EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The werelion looked briefly confused, but gave a sound similar to a laugh after a few seconds. "Oh, apologies. This one doesn't think she ever actually transformed in front of you back then. One moment."

Taking a step back, the werelion shifted herself back into her Khajiit form. Even then, with all the years that had passed, it might have taken a few seconds to recognize her face, but Sabine would inevitably be able to recognize her as Ma'tanza. Meesei, during their time in Elsweyr, had not had much of a chance to get to know the friends that Sabine had made, but she still recognized her regardless. Meesei was not sure that it was the best time for reunions with the issues they were struggling with, but the fact that they had been keeping quiet and trying to be subtle likely meant that she did not notice Sabine's mood from a distance. Although, being closer now, the signs were more obvious. Still, perhaps some old, friendly faces would do something to improve Sabine's mood.

"Sorry, is this a, um, bad time? Khajiit was just excited to see you; she wasn't sure she would get to speak to you again." Ma'tanza asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I wish I could say with honesty that there is no reason to have that fear, but I fear what might happen as well. But, you are wrong about your power. You are closer to me than you think, Sabine. If there is one fault I can say you have, it is that you are too quick to underestimate yourself. Your sister is exactly right: we can overcome." Meesei remarked, pulling Sabine into a quick hug. "And besides, this is not over yet. You, Ariel, Ahnasha, myself, Hal-Neesa, we will all be lending our skills to finding a solution before the invasion. I know it may only be a few days, but could we truly ask for a more qualified group to try and meet that challenge?"

While it was mostly the rest of the pack around them, they were not entirely in private. There were plenty of others in sight, and several moving to and from their group of tents. Meesei was not paying too close of attention to them, until one quite obviously took notice of them. There was a female werelion that stopped nearby, staring curiously for a few seconds before her eyes seemed to light up. "Champion? Sabine? This one thought that was you; it's so good to see you again!" She exclaimed. The werelion started to approach with arms outstretched, looking as if she wanted to hug Sabine in particular. For Meesei, there were far too many people around to discern any scent in particular, and she did not quite recognize who this person was in her transformed state.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Dxun

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"Unless it is no longer flesh and bone, it is still a living creature. Enough heat, enough force, and it will be damaged. Using the environment to our advantage, as you suggest, may be helpful." Eri remarked. As they continued along, Eri traded her plasma rifle for one of the Unggoy's needlers, as well as taking a concussion rifle for her own use. Even if the Tarentatek's hide was durable and heat resistant enough to not be pierced by an explosion against its flesh, that would not stop the pressure wave from pushing into the body, damaging organs and stressing bones. She had little doubt that it would still be resilient, but it would be a good method to consistently apply damage to the creature.

Eventually, the group came within sight of the tomb, though they waited for a few minutes for the rest of Eri's team to arrive with their extra equipment. She took a few extra grenades and made sure to grab as much concussion rifle ammo as she could carry, and she would be able to exchange her armor ability module for another, if she felt there would be a better option than active camouflage.

"How many of us would these Mandalorians expect to participate in this hunt?" Eri asked Jerius.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Taylor gave another long, silent look around the clinic. Even though it had never been to this specific place before, it still stirred up memories that Taylor thought it had abandoned long ago. In truth, it was something that it was not sure it even wanted to return to anymore. "My humanity." It answered.

Taylor's delay did not last long. It stepped up just in front of William's chair, looking him over closely. He was not being readily forthcoming on whether or not he had other symptoms, though Taylor could, for the moment, give him the benefit of the doubt that his condition might be influencing his mental state. "I need to perform some tests on you. We don't know what your abilities did to you, what...injuries it might cause." Taylor extended a limb forward, its tendrils forming into a hand that it placed on his neck to check his pulse. "You have a very high body temperature. Is that normal for you? I want you to come with me. If you are not going to tell me your symptoms, then I'm going to take some blood tests, x-rays, and every other test this clinic has access to."

Taylor turned its head briefly towards Darkspire. "How long can we stay here?"

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Thaz - Nal Hutta

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Thaz gave a good look at the wall that Samus pointed out. She was more agile than Samus seemed to think, and she was reasonably certain she would be able to get up on the wall by herself...though it would probably be difficult to do with the weight of her beam rifle on her back. Thinking about it, it would probably be best to get help with it, rather than risk drawing attention by falling back down on a stack of crates.

"Hmm...okay, got it. Let's just try not to draw too much attention on the way over." Thaz answered.

Thaz stuck close beside Samus as they moved towards the wall. As odd as Thaz assumed the pair looked, most people seemed to keep to themselves. Regardless, they did wait until they felt they were not being watched before Samus boosted Thaz up on top of the wall. As soon as she was up and had her footing, Thaz looked back down to Samus, gave a nod, then activated her active camouflage.

"Okay, there seems to be a lot of places I can get to from up here." Thaz said through their comms. "You should probably scout out where the target is going to be, and I'll make sure I have a line-of-sight on it. Timing seems to be the big thing for this job, though. We're going to have to wait until Jerus has his target dead before I can take my shot, which means you're probably going to have to keep the target in my sights until he does. Then not die to his bodyguards. That's important."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Dr. Fiona O'Connell and Narak 'Chorna - The Immaculate Aegis

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Before McKay could get too carried away with assumptions, Dr. O'Connell did step in to clarify a few points."Dr. McKay, with respect, that may not be the answer. I am not denying the possibility, do not mistake me, but there are other considerations. The Huragok can be...difficult to work with."

Breifly interrupting O'Connell, the Huragok made a high-pitched vocalization, vaguely reminiscent of a whale or dolphin. O'Connell smiled towards it, and gave it a gentle pat behind its head. "It's okay, Floats, you're very helpful." She remarked towards it, though quickly turned her attention back to McKay and the others. "The Forerunners, near as we can tell, did not design the Huragoks for science. They are engineers, meant to maintain and repair. Teaching and coming up with new solutions for technological problems was never their purpose. Even though they do understand far more advance technologies completely, they don't really know how to explain it in ways we understand. You have to know how to ask the right questions to get the right answers from them. They are very helpful, don't get me wrong, and very willing to help. But, it's likely that the Prophets ran into the very same limitations we have when using them to assist with reverse-engineering. It will all make sense, the more you work with them."

Dr. O'Connell gave a quick look towards Kham. "I can have someone show you to one of the slipspace borers. From my understanding, the Shipmaster does not want anyone interfacing directly with the ship's borer yet, but the Aegis' AI will give you full technical readouts, and will even help run simulations on any proposed changes you might want to make. In fact, Narak, could you go ahead and get a copy of the borer's operating logic for Dr. Mckay?"

As Narak went over to one of the Aegis' consoles in the corner, O'Connell grabbed a small, somewhat cylindrical object from one of the other tables and placed it down on the table in the center of the room. "Now, as for communicating with Floats, the Huragok primarily use a form of sign language to speak. The Covenant long used translators like these to interpret it into written Sangheili. I've set this one to translate it into English."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Dxun

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Eri gave a huff towards Jerius as the group followed behind the Mandalorian guiding them to this tomb. "Perhaps you might struggle with it, but I am perfectly capable of kicking through a wall of mere brick. I am not a Jedi, and this Tarentatek was not designed to hunt me. It was not designed to be able to deal with any of our weapons, specifically. Now, are you going to keep doomsaying our efforts, Jerius, or are you actually going to give me the information I asked for? It is resistant, but not immune to heat. What about piercing attacks? Explosives? Radiation? Does it rely on sight to hunt, or does it use scent, hearing, or heat?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei hummed to herself a moment, turning her eyes towards the people moving about the rest of the camp around them. "Many people may be better or worse at hiding their feelings, but I can say with confidence that almost everyone else here feels the same way. Invading Oblivion, well...there is a reason that Vile will not be expecting it. I am proud of all of our warriors for being brave enough to go through with this plan, despite their fear. You do have every justification to be afraid, Sabine, especially considering our role as the spearhead of our assault. But, you are also far more capable than almost anyone else in any of the armies here. You wield a kind of power that would make you the equal of the archmagisters of most magical guilds and societies. All these years, all of your effort, your dedication...it has certainly not been wasted."

Interrupting herself briefly, Meesei put her arm around Sabine and moved closer to her. "I wish I did not have to add to your worries, and I am sorry that I have. I stayed up half the night last night wondering if I was making the right decision, but...this is not a secret I could keep from you. It would not have been right to do so. And I know that, when it comes time for it, you will be able to focus. You are very experienced, Sabine, and we have fought together for so long that it will seem easy when the Daedra are right there in front of you. For now, it is okay to be worried; it is only natural."

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Dr. Fiona O'Connell and Narak 'Chorna

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Narak looked briefly away from his datapad and down at McKay. "The Huragok bear the knowledge of the Forerunners' technology, and were the reason for the San'Shyuum's ability to create vessels such as this. They are who maintain this ship, and the Shipmaster is right to be protective of them."

The conversation was briefly interrupted by the arrival of the Chief Engineer from the Resurgence. They exchanged their greetings, and O'Connell gave him his copy of the schematics as well. She knew that the Shipmaster had extended an open invitation for scientists and engineers from other universes to assist them, so she supposed she was not sure how many times she was going to have to repeat herself today. At the very least, she would not be wanting for assistance.

"Okay, so, as we were saying, and as Narak alluded to, the Huragok is very precious to this ship." O'Connell explained. "They are not normal lifeforms. They are artificial beings, basically organic supercomputers originally created by the Forerunners to maintain their technology. Oh, um, the Forerunners were an immensely advanced species that controlled most of our galaxy long before any of our species' recorded history. And yes, Dr. Mckay, most of the Covenant's technology, including the slipspace borer, was reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology, largely due to the Huragok."

Dr. O'Connell wanted to get to work as quickly as they could. When she had met with Falul, he had made the importance of these upgrades very clear to her, so she felt like she was under a fair amount of pressure. However, if she wanted these others to actually be of any help, she would have to be patient enough to get them up to speed. "So for this project...I think there is some important context to understand. The Covenant, as it was during the war in our universe, was a sort of religious, caste-based society. The San'Shyuum that Narak mentioned, what we call the Prophets, were the leaders, the 'holy Hierarchs'. The Sangheili were part of the warrior caste. They did not have scientists, and only few engineers like Narak, as that was the role of the Prophets. Or so they claimed. The reality is that the Prophets relied heavily on the Huragok to create and maintain their technology, so the Covenant, as a whole, did not greatly understand their own technology. It is highly advanced, yes, but also not entirely efficient."

Dr. O'Connell turned briefly to her laptop and brought up a specific file for reference. "Luckily, I have some relevant files from the war that my position gave me access to. This is all highly classified, but you all are not from my universe, so...I am choosing to disclose this on the basis that word of it will never get back to my boss. During the war, one of our AI onboard a Covenant ship was able to make improvements to its slipspace borer to allow it to make a slipspace jump within the gravity well of a planet, without any changes to the hardware, without any physical upgrades. Just by modifying the logic the borer was using to operate. Indeed, that AI was able to upgrade Covenant technology on several occasions, basically with just software updates. I believe it may be possible for us to do the same here. I know that slipspace travel can be much quicker. The Forerunners were able to create portals to cross distances greater than our entire galaxy almost instantly, and some of our own ships have been given slipspace upgrades to make them even faster than the Aegis. Slipspace travel isn't...specifically my field of expertise, though, so I will definitely appreciate all of your assistance."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Very well." Meesei nodded. "Thinking about it, I suppose we probably should do most of our work in the Silent City, regardless. We will have more privacy, that way. We can go back to Mundus and find a room for you for the next few days. Although...perhaps we should wait for Neesa to return, first. She will be expecting us to be here, and seeing as she is being so refreshingly agreeable, I would rather not upset her. We can wait outside the tent, though, instead of crowding ourselves in here."

Once outside the tent, much of the pack rested by the nearest fire. Certainly, they would all have something on their minds to think about. Meesei, though she would have much to do ahead of her, had already had the luxury of time to mentally prepare herself for it. Even before she had gathered everyone together, she had known who she would want most to speak to after she had given everyone the news.

Meesei sat down beside Sabine. Ariel was, naturally, on the other side of her, but Meesei did not mind her listening as well. If anything, her presence might have been helpful. "Sabine, are you...alright?" Meesei asked softly. "This is not the kind of news I wanted to have to give you. Especially now, of all times."