before heading to the ship to await everyone else return.

 

[Lewascan2]

​

Qingshe grumbled -if only internally- as she made her way back to the Fenrir's Maw. A small pout on her lips expressed her mild irritation at her shore leave being disrupted so suddenly. She'd had plans, schedules! Test subjects Clients that had made reservations weeks in advance! The kind of contracts she was going to have to drop -if this was about what she thought it was- were not exactly pocket change.

"..."

Okay, so maybe she dramatized a little.

Miles distant, back the way she'd had to travel to return via several shuttle trips, she poked a slitted eye out of a bubbling current of "shadow", the view presented being a temporary lab complex, more a quick-deploy home than anything. She'd temporarily rented a small plot of land for this purpose and deployed her structure atop it, giving her a location to base her procedures out of.

At the moment, a clone of her body was performing a standard genetic sequence fusion on the latest patient, a young human woman undergoing the integration of several feline traits. Of course, because the best way to ensure those traits were stable was to make them genetically grounded, any children that girl might have would also carry the gene. Nothing too complicated in the grand scheme of things. The moderately wealthy client had requested for this to be done for one of their long-serving housekeeping staff as a "performance enhancer". Qingshe didn't exactly need to be the genius she was to read between the lines and find the employer's catgirl maid fetish.

Not that she particularly cared. Money was money, and the girl appeared to be consenting in all this.

Seeing that everything was going well, she smiled, not that she'd expected much else. She was, after all, sharing her clone's senses remotely; the extra eye was just to scout around the premises of the lab and make sure no untoward interests were skulking about. With a clone in place to act as a genetic and psychic beacon, deploying her abilities a distance from her true body was easy enough. A little risky in some respects without her personal attention to manage truly asinine incidents, but for the time being, she was confident that she could leave her clone and lab in place long enough to complete all her standing contracts on Blue Garden... after which both the clone and lab complex would be swallowed by her shadow once more and dissolved. And if that didn't somehow happen? Both were designed to destabilize and fall apart on a molecular scale, leaving nothing behind after the designated "end time" of her last local contract had been surpassed by a day. This destruction, of course, would leave her then bereft of a lingering anchor to manifest her shadow from.

Sure, the idea of maintaining gateways between worlds across the galaxy in such a manner was... mildly appealing, certainly sounded damn useful, but Qingshe found she could never shake that strange trepidation that spreading her mind out in such a way was a bad idea. Call her paranoid, but she refused to take the risk that one of her clones could somehow become severed from her and become its own existence... even considering they should be powerless without the true her. There was only room for one Qingshe in this galaxy -in this universe, and she was determined to remain that one.

So, mild gripes of inconvenience aside, she was really not losing anything from cutting her shore leave short. She was just looking for something to playfully complain about, especially given that the crew's captain was most likely about to throw them at something insanely dangerous... again. The subject of this meeting was almost certain to regard the rather ostentatious message from this so-called "King of the Forgotten" that had just been broadcast on a baffling galactic scale.

Chuckling, Qingshe reached the Fenrir's Maw and ascended the gangplank, making no real hurry of her pace, as she traversed the respectably sizable mercenary vessel. The fact that it had room for a bay that could field other ships from within at all really conveyed all that need to be said. A couple lifts and a bracing walk later, and Qingshe was all but gliding into the main briefing room, one that contained of most central note a large table surrounded by chairs.

Glancing around the premises and finding herself apparently early to the "party", as it were, Qingshe promptly made herself at home, the bubbling shadow beneath her feet expanding to admit the passage of her own preferred seat, rather than favoring any of those already allotted to this room. She slipped around the table's length until she reached her usual spot, normally empty except for when she created her own seating there. To her right, she left a single seating space open between her seat and the place Mike would normally be inclined to sit.

Leaning back in her single-seat couch, a black and green cyperpunk-esce creation, she rested her cheek on the knuckles of her false-clawed right hand, propped her elbow up on the armrest and lounged languidly, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the crew with slitted golden eyes half-lidded in amusement and curiosity. Her shadow had mostly retracted and bubbled in a small puddle around her feet, playfully lapping at the edges of her seat.

 

[Minarawr]

Navir waited outside while Mike said his goodbyes, fleeing into a portal back to the ship once Sael sprinted out, exclaiming that she wished to join her. She'd have to remember bringing a gift next time, or her little pupil would be sulking the entire time they were training.

Once settled, Navir strolled through the halls of the ship, first heading towards her own chambers. It would probably be a little while until Mike and Alice returned, and in the meantime Navir wanted to enjoy being by herself for a moment. The comforting silence of the ship's halls enveloped her as she leisurely strolled down them and pondered the message they had all received.

The "King of the Forgotten"..., not a name she was familiar with, despite her many years on this plane. Of course, whoever created the message could be using a pseudonym of some sort, but it made figuring out who is King was, exceptionally difficult. By the time she reached her chambers, she had already summoned one of her butterflies, a messenger, and tasked it with requesting information from her colleagues in the information department. Hopefully they would be able to figure something out.

It would seem, in the meantime, that they would have to think up a plan of action. Navir headed across the room towards her closet, discarding her dress with a snap of her fingers, along with the dust that had covered it, and picking out a new one. Once clothed, this time in a more simple, black, form-fitted dress, she released her hair from the ponytail she had tied it up into and allowed the golden locks to cascade down her back.

With a small sigh she continued to try to think of whichever race of beings had been wiped out, or nearly wiped out, in the last couple of millennia, but the list was much too long. The message had spoken of gems, imbued with power, a people treated like gods, but also referred to as monsters, and a great cataclysm that wiped out the population. It sounded like a major occurrence in history, especially for the Amal Nas. It must have been the busiest season that year, with that amount of souls to collect. Navir could only imagine the paperwork involved, shuddering slightly at the thought.

One of her butterflies appeared on her shoulder, flapping its wings softly and distracting her from her pondering. With a soft smile, she invited the bug onto her finger. 'Thank you for the distraction, little one. I shouldn't be drowning in my thoughts like this. I'm sure the others will have their own thoughts on the matter, won't they?'

With that, Navir made her way to the meeting room, surprised to find Qingshe already present. As absorbed as she got with her experiments, Navir had not expected her to arrive first.

'Qingshe, surprising to see you arrive so quickly. No experiments to keep you busy this shore leave?' she stated casually as she made her way to the chair to the right of Mike's, gracefully taking a seat. 'Although, we did receive this intriguing message, that's sure to pique your interest.' she chuckled softly.

 

[Lewascan2]

​

Qingshe perked up, as the doors hissed open quietly, admitting the ship's Second-in-Command, a person -or perhaps, being- that she could say she shared a healthily equal fascination with and wariness of. After all, as a Reaper and death god, Navir was practically the embodiment of a "natural" order that Qingshe would never accept, not while she possessed a scrap of pride in her pursuit of eternal evolution. Yet, at the same time, Navir was very much a wondrous pinnacle of creation, a genetic diamond among the coal that was the majority of mortal races.

Shamelessly raking her eyes up the shapely body contained in a form-fitting black dress, Qingshe smiled, slitted pupils narrowing in feline curiosity over what the innards of that gorgeous creature could possibly look like splayed out on a lab table... or perhaps in a bedroom. What Qingshe wouldn't do to get the chance to thoroughly... examine her... in more than one sense of the word.

At Navir's greetings, however, she dragged her mind from those rather intriguing fantasies, both scientific and carnal, and smiled amiably. "Well~, Navir, personally, I find that saying about being better late than never complete nonsense. Far more admirable is that of the early bird that gets the worm." She chuckled and grinned wider. "And as for my precious clients~? Well, what sort of mercenary would I be if I didn't find a way to complete our contracts regardless of pesky little interruptions? Worry not. My experiments go uninterrupted where it matters." Perking up in her seat, she leaned forward to prop her elbows on the table and cup her chin in her palms. "As for this silly message? Hrmm, I can't say I'm as intrigued as you might think. Curious, perhaps, but nothing more, not without proof this isn't an elaborate goose chase. I prefer to pursue facts over fantasies."

 

[Minarawr]

Navir could almost feel Qingshe's gaze wander along her body from the moment she came in, until she sat down, and she rolled her eyes ever so slightly. For a researcher such as herself, having an Amal Nas in front of her much be a delectable treat, like placing a banquet in front of a starving man. 'You have that look again, Qingshe. The one where you want to dissect me.' she stated casually as she walked in. She understood the fascination and paid Qingshe little mind as she all but drooled over whatever little fantasy she had in her head.

Despite not always agreeing with her methods, Navir had to admit that as far as scientists go, Lei was top shelf material. Her innovations often baffled her, and her theories were sound. Although her "hot takes" were sometimes not to her taste, Navir considered the woman a capable ally, at the very least.

Her response was entirely expected and drew another grin from Navir as she brushed her curly locks over one shoulder. 'I should have known you'd have your business in order. Although, I must say, I'm surprised that this message doesn't intrigue you as much as I thought it would.' she stated, pressing a button in her chair. A small drone came over a moment later with a cup of tea, which she accepted gratefully, taking a sip with a delighted sigh, before continuing. 'We might stumble upon a nearly extinct, forgotten race of ancient creatures, artifacts that hold the power of their leader and such. I was almost hopeful you'd have something new to drool over, instead of me.' she stated, half-jokingly.

 

[Lewascan2]

​

"Of course, dearie~, I'll always have room in my lab for you~." Qingshe chuckled at the mild tease and bluntness, grinning easily. She wouldn't deny it. For all that her primary motif was serpentine, she could appreciate the irony of her almost habitual honesty... at least when it came to her calling in life.

A small puddle of oozing shadow bubbled from beneath her planted elbows, briefly projecting a clear wineglass from its depths, before fading away with a whisper. Smiling, Qingshe scooped up the glass in one hand and sipped daintily, humming happily at the grape-based nectar within. She couldn't get drunk, so these were the sort of things she could enjoy freely for the taste alone. And what a taste it was, a crisp, anciently aged taste of a wine that had been artificially aged within her shadow. Honestly, she could probably break a planet's wine market with borderline impossible winery marvels if she were so inclined, but keeping this as a personal treat for herself and those near to her? Far more satisfying. On that note... Eying Navir and her tea, Qingshe tilted her glass slightly, not enough by far to spill but enough to be an advertisement. "One of the more recent generations of my Millennial Wine, projected age of 2,500 years. If you're interested, there's always more where it came from. And if not? Well, I do do requests~."

Leaning back in her seat, Qingshe hummed in contemplation, before grinning cheekily. "Why would I chase after dead gods when I have a live one right in front of me?" Shaking her head and chuckling, she added wryly, "More seriously, I like to think I've got a good survival instinct, and I prefer not to pick fights with the aforementioned 'ancient creatures', especially if they might wield phenomenal cosmic power against me and mine."

 

[Crobalt Crystalis]

Quietly sat in the middle of the closest thing that could be described as a public park, the android Izaroth was reading through some of the history behind the current environs the crew had taken shore leave on, having opted to remove his battle ready armour for more casual wear of a plain grey, long sleeved top and trousers with some black shoes. On the surface he was practically indistinguishable from a regular human being, barring his more exotic appearance of tanned skin, emerald eyes and shoulder length silver hair... And the fact he was reading his subject matter at speeds that would make even a veteran speed reader look slow by comparison. Periodically, he would look up to observe the people passing by out of curiosity, before returning to his reading material.

His reading was ultimately cut short however upon hearing the "King of the Forgotten"'s broadcast, having opted to mentally record every word said as the broadcast was played out for later analysis, as well as observing the reactions to the broadcast of the passers-by. Some were visibly confused, others seemed indifferent, while others looked rather eager to jump on the next star-faring vessel they could in pursuit of the mentioned Gems. There'd be time to analyse these reactions later, he thought, his AI mind processing possibilities of what the gems could be, as he picked up his reading material and returned it to where he'd borrowed it from, before proceeding to head to the ship.

Upon his arrival, he could hear distinct chatter coming from the meeting room, opting to head back to his quarters first. Much like Navir, he too would opt for a change of attire, but he would ready himself by donning his battle armour, slipping out of his casual wear and shoes and into a black, short sleeved undersuit first. Izaroth's quarters could be aptly described as fairly basic; a Maintenance "bed" provided to the ship by his creator for somewhere to get routine maintenance and emergency repairs should his internal systems be damaged or destroyed, a desk with a few books on places the crew had been to previously which he'd picked up in their travels, adding one on Blue Garden to the collection for later reference, and an armour assembly point in the middle of the room, marked by a set of assembly arms in standby configuration, a pair of black soles being the only evidence of something amiss, which the android stepped onto, the assembly arms whirring into life as they spent several minutes assembling the Android's armour around his frame, red, white, and grey in colour, with some grey cuts of cloth culminating in a point going from waist to ankle.

The android had opted to omit the fitting of his beam saber into it's socket on the underside of his right forearm, as well as the pair of thruster units that would normally be mounted on his back, but the majority of his armour was fully equipped. Having run a quick systems check to make sure all systems were nominal, Izaroth proceeded to the meeting hall where Qingshe and Navir were presently chatting, opting to take a seat somewhere around the table where he could look at the individuals present.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" The android would say to the pair.

 

[Minarawr]

The quip and not too subtle invite to Lei's table had Navir laugh softly, shaking her head. 'I do not feel terribly inclined to take you up on that offer, but if I ever change my mind, I'll let you know.' she replied, taking another sip of tea as the conversation fell quiet for a moment. That is, until Qingshe's shadow bubbled faintly and summoned a wineglass from its murky depths, causing Navir's eyes to widen ever so slightly with anticipation. Before she could even ask, Qingshe confirmed her suspicion; it was indeed a glass of Millennial Wine.

Now, this wasn't her first experience with this particular wine. Lei had pulled it out on other occasions, but it was a rare treat, and as delectable a treat as they come. Navir grew up with wine brewed back home, and this particular wine was the only one she had tasted in her lifetime that could actually beat the taste.
'You don't have to ask me twice, you know I don't say no to that wine.' she replied, placing her elbow on the armrest of her chair, and leaning her head on her palm. 'Although, a single glass is enough this time, we do have a meeting after all, and I don't want to end up on a moon of Jupiter again.'

She glanced at the woman when she spoke, while waiting for her to procure a second glass of the delicious liquid, laughing at her joking remark, and then nodding when the conversation turned more serious. 'Fair point, but this wasn't a declaration of war. It was an invitation, a job opportunity, actually.' she stated. 'We find these gems and the place this "King of the Forgotten" mentioned, and we get rewarded for it. It's pretty much our normal job, no?' she asked in turn, before looking up when the door opened with a hiss, and Izaroth stepped inside.

'We were just discussing the message, among other things. Good to see you again, Izaroth.' Navir stated with a nod.

 

[Lewascan2]

​

Qingshe tittered in unabashed mirth, eyes narrowing into squints of amusement. Of course, she expected Navir to reject her -perhaps all too casually for what it implied- offer of "examination", but no-one ever got anywhere by not taking shots that might miss.

Though, inversely, she could quite well remember how much Navir liked that wine she'd created; she definitely recalled that particularly infamous time Navir had indulged perhaps overmuch on the cocktail, acting as the ultimate taste-taster for the scientist. Qingshe had not quite imagined a death god could get drunk, but she rather quickly learned otherwise. Oh, how she learned. To say the least, the absolutely shitfaced Reaper's bender of epic proportions had contained collateral. Nothing deadly, thankfully, but to say the least, the term "shenaniganry" was quite applicable.

Grinning behind one hand, Qingshe expanding a small portion of her shadow again across the table, ejecting from it the heads of three separate wine glasses. Gesturing to them in a showman-esce way, Qingshe said, "Testing has shown these three from right to left are defined most enjoyably by their smooth tangyness, cool sweetness and warm balanced mixture of tangy and sweet in turn. Please, feel free to taste each if you wish and pick whichever suits you most." Whichever Navir decided to take, Qingshe would retract the other two back into her shadow and recall the shadow as well.

Tilting her head, chuckled. "Declaration of war? No. I'm well-aware this is an invitation of sorts. It's simply whether or not it's one worth answering to that I question." Leaning back in her chair again, she tapped her lips with one finger in contemplation. "After all, regardless of the sender's -potentially misleading- intentions, they were hardly circumspect with their offer. We should expect to be facing all of the worst that the Reshkold Galaxy has to offer as competition over even the idea of this potential prize, all the greats and terribles, all converging upon this singular place for a battle royale to end them all." Her gaze turned momentarily distant. "Would it not be so different than what happened to Berwatsen? And even today, that conflict rages on. Perhaps getting involved here is a lost cause."

The door hissing open again, dragged her attention to the admittance of the ship's scout. Dragging her eyes across his fully armored form, her mouth quirked in amusement. "Always ready for trouble, I see, Izaroth. You weren't interrupting anything." Swirling her wine in its glass for a moment, she took another sip and hummed in appreciation, before addressing Izaroth again. "Millennial Wine? Given what I am sure we are all anticipating will be the subject of this meeting, I imagine a little toast to good fortunes wouldn't go amiss."

 

[Crobalt Crystalis]

"Since odds are good we're likely to be departing for the cosmos in short order once this meeting is adjourned, it's probably for the better that I get myself mostly equipped for interstellar engagements and recon ahead of time." Calmly speaking, he placed his hands upon the meeting table after having taken his seat, alternating his gaze between Navir and Qingshe as he spoke.

"I've been mulling over the nature of the Forgotten Kings' treasure, but I've yet to come to any concrete conclusions as to their nature. Perhaps the others might have some insights on the matter." The android said, his expression entirely neutral as his gaze glanced over to the glass of wine.

"I lack the capacity for drunken intoxication, but I'll take a glass all the same. It's a lot easier to blend in among a crowd of organic life forms when you can taste and smell like everyone else, even if you can't actually suffer harm from ingested matter." Izaroth said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Most of it ends up broken down and absorbed by my power core as additional energy anyway."

 

[Holy R. Enigma]

---

Quite a conundrum, one would suspect, unironically, while Holly is a selfless individual and usually wants to work on days that should be relaxation. As natural as breathing, Holly usually volunteers herself at any place, a soup kitchen or a place that needs her unique cooking style. She loves cooking and helping others, but the latter is usually to the annoyance of her younger twin brother, Lloyd. Juxtaposed to charity, Holly usually is shapeshifted from her angel form and is a young human adult woman with greenish blue eyes and wearing some of her favorite casual clothes, which makes her eye color pop. She wears her good and reliable shoes that have been through much. Often enough, her demeanor is quite friendly and happy with entire strangers since it's always better to have a smile to keep everyone at ease. On the question, her younger twin brother, Lloyd, kept an eye on her by walking beside her.

Despite everything, Lloyd was trying to keep his sister from doing anything stupid since his older twin sister was too damned trusting for her own good. He had a different aspect than his overbearing and charitable sister, but he works with contracts and an exchange of services involved in getting paid. Also, he was shapeshifted like his sister. Still, he held a higher aspect of wearing a particular set of working casual outfits, always carrying around a handyman's bag for quick repair work. Often enough, Lloyd and Holly would bicker nonstop about tiny little things.

Holly looked over to her overbearing younger twin brother since he couldn't take no for an answer for today. "Brother, why must you accompany me everywhere today?" The older sister would ask. Usually, Holly could take care of her own, but her brother rescues her every time she gets into trouble.

Lloyd sighed deeply as he could tell quickly that she would ask her question as usual, which usually would cause them to get bickering back and forth. "You should know the reason. We only came to this planet for a personal emergency that Mike had. I feel like we aren't be staying on Blue Gard-." As he spoke, he was interrupted by the King of the Forgotten's Broadcast. His hunch was right on the money, so he had limited contracts to work on specific repairs around Blue Garden instead of the frequent incoming contracts. "Looks like that answers your question. Holly, are you listening? Let's get back to Fenrir's Maw." Lloyd said, raising an eyebrow towards his sister.

Holly regretfully sighed at hearing her brother's explanation, but what caused her to go a bit wild was when Lloyd was interrupted by the King of the Forgotten's Broadcast. Her mind went a bit wild, and she wondered if she could put one of those gems on a piece of jewelry, and she didn't hear her brother's mention of going back to the Fenrir's Maw. "Huh, you said something? I hoped to get jewelry made of the Forgotten King's Gems!" The older sister exclaimed with a bit of an overjoyed and over-hyperactive imagination.

Lloyd facepalmed heavily at hearing that question and that she wanted to make jewelry of powerful relics or gems. "Oh, for heaven's sake, Holly. We must go to the Fenrir's Maw." He said, very irritated at his sister being a jewel freak sometimes.

Holly saw her brother's facepalm and was very irritated at her for not even hearing him saying the Fenrir's Maw. She gasped and wondered what everyone else thought of those gems or the King of the Forgotten's Broadcast. "S-Sorry, Lloyd, Let's us go then!" The older twin sister said.

Under the pretense of them both returning to the Fenrir's Maw, one aspect of the whole thing is that Lloyd was still quite annoyed at Holly. Her saying sorry is such a way to get out of trouble, and it's so apparent that she wants to talk about the aspects of jewelry. Still, if those gems could empower the ship and cause its cannons to overcharge, that would be more of what an engineer of his caliber would want. Holly and Lloyd went their separate ways when they were on the Fenrir's Maw since they did go to their quarters first.

Lloyd got on his more combat-focused gear but didn't shapeshift back into his proper form because of his job as an engineer on the Fenrir's Maw. He underdenotedly knew that his twin sister would be doing the opposite of him. They are opposites. In all senses of the word, but always had a juxtaposed position of being able to support each other.

Holly got into her room, which caused her to get on more combat attire, and she even shapeshifted back into her proper form for the measure. She dawned on her mother's angelic armor; her clothes and the celestial armor accounted for the angelic wings she now has. Also, it took a few extra minutes to ensure her makeup was perfect.

---

As he walked to the meeting room onboard Fenrir's Maw to talk about the exciting broadcast on Blue Garden. Before he entered the door, he sighed deeply and entered the room not to see his sister here, meaning she was taking her sweet time to get to the meeting room again. However, those he saw were none other than Navir, Lei Qingshe, and Izaroth. "Ah, you three got here before me. What's taking Holly so long?" He rolled his eyes when he emphasized his sister's name. It's so irritating to always get to the meeting room, and he usually stays in the Engineering Room and still beats Holly to the meeting room. "Have you three been waiting long? Whatcha got there, Lei Qingshe?" Lloyd asked curiously. He would walk slightly past where everyone was sitting and count the minutes in his head, but Lloyd didn't like when Holly would take her sweet time.

A few minutes later, and who finally graced the meeting room with their presence, the ship's cook and the Angel of Justice and Protector of Purity, Holly Ragna Enigma. Holly looked slightly nervous as she saw the look on Lloyd's face as slightly annoyed and irritated that it took her three minutes to get to the meeting room. She didn't forget Navir, the Second in Command, Lei Qingshe, and Izaroth. "I-I'm so sorry for being slightly late… but at least I am not that late. You should be grateful for that, brother! Though, the Forgotten King's Treasure would be lovely as jewelry!" Holly exclaimed.

Lloyd shakes his head at seeing Holly walk in wearing her angelic armor and proper form as if she would do anything else. There is a saying, A broken clock can tell the time twice a day, He didn't suspect much from his sister, but sometimes Holly can surprise people. "Holly, you've been late more than I can count. But sometimes you can arrive on time before everyone is waiting on you to get here. However, it would be better to arrive before others more often." Lloyd said, with a backhanded compliment to his sister, but she usually takes it at face value.

Holly looked slightly confused when Lloyd spoke and didn't understand what was said, but she felt he was complimenting her. "Thank you, brother. How far has this conversation been going on the subject besides what I said?" Holly asked. She got a compliment from her brother for once. He usually insults her or belittles her most of the time.

 

[Minarawr]

Navir took her time tasting all three of the wines she was offered by Lei, but eventually settled on the cool, sweet one, sitting back with the glass in hand, sipping it with a small sigh of enjoyment. She looked over when Qingshe contemplated whether this treasure was worth pursuing or not, mentioning that everybody in the galaxy would be on a hunt for this prize. When the woman's gaze turned distant, she sat forward with a sigh. 'Perhaps you're right and this is too much of a risk to pursue. I'd like to remain impartial in this matter. However, if one of those "terribles" were to find this treasure and get whatever he or she so desires, I shudder to think what the outcome would be.' she stated softly.
'One cannot escape fate, after all. If we are meant to be a part of this situation, we will be. If not, then good for us, I suppose.' she smiled somewhat, but her gaze was distant, as if she was lost in thought for a moment.

Upon Holly and Lloyd entering the meeting room, she was drawn from her wandering mind again and leaned back into her chair once more, although she clicked her tongue disapprovingly when Lloyd 'complimented' his sister. Although she didn't really speak out about it, she wholly disliked the way Lloyd treated his sibling, and the fact that Holly didn't really notice his backhanded comments made it all the more infuriating.
Unfortunately, their treatment of each other was not her business unless it caused trouble during work, so Navir tried her best to ignore it as best she could. 'Luckily, you're not late yet Holly. Captain isn't even here yet, so you're good.' she stated casually, taking another sip of her wine.

 

[Lewascan2]

​

Qingshe hummed in consideration at Izaroth's words. "I too have come to the conclusion that speculation upon the true nature of this 'King of the Forgotten's' treasure is premature at this stage, given how little we know." She chuckled at his frank demeanor and expanded a thread of her shadow to offer the same wine options to him as she had Navir. "Being unable to become intoxicated really is a useful trait, isn't it?" she smiled in commiseration. "Perhaps less 'fun', but for a scientist like me, the sanctity of my mind is paramount in all situations. If I weren't also immune, I quite imagine I'd never touch alcohol at all." Gesturing to the wines, she said, "Then take whichever suits your tastes best."

At Navir's words on the "treasure", Qingshe's good cheer couldn't help bit dip a bit... at least internally. "If there's any truth to the message where it matters..." Qingshe clicked her tongue in irritation. "Then I would unfortunately be inclined to agree. Allowing the power of so-called 'gods' to fall into untoward hands would be disastrous." She scoffed. "But let's not bring fate into this." If there was anything Qingshe could say she would ultimately always have to settle for an "agree to disagree" stance on with Navir, it'd be the subject of Fate? Destiny? A sure thing? A predetermined truth? All of it was nonsense. She refused to acknowledge the very idea that such a thing should exist. To her, to believe in the idea of a genuine inescapable fate was to believe all things were ultimately meaningless, that her choices weren't her own. And by extension, that was why she would defy death. Regardless of the Reapers, their Death god or their enigmatic history and beliefs, she would reject their truth and substitute her own. The only thing she would ever allow her future to be is what she would make of it by her own hands, for good or ill.

The door sliding open again dragged her from that particular thought spiral, as the ship's engineer, Lloyd, made his entrance. Qingshe had to restrain a frown, being quickly reminded why of the two siblings, she found Lloyd the most... vexing. Oh, sure, they both annoyed her in their own ways, lots of individual quirks between them that made tolerating their presence -individual or combined- a trial at times, but Lloyd's attitude was just particularly grating. Outwardly however, Qingshe's pleasant smile didn't falter, as she responded, "We haven't been waiting long at all, so don't worry about anyone taking all the time they need to," she -subtly, she felt- jabbed at Lloyd's constant ragging on his sister, hinting that -by extension- he was effectively mocking the rest of the crew that had yet to arrive, including the captain, himself. She halfway considered denying him her wine but decided that was too obvious a snub. "Millennial Wine, a personal project and treat of mine. This batch is artificially aged by a thousand years." She projected from her shadow a single wine-glass before him atop the table. "And please, using my full name is unnecessary, you know? Doctor Lei or just Qingshe will do fine."

Given Lloyd hadn't been present when she offered the wine to the others, there were two layers of the silent snub to consider, that she hadn't given him multiple choices and that the wine was less aged -and therefore traditionally inferior- to what she had prior distributed to Navir and Izaroth. Though, only Navir would have the information to note the latter fact.

As the door slid open yet again, Qingshe's attention was dragged to the other Enigma sibling and ship's cook, Holly, to which she shook her head. "You aren't late in the slightest. After all, the arrival of the Captain is ultimately the essence of any form of deadline." When Lloyd turned to face Holly and not-so-subtly begin mocking her, Qingshe's pleasant expression persisted, if with her slitted eyes narrowed at his back, as their gold hue shifted closer to orange. Briefly clicking her false claws atop the table in a sequence of mild outward irritation, Qingshe reconsidered how subtle she wanted to be with her displeasure but ultimately decided it wasn't worth it. Schooling her emotions, her eyes shifted back towards their usual gold, as she refreshed her amiable demeanor. Her shadow stretched out near where Holly was looking to be sitting and projected a single wine-glass. "Millennial Wine, dear?" Though she was unable to offer options without making her snub of Lloyd obvious to him, this glass offered to Holly was aged as much as those she had offered the others.

 

[Crobalt Crystalis]

Izaroth would ponder the options for a moment, but ultimately would opt to sample all three of the offered Wines, his equivalent of "taste buds" beginning their work almost immediately. From their point of view it was as if he was taking the time out to savor the taste of each wine, but as he sampled each one, from his perspective, streams of analysis data pertaining to things such as what flavors it produced were appearing on his optic systems' HUD, the ingredients used, alcohol content and generally everything he needed to know about it's composition. The end result would be that all three of the wines he was drinking would eventually end up fully drained, yet he remained as composed as he had been since he'd entered the room.

"Best that we get to them first, that we might safeguard them against those that might seek to use their powers for selfish, or even outright destructive, intentions. When the possibility of attaining great power is placed before someone who has none, who knows what lengths they'll go to in order to gain it" The android folding his arms in contemplation as he responded to Navir and Qingshe's respective thoughts on the matter, though his musings were interrupted by the staggered arrivals of Lloyd and Holly, respectively.

Izaroth took the moment to process his thoughts on the individuals in the room. Navir was often the source of curious questioning for the android, being hand in hand with the very concept of death itself, and would occasionally pose questions to her about said concept, the nature of souls, and other similar matters. Whether or not she would give him a logical answer was a whole other matter, but either way he would often archive any information he'd received, plus his own musings on the matter, in the pursuit of understanding organic life.

Qingshe on the other hand felt like an enigma he has only barely begun to scratch the surface of. Sometimes he drew parallels with her ability to leave remotely controllable copies of herself in places with the concept of Schrodingers' cat, being everywhere and yet nowhere at times, and try as he might, the android had yet to make sense of the difference in time flow of things immersed in her shadow. How she managed to keep tabs on her personal projects, plus everything else she may have in the pipeline baffled the android, and yet continued to try to make sense of things little by little.

As for Lloyd and Holly, their status as twin siblings to Izaroth felt like it could be summed up as two things. Complimentary, and contradictory. Complimentary in that the two generally work well together when they have to, but contradictory in that one has to keep the other grounded in the moment lest they recklessly pursue their own objectives. Should one of the two meet an untimely end, he couldn't rightly say what would happen to the surviving twin in the long run without creating a simulation of their respective selves in such scenarios, which would require an in-depth understanding of the twins he presently lacked in order to be as faithful to the real thing as possible.

"Presently we're just passing time while everyone arrives with some preliminary discussions as to the nature of the Forgotten King's message. I expect we'll be leaving port soon after the meeting is concluded."

 

[Holy R. Enigma]

---

Lloyd had noticed a subtle change in the colored hue of Qingshe's aura, which was understandable because he could be irritating. Sometimes, it is evident that not everyone on board enjoys how he interacts with his sister or is overly frustrated at her naive actions. He always has to save her from herself and how reckless Holly can get. However, differently, Lloyd had always felt the sting of Qingshe's subtle jabs by how pleasant she smiled back at him for him ragging on Holly. "Good to know. I am pleased everyone here is having fun chatting over that broadcast." Lloyd said, even though he wasn't that thrilled with what Holly wants to do with ancient relics that are gems. A specific waste of resources, and what if those Forgotten King's Gems cannot be messed with in such a way to become jewelry? Getting back into the forefront of the conversation, Lloyd smiled at hearing it was Millennial Wine. "Ah, so that's what you were doing when you invited Navir to taste test it. However, I was too busy to deal with some leisure time." Lloyd said. Therefore, Qingshe's shadow placed his wine glass before him and took it, but he didn't see any change in her colored hue when he stared at her.

Despite all this, Lloyd heard Qingshe's please of how unnecessary of using her full name. "Qingshe, then it is. I should possibly taste this Millennial Wine you've given me then." Lloyd said with a slight smile. He picked up the wine glass to taste it; it had a unique taste, but Lloyd doesn't usually drink wine for his meals or casually. Usually, what he drinks is some complex whiskey with ice, with an alcoholic percentage of seventy-five percent. When he was about to speak, he flinched slightly, as Lloyd had a problem with telling the truth. "This project of yours is astounding." Lloyd said but muttered under the lines of Damn it, I was honest again.

Two things happened, Lloyd could tell quickly as he was mocking Holly and gave her a backhanded compliment that Navir clicked her tongue disapprovingly, and Qingshe got slightly annoyed by clicking on the table. Still, Lloyd didn't see it but heard it. He ensures not to get overly annoying with his mocking tone towards Holly, but Holly has always been too trusting and annoying nonetheless. He thought about explaining why he said what it was, but Holly would get quite emotional nonetheless. 'I'll keep my explanation to a minimum and let her enjoy what she thinks is a compliment.' Lloyd had lived with her for four centuries, and letting her know is the worst possible outcome usually.

Holly was grateful she wasn't late when Navir, Qingshe, and Izaroth mentioned as much, including saying that they would be leaving port as soon as the meeting is done. "That's wonderful, everyone! Thank you for alleviating my fears. Departing is going to be great. I had tons of fun working for charities on Mr. Fertar's planet!" Holly exclaimed happily. She wondered what everyone was drinking because even her brother had a wine glass. However, as punctual as ever, Qingshe offered her a wine glass. She looked at it and understood what everyone was drinking as Qingshe asked her. "Yes! I would love some. Thank you so much, Qingshe. Did my brother stop saying your full name? He always had a formal way of addressing others." Holly said with a giggle at it. She looked towards Navir and Qingshe as she sipped Millennial Wine. It was pretty intense, and Holly enjoyed the taste. "Um, why did you click your tongue, Navir?" Holly asked curiously.

Holly happily enjoyed the wine, and Qingshe's creations are always great to try, even though Holly didn't taste test the Millennial Wine before. She wished she would create some artificially created food that could alter its flavor, unless that's just Tofu she tried once or twice on one of the worlds that Lloyd and Holly stayed at before moving again. Holly flinched because, unlike her twin brother, Holly cannot tell a lie. "I could definitely drown my sorrows in Millennial Wine, it's a wonderful taste and strong tasting. Um, it's not like I would drown it if I had multiple bottles." Holly said, realizing very quickly that she had lied, and gasped at what she had said.

Lloyd sighed deeply at Holly's tangents and somewhat trying to drift the topic off of the Forgotten King's Message and more on the fact she's an astonishingly quick read that if she had anything alcoholic beverage near her, she would consume in a time span of three hours or more if she's nursing a bout of emotional distress. He slightly tried to subtly get it back on track since his sister is a bit of a bottle of emotions and needs to stay focused on the specifics of everything. "Holly, could you please, get back on topic? We are talking about the message. I am quite intrigued by the message but for different reasons than my sister's." Lloyd said, not missing a beat but helping his sister get back on topic mostly. However, if Holly were talking, she would probably be talking about food since he had noticed that Holly had bought Tofu to use for cooking, which is oddly her.

Holly was a bit shocked to hear her brother say please to her, which was a bit different and shocking, not many times he would say please. "I-I'm sorry, brother, but you don't often say please. Don't tell me you want to create a weapon out of the gems? I-I didn't think you would care for rumors and messages calling for help, you don't do anything for charity that I know of. Always money for services in your case, Lloyd." Holly said. Very rarely, Holly can send Lloyd a jab, but all she said is that he usually makes contracts with a monetary value and nothing else. He had only done anything without that when he saved her during their escape from the Enigmatic Dimension.

 

[Windstormugly]

Clarissa ​

-Two girls chase eachother around the stockpiles of resources and equipment being loaded into the cargo bay, soldiers in powersuits used as cover and hiding spots from the other. One of them trips and a soldier comes to a sudden stop to avoid stepping into the child. "Careful Clarissa, can you and your sister play elsewhere?" The girl brushes off her dress and looks up at the soldier. "Ok, come Clarissa, lets go to the lab!" She says to the other and run off, their feet echoing. The laboratory hums with the sounds of liquids in tubes and the spinning and running of strange equipment. The girls play, faceless researchers and soldiers keeping watch. She turn towards a labvat filled with embryonic liquid, inside it a face looks back at her, Clarissa looks out from the tank.-
Starting awake in her chamber, Clarissa shakes the dream, looking down at an old photograph under her pillow. Two girls, maybe 11 years old look back at her, Cathrine and her sister Clarissa, a field of corpses around them. The flowers smelled lovely, she can still recall them, blood dripping down her arms as the limp body falls to the... A biosensor embedded in her neck administers a mild sedative and neurostimulants to lower the fluctuations of her brainwaves. "Maybe remember to time it for half a sleep-cycle next time."
Frustated she gets up and puts on her usual work-gear, a skintight light eva-suit under loose suspenders sewn with more bolts than fabric. A toolbelt and toolbox on that and the self-proclaimed fixer on the Fenrirs Maw is ready to do some much needed maintenance.

The big positive being planetside and on "shoreleave" for a few days was that she could stay on the ship and get things done. When everyone was there, something was always happening. Losing herself in the tinkering it shouldnt have been a surprise when an alarm went off in her AugmentedReality. -biofuel reserves critical- "you havent eaten in days".
Looking around without tunnelvision she can easily find the issue, the timer on her workcycle was turned off, and multiple prompts were stacked on the periohery of her AR.
"Oh, the captain called a meeting. Guess I can eat something as well." She says to herself as she navigates up from the maintenanceshafts and vents of the Fenrirs Maw.

After swinging by the ships galley to get something to replenish her energy, Clarissa went up to the meeting room.
Going in through the doors with her arms overflowing with food it wasnt immediately certain she could see where she was walking. But reaching an empty place at the table and unloading pounds upon pounds of ingredients she obviously knew.

"Oh, Im not last at least." She says looking around at the others drinking wine. And then she starts inhaling her excuse for food, giving more the impression of a snake or bird unhinging her jaws and dropping it down. Her eyes keep sorting through her AR, stopping suddenly for a monent before continuing, her lips mouthing the Message in between bites.
"So I guess this is why we are having a meeting huh." She says. Now actually looking at those having arrived and seeming to count them up internally.
The crew of the Fenrirs Maw always strikes her as so unorthodox, but then she grew up with the complete opposite of a haphazard, if extremely competent, gang of mercenaries.
Qingshe was doing some intriguing things with her shadow like always, glowing in both mundane em-spectrums in Clarissas AR, and in the more esoteric bands her minds eye could percieve. Something about Navir, like always, set her teeth on edge, and not her physical teeth. In that regard, the Android, Izaroth, felt more familiar to her upbringing, though she fought the urge to ask to tinker with him every time. And then the siblings, "remember what that was like", both scatterbrained in their own ways, with auras that belied their presentation, vastly.

"I can sadly say that I myself have no clear information or lore pertaining to this King of the Forgotten, though that could be from time and distance." She says. "Well, father could be forgotten, but he would be a devestation" Absentmindedly she fiddles with the sensor in her neck, another mixture released in one of her circulatory systems.

 

[The Jest]

Azeal Crystalis Alice Nerocristus

• Sapphire Beach​
  
  
  There's a reason this place is simply known as the Blue planet. A majority of the planet being surrounded by the purest and most pristine oceans in the whole of the damn galaxy. Little wonder the Federation would want to assimilate this place to their government, what with the quality of the nature and water here as well as the strategic advantage of its positioning at the center of the galaxy. If not for the fact that it was a home and hub for explorers and Adventurers, this place would make a nice resort planet on par with even Kynaq.
  
  But the red-haired man - standing out in the sands beside the ocean sticking out like a sore thumb with his short-sleved red shirt that shows off the red tribal-like tattoos on his arms, and black denim pants with black leather shoes - wasn't focused much on the sight-seeing nor the feel of the gentle winds blowing around him to give off such beautiful waves in the water. Instead, he stared at the ocean as if staring into space, seemingly talking to no one. It didn't seem like he had a communicator on hand, yet was clearly in a conversation with someone.
  
  "So in short, we still haven't found even a trace of them yet. Dammit! ...I'm not angry I'm just...I'm worried. We broke him out of that brainwashing, but now he's all over the place hellbent on making a kabob out of his puppet master. ...It is natural, yeah, but... He's one of us born and raised, and I'm worried that wrath's gonna come down on everyone else. ...Not yet, but Dad's looking around too; got his whole organization out there looking for any traces of her. But if she's still around, she's doing a pretty damn good job of hiding it. ...Heh, that he is; I can only hope his men's just as resourceful." He said out loud. Fortunately there didn't seem to be anyone nearby to hear him, and so no one would be willing to call him crazy for talking to no one. It was around this time that a beeping happened on his communication device. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the message.
  
  "Break cancelled, Emergency meeting ASAP."
  
  Needless to say, it didn't take long for Azeal to figure out why, remembering that intriguingly strange message distributed not that long ago.
  
  "King of the forgotten, eh...?" What a vague and tacky ass title, but it works as an anonymous pseudonym...Odd they wouldn't outright say their own name though, even if no one knows about it. Still, more importantly was the message itself. It was stated as if someone was narrating a written letter, even ended with a "signed, name" like a letter. By the way it was said, the phrasing of what attacked them, combined with the speaker/writer's assumed motive for why it happened, it didn't take long for the red-haired man - Azeal - to guess what this "great darkness" could have been. He doesn't recall such a thing happening while he was still in hell way back in the day though, so it had to be either during or after the holy war that this supposed kingdom met its end. Either way, it seemed strange that he never noticed such an event transpiring.
  
  Not one to leave his mate hanging, Azeal decided to stroll back towards civilization, leaving the waves of ocean behind him.
  
  As he walked back however, continuing to talk to no one, he couldn't help but notice some...oddities. The town Mike parked the ship near was a lot louder and busier than it usually was, and ships were leaving the atmosphere almost in droves. Eavesdropping on some conversations, it seems Azeal wasn't the only one who got the message. Everyone around them seemed to have gotten the same message, there were talks of what the treasure could be, who this king of the forgotten or its people were, and theories were going around about what could have caused the calamity that supposedly put an end to this fairy tale land. Needless to say, it did get Azeal thinking...
  
  "Hey, quick question. Were there any judgment events that happened while I was away? ...Besides that one. ...Really? Interesting. ...Well, I got this message a while ago talking about some dead kingdom and treasure...Could be, but in that case, it's the most effective scam I've ever seen. Not even Snake oil got the kind of hype I'm seeing right now. Seems the Captain's taking it seriously. My break's been cancelled so I'm heading back off to duty. So I'm gonna have to let you go now. If you or other demons know anything about... Thanks, Mom. Give lil Eva my regards. Love you. ...Later." He said supposedly to himself before focusing on getting back, ending the telepathic communication. With a sigh and a lit-up cigarette in his mouth, he walked off towards the Fenrir's Maw.
  
  

  ---

  
  
  Fenrir's Maw - Meeting Room​
  
  "Faster than I expected; Good sign."
  
  Not only did he seem to not arrive early, it seems he was one of the last to enter the meeting room in question. The only two who weren't here was the Captain himself and Alice. It was actually very odd; one would think those two would be the among first to pop up during this mess, but then again he recalled the Captain mentioning something about personal trouble during their stay on this planet, likely a cause for the delay in this meeting. Given how Alice happens to also be late, maybe he needed her for something. Someone got sick perhaps? ...Or maybe even cursed? Questions for another time as he headed off towards getting himself a chair near Izaroth As he looked around at the motley crew around him.
  
  It's been many years since he and Alice joined this team, and since then Mike collected quite a...Well, there's no need to sugar coat it, a band of freaks - himself included.
  
  Of them, Navir, Izaroth, and Alice were about the easiest to tolerate, probably because he was well-acquainted with all three of them for the longest time. Demons and Reapers tend to interact due to the nature of their existence and their purpose in the grand scheme of the universe, and Navir just happens to be, well, the closest thing Azeal has to a childhood friend. They didn't meet much when they were young, but they were certainly well-acquainted whenever they did. Izaroth, on the other hand, Azeal knew from his father's side of things. He's helped the Crystalis family for years...and was one of the closest friends his son ever had before..........As for Alice, after the incident with the imposter, Azeal and Alice may as well have been partners in crime, right to a point of the two joining Mike's crew at the same time.
  
  On the opposite side, we have the Twins, Holly and Lloyd Enigma. The Nephilims who despite being 400 years old, are basically children in nature as their personalities clearly showed. In spite of their supernatural nature and their power being beyond most of the living, they feel to be the most likely to be a liability in their own unique ways. They held the blood of both angel and demon, and somehow they inherited the incompetent traits of their respective dominant sides. Holly was indeed too naive and mentally incapable of combat as Lloyd feared, and Lloyd is more likely to meet his end by the hand of this very crew than any enemy they might actually face. When the two were going back and forth and making jabs at each other - Azeal noticing Qingshe likely having an urge to mutilate Lloyd in a dark alleyway - Azeal cleared his throat to get the twos attention and gave them his own piercing fiery glare, as a way of saying "Sit down and shut up!"
  
  Still, he can't deny he has a soft spot for them as well. Like their parents, he too was in love with an angel, and these two reminds him very much of his own nephilim children, spawned from that romance. As such, ever since they joined, Azeal took it upon himself to look after them...and to keep them in line.
  
  Speaking of Qingshe, that leads to his opinion of the other two, Lei Qingshe, and the one who just showed up, Clarissa. These two were wild cards in just about everyway possible. These were the two Azeal knew least about, aside that Qingshe is part-demon like Lloyd and Holly - more still the blood of a wrath demon like himself no less - among many other things. Meanwhile, the less said about the creepy girl who's known to crawl through the maintenance vents and just devoured who knows how much food in seconds - oh Holly probably won't like that at all - the better.
  
  In a crew like this, it may be unfair to call these two the most enigmatic. After all, everyone in this crew likely hasn't told each other everything about themselves...except maybe LLoyd and Holly. But at the very least in his eyes, that title belonged to those two. However, both of them have also earned their keep ever since joining the ship, with Clarissa being a skilled tinkerer and an effective 'fixer', and Qingshe being a fellow scientific genius often partnered as Alice's assistant...the fact they both have magic on top their scientific knowledge is a rather humorous but useful coincident. Beyond that, they're both relatively good sports in terms of teamwork, and perhaps due to the demon blood within her, it's perhaps easy to be relaxed around Lei as a kindred spirit.
  
  His thoughts on the Captain himself? Honestly, it stands in the middle between the two Wild Cards, and the three he tolerates more. The Captain is honestly just as much of a wild card as Qingshe and Clarissa, and just as much a potential hazard to the crew if ever he decided they had no further use to him. He did destroy an entire race of spacefarers after all, regardless of how evil said race was said to be. While part of him doubts he had enough power to do such a thing, that look in his eyes, the expressions he often showed on his face, they show a kind of guilt he's all too familiar with and that tells his story greater than his words ever could.
  
  But even so, You look at how he is casually with his crew and his family, and you'd never imagine him capable of harming a fly, never mind slaughtering an entire race. Most see that as a fake mask hiding the cruelty beneath - lord knows he's seen that kind of damned soul all over hell. But to Azeal, spending time with Mike throughout his time on this ship, it was fairly easy to tell: The monster he makes himself out to be, this Ashen Demon Mercenary...That is the mask. That sense of portraying himself as evil in the name of a greater good was something Azeal couldn't help but respect.
  
  As for the situation at hand, he said nothing. Preferring to wait for their Captain to show up and explain the situation.
• Fertar Residence​
  
  
  King of the unknown? ...Oh, right, the so-called King of the Forgotten that gave out that message. It was broadcasted a while ago apparently, but she seemed to have slept through it, only hearing about it after the fact when she woke up; the galactic news still running it even as they speak. Didn't take long for her to find and listen to a repeat of it.
  
  It was a rather odd message to be sure; someone was clearly reading off a letter of some kind - more like a will, really - and it seemed to have been broadcasted throughout every radio channel in the known galaxy; not an easy feat. ...But there was something else that bothered her in particular about it... The mention of the race, obscured in vague hints about being the "kin of gods and monsters alike", it was...familiar, something she heard about a long time ago. She listened to Mike as she Took a big swing of her coffee like drinking whiskey out a canteen. As she did, she looked up at the sky and noticed a few ships leaving the planet.
  
  "After the fact, but yeah I heard it. By the sound of things, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn'theard that message by now. The Forgotten King's will, I guess they're calling it. The story sounds like your typical tale of a great pride coming before a great fall, but damn if I ain't interested in what all the fuss is about." Alice said, pointing up towards the ships flying off with a mischevous smirk and walking off back towards the ship, an over-the-shoulder wave towards her Captain as she did.
  
  There was a large gap between when the message came and when she woke up and heard about it, so there could be something about this whole affair she was missing. Mike seem to have some idea of this whole situation, and evidently, so did other adventurers. In hindsight, it makes sense. The message itself only mentioned the existence of these treasures, and this planet they're supposed to come from. Nothing in the message suggested where these so-called treasures were, where they were located, not even the name of the planet this king supposedly held dominion over, never mind where that's supposed to be. Any adventurer, mercenary, or someone really wanting to strike it rich who were heading out based on this message alone are basically going into this completely blind with not even a hint of where these supposed treasures are supposed to be.
  
  So if whoever managed to hijack the starwaves did this to start some sort of big scavenger hunt, one would think them willing and able to throw them a bone to actually get these jewels found. Some vague location, some riddle they had to solve, or hell, maybe even cutting the foreplay altogether and just giving them outright coordinates. ...But then again, that's assuming someone didn't already find these treasures and took them already. This was supposedly a message from someone a very long time ago, who's to say in that time these treasures weren't already found by some Reshkold Expeditionist and has them in some personal collection, or a vault, or even a museum.
  
  In which case, even just what they looked like would be enough of a hint to get people moving.
  
  By the looks of things, it seems that if there was a hint with the message, it's safe to assume the Adventurers got it, and Mike wouldn't be cancelling breaks and requesting an emergency briefing ASAP if he didn't get one as well.
  
  With one last look towards the direction of her patient with a more gentle smile, she walked up into Maw.
  
  

  ---

  
  
  Fenrir's Maw - Meeting room​
  
  They could hear her the moment she got on, the sound of her guitar echoing through the ship's halls starting off light but getting louder and louder as she got closer and closer. Until sudden silence and the door opens.
  
  Alice walks in with what can only be described as a dazed smiling look on her face, she was clearly still a little tired, and still drinking that coffeee like it was the last call at happy hour, the guitar recently placed in her bag behind her.
  
  Seems the gang was all here.
  
  "Captain's coming folks, look alive!" She said rather ironically as she walked around the table, making herself a seat right next to Qingshe.
  
  "Nothing for me this time, Qing, I think I drank enough last night." She said to Qingshe, scratching the back of her head and making an almost embarrassed smile. While she says she drank enough, the few urban legends that seemed to appear out of nowhere for locals to talk about today seemed to suggest she drank more than enough, and boy did alcohol seemed to effect her music. But holy crap, the taste of that wine was absolutely worth it.
  
  Ah, Lei Qingshe... While Alice is the Ship's doctor, Qingshe practically puts her to shame in terms of sheer intelligence. Her sister and medical mentor Terra would get along well with her. Technically she's supposed to be Alice's assistant, but really it often feels like the other way around sometimes. Not that she minds though, Qingshe's head is such a fascinating wonderland to explore for a Sorceress like herself, as are some of her experiments. The fact that she has some magical power like herself is a bonus. As the fellow scientist of the team, she's often someone Alice hanged out with and got to know most of all on the crew.
  
  Then there were the others... Azeal was someone who helped her out when she needed it most, so despite being a Demon, he's someone she has a lot of respect for. Izaroth is a fascinating automaton and she can't help but always be a little curious and poking around at his body, wondering who could have possibly created such a thing. ...Azeal tends to be the one to hold her back from doing so. Clarissa is a little on the wierd side, yes, but she's someone Alice tends to be around like Qingshe. Lloyd is.........And Holly is a delightful girl to be around when you get past the hammy way she and Lloyd seems to talk. She's a half-full type like herself, after all.
  
  That just leaves her superiors, Navir and Mike. Where to even begin? Well, perhaps one should count their lucky stars that of all the things who could enter the world and join up as the ship's second-in-command, it was a freaking Grim Reaper! She certainly lives up to the reputation; she has about the same kind of gothic etiquette and courtesy one would expect from a someone with a lofty title like Goddess of Death, and enough power to boot. She remembered that one time Navir tried one of Qingshe's wines and... Well, the kind of things a shitfaced Navir did was enough to make Alice question how much she drank and drained out what was left of her own drink of wine. Still, you'd think a Goddess of Death would be someone who hasn't a care in the world for Life, that she'd be a very cold and callous individual who saw no value in something she's supposed to take away as part of her job. Much the same way you'd think a Demon like Azeal would be this malicious ball of sadistic evil but turned out to be a kind and gentle soul - though Lloyd certainly passes some of that criteria - so too is Navir so kind and sees so much value in life, you'd never guess she was what she says she is.
  
  The same could be said for the Captain himself, Mike. Over the years as a Sorceress, Alice has saw her fair share of people from across the many worlds. Good people, bad people, and monsters in human skin alike. So when she first heard of the Ashen Demon, she was expecting a battle-hardened warrior whose wrath slaughtered millions. But while there's no doubt he's a warrior, maybe even a more literal monster, the way he acted, that expression on his face, the way he treats his family - hell, the fact he even has a family after what he did - a slightly different story than she expected. It's definitely possible he did what he said, but you wouldn't know by looking at him. He clearly has a functional moral compass and a clear intent for benevolence in spite of his capability for destruction. That's enough reason for her to give him some respect.
  
  She listened to everyone else make their opinions clear regarding this lore, ending with Clarissa saying that she also has no idea what to make of this "King of the Forgotten".
  
  "I'd be surprised if you did. ...It goes without saying, but I agree with Qing here. The message itself was so vague, we don't even know what these gems look like, let alone where they could be. Seems our Captain has an idea though, and I'm guessing quite a few adventurers here and there seem to have figured something out after a while; they're leaving town like the planet's on fire." She said.

 

[Mike The Dracopyra]

Mike had never been one to dress fancy whenever he entered a meeting, he was a warrior at heart and even Nari had to force him to wear smarter stuff as the years went by and the 2 attended events together. Though Mike had softened over the years with the birth of his kids, he still refused to wear anything smart or formal unless it's for a big event. Though he got a phone call from an unlikely employer, offering him and his crew a job connected to the message.

So as he entered the meeting room, he was dressed in his combat gear, his swords attached to his back and a very serious look on his face, his crew would know that a serious Mike meant that, this was a very serious matter and the message was a cause for concern. He then took his place at the head of the table as a computer rose from the slot in front of him. The computer was very high tech and was designed very different to the common used tech of the current era.

"Morning all, thank you for coming back off shore leave but I'm sure you've all heard the news about this King of the Forgotten. While I don't believe that, there is such a king. The gems are a different matter entirely" Mike told them as he typed in a code on the computer which brought up a list of artifacts, many which had supposedly vanished years ago. The gems appeared, showing 5 of them with a strange language written of each of them.
"These gems that are mentioned, I could only find one match by cross referencing information from many years ago. The Sattolion empire called them the Gems of Desire and there were 5 of them, each one closely related to desire. If one could unite all 5 gems and take them to a specific location, it would grant them a wish/desire that could alter the very fabric of the universe. Imagine if someone untoward got there hands on them, it could spell the destruction of everything" Mike told the group before sighing as he added "We've been asked by the High Priestess of Vijolavij to do this mission, maybe you guys have heard of her, Vivian Aerouant? Supposedly even those of the religious order are terrified of this"

Mike waited for the news to sink in before saying "According to the Priestess, the first orb seem to be located somewhere on the planet Fubakfen. Probably buried in some ancient ruins untouched for centuries, since people are banned from living on the planet"

 

[Crobalt Crystalis]

Izaroth would remain silent all throughout Mike's explanation of the coming task at hand, data pertaining to the tracking logs of a particular individual of concern both he and Azeal are trying to find flowing across the side of his optics, visible only to him, which he then dismissed once he'd speed-read through it all, that he might focus on what is to come, pulling up what public domain information he had of the planet in question on his optics.

"'Untouched ancient ruins' is a pretty vague description overall, given we've an entire planet to search. Does the Priestess have a more concrete idea on roughly where on the planet's surface to look once we make planet fall, or are we going in completely blind?" The android would ask as he poured over the data, particularly taking note of how the planet is essentially known for being one big jungle-rainforest habitat for myriad species of flora and fauna, and only select individuals are even permitted to take a long-term stay on the world.

"I ask this because if we have to scour every inch of the planet's surface, we'll be at this for no small length of time. Time, we may not have, as someone else might beat us to the punch. That and we might run afoul of the planet's more predatory creatures during our search." The android said, waiting for others to say their thoughts on the matter now that he'd said his piece.

 

[Minarawr]

Navir was drawn from her thousand yard stare when Qinshe's almost insulted response to her mention of fate, along with her scoff, had a smirk curl onto Navir's lips, and she had to stifle a chuckle in turn. Of course, she was more than aware that the more science-oriented mercenary rejected the idea of fate and destiny as a whole, but the fact she had such a rigid stance on the matter was incredibly amusing to her. Especially when considering their little company of mercenaries and her own existence, one would think Qinshe's opinion on the existence of a being or natural law that governs the actions of all living creatures would be more relaxed.

She noticed the shift in the air immediately when Qingshe subtly revealed her annoyance about Lloyd's behavior, the brief clicking of her claws on the table adding to the dangerously slitted eyes and shift in color. Her own crimson eyes narrowed in light warning, but it seemed to be unnecessary, as the woman controlled herself and returned to her friendly behavior. Navir let out a small sigh and a shake of her head, before she settled into her chair once more and smiled softly at Holly upon her questioning the click of her tongue. 'It's nothing important, Holly, don't worry about it.' she replied, sipping her wine once more.

Her attention was drawn when Clarissa, the ship's mechanic, entered the meeting room next with her arms filled with food, which was promptly devoured as she commented on the message, quickly followed by the arrival of Azael, her childhood friend of sorts, Alice, and finally the captain himself.

Upon his arrival the room would fall mostly silent and as usual, Mike was one to get straight to business, already in his combat attire and ready to go. She was surprised to hear him state in no uncertain terms that the gems, at least, were very real and held great power, as the message had claimed. Artifacts like these, although not entirely nonexistent, were extremely rare. In all her life, she had only heard of a couple popping up here and there throughout history. Often times they were followed by either a period of great wealth, or massive destruction, or in rare cases the appearance or disappearance of entire planets.

"These gems that are mentioned, I could only find one match by cross-referencing information from many years ago. The Sattolion empire called them the Gems of Desire, and there were 5 of them, each one closely related to desire. If one could unite all 5 gems and take them to a specific location, it would grant them a wish/desire that could alter the very fabric of the universe. Imagine if someone untoward got their hands on them, it could spell the destruction of everything."

A troubled, yet intrigued look appeared on Navir's face when Mike mentioned the one to give them this request, a certain high priestess. Although the name didn't ring a bell, and Izaroth's question also added to the issue of the case, there was something else that bothered her.

'Setting aside the fact that finding this gem on a planet without a precise location will cost us weeks, maybe even months, to do, how does this priestess know of the existence and the location of the gems, captain?' she spoke up. 'And setting even that aside, what would she use the gems for when she has them?' she added. 'If these gems truly are of the caliber of legendary artifacts, they could spell disaster in the wrong hands, as you say.'