EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm? Oh, hello Rhazii." Meesei replied to Rhazii, somewhat surprised to see that he was present. Although, that surprise quickly faded as she continued in a calm, matter-of-fact tone not at all consistent with the almost unbelievable sight before them. "Yes, Sabine killed it after freeing herself. I thought it prudent to bring the body back here for our use, so that it did not go to waste. On that subject..."

Meesei soon turned her attention to one of the others surrounding them. The crowd was still in awe, but once it was clear there was no danger, a few of the braver onlookers had started to step closer for a better look. Meesei did not know his name, but she recognized one of the Nords among the warriors as an officer. "Commander, I would like for you to go find alpha Mousara and inform her that we have a Dragon to be transported and stored. Be aware, it is quite heavy."

Still surprised, the Nord nevertheless straightened up his posture upon being given an order. "Yes, um, right away, Champion."

As the Nord left, Meesei looked down on the staff in her hands, focusing on it once more. "That portal drained a great deal of magicka from the staff, but it is still quite impressive the kind of capabilities it can enable."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

To save their own magicka reserves, Meesei acted quickly once they had the Dragon in the air. She drew from the magicka in the staff to create a portal of usual size in just a matter of seconds in front of the Dragon. Then, came the process of expanding it, which was quite mentally taking for Meesei, requiring the whole of her concentration. Not only did she have to expand and maintain the portal, but she had to do so while continuing to levitate the dragon. It was not her own magicka going into the portal, but her mind was still required to shape and direct it.

As the violet, glowing portal grew larger and larger, the amount of magicka needed to sustain it grew exponentially. Meesei had never so much as attempted to create a portal of that size before, so even she had not anticipated exactly what would be required. The magicka cost seemed to be proportional to the volume of the portal, rather than its radius. It gave her a lot to theorize about later, but for now, she just had to focus on keeping it stable.

Even without examining it in detail, Meesei could feel the power draining from the staff. This was the kind of spell that could quickly diminish even the massive amount of power that the staff was capable of containing. It could allow a mage to accomplish impressive feats, but it was not limitless. Nevertheless, she was able to make it just large enough that the Dragon seemed like it would fit through. "Okay, let us push it through. Once it is through, we need to follow it quickly. I do not know how long I can keep this open."

As she finished speaking, Meesei gave direction to her telekinesis spell, tugging the Dragon forward. Slowly, it disappeared into the portal, emerging and falling to the ground at her chosen destination. The moment she could no longer feel any part of it left for her telekinesis to grasp, she rushed through the portal as well, and held it open for as long as was needed for Sabine to follow her.

The place that Meesei had selected as the destination for the portal was not just near the Silent City, it was in the Silent City. Specifically, she had selected one of the few courtyards that was large enough, and empty enough to be able to fit the Dragon's corpse. It was usually used for training among the clan's warriors, but since it was late, the only people present were some warriors, hunters, and scouts that had been using it as a space to relax. Naturally, they had cleared out of the center of the courtyard when the portal appeared. So, when Meesei and Sabine stepped through, they would find themselves surrounded on all sides by onlookers staring in varying degrees of amazement, and speaking in hushed voices to one another. By simple coincidence, Rhazii, and the scouting party he was apprenticed to, were among those in the courtyard, after having returned from their patrol. The portal closed shut behind them almost immediately, and Meesei could easily notice the difference in how much power remained in the staff.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not give too complete of an answer, instead continuing to encourage Sabine to think about the lesson. "Do not worry; like I said, just breathe. You remember that lesson, right? It is when you first started to learn abilities beyond those of a normal mage. It was a milestone in your education. I remember how you reacted when you finally started to get it right. Do you? Now, how about we try again?"

Reaching out a hand towards the Dragon once more, Meesei applied her own telekinetic spell to the large body and waited for Sabine to start doing the same. She was working from her own magicka reserves at the moment, and if they were able to lift it up successfully, then Meesei would use the staff in her other hand to open up the portal right away.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei kept her voice calm and patient. She did not acknowledge Sabine's apology, but instead immediately went to address her obvious doubt. "Breathe. Stay calm, and just try to focus on my words, okay?'

To conserve her own magicka, Meesei stopped trying to lift the Dragon in earnest, and instead just continued to exert a small telekinetic force upon it. "Magicka, as you well know, is an integral part of our world. It flows into Mundas from the starts, permeates everything, interacts with everything. That includes the natural forces and laws that guide our existence. If you use your magic to sense those smallest of interactions, then you can feel those forces at work. We are always being pulled down towards the ground beneath us. It is a constant, overwhelming force, but a skilled mage can look even further. With great focus, concentration, you can feel that everything has the tiniest pull towards everything else. That is the basis of true telekinetic power. With alteration, you know how to make an object ignore that force pulling it down to the ground, but you can also amplify that pull to your advantage. You can shape, manipulate those natural tendrils of force in the world to amplify your telekinetic abilities..."

The words Meesei were speaking were, almost verbatim, the same as those from a lesson Meesei had given to Sabine years prior, when she was still her apprentice. It was the same lesson in which Sabine, for the first time, was able to use the more powerful version of telekinesis that Meesei had adapted to combat, rather than just floating around objects. It was a lesson that Meesei remembered vividly, as it was a moment of significant pride for both herself and Sabine when she finally succeeded. Such complicated forms of magic were beyond the scope of many normal mages, so the fact that Sabine had succeeded was proof of her potential. Meesei's reason for bringing it up again now was not to just remind Sabine of how to perform telekinesis; she had mastered the spell a long time ago. Rather, Meesei's purpose was to bring Sabine's mind back to a more pleasant time, before all of the pain that was now haunting her. Meesei wanted to bring Sabine's mind back to that state of accomplishment and hopefulness that had once made her smile so widely, and doing it through the medium of magic, which Sabine understood so innately, seemed quite possible.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

The Gamechanger

It was a day after Ken had sent his message that a small freighter exited hyperspace near to Kintan, setting itself on a course directly to Leonard's flagship. It was a lightly armed, unremarkable civilian vessel with only a single life sign aboard. It quickly transmitted codes to the Venator, which marked it as being the Believer representative they had been waiting for.

Upon landing in the designated hanger bay, the representative wasted no time in proceeding out of the vessel. The freighter's ramp lowered, revealing a tall, brown-furred, Wookiee female. Alongside her was a black-painted humanoid protocol droid, which appeared to be a re-programmed Imperial model. She walked down the ramp with her droid, seemingly unarmed, unless she was carrying a weapon in one of the few pouches she was wearing.

The protocol droid walked ahead of her with purpose, looking for whoever was in charge of greeting them.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, the staff will naturally be needed to open the portal, though I can use it to enhance the feather spell beforehand. I believe once I lighten the body, we should be able to move it together with our own magic." Meesei answered.

Closing her eyes, Meesei concentrated on the staff to see if she could determine how much magicka was contained within, and if it would be enough to hold open such a large portal. Unfortunately, she was not near experienced enough with the staff to be able to tell with any degree of certainty. It simply felt like there was a lake of magicka within the weapon. Still, the portal could still possibly drain it dry.

"I will cast the feather spell first. Let us see if we can lift the body together before I open the portal." She suggested. Holding the staff out in front of her, Meesei concentrated, pushing her alteration spell through the staff, and adding some of its power to it before projecting forth a white orb of glowing alteration magic. The spell hit the Dragon and immediately engulfed its entire body with a white glow. The glow lasted only a few seconds before dissipating, but the effect of the magic still remained. The Dragon's massive body, while still fairly heavy, was a great deal lighter than before, and given the strength of the spell, would be for some time. Right afterwards, Meesei held out a glowing violet hand towards the corpse. "Okay, help me see if we can lift it."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"You do not need to feel guilty." Meesei replied. She stepped up to the Dragon and placed a hand on its now-cold corpse. She applied a bit of force, as if to test the creature's obviously massive weight. "From what you described, it gave you no choice. I know that you would have let it live if it were your decision. Aside from that, this Dragon was trying to lure in the Dragonborn to challenge him, right? If the legends are anything to go by, a Dragonborn will absorb the soul of a Dragon upon the Dragon's death. Considering that the current Dragonborn was capable of killing the World-Eater himself, I imagine this Dragon would have lost that duel. You may have saved his soul from being consumed by killing him yourself."

Meesei took several steps back from the Dragon to get a better look at its entire body at once. It would certainly require a large portal to teleport the entirety of the creature at once, but there was no strict limitation on how large a portal could be. A larger portal was no more complex than a smaller one; it simply required more magicka. There was enough open space for the portal, so Meesei was willing to try. "It might be almost as difficult to cut it up. Getting through those scales and bones would likely require a lot of effort, and some strong tools. Its body is certainly large, and certainly heavy, but I do not think that is anything we cannot overcome. A strong feather spell could make the corpse light enough for one of us to move it with telekinesis." Meesei suggested.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Scipio Industries and Finance

The Believers had been ready to receive the communication from Ken, so there was little delay in processing. Along one of the hubs the encrypted transmission was bounced through, it was picked up by a Believer communications officer, then passed on to its final destination.

Among the Believers, communication was not a straightforward process, and was not always quick. Passing messages within a single cell could be quick, depending upon their protocols and the situation they were in. However, long-range communications, especially when multiple cells were involved, greatly favored security over convenience, especially where their leadership was involved. Combined with the fact that their leaders tended to be cautious and patient when planning their orders, and it could take days or longer to receive a response at times. That might have been what Ken was expecting; however, in this particular case, it was only several hours before Ken received his response. Although, it would take his relatively weak device well over an hour to decrypt the message, even with the proper encryption keys. The voice in this message was not Cinder’s, but rather that of the Rodian woman who was Ken’s usual contact among the Believer leadership.

Confirming your report on the completion of your primary objective, agent Freeman. It is our understanding that you were not able to mount an attack against GORT company, but that was only your secondary objective, and based on the information you provided us, we do not disapprove of your decision to shift your focus onto Mr. Scipio. We will continue to monitor GORT company for future action against the slavers. I have re-assigned an agent in the sector to meet with and assess Mr. Scripio and his organization. The agent should arrive within the next cycle. I recommend you inform Mr. Scripio of our agent’s arrival beforehand to arrange the meeting. Our intent is diplomacy, not espionage. Acklay out.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei hugged Sabine, placing her hand upon the back of her head. "I know it is not going to be easy, Sabine, but I only want what is best for you. We can get help for you back in our clan, and I will be there with you every step of the way." She said reassuringly. Meesei felt confident that, once enough time had passed and everything that had happened was not as fresh on her mind, she would be able to accept the fact that they were safe in their clan. The Silent City was extremely well-protected, and violence among members of the clan was not common. At least, not unsanctioned violence. The fact that challenges and duels were not only an accepted practice among lycans, but an encouraged one likely contributed to that fact.

After she was finally comfortable with releasing Sabine, Meesei walked back over to the dragon, then telekinetically pulled the staff behind it back to her hand. She hoped that Sabine would soon come to be less reliant on it for comfort, but she would be consulting with Saraya on the issue. The Khajiit was much more of an expert than Meesei, after all.

There were a few moments of silence as Meesei looked over the Dragon, taking in its size. "The Dragon, I would like to claim its body. As aggressive and dangerous as this one was, I feel it would be a disservice to such an impressive being to just let its body rot. From what you described, he was a proud warrior. I think we should at least honor his remains by using them. Do you think this staff could create a large enough portal to bring the body through?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei kept her eyes fixed upon Sabine's and repeated her question from earlier. "Do you trust me, Sabine? All I want is what is best for you, and I am willing to do anything it takes to help you. I will stay by your side for every waking moment, for however long is necessary, if that is what it takes. With both of us together, Sabine, there is little in this world that we could not defeat, or at least escape. Just think back to when you were captured. Imagine if I had been right there beside you; if we had both been able to combine our talents to fight back against Arinette. Perhaps we could not have defeated her with the staff, but we could have got away from her. You, me, the rest of our pack, there is nothing we cannot handle together, and you can feel safe with us. Just, for a moment, try to think of our abilities and what we can accomplish. Can you honestly think of anything that we could not survive together?"