[@Zyngard][@Dartbored Fairy][@Prima Luce] “Who the fuck are yo –“ Dino, ready for [i]almost[/i] anything, looks back to see who had tapped his shoulder. When he looked he was simultaneously filled with a sensation of mortal dread as the old man behind him spoke the word “Mine”. The combination of the two influences had Dino’s own words get cut off before finding himself falling into a hole in the floor of the passage. He knew the old man wasn’t Mili’s abductor and so he wasn’t willing to fire on him. He hit the bottom of the hole as the old man stepped over it, who was apparently now talking to Mili’s abductor with the words “Return what is mine”. These words were accompanied by a hair-raising scream from Mili’s abductor. Dino regrettably looked up at the moment the old man stepped over the hole, only to see up the old man’s cloak. Not a pretty view. Following that, Dino taps out a few new coordinates on his wrist devise and appears outside the hole. The barrier of stone is now gone, Mili is lying on the ground at Pirila’s feet, and Dino catches the last glimpse of the old man before disappearing into the darkness down the passage. At that point he rechecks his wrist devise for any new readings: The abductors signature was gone. Mili was still alive. The old man reading was human - before he too vanished along with the alien ship that was in orbit. [i]Monsters hunting monster[/i] Dino thought to himself as he made his way back to Cas, Pirila and Hida. He then gives Pirila a nod as she is probably taking up Mili in her arms in a somewhat happy reunion. He had nothing much else to say. Meanwhile, Cas hadn’t fired on the old man. He had evaluated the situation as the turn of events transpired, and by time the old man had dropped Mili at Pirila’s feet, he had figured that fighting wasn’t needed. Now Cas was nevertheless looking confused. The only thoughts he had was to turn to Hida, and ask; “You okay… Beautiful?” [hr] Previously… in Dino Gavon’s Bedchamber…. “I see you’re dying for a taste of my tentacle’s.” Shard responds to Cuna’s overwhelmed reaction, “But let’s save the good part for last…” She’s distracted for a moment, continuing her unfailing approach; “Is that a tumor beneath your Johnson? – Never mind, I don’t care.” Once Cuna falls on the bed, she is almost instantly on top of him. She’s resting her wait on his shoulders with her hands, breathing heavy with excitement, while down below her tentacles are feeling out the situation. For Cuna, the tentacles are quite gentle and probably stimulating. “Ohhh!” She says excitedly, as the tentacles frolic around the base of his manhood looking for a place to insert themselves. “You have no valves! That’s so extraordinary! And oh…” Her eyes widen with concern while the tentacles prod at his scrotum. “[i]Two[/i] tumors? But don’t worry!” She smiles kindly and places a kiss on his lips. “We can get an MCR later, that’ll fix you right up down there!” With no valves to insert for better connection, her tentacle’s now wrap around Cuna’s waist for a better grip as she sits back to have him. “Fuck You….” She gasps, “We’re gonna have so much fun!” Cuna, though, can probably tell that Shard is strong. The firm grip of her hand and tension of her thighs is obviously beyond that of an average human woman, while the tone of her voice, though excited, has an underlined vigor that might suggest a lurking hostility. Rejecting Shard wouldn’t end well, and Cuna would be right to make that assumption. Quatis men learnt centuries ago not to reject a female, not if they value their life. [hr] Once things had settled down on the planet, Dino transports all four back to his ship. They arrive in the medical room of the DGS, where Dino instructs Cas to take care of Mili while he heads back to the Bridge to prepare for launch back to Phantom Point Station. Alone in the Med room with Hida and Pirila, Cas takes a medical instrument from one of the medical cabinets. The instrument is called a Medical Cellular Regenerator [MCR]. Pirila may recognize it as the same instrument Shard used on her earlier to settle the motion sickness. Like a gun, the MCR has a handle, a trigger, and a cylindrical part that extends out from the top of the handle. At the rear and on top of the cylindrical section, is a panel with numerous touchpad controls. These controls are relatively simple. Cas quickly manipulated the display of the panel so it is readable in Pirila’s language. He hands the device to Pirila who can see the various options as he quickly explains how it works to her: “On the panel, press the [b]Bio Reading[/b] option then point the end of the cylinder at the injured subject, Mili, but make sure the cylinder is pointed at a healthy part of her, then squeeze the [b]trigger[/b]. Now the MCR will adjust its setting to work for the individual’s biology. After that, press one of the three regeneration options; [b]Tissue[/b], [b]Bone[/b] or [b]Organ[/b]. In this case, [b]Tissue[/b], of course. Now point the cylinder at the open wound of the injured subject and squeeze the trigger again. This time keep the trigger held down while waving the pointed cylinder over the wound until the wound is healed. The instrument will shut down once the injury if finished healing.” Assuming that Pirila uses the device on Mili, Cas explains the other option of the MCR while she does so, saying; “By choosing the [b]Diagnostic[/b] option on the panel, pointing at the subjected and squeezing the trigger, the MCR will diagnose any other ailments the subject might have, such as poisoning, sickness, and other forms of readable diseases and conditions. It will then make a short beep once it has found the problem. Then all you have to do is select the [b]Remedy[/b] option on the panel and stick the cylinder against the subject’s skin, preferably in the neck area, and press the trigger again. Simple.” Mili’s stomach wound would have been healed by this point. “It will operate for some time in the dark, but will recharge automatically when exposed to any form of light. The more powerful the light the faster the recharge. You can keep this one…” Cas finishes by offering the MCR to Pirila “We have plenty of them. You need it more than we do.” He now looks at Hida to see if she was impressed by his knowledge, kindness and generosity. Though his smile is a little obvious and goofy. “Would you like one too… Hida? I also have a shuttle of my own, it’s not quite like The DGS, well, not as big and fancy. But I’d really like to take you on a romantic getaway once we arrive back at your planet… if you’re interested?” [hr] [@Doc Doctor][@Metatrooper] Meanwhile on the Bridge, Dino Gavon opens up an encrypted interstellar message on his communications board. As he’s reading the message his face becomes morbid, like a man who was suddenly faced with the prospect of losing something of great value. After reading the message, he sends an encrypted message back to the sender and erases the one he had received. [hr] [@Dartbored Fairy] Moments later, Dino arrives in the medical room with the others. His face hard and sever, an underlining spark of concern in his eyes. “We need to go.” He said, taking his attention to Pirila and Hida. “We’ll drop you off on your world. None of you are safe any longer.” He looks at Cas. “Take us back.” Cas nods, affirmative. He suggests Hida and Pirila to stay put in the medical room until they arrive and heads for bridge alone. Dino Gavon then leaves to heads for his bedchamber to prepare some personal effects.…. [@Zyngard] “Fuck You!” Dino Gavon raises his voice when he enters the bedchamber. “What are you doing to my Lieutenant?” With a mix of both an orgasmic and surprised scream, Shard leaps backwards off the bed. Since her tentacles are still securely wrapped around Cuna’s waist area, he is sharply pulled along with her. She wraps him up in her arms in a vain attempt to cover their indecency, and turning her eyes to the Admiral. “Don’t blame him!” She said to Dino. “It was all my idea, I swear. I just couldn’t resist him. But it’s okay….” Ehs dehsinif htiw a hgis sa a elcatnet sevomer flesti morf s'anuC suna. “I just finished milking his reproductive gland. We can leave now. Sorry for the intrusion, sir!” Releasing Cuna, she pushes him lightly away, saying; “Put your clothes on, fast. We need to go.” She pauses a moment to smile for him. “You were great, though, but tentacle tasting will have to wait.” Her tentacles now slip back into her lady cavity. Dino puckers his lips in a thoughtful, though sever manner, but says no more as Shard rushes to put her clothes on and vacates the room. Would Cuna now say his piece and dress himself before leaving the room, Dino would close the door behind him and attend to his own business. [hr] [@Quote5] Appearances are fickle. Siren herself receives a message. The mechanical receptors in her mind pick up the transmission, maybe originating from the massive artificial planet they are on rout to. The message is received as follows: “Non-biological instances detected. Rescinding hostility. Prepare to be boarded.” Rodia soon comes to a stop like a small moon now caught in orbit of the massive metallic orb. Now that they are closer, if those on board Rodia conduct further scans, they will read no biological life forms on or within the sphere. However, hundreds of thousands of individual energy signatures can be detected moving about inside. Several minutes after being caught in the planets gravity, a strong wave like a sonic pulsation is felt throughout Rodia. As the wave quickly passes a communal sound of many metallic thumps are heard as hundreds of entities appear in various location on Rodia. One of these entities appear inside Siren’s office. The entity is a structure close to 7 feet tall. It could have passed as a powerful, athletic man, had it not been for its pliable metallic epidermis, which had a fine and almost fluidic platinum sheen. Its head and facial features also perfectly depicted the design of a man, all with the same, single metallic tone as the rest of its structure, though its eyeballs were a darker shade of metal with white mechanical irises and black pupils. It wore no clothing, however, and oddly enough for an android, it even had a perfectly detailed male appendage, more of a silver in shade, dangling from its crotch. Ignoring Rorod, the android looks sternly at Siren, raising one open hand as if ordering her to stop, or halt, and speaks in a perfectly deep, male human sounding voice: “We are The Sporn. I am designated Command Unit 1.0-1. We have detected no Biological life forms on your archaic vessel. You are therefore secure. State your purpose for occupying our space. Are you in league with the Biological?” [hr] After a few minutes, Ernest receives a response, again, from somewhere within the nebula: “Unfamiliar entities. We are the Otomigus of the Otomigus Expanse. We are not your enemy. We are under attack. This space is hostile. We are not your enemy. Leave if you wish for self-preservation. We are under attack. We are not your enemy. We are in need of assistance. If you wish to join our cause, raise your defenses. We are not your enemy.” As the transmission is then interrupted by some sort interference energy field, six small and metallic brown, winged space craft converge on the Ernest’s position. These space craft come without warning or even sending a message. They converge on the Ernest and open fire, each of the six firing a series of electronically charged lasers at the Ernest. Meanwhile, from direction of the nebula, six more vessels come into view. These vessels are biological. They are shaped like the three segments of an ant’s body and commence firing upon the other six metallic vessels with some sort of green plasma discharge that is shot from the bow of their vessels. [hr] The plants wouldn’t leave the broken craft. When they see the fire outside they start running in circles and squealing like frightened mice. But at least they aren’t attacking Hank anymore. When Ramrod exits the craft he sees the fire is way too out of control. There probably isn’t much that can be done about it. Probably best he stays inside in case he gets burnt. But Ramrod can hear the trees screaming along with the grass and all other plant life as the fire spreads wildly through the forest. The trees can’t move fast enough to escape the blaze. Yet what is specifically odd about the situation is Rufus. He is now standing amid the flames but not getting burnt. He’s looking at himself in amazement and confusion, before lifting his eyes to Ramrod through crack of the vessel. “Little cat dude…. What’s happening to me?” Then realizing that Ramrod should stay inside the vessel, Rufus lunges through the crack and tackles Ramrod to the floor. Strangely, he isn’t on fire. He sits up, holding Ramrod in his arms and petting his head, while Hank continues to groan in the corner and the three shrubs continue running in frantic circles. “I’m so sorry, my little plush friend, Rufus didn’t mean to start a fire. I should have just stayed in my room and kept playing Skyrim. I wish I could save you all. I wish there was a way to get back to that ship I was in before….” Apparently Rufus’s wishes were fulfilled in that moment. Ramrod is still in Rufus’s arms, head being pat, but now they are somehow inside a different room, along with Hank and the three shrubs. Rufus is so stunned by the change of location, he releases Ramrod from his arms and looks around in amazement. The room they are in is spherical with lumpy white walls, kind of like being inside a giant golf ball with a flat floor. The room is lit, but no apparent light source can be seen, while the floor of room resonates a soft, calming hum. The three shrubs stop running in frantic circles while broken Hank stops groaning and releases a curios “Uhh?” Meanwhile, back on the planet they left, the fire continues to spread out of control across the land. Hundreds of thousands of flora life forms are being burnt to death. [hr] [@Doc Doctor] While Donny was asleep, a peculiar things happened. A man like Donny would likely be woken from his sleep by the slightest peculiar sound. In this case, it is the sound of soft repetitive tapping, caused by a finger being tapped against the arm of the chair in his Quarters. The person seated in the chair looks a lot like a human, though clearly not Quatis. They have no apparent gender. Their skin is unblemished and pale. Their eye sockets are nothing more than dark, empty pits. Their lips are thin and purple. They are bald with no facial hair. They are dressed all in a soft, black linen; a seemingly transparent fabric that somehow doesn’t reveal any details of a body beneath. If Donny were to rise from his slumber to observe this person, the person would stop tapping their finger and speak in raspy whispered voice: “I can empathize with the darkness in your soul.” They then pause, and add; “The Admiral knows you’re coming for him. He will be prepared….” They release a long gargled sound, like that of air being expelled from diseased lunges. “Avoid his head… Donny. Target his heart.” Lifting their hand, they point at Donny. Their nail is long and black, though tipped with a crescent of gold lining. “The afternoon has come. The Minister will call upon you soon. Be steadfast…. Be ready…. Don’t disappoint me.” The dark visitor now fades away. [hr] [@Metatrooper] Rufus seems rather intimidated by Meta, so much so that his lips move silently in awkward formations as he attempts to find the right words to speak. But he clearly doesn’t want to return to his cell. While Rufus is contemplating his words, Meta sees another person. This person appears behind Rufus, barely phasing fully into existence for several seconds. The person he sees looks a lot like a human, but they have no apparent gender. Their skin is immaculately unblemished and pale. Their eye sockets are nothing more than dark, empty pits. Their lips are thin and purple, they are bald with no facial hair either. They are dressed all in a soft, black linen, a seemingly transparent fabric that somehow doesn’t reveal any details of a body beneath. This person, raises two fingers in a fork-like fashion, placing both fingertips over their empty sockets before pointing at Meta, as if to suggest they are watching him. They then place the same finger over their mouth in a gesture to keep quiet. They then phase out of existence as Rufus finally finds some words to reply with. “B-b-but dude, please don’t pretend to lock me up again. I got the munchies so bad. You don’t wanna make poor Rufus starve, right?” He eyeballs the bread sticks in Meta’s hand, then giggles in a dopey manner. “My man. My dude. Are those for Rufus?” He then seems a little relieved, adding quickly; “I don’t mean any harm at all. I know I’m intruding. Dude, I feel like I owe you an explanation.”