EliteCommander

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Once again, Taylor was not sure what was happening when it saw the screens flicker, but the fact that it had seen this before did capture its attention. The message before had been brief and vague, but this felt different. It was certainly directed at Taylor specifically, and it did not feel as much like a message. With the way the face seemed to dance between the monitors, it felt more like a ghost within the machines. It was a ghost showing it a path out, and telling it to escape.

Certainly, escape was a concern at the front of Taylor's mind, but there were other thoughts. Other desires. Marian had told it that there were other prisoners, and Taylor wanted to free them all. It wanted to help them escape, then burn the rest of this facility to the ground. With as invigorated as Taylor felt at the moment, it wanted to purge the world of the virus that was Lorne, from the inside out. That rage burned almost as hot as Taylor's body, and under any other circumstance, the words of a ghost would not have been enough to dissuade it. Taylor was willing to risk its own life for this, but it was not just its own life that it was responsible for. There was also William on its shoulder, unconscious and unable to defend himself. He had risked a great deal to free them, and it would be a betrayal for it to risk his life as well as its own.

Taylor let out a frustrated scream after the face disappeared from the monitors, but it knew it only had one real choice. It started to walk towards the door the ghost had opened, but stopped for just a moment to look back at the room. The room had been its prison for months; the site of innumerable pains and tortures it had suffered. Taylor's echoing voice let out a growl as its free hand started to glow brighter and brighter, until finally, it launched a ball of flame that exploded on the other side of the room. Then another, then another, until it had demolished most of the equipment and started fires all across the room. Taylor was sure the fire would be contained, but if this one act of spite was the only harm that it would be able to inflict upon Lorne, then it would have to do.

---

True to the ghost's word, Taylor had been given an uninterrupted path along a tunnel to the surface. It did not come up directly next to the tower, but rather a few blocks away. This time opening the door less...destructively, Taylor made its way out of the building that obscured the tunnel and onto the street. For the first time in months, it was able to look up and see open sky. It was the middle of the night with nothing but solid blackness above due to light pollution, but Taylor did not need to be able to see stars in order to feel relief. Instinctively, it wanted to take in a deep breath of the (comparatively) fresh air, but its body could no longer breathe as it once had as a Human.

Taylor was snapped out of its thoughts by a scream. There was a woman off to its left, picking up her toddler in her arms and running off in the other direction, as well as the screeching of tires driving off away in a different direction. Taylor was still engulfed in flames, though even if it was not, it was terrifying in any state. Taylor was quick to rush into another alley and get out of sight. It was having to go off of older memories, but it believed it knew a way to some of the poorer districts of the city, where it would be easier to hide. It did not know exactly how long it would stay in this supercharged state, but it could feel that it was expelling its energy quickly. Once it was back to normal, it could start trying to find a place to hide.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Resurgence

---

Eri let out a low, somewhat growl-like hum to herself as she took a moment to think. Unfortunately, she did fear there might be some parallels between now, and the conflict between the Terrans and the Zerg. "It is true, if they are indeed the Humans I am familiar with, then they will make for worthy allies to us by virtue of their ability. But, your fears may be correct. The Humans of Earth and the Swords of Sanghelios are close allies in my time, but the Sangheili were once a part of the Covenant. That Covenant was at war with them for decades, turning their planets to glass and destroying their fleets and populations alike by the wills of our prophets, in the name of our gods."

Even just speaking of the prophets inspired a small degree of anger within Eri. Their betrayal of her people had only made her more frustrated at the fact that she had never been given the chance to fight them. "With Truth's betrayal, our Arbiter led us against the Covenant and the folly of our former beliefs. We allied with the Humans, no longer bound to the religion that had kept our blades at their throats. But if these Humans come from before that time...they may only know the Sangheili as the heralds of their impending extinction. I am not familiar enough with their vessels to know from when this one comes. They used ships of a similar appearance both before and after the war."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Resurgence

---

Compared to their day of arrival in this universe, Eri's stay aboard the Resurgence was much calmer. Aside from interrogating their prisoner, the first few days aboard the ship had been spent learning more about the Resurgence, its crew, as well as the other ships in their fleet. Not to mention, she took the chance to compile together information about the universe in which they now found themselves into a report for her superiors. For the most part, she focused on more detailed information that would not have already been included in the data Erthos had given to Falul, and the crews of the other vessels. She spent time learning more about the exact capabilities of their technology, and wrote up her own impressions of what might be the most threatening to the Aegis.

However, there was only so much information that Eri could gather without outright spying, and she had been given strict instructions not to do anything that might compromise their alliance. As such, she was left with little else to do after a few days. She often occupied her time by sparring with her own men, and while that was certainly helpful for their skills, it did not do too much more than just keep her own senses sharp. She started to wonder if there were others that she might test herself against. One of the Humans, who she had learned was named Jerus, had demonstrated strange abilities during the battle, and showed a preference for a blade. As well, there was the mercenary, Samus, who had cleared the ship's bridge seemingly by herself. Eri was not anticipating anyone that could best herself, but it might have been worthwhile to test herself against the warriors of these other universes.

For the moment, though, there was another concern that Eri found at the forefront of her mind. A few additional ships had arrived in the mists in seemingly the same manner that they had arrived in this universe. Or at least, they too were outsiders to this universe. Eri had already spoken to Erthos and got his report on the new ships to pass on to her Shipmaster, but as she was going over the information, specifically the sensor data on one of the new ships, she realized that it was familiar to her.

While Eri did not know exactly where Erthos was at the moment, she did know where Jerus tended to be, and so she sought him out immediately. She would prefer to speak about this in person. Representatives from all of the ships, including the new ones, would be meeting aboard the Resurgence soon enough, and what she had learned could affect that meeting. She was wearing most of her armor apart from her helmet, in order to at least have the appearance of not being battle-ready.

"Jerus!" Eri shouted moderately loudly the moment she saw him to grab his attention. "One of these new ships, the one called the Unbroken Hope. I recognize its pattern. It is a Human vessel from my universe." She announced. As usual, she tended to get directly to the point.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

William dug deep. All the rage, all the hate, all the pain of what he’d been through. Being cast out from his family, chased down by his brothers, hurting those he cared about. He had been betrayed, beaten and hunted. Everything he had ever known had been stripped away from him. Because some scientist had been doing an experiment that had gone wrong. Everything he had ever known, his entire way of life. His entire reason for being alive, his entire DRIVE and his motivation all stripped away. All the while the heat, the rage, the fire inside him burned brighter than it ever had before. It built and it built and it built, as his mind was consumed by it all. A blinding red light burning through every fibre of his being.

Then he let it go. Taylor would hear a muffled explosion, the cell it turned out could take it. AS the raging inferno lashed out it merely burnt the walls slightly, however, William wouldn’t get to see if his plan worked. The exertion throwing him into a state of unconsciousness even before the countermeasure kicked in. As William fell to a ground an alarm blared, as the raging inferno was transferred from his cell right into the waiting cell of Taylor.

Taylor believed it understood William’s plan well-enough, though it did not share his freshly-captured optimism. It remembered what it was like to dream of escape, and of all its failures, but it was still willing to humor him. At the very least, if William’s efforts failed, then the attempt would still provide some sustenance to Taylor.

What Taylor had not expected was the sheer intensity of William’s efforts. The explosion of heat and flame was enough to shake Taylor’s cell, and when that energy was purged from his cell and flooded into Taylor’s, it could not have been more eager to consume. The flames burned hotter, brighter, and longer than any that Lorne had deigned to give it in the past. It had already been reasonably well-fed beforehand, so as Taylor’s form greedily absorbed every ounce of heat into its essence, it was filled with a surge of strength and power the likes of which it had never felt in its life. It grew in size to the point that it could hardly even stand upright in its cell. At first, it simply basked in the familiar satisfaction it felt from the act of its consumption, but then...there was something else. Something new. It was a feeling that it thought had been lost from its life as a Human, a feeling that, all at once, gave a sudden purpose to the ravenous hunger that had consumed it for months.

It felt full.

The energy that Taylor’s body attempted to contain swelled up within its essence. It was as if the intense heat lashed and struggled against its insides until Taylor had no choice but to release it. Suddenly, violently, and spectacularly, the blackness of Taylor’s energy erupted into pure flame. Its eyes glowed like shining beacons, and while its body did retain its shape, it was as if it became the embodiment of flame itself. This was new, and indescribably marvelous.

While Taylor was not experienced with this new power, its most basic usage was simple enough. It needed only to will its energy outwards to send a persistent wave of intense heat and flame out into its cramped cell. William’s cell had certainly been designed specifically to be able to deal with such extremes of temperature, but Lorne had no knowledge that Taylor possessed this kind of ability. While both the walls and door of its cell had been reinforced to handle far more than the force that it had shown itself to be able to generate, intense, sustained heat had not been a part of its design considerations.

The sheer heat inside the cell would have been enough to melt steel, though the titanium that primarily comprised it was still holding on. Regardless, in the cramped space, Taylor could continue to reabsorb any energy that was not directly heating the metal, and after another few moments, it began to slam its fists repeatedly into the door. Despite not melting outright, the metal clamps holding the door closed were weakened by the heat, and eventually gave way to Taylor’s powerful blows.

The thick, titanium door of Taylor’s cell slammed against the floor with a thunderous crash, allowing it, for the first time in its new life, to step outside its cage. It was an almost overwhelming moment for Taylor, for a multitude of reasons, but right now, it had its focus. William had enabled its escape, and now, it had to return that favor in kind. There was no one else in the room, so Taylor could turn its attention quickly to William’s cell. It was not sure how to properly unlock the door, but while William’s cell had been insulated against heat, its door did not have the same strength at Taylor’s. With a few, hefty blows, Taylor weakened the door’s hinges, then pried it off entirely.

On the floor in the center of the cell was an unconscious William. He was lying motionless on his stomach, his clothing burned away and even his skin noticeably burned. For a moment, Taylor was concerned that it would not be able to help him at all. Taylor’s own body was engulfed in flame, and despite being able to produce heat himself, William did not seem to be entirely immune to it. However, after placing a cautious hand on the man’s back, Taylor found that its own heat did not seem to be enough to burn him, so it could at least carry him until he awoke. If he awoke. William did not look to be in great condition, and Taylor could not know what kind of damage he might have done to himself. Regardless, Taylor hefted him up onto its shoulder and set out to find their escape.

Written by:

@Sep and @EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While the pack's responsibilities were winding down for the day, the camp was going to be bustling with activity for the foreseeable future. As the camp expanded, that activity would at least move farther away from where they slept, but for the first night, they would just have to deal with the noise. However, before they all retired for the night, Meesei had a difficult announcement to give.

Most of Meesei's pack were going to have their dinners, though they were not all gathering in the same place at the same time. It was Sabine that Meesei decided to approach first, though it looked like she had only just sat down by one of the fires when Meesei joined in alongside her. Around them were mostly other lycans, both from Tamriel, and spirits from the Hunting Grounds. After the initial group of lycan spirits had greeted them at the portal, some of the former champions had left, while other lycan spirits began trickling into the camp. The impression Meesei had from speaking to a few of them was that most of them were lycans that had been slain through the course of the war that were hoping to be able to reconnect with friends and loved ones. Meesei herself had not been reunited with anyone else yet, but she had been busy, and there were still a few days ahead of them.

"Good evening." Meesei said as she sat down in the grass next to the fire. "I know it has been a busy day, but do you have a moment, Sabine? There is something I want to tell you, and the rest of the pack, but there also a few others that I believe I would like to be there as well. Your sister, for one. I think she might be able to help me with this matter, potentially. I was wondering if you would mind if we stopped in to her shop to see if she would be willing to come visit? At least for a few hours. It is evening, so we can probably stop by after she has already closed up shop for the night."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha frowned, though did not require long to think on the problem Fendros predicted; it was one she had thought about before. "That could happen, but no matter who leads us, those people might still be right. The way we live, our society, our alliances, our city, it's all very against the natural order of things for us. We have to fight against our instincts at every turn to band together in the way we have. I think Hircine chose someone like Meesei because it was necessary. We needed to come together like this to challenge Vile, but after it's over...I don't see any way that things don't change."

After a short sigh, Ahnasha shrugged. "The way Meesei leads, and her successors after her, is going to have to change. Not meaning that she will need to become any more like Vykosa or anything, just that...I don't think Hircine will tolerate this forever. Not once the threat is gone. More packs will have to claim their own territory, and clans will have to return to being what they once were before we started changing them. Finding ferals, integrating them into packs, teaching them to survive. Meesei, all of our leaders are going to need to balance that with maintaining what we've built. And make sure that we are the hunters we are supposed to be, to keep Hircine appeased. If we want to avoid a Vykosa, then I suppose we have to hope that Meesei's successor is someone wise, clever, strong, handsome, and very long-lived."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

There is also the fact that the crew of the Aegis knows the future of their universe for years ahead. If they do finally get to the point of accepting what they say as true, then they would suddenly have people who can tell them how the war turns out and how things go for Humanity. That would certainly be a strange experience.

You can also join Sep's discord, as he suggested. We talk there regularly.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Ha, joke's on you, I already read it!

I do look forward to us all getting together. Your ship comes from a time before the end of the Human-Covenant war, which opens up all sorts of interesting options of interacting with Swords of Sanghelios assault carrier from many years after the war.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

William walked to the door and pushed against it slightly. It was solid, it was almost as if it was designed to stop things from going through it when it wasn’t unlocked. He tried to look into ‘Taylors’ cell with no avail. He couldn’t get an angle on it. “Names William, and I don’t plan on sticking around long enough for any tests to be happening.” He put his hands against the wall as he walked around the cell, feeling out the smooth wall. It was cold to the touch, and as far as he could tell the only seams were the corners and around the door. Still, he paced it, feeling it. He closed his eyes, trying to find any source of heat. Anything he could use at all.

“So, what can you do Taylor?”

Again, Taylor responded first with a low, echoing laugh. “The prisoners never plan for anything. We don’t decide, or act. We just...accept. Or resist, but it changes nothing.”

It seemed obvious that there was no way for Taylor to get any sort of sight onto William’s cell, so it contented itself to lay down close to the wall. “But for what I can do? I can sit here, and do nothing. I’ve tried before to hit the walls, break the door, damage what I can. I have damaged a few of my cells before, true, but not this one. I have not been out of a cage since they put me in one. All I know of anything outside this room is what Marian has told me.”

Well that was a scientists name. He’d be sure to look her up and make sure she knew he objected to this at a later time. “Yes, but how did you damage them? What can you do? I can create and manipulate fire. When I know what you can do, I can figure out a plan to get us out of here because I’m not accepting nothing, and I ain’t just going to resist being tortured. I’m going to get out of here.”

Taylor hummed to itself for a moment. Or at least, let out something of an eerie sound that could be construed as a hum. “You want to know what manner of existence I am? The mutation I have? I...consume. Energy, heat, electricity, radiation. All of what they have tried fuels me. And I always hunger for it. Perhaps...I have a guess as to why you are here, when they have never brought another to me before. They might have...tests in mind for us.”

William turned towards the wall of which Taylor existed on the other side off. “Okay, so you absorb energy. Then what? What happens when you absorb it? Can you use it? I’m looking for something useful here Taylor. If I need to do the heavy lifting so be it, but if you could explode in a fiery ball destroying our cells or something that would be pretty useful.”

Inwardly, Taylor felt amused at William’s optimism. It was an attitude that, for a brief moment, brought its mind back to a time before...everything. Back to a time when Taylor still remembered what it was like to feel through Human hands or see through Human eyes. At any rate, it was enough for it to want to humor him. “It strengthens me. I consume it like you consume food or water, but for me, I can grow stronger, larger, more resilient. I have never been...full, though. I have never felt truly satisfied. I always feel like I can have more, so I do not know how strong I can become. But Lorne...they never give too much, not since they learned how it empowers me. I think they want to make sure their cages can handle it first.”

Well that was interesting. It strengthened exponentially, obviously this latest cell was just the newest way to keep it contained. This was information William could easily use. He walked back over to the wall where the oxygen was drawn into earlier then wrapped his knuckles against it. “So is this you through there?”

“Hmm, yes. That is the correct wall between us.” Taylor answered, standing back to its feet. “These cages we are in, I heard the scientists call them ‘mobile containment units’. Perhaps like...cargo containers. That is how I have imagined it, at least. I have never seen the outside of it. But I do not know what you expect to do with it. Even if Lorne has learned nothing from their tests...I have taught them how to make better cages.”

William had never let loose, not really. He had always contained himself, brought himself back in. From causing major harm, destroying things he didn’t mean to. That wasn’t a problem he currently experienced. The problem was that he was going to have to put out as much power in as short as possible amount of time before he was rendered unconscious. He had to assume that there were temperature sensors in the room, that when his body heat reached a certain level the failsafe activated drawing the flame and the oxygen from the room.

“Well, how you feeling right now, you feeling hungry?”

William would be met with a deeper, bellowing laugh from Taylor this time. “William, I am always hungry.”

Written By:

@EliteCommander and @Sep

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Phantom

---

Uril's answer was just as simple as Jerus'. "No requests. Eri, your team will stay aboard the Resurgence until the interrogation is complete. I will be sending a phantom with your supplies for an extended stay, once we have dealt with these last scraps of resistance. You will likely need to remain aboard their ship until the Immaculate Aegis can rejoin you at our destination."

"Of course. It will be done." Eri answered. After she closed her datapad, she contacted the pilot of their phantom through their comms channel. "Pilot, take us to the Resurgence."