EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana seemed genuinely surprised when Uthri explained the plan. She shifted uncomfortably in place as she looked around at the camp. "You want to move the clan, and all the way to Orcrest? That's, um...well that's going to be really tall order, honestly. I don't see the Clan Leader agreeing to that, but I suppose you'll have to speak with him yourself. My pride are just patrols, and we will do as our leader instructs. But...you said that Vile's fortress is near Corinthe? We were starting to send scouts in that direction before the attack. My pride was one of them. How did you learn their location?"

Among Vilana's pride, most of them accepted and thanked Sabine for the food she offered. While she was walking around, Peiter closed his eyes and breathed slowly. He focused on the conversations around him, rather than the urge to hunt that his beast spirit was giving him. After a minute or so, he felt that the change would be coming on shortly, so he briefly pulled his arm from Rhazii as his body shifted back into his Human form. Though, he made sure to grab his hand again quickly once he was back to help keep him comfortable.

Peiter waited in place until Sabine returned from passing out the meat, so as not to leave the children alone. "We still have most of the day before the others are expected back. What do you think we should do for now?" He asked.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

Once the shuttle diverted towards the planet’s surface, it would only be approximately ten minutes before they would be landing at the temporary settlement. The interceptors remained close alongside the shuttle in case they were threatened by enemy fighters. Although, Avatar’s scans of the enemy fleet did not indicate that they had been detected. Or, if they had, they were not giving a response to the escaping shuttle. Based on Avatar’s scans of the enemy frigates, they were venting heat at a level consistent with what it would expect within ten minutes of the end of heavy usage. As such, it could predict with 73% certainty that the engagement between the two fleets had ended shortly before their departure from the station.

At first, the three ships headed towards the surface at a steep angle in order to get deeper into the atmosphere, which would reduce the ability of the enemy fleet to detect their heat signatures. However, once, they were in the lower stratosphere, they redirected their course to take them straight to the temporary settlement. The areas which they were flying over were not heavily populated, but even so, they remained within the clouds whenever possible in order to reduce their visual signature as well. At the high speeds at which they were traveling, it only took five more minutes before they started to slow to an approach velocity and radioed ahead to the settlement. There was no response from the settlement at first, but once Avatar transmitted the identification code it had been given as a diplomat on the mission, they were cleared for landing.

The settlement itself was small, and consisted entirely of prefabricated structures placed in a cleared section of a temperate forest. According to Avatar’s records, it had 127 inhabitants, including security personnel. Most of the settlers had a role in preparing the planet for the larger planned colonization, such as botanists, geologists, surveyors, and the remaining diplomats who had not been in attendance in the meeting aboard the space station. Unfortunately, the settlement was not heavily defended, as it was meant to rely primarily on the fleet for protection at this early stage of colonization.

All of the settlement’s landing pads were currently occupied when the three ships arrived, so they were directed to land in a cleared area of the forest a few meters outside the main settlement, along with several other shuttles and other vehicles of various classifications. There were Turian, Human, and Quarian shuttles, some of which were military models, which suggested that at least some other ships had managed to escape from the battle above.

Once they had landed, Avatar transferred itself back into its platform within the shuttle. The Geth seemed to spark back to life suddenly, then lifted itself back to its feet just as the shuttle’s ramp was being lowered. Once it was, it revealed four Turian soldiers, all with their rifles trained on the shuttle’s passengers. However, it only took seeing the uniforms of the Humans and the Cabal for them to recognize that they were allies.

“They’re clear, stand down.” One of the Turian’s ordered, prompting them all to lower their weapons. Behind the soldiers, Avatar could see a veritable swarm of activity in and around the settlement. Soldiers and settlers alike seemed to be stripping the settlement bare and loading anything they could into both ground and air vehicles.

The Turian stepped forward and looked into the shuttle. “A passenger shuttle; good, we’ll need it.” He said, more to himself than anyone. “Apologies for the rush, but as you can see, we’re evacuating the settlement. Twenty-five minutes until we leave. If you have any spare room in there, we have settlers in need of transport. We’re trying to bring as many supplies as we can, so we need all the space we can get. Do you have any wounded aboard? We still have spare medical supplies, for now.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Vilana let out a sigh, then sat down in a more relaxed position. "Desperate, overall. If, um, Sajira's pride is from the clan, then you probably already know the first part of the story. We were attacked and lost about two thirds of our number. Some captured, many killed. Our leader ordered our evacuation. We took as many supplies as we could and headed west. We went as far and as fast as possible to keep from being tracked. We ended up going most of the way to Torval before we reached the outpost we're using now. Apparently, it was a secret outpost not used by normal patrols, so we knew that the enemy didn't know about it. We're surviving out here, but that's about it. We've been staying as hidden as possible and have kept contact with the outside at a minimum. We can't afford detection by Vile at this point. We've been trying to build up our reserves of supplies again, but that's about all we've accomplished. If you can get us some actual reinforcements, we might be able to change that."

Newt hid himself behind Leaps for protection, just as he would have to his mother or father had they been present. Peiter sat up straight in attempt to appear strong to help keep the children calm, while also trying to avoid appearing aggressive towards this new pride. He looked over to Uthri and the pride's leader, then gave a nod to Sabine. "We probably shouldn't interrupt, but if they're going to be here a while, we probably should. I'm not sure how much we have left, honestly, but I guess we'll be heading back to their clan after everyone is back. Hopefully, it's a cooler place than this. This fur awful in this heat; I need to hurry and shift back. Just need to calm down a little more."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Imperial woman motioned to her allies to lower their weapons, then approached the camp more calmly. With Uthri's word, Peiter also climbed down to the ground carefully and released the children from his grasp. There was still some tension in the air from the circumstances of their meeting, but the threat of violence seemed to have passed. The Imperial knelt down next to the crude map Uthri was sketching and looked it over. "Hmm, seems like you're covering a wide area. You must have a large group here. It's hard to tell exactly, but I think you might have found us in a day or two. It would probably take too long to try to track all of these search parties down, so if you don't mind, I think I'll have my pride wait here until they return. My pride will be a few hours overdue by that point, but it will take longer than that for anyone to be alarmed. Anyway, my name is Vilana, and I am the leader of this pride. I hope your search party is coming with reinforcements, because we're going to need them."

Peiter, as usual, sat down beside Sabine, still in his beast form. Their beast spirits typically did not like transforming back and forth on a whim, so it would take a while to calm himself and shift back. "Well, armed standoff aside, at least we found them. Or, they found us. I guess we just wait now?" He commented to her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Khajiit thought heavily for a few more moments before his expression showed some recognition. "That...does sound familiar, yes. She has a Bosmer daughter and married a Suthay-raht, yes? This one thinks he remembers hearing about one of the higher ranking prides in the clan having someone like that. They didn't make it with us when we were first attacked. Is her name...S'aritha...S'ajara, something like that?"

It was not exactly right, but S'ajira felt it was close enough. The Khajiit had managed to give details of her life that the enemy would not have known, so it seemed like he and the others were likely from the clan. S'ajira relaxed her body, then looked up at Uthri and nodded.

The Imperial still stood cautiously, but her tone was less confrontational than before. "Can you trust us now? If it is not one of you, I would like to meet whoever it is that leads you. Are the 'others' you are searching with nearby?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sorry for the delay. I'm about to head to bed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Name the Pahmar?" The Imperial repeated. Leaning forward slightly, she looked over S'ajira carefully, but nothing in her expression indicated that she recognized her. Looking around at her allies, she gave a nod to them, prompting them to try and recognize the Khajiit. A good thirty seconds passed, and most of the group simply had to shake their heads. There was one Khajiit, however, who just kept staring at the Pahmar, seemingly in deep thought.

"This one...thinks he has seen that one before. But...he's not sure." The Khajiit said.

The Imperial woman let out a sigh. "Look, there were a lot of people in the Senchal clan, Pahmar included. None of us know everyone personally, you're going to have to give us more to go on than that. Is there anything identifying about her other than her name that you can give us?" She requested.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Imperial did not budge from her position, but again, she did not grow any more aggressive. She brought her spear into a slightly more relaxed position, though it would be easy to bring the weapon to bear quickly. "Maybe. If you know what that is, then you might know why I need to be absolutely sure of who I'm talking to before I say anything. You said you're part of the war effort. Does that mean you're from one of the clans? If so, which one? And who are these 'others' that you're with?"

S'ajira too was now a bit more comfortable with relaxing her guard, given how this Imperial was speaking. Leaps, meanwhile, was certainly on his guard, but no one was acting quite aggressively enough for him to attack without being told. S'ajira wanted to have some kind of assurance that they weren't being tricked, so she quickly scrawled a few more words on the ground, then lightly nudged Sabine's side as she pointed to them: Ask if they know me.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Imperial woman still did not order an attack, but neither did she lower her own weapon, nor take on any less of a firm tone in her answer. "Easy, we're lycans, like you. We weren't sure of your scent at first, given that Vile's minions have been known to fake it, but that werewolf up in the tree settles that fear. Even so, we have to be as cautious as possible; we can't afford not to be. Now, lower your weapons so we can talk. Does your pack act alone, or are you a part of the war effort?" She asked.

Obviously, S'ajira had no weapons to lower, so she was able to simply remain at the ready. This group was claiming to be lycans, which, if it were true, would mean they were likely members of the clan. Looking around, S'ajira did not immediately recognize any of their faces, but that in itself did not necessarily mean they were lying. The clan had many members, and she only personally knew a fraction of them. However, it was possible that they might know of her. S'ajira's pride was of a reasonably high rank in the clan, and it was not exactly common for bipedal Khajiit to marry Pahmar, so they may have at least hear of her through gossip before the attack.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter was not certain what Sabine was doing at first, until he caught the scent in the air. He did not recognize it himself, but according to Sabine, it was something called a durzog. Based on her reaction to it, he assumed they were some sort of predator. He quickly grabbed up his halberd and took up a position with the others, though it was not long before Uthri recommended that one of them take the children up to safety in a tree. It would take them down one fighter, but it would make sure that the two defenseless children were out of danger. "Alright, I'll do it. Just be careful, alright."

After quickly stripping down and finding a place for his belongings, Peiter shifted into his werewolf form, then scurried up onto one of the lower branches of a nearby tree. He reached down so that Uthri could hand both of the children up to him, then kept them securely under his arm as he climbed up a few of the closer branches. They were not too particularly high, but they were high enough that he felt confident that the creatures could not get up to him quickly. He could have gone higher, but it would have required more acrobatics than he would be comfortable attempting with the children in his care.

The scent grew stronger until they could start to hear sounds in the forest. Although, they were quite faint, and they likely would not have picked them out had they not been listening specifically for movement. Peiter, given that he had a vantage point, hoped to be able to spot them to warn the others of which direction they were approaching from, but even he was having trouble seeing these durzogs. A few times, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, only to see nothing when he focused on it.

Eventually, the sounds became rather close, and Peiter was able to spot the source. However, when he did, his eyes widened in surprised. "I think I see...wait, that's not..." He began, but was interrupted when the intruders revealed themselves. On three sides of the camp in an arc around them, about six or seven beings emerged from behind bushes and trees, but they were not durzogs: they were mostly Khajiit, with a Human and an Orc among them.

"Lower your weapons; this need not turn to violence." The Human, an Imperial woman, demanded firmly, though without shouting. Around them, three of the Khajiit had bows nocked, but not drawn, the Orc had a javelin that was in a position to be thrown, though was not currently aimed, and the rest were armed with spears.