Roxanna
Roxanna is a celestial born to Kaldoria and Caylis. Kaldoria was created by Orin to guard the planet Terra Angeles which is a core planet in the Orin Galaxy. Caylis was a dark dragon lord from an under realm. Roxanna carries both the light and the dark within her. Due to the experiences she has had, she tends to be tempermental, sassy and at times furious. She carried the moniker Goddess of Fury, though she is not a goddess.
She was born as Kalara on the planet Kaldoria, named after her mother by the humans that had a colony on the planet. Kaldoria had poured her immortal essence into the planet as did Caylis. This later led to the birth of the NovaWarriors. Kalara, however, grew up on the planet spending her time being doted on by her father and being educated on the universe. It was when she turned the age of nineteen that she interacted with the human colony and fell in love with a male. They had a dalliance that led to her becoming pregnant and they planned to wed and raise a family. When her father learned of this, the dark side he kept hidden emerged. He had planned to take Kalara as his own despite her being his daughter and when he learned that the human male had touched what he felt was his, he killed him in front of her then rampaged the colony. Kaldoria tired to stop him but he took Kalara to a poisoned planet and named it after her. There he imprisoned her in crystal impaling her womb with a shard of his crystal in hopes of killing the child and leaving her there to suffer. Kalara was able to solidify her womb hoping the child would survive. To make things worse, centuries later Caylis brought a dragon to watch over her. It was a dragon from a planet that he had destroyed. Caylis told the dragon that the female in the crystal was the reason he had done what he had done. So the dragon tormented Kalara telepathically for decades until he finally discovered the truth hidden within her silenced mind. It was not until a powerful elemental named Kanzen appeared on the poisoned planet and released her after finding her by accident. When she emerged, she changed her name to Roxanna given she was filled with darkness and fury. The dragon that had tormented her became her guardian and went with her off the poisoned planet. He was also the one to find a caretaker for her son Gleeon who she gave birth to. Fearing her father would seek out the child, she told him as a toddler she did not want him anymore and to never seek her out then she gave him to the caretaker who she knew would protect him. This only made her fury and darkness grow. It would be centuries later that she would temper herself and find a softer side when he found a way to love again.
Raiya Megalith
Raiya is a member of the Megalith race. She is a leviathan class being larger in size and having a full complement of fighters should they be needed. Raiya was once the envoy to the Megalith race due to her outgoing personality and her desire to interact with all races and species across the universe. She is considered a more atypical type having ulitple "shell forms" that allow her to mingle among the various peoples. She is also atypical due to her having spaces within her metalic body to house travelers or transport goods in her bays. She also has a ground force made of mechs that resemble various beasts due to her chosing a more organic looking army. Her army is purely defensive in nature as is she. At one time she had a Megalith escort named Jailus that was more violent in nature so she broke off her ties with the male.
Zafira, Roxanna and Ryder all have ties to the Megalith.
Comments
Since she was thinking aloud, it was more than enough for Revei to pick up. So naturally, he remotely tapped into Roxanna’s mind to see her thoughts and find out what she was so fixated on. It was two suspicious Terrans! At the realization, said Blighted Mici also turned to face that same direction, half tempted to buy a prop weapon and murder them with it.
Also overhearing their conversation, the Diplomat was sent mental images of both men and what they intended to do by his associate. This was perhaps the best form of communication they could use without causing panic or alerting anyone, they’d just need to play along. Seeing him clutch his fists, Abbitt climbed out of his pram to place a hand on his shoulder. ‘Don’t throw them out the airlock yet! People will notice!’
In response, the White Reaper telepathically conversed back with him. ‘That goth chick already has something in mind, just watch.’
Following closely behind, both beings accompanied her and the family from behind so they could observe, or be ready to spring into action if it was called for. The two simply stood idly and let everyone board that elevator, choosing to stay behind for Roxanna’s eventual return. “She feels confident about fighting those two, let’s see where this goes.”
Only a minute into waiting, a certain Mici family suddenly warped directly to them, which made both their hearts jump. Having an idea that this was Roxanna’s doing, Abbitt put on a smile to throw his little arms around both the husband and wife to calm their nerves. “Huggie huuug!” As for the White Reaper, he was just- frozen and confused, wondering if some transporter tech was used to pull this off.
“There’s a fight going on in that elevator, I can sense it… She’s winning.” Muttered Revei when gazing down at the floor, having used his physic abilities to monitor her actions. There was no need for him to ever follow. “AND they just had an accident!” As prideful as he was, the Blighted one had to place a hand over his mouth to keep himself from cackling, not wanting anybody to see him laugh since humor always came at someone else’s expense. Good thing those two men got off on a different floor so they wouldn’t have to smell the aftermath!
Meanwhile, at the floor they disembarked from, a small crowd of Con Goers took notice of the men before some had grinned, cackled, then pointed fingers at them. Some winced and darted away while liquid feces dripped from their pants, fanning the air upon inhaling that horrid scent. They just plain nasty.
Both males perked up once the woman had returned, approached, then gave an explanation for her actions. After a brief discussion of food and getting settled into their prams, Abbitt got comfortable in his own while Revei simply walked, following their group to the food court.
When they got there, the ambassador unsurprisingly went for the veggie options with his meal since Mici normally didn’t consume meat, unless synthetically grown. On the other hand… Revei got himself a pepperoni slice, Blighted Mici had no issues with eating such, which would probably earn him a stare from the family.
“Let’s go.” Said the White Reaper, who accompanied her upstairs with their food in hand.
. . .
Sometime after finishing their meals in the hotel room they booked, the Blighted Mici was seated Indian-style at the foot of Roxanna’s bed, sipping his black cherry soda, whereas Abbitt would be at her side. Now that they were done, he took an audible exhale, knowing it was time for discussions, especially after showing what she could do earlier.
“Now, about earlier- I have conditions. If you’re for real about this, expect a lot of travel and not staying in one place for too long. Cover your tracks, leave no evidence, and do not kill captives.
More importantly- I need to see if you can fight and hold your ground. With my lifestyle, there’s a /lot/ of dangerous enemies. If I bring you with me to a suitable foe, will you face them and show me what you can do?”
It was clear he wanted some sort of first-hand proof she could do this. Unknown to the White Reaper, Roxanna was perfect for the task, given her capabilities. This did beg the question: Who this opponent would be, which Abbitt asked about. “Who are you thinking?”
“A Black Angel prison camp.”
“What?! That’s suicide!” The diplomat was visibly horrified at the idea, already protesting such.
“For context: Black Angels are another space-fairing kind of people with the most oppressive government. Their shit laws are so terrible that they lock much of their civilian population in concentration camps. Many risk death just so they can flee their territory in hopes of defecting to other worlds where they don’t have to worry about getting tortured for not bowing to a portrait of their leader. If you survive raiding one of their camps and free prisoners, then you’re fit to be a partner.”
“Yay!”
Seeing the Draconic-styled pram, said representative wasted in no time in climbing inside, then laying across comfortably. It was as if, this Terran creation was made just for somebody of his size! For the journey down toward the convention, he’d stay inside for the most part and occasionally peek out to see where they were and help guide Roxanna to the proper location when she needed it.
Abbitt took advantage of the time he had to put on this new black-scaled cloak she offered earlier, which was felt- fitting for a duo cosplay. The thought occurred to him that this might actually be a fun new hobby to get into, especially with the number of people into this.
On a frequent basis, said woman was often approached by others for picture requests, many of whom took selfies with her IF she allowed it. While this probably wasn’t her thing, she absolutely nailed the appearance of the character she dressed as.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even when time resumed, he was still glaring at the anomalous woman.
No verbal communication was exchanged after she got up for a moment. Now fixated on the diplomat, his very mind received a number of first-person memories of everything pertaining to Roxanna leading up to this moment from him since they were both psychic, including- Lucurie, which oddly enough made him widen his expression even more.
Should the woman ever return, the stranger of a Mici was already waiting for her by Abbitt, simply holding onto his own merchandise, his expression remaining indifferent.
“So you met the Immortal Councilor too, after bringing one back to introduce yourself.” The Blighted openly stated, thankfully no bystanders were close enough to hear their conversation.
This made a certain ambassador instantly perk up in a minor panic. “Don’t share his secret!!”
“She already knows. Remember when she thought Lucurie was me? You showed me that in your memory.” He pointed out, which made his friend come to the realization. “Oh, that’s right… That did happen.”
“In case Abbitt didn’t tell you, Lucurie is secretly a Blighted Mici too, but he’s been around for thousands of years, hiding in plain sight and ruling for many years. Abby’s inner circle thinks he’s the ancestor of all blighted because something happened to him long ago, including me. It’s hard to say for sure because of how secretive he is about that stuff, probably out of fear of what would happen if the public found out.”
Now that was probably going to be a massive bomb for Roxanna to learn if she hadn’t already figured it out prior. Even Mici had wild secrets of their own. This was likely a good time for her to ask questions if it ever piqued her curiosity, or find out where Lucurie came from.
Diverting from that subject, Revei finally inquired about her reasoning for tracking him down. “You came this far and brought one of Epsilon Seven’s leaders just to find me. If it’s a partnership you want… I have some conditions.”
“Ohhh, uh- Heh.” Nervous was a very accurate statement due to him knowing how private Terran women were about those things, but had to remind himself that she was not human despite looking just like one. Regardless, he went on with their journey before they’d ultimately venture down.
. . .
It shouldn’t come as a shock that they were both greeted by dock workers shortly after landing, most of them being human unsurprisingly, where those same employees charged them a small fee for parking their craft. Thankfully Abbitt decided to pay it for his new friend, despite her having far more wealth than he could ever imagine. None of those laborers suspected anything odd or questioned them about it since unusual visitors were normalized nowadays.
If they thought the place was huge before on a hologram, it was even more massive in person. Despite one big gas mine, it had all sorts of restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, lounges, bakeries, clothing stores even, and much more. All this just to keep the staff employed at that station happy while also acting as a tourist spot. Such a mega-structure must’ve generated a huge income to supply itself and house such an enormous community, and it was just one of many across the skies of Neptune.
When Roxanna offered to pay, the Mici representative got himself a few sweets here and there, with his last item being a small sundae. His race had incredibly strong livers, which enabled them to eat so much sugar without hormonal imbalances, or other side effects. Along the way, plenty of mortal men eyed her figure, which he noticed occasionally.
While venturing toward their destination in one of the hanging towers below the main structure, they’d frequently walk past windows, which gave them a view of the endless skies. The heavens were nothing but a sea of clouds, varying shades of blue with a lot of gray, moving by unnaturally fast. In addition, the flashing of lightning, and rumbling of thunder was a constant occurrence, which was both ominous and beautiful to observe. Ice giant worlds were always known for having ferocious storms.
By this point in time, the Diplomat had led his female friend to a large, higher-end hotel built into one of the towers, the same one that housed a convention center directly connected to it. A lot of guests were present due to the ongoing Con that had just gotten started.
During their trek through the lobby after checking in to get a room, people of varying races wearing costumes from ALL sorts of fandoms were walking by, even a couple of random Valorax suited up as their favorite characters from fiction. In this era, people were more easily enable to craft their costumes.
After paying and booking a room for himself plus Roxanna, said extraterrestrial accompanied her back down the elevator, then guided her to the neighboring convention center attached to it. LOTS of cosplayes were present, venturing back and forth through the halls. On the large corridor leading them further in, there were also large windows that gave a nice view outside. Many people couldn’t help but grin and give some attention toward Abbitt, who they saw as just plain adorable. A couple of female cosplayers even approached and asked to take selfies with him, which he was happy to do before continuing with his friend.
Eventually… They both arrived at the Dealer’s Room, the enormous room where all the vendors selling merchandise from all sorts of fandoms, including anime were present. The floor consisted of blue carpet, white painted walls, a black ceiling with rafters, and the merchants were their booths occupying most spaces. Plenty of Con-goers and cosplayers were walking through the isles, browsing to their hearts’ content or doing whatever they pleased.
To avoid being knocked around or risk someone stepping on and crushing his feet, Abbitt decided to have Roxanna just carry him instead. A finger was pointed to the far end of the Dealer’s Room, at a Soda Stand named ‘Wild Bill’s’ that was made from worn-out wood planks, obviously meant to resemble an old western saloon.
“That place right there, Wild Bill’s, the White Reaper /always/ comes here to get a soda… This is the usual spot where we meet and talk. He’ll come here eventually to order something, just need to wait.” The Ambassador told her, who was tempted to get a beverage for himself.
Their best course of action might be ordering a mug with unlimited refills so it wouldn’t be suspicious of them to loiter there. From there, they just had to wait…
. . .
About 30 minutes into sitting around at the back wall next to Wild Bill’s, Abbitt had been laying in her lap playing with a metal mug when all of a sudden- he got an urge to instantly sit and perk up, as if anticipating something big.
“I can sense him, he’s coming!!”
Only a moment or two into this- a little figure emerged from the crowds ahead: It was a Mici, dressed in a white cloak with an angled fabric suit underneath, smoother horns, and a visible crack that ran down his white face, he was equally cute. This being carried a little bag of items from some of the vendors, and even brought an older metal mug with the intent of using it.
“I’d like refills for the whole weekend, please~” The stranger of a Mici said innocently with a warm smile, attempting to sound all cutesy while retrieving his wallet for payment. Once the transaction was complete, he asked one of the staff to pour him some Black Cherry soda due to being unable to reach it. Once in possession, he happily sipped it excitedly.
Weirdly enough, the mystery Mici had noticed a reflection of Roxanna and Abbitt on his stainless steel mug, which made him- pause. ‘The fuck is she doing with Abby.’ He thought, debating if he should turn around and face them.
Reaching up, Abbitt would whisper into Roxanna’s ear while standing in her lap. “Be careful, he senses your power and is weary. Him behaving all cute is just an act-”
“Babu!” By surprise, the presumed White Reaper in disguise had called out to the diplomat, putting on a bittersweet smile. While approaching… There was a mild, yet increasingly uncomfortable feeling from the aura of this new Mici, one that would induce anxiety in close proximity. It wasn’t the usual warm and fuzzy feeling Mici normally gave, this was something else.
They were now faced with this little guy smiling at them from just a few feet away, innocently holding his mug in both hands. Since this was a public space, he could not threaten her there or make a scene, he’d just play dumb to throw her off if it came down to that.
“We have that incorporated in our education system so that nobody makes that same mistake and risks getting hurt, especially for anybody going abroad.. And you’re right, not everybody sees it the same way we do.” Rightfully so, Lucurie disliked the thought of it, and how many other incidents they’ve had throughout history. Thankfully this was an issue they tackled a long time ago since they were now teaching their youth to be careful around foreigners that might not be very accepting of physical touch.
Now that the little diplomat had his belongings, they were off!
Upon warping into Raiya’s interior, Abbitt was almost immediately awestruck at the internal details, regardless of how she or her captain went about decorating it. This would perhaps mark the first time in history where a Mici had set foot in another Megalith that wasn’t Ryssai, the one they claimed to know. They never failed to impress with their astounding architecture, how this lady managed to get such a powerful being as a servant was beyond his imagination.
As she explained a few things, she was followed on foot closely behind.
“Can I stay in yours?...” After thinking on it for a few seconds, he was quick to accept the offer on joining her instead. This may not come as a surprise since Mici always preferred sharing a bed with others. Said being kept a tight hold of his luggage while making their way down, having to use both hands since it was a bit hefty.
. . .
Sol System, #8 ice giant, Neptune’s Orbit
Should they go through with initiating travel and arrive, it was none other than the eighth world of mankind’s home system; a colossal, elegant marble of blue directly ahead, surprising visible despite how far they were from the sun. At such a distance, it took four hours for natural light to reach this place.
Within sensor range beyond eye-sight, there was a lot: A multitude of orbiting stations, large tanker ships to carrying huge amounts of gas, undoubtedly exported from the very planet they’d be visiting. Interestingly, passenger and freighter ships alike could be observed moving about, most of which were of human, or in this case… UTC design, with the occasional war vessel patrolling a few locations. Hopefully Raiya decided to cloak herself this time to avoid hassle.
For the past seven hours leading up to their arrival, Abbitt had spent it with Roxanna, snuggled up under the covers holding her side. Once awake, he reluctantly crawled out of bed, got himself cleaned up, and put on a fresh cloak, then waited on his new acquaintance to get ready.
Should he and her venture outside her quarters, the diplomat decided to hitch a ride on Roxanna by letting her carry him, /if/ she allowed it or accepted his request.
Tapping a button on his wrist-mounted device, a 3-dimensional hologram was displayed, showing the Ice Giant itself in full detail. By using a zoom-in function, he pulled up another 3D image showing what appeared to be one massive structure that literally floated in Neptune’s atmosphere, which had a series of towers suspended from its underside; a literal chandelier city. Such a place was located within its fast-moving clouds.
“This is Aureus City. It’s all one huge gas mine, so big that it even has hangars and houses a large community, relying on wind power to keep it going. They generate their income from harvesting all that gas. There’s a bunch of these throughout the planet, but this is the one Revei visits, and I know exactly where his favorite spots are. We need to get to the convention center where the Vista Hotel is, then we can look for him!
But be careful flying down… The winds Neptune can get up to 1,200 miles per hour and it’s got the worst storms. But if human ships can handle that, I think you got ways around that too! Though the hangars will be way too small for Raiya.”
How humanity managed to build such places in a world as hostile as that must’ve been an insane engineering challenge. One thing was certain, it would be an interesting location for Roxanna to visit since she probably hasn’t been there before, or made contact with the UTC.
Thanks for the friend invite ! I love your characters
The Mici child was more than happy to finally be received by her. When brought to her chest, it snuggled there and squeaked. Because of the psychic aura their species was known to have, his would cause mild serotonin releases in her brain. Now comfortable, said hatchling settled there in her cleavage and laid in it, much like what they normally did in their mothers’ cloaks.
“I believe when one of our scout regiments took a live specimen and got scans of its genetic makeup. You could use it for study, but extreme caution is advised.” To her possible relief, they had something she could work with to cook up an antidote for if such a thing could be made. With so much on his mind, Anxious found himself gazing at their view screen.
“Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling on who might’ve unleashed that plague. If it’s who I think it is, we’ve got very serious problems, I wouldn’t put it past them to make this.” He said, rather coldly at the thought of it. His train of thought was broken by her inquiry on where to find a meal, which made him turn around and face her.
“This way, I’ll show you where the mess hall is.” Resting a hand on her shoulder briefly, the older male slithered on by and gave a hand motion for Zafira to follow, leading her directly towards a turbo lift.
. . .
About 17 hours had passed since their escape. During that period, Anxious had personally brought her to their onboard cantina, got her some much-needed food, and found the reptilian woman a spare room. Since it brought her a lot of comfort, she was allowed to keep a certain little Mici toddler they managed to save, which they have yet to find the parents for, possibly dead for all they knew. This gave them enough time for sleep.
The planet was massive beyond belief: A gas giant so dark that it almost resembled a black hole. The only things not devoid of life were its moons, of which there were many. It was ominous to look at, and even more difficult to believe that people actually lived in structures floating in its abyssal skies in-atmosphere. One could only imagine just how scorching hot it was.
Interestingly, a red was visible in the far distance, providing light to their surroundings, but not to the gargantuan world ahead due to it being absorbed by the cocktail of atmosphere.
In the event both were fully awake and back on the bridge, they’d arrive at their destination. Their warship, along with the rest of the fleet, had all stretched like a rubber band initially when zipping out from the vastness of space into orbit, having just exited warp. All had moved in formation toward their target ahead.
Aboard the bridge, the onyx-scaled serpent of a man had slithered into his seat, a mug in hand containing a hot beverage brewed during their breakfast. Should Zafira join him, he would speak. “The name of that world is Wasp 104B. First discovered by ancient human astronomers and later became a territory of the UTC, who set up a lot of gas mines in its clouds until a massive war against a race called Black Angels broke out. A lot of people died in this place, with different third parties taking over the surviving stations for their purposes. Most who come here tend to have questionable motives, and the UTC has been reluctant to take it back.”
After sharing some history, the Valorax rose from his seat and gave the woman a hand motion to follow, leading her towards a turbo lift again.
. . .
Where they ended up was the hangar, in which he slithered over towards a group of dropships parked close by. Multiple squads of men and women, the same ones who had rescued Zafira previously, were loading up supplies onto the smaller crafts for their mission, expecting the worst as usual. Most squad leaders had turned to salute their Chapter Master upon his arrival, shortly before initiating their briefing.
“I don’t entirely know what to expect when we arrive, but here’s the installation we’re going into.” Holding out his palm, a three-dimensional hologram, depicting a ginormous structure floating amongst clouds was shown, undoubtedly in the pitch-black atmosphere of that dreadful planet they were visiting.
“The cords given from that message showed me this place. It’s a former UTC gas mine, a pretty big one too. They haven’t responded to any hails from us, and I know the place is occupied. There’s a large hangar up the front we can use to breach. Should there be any resistance, we can use that as a beachhead before venturing further in to investigate. If the responsible party is here, we’ll capture one of their leaders and purge the station of their presence, along with any unholy creations of theirs.
The biggest problem I can envision is that the installation has a security system that uses a lot of aerial drones, robots, and automated turrets on its hull for defense. Taking control of its command center may be vital to shutting those down should a battle break out.
ANY questions before we proceed?”
When it was said that she was not of their galaxy, EVERYONE snapped their gaze in her direction, now this was a new twist they didn’t expect. Nobody knew what to think of that, or how they’d feel. Regardless, all had listened to her words, even while she expressed concerns over of trust which seemed to be a problem for Roxanna.
“I think it’d be a great idea!” Yet to her surprise, Abbitt agreed to her idea, despite what they just learned.
“I know we come off- worried. There’s been times in history where some of our own gave hugs, snuggles, and love to somebody new right off the bat, only to be physically hurt in retaliation. Not all cultures like that kind of stuff. There was once a case where authorities from another race shot and killed one of our diplomats because she tried to hug their ambassador and another where a different diplomat got imprisoned for the same reason until our allies got involved for his release. We have to be sure it’s okay to give someone our love.” Lucurie told her, his smile weakening at the thought of such violence.
It was a harsh thing to consider, and one could only imagine what type of toxic culture or beings one must’ve been to execute a Mici, but it has happened before. At least now both sides understood each other a whole lot better, both males could easily sense she wasn’t lying either. Perhaps later she could inquire about who was responsible for both incidents, which took place many years ago.
“One thing I wanna ask is please don’t hurt innocents in the UTC, they’re an allied government and have been friends for a long time, it’s the flag most humans are united under!” The being in white requested, his smile returning to its prior state before speaking again. “If you snuck into our homeworld, you could probably get to Neptune without them noticing!”
“I’m having one of my stewards pack me a few things.” Said Abbitt in the midst of typing a message into a little holographic display in front of him, which was quickly sent. Once complete, he stood up, made his way over to Roxanna, only to suddenly throw both arms around her, squeezing her equally small body in a hug, lifting her off both feet.
“If you two are all set, go get ‘em! Be careful out there.” Lucurie would cheer. “Whenever you bring Mici back home, I’ll personally reward you!” He added, even though she wasn’t expecting something in return for such a cause, it was the least they could do. Abbitt straightened out his cloak and stood beside the lady in disguise, waiting to see what her next course of action would be, or if she had any questions first before they’d depart.
“Only those who got to the spaceports in time or got off world preemptively. All you can do is save as many as possible, or cut off the infection before it spreads further.” This was not the first, nor last time he had to tell somebody the harsh reality of his job, and what it meant to keep such a terrible plague at bay. Perhaps it’d be better for her not to be told about what might become of that world once the withdrawal was complete.
Clicking a button to release a strap on his seat, he slithered out and undid Zafira’s belt next. Despite her mental state deteriorating- the extraterrestrial moved about and left her, for less than a minute. Soon after, he eventually returned holding a familiar little fabric bundle that was taken by one of the strike teams from her hospital. Whatever was in it had to be very small.
Sliding it right into her arms, it was revealed to be the Mici hatchling from earlier, who was still alive and well. By then it had noticed her again, stretching its tiny little arms out to Zafira. Such a being was no bigger than an Earth chick, giving an idea on how small their eggs could be. What better way to cheer up a lady in distress than to hand her something very cutesy?
“I’ll be going to the bridge, you should come with me since I’ll need your hand in filing a report on what took place here.” The chapter master would propose if her nerves had calmed down by this point. Regardless if she’d follow or not, the reptilian proceeded towards the nearest elevator, chances were Zafira could bring the child if she wanted to.
Moments later at the bridge, its door retracted open, allowing Axious entry as he made his way to a seat next to the captain’s chair, who happened to be a large insectoid being with a crimson outer shell, four serpentine eyes a mostly flat head with a long jaw, reverse joint legs, and a hunched over body structure.
“Captain Bethearal, status report?” By the time he asked, they were already in orbit on the view screen, which prompted an answer out of the being that was addressed. “Civilian transports are away, the naval blockade for guarantee is established. However… I may have just gotten a lead on something big, pertaining to the initial outbreak. Let me show you.”
Extending a clawed hand, Bethearal pressed a button on a rectangular console to play a message, in the form of a three-dimensional hologram that showed a humanoid male wearing a dark gray cloak, covered from head to two in a thin suit. The audio portion of the recording played out in sync as the following would be heard in a low, quieter tone by the mystery being:
‘To anyone who finds or receives this: The zombies were NOT a natural cause by nature. Before the first outbreak, I was a dock worker for a big drug cartel. One day, we had these weird guests dressed in red jester clothes. You couldn’t see their faces because they were wearing masks, but they definitely didn’t… feel human, it was like they were probing your brain when making eye contact.
They were supposedly from some other group that was selling biological specimens, that could allegedly enhance a person’s bodily functions to extreme levels or something of that nature. People at the top of my cartel bought tons of it and had it shipped to multiple major cities.
Those exact same cities, including Deltesh and Xandero, all became ground zero for the plague.
I did overhear those same men and women in red say something about having a base on Eshrem 6, it’s a gas giant in the Dante system. The composition of its atmosphere causes it to absorb most light to the point of being pitch black, a pretty dangerous place. If I had to guess, their base is probably an installation floating in its atmosphere.
And that’s all I know. I couldn’t live with the guilt of not speaking up and was too afraid to warn anybody because they would’ve killed my family in response. Maybe somebody will hear this and hunt down the culprits or let this serve as a warning not to ever invite those space jesters. Goodbye for now…’
The message ended.
This left Axious crossing both arms once they heard it all, leaving him with a number of theories. Tilting his head up slightly, a new order was given after speculating. “I already had a strong hunch that somebody might’ve engineered the virus, it’s happened countless times throughout the Liquidators’ history. We’ve taken down big groups that dabbled into this sort of thing. Captain, we’ll be taking part of the fleet with us and heading to the Dante system. If the message is genuine, then we better start hunting. Make it happen.”
“Right away sir.”
Soon ushering other bridge staff to carry out his orders, Anxious slid into his seat and gave Zafira a hand motion to join him. “You just might get the payback you’re seeking. Try not to scare the little one in your arms though.”
“...That’s a good try, but I’m not the White Reaper.” Stated the representative in white after she took a wild guess on who it was, but her guess was incorrect to anyone’s surprise. But how could he be so ancient though? There must’ve been more going on than Roxanna was lead to believe. For now, he retained that smile like it was nothing.
It was at that moment when Lucurie set aside his sweets while Abbitt quietly observed, already foreseeing what he’d do since they had both been communicating telepathically without her knowledge.
“Somehow you sensed how old I might be without any outside help. You genuinely want to find him and bring others back, just like Abbitt does, who funds a lot of investigation groups just for cracking down on traffickers. Abby wants to take precautions and not give away too much since we don’t know you, but I think otherwise!”
Only seconds later did he continue. “The White Reaper is nomadic, so you won’t find him here, unless he flies by to drop off captives or restock on supplies. Buuut- I have a hunch on where you might try looking, and someone that could help.”
Putting down a little holographic projector, it would flash to form a three-dimensional image, depicting the azure ice giant world of Neptune, which she likely wouldn’t expect.
“The White Reaper told us about a lead he got on human smugglers in the Sol System, home of the United Terran Commonwealth. The UTC has gas mines in atmosphere so big that whole communities live in them. Revei frequently goes to one of those Chandelier Cities and attends a convention they have when he's not hunting. He poses as a normal Mici."
As disappointing as it might be, at least Roxanna was given some direction, her human appearance would come in handy for this. Knowing how difficult it might be to fulfill this on her own, Abbitt placed a hand under his own chin to give it some thought and proposed an idea.
"We should send a Psychic with her! Make things a lot easier."
"Kinda agree with that, but it might be a risk to most Mici if things go wrong. We got three options: Either you Abbitt, myself, or a Micai Warrior could go with her." Lucurie answered.
"I'll go, in case Revei thinks she's an assassin because he's got a lot of enemies. He sort of knows me." Rising from his hover chair, the Mici in blue and purple volunteered for the task. Any snacks he had were stashed away under his cloak, also adjusting a bow placed in between both horns.
"You sure you'd rather not have me take the risk of going?" His associate asked with some visible concern plastered across his face.
"Every leader should do it for their people. And it's in allied territory with the UTC, no bad stuff should happen. I'll take a Tactical Cruiser with me."
His flat head perked up when a much smaller vehicle was sent his way, prompting the newborn to lurch forward some for a close visual inspection. White optics fixated on it out of fascination for a good minute or two, like a quiet child who just received a new toy. In seconds, Legion managed to take remote control over it, with his mind and begin piloting it, having the craft perform multiple flips around himself to his own enjoyment.
. . .
“They got him while we were distracted, tried everything but Terran authorities couldn’t get far in tracking them down.” His mother was unbelievably teary-eyed at the thought of what transpired, and now- she had her child back, thanks to this mystery lady.
“I got a bit suspicious earlier when you got cronk.” The male Mediator openly said when his head partially tilted, but still overwhelmed by joy at the scene playing out in front of them, perhaps it was better not to tell his partner about what she was thinking earlier.
After his outfit was patched up one more time, Makaio tossed both arms around Roxanna for one last hug, a very long one that was shared by his brothers and sisters. There was a slight giggle when she pecked him all over. “Don’t let them catch you too. Bring all the babies back, come back and see me!” He’d say with a tear running down his white cheek. This was until she was finally gone…
. . .
“White, Reaper?”
His expression alone was a dead giveaway of knowing something about this urban legend. The diplomat visibly plopped back in his captain’s chair, eerily silent for a moment after she brought up that subject.
“I want to talk with you in person. One of my bridge staff will send you the location, meet me there and we’ll continue. It’ll be on the surface at the Councilor palace. Is that fine with you?” The one in blue and purple would request since this was likely a confidential thing to discuss, preferring to do so behind closed doors if possible, especially with a subject like this. If Roxanna were to agree with his proposal, a digital message was eventually forwarded to Raiya, followed by Abbitt's departure from the view screen.
“I’ll see you there.”
. . .
The place was quite large, even for Mici engineering since they were never known for big projects. Most of it was made up of fractal architecture, a wild contrast to the usually sleek shapes they had when it came to aesthetics, having a pearlescent texture in most places. Its ceiling was composed of a metallic grid containing perfectly clear glass of some sort, allowing natural light to cast down and illuminate it. Behind those gorgeous skylights was quite a bit of foliage, primarily from Terran greenery interestingly.
Large columns of the same fractal patterns towered over, many of which were elevated on differing levels throughout the palace grounds. One could only guess they were purely decorative if they served no practical purpose at all. Who would’ve ever thought that such cutesy beings that looked like living plushies could be this artistic?
Within the most open spot was a number of cushioned seats forming a circle, one large one intended for a human at the back. Sitting comfortably at the front was Abbitt and /another/ male, who would be dressed in a white, floral-patterned cloak, light gray under fabric beneath it, white ribbons strapped to his horns, which were slightly curled inward.
In the event Roxanna would decide to join them, a group of much taller figures stepped out from behind, roughly four or so, with a height of SEVEN feet. The beings in question were fitted with highly sleek, streamlined, origami-patterned armor similar to whatt he Mediators wore, but far thicker for actual combat. Appearance wise, they had slim figures, spindely limbs, and horns eerily similar to that of a Mici, as if they were akin to what they would look like with a more adult form. Weirdly enough, their faces could not be seen due to wearing fully enclosed helmets that even encased their horns. Each carried a ranged weapon strapped to their backs, but never drawn.
What exactly were they beyond royal guards of some sort? All of them had a psychic aura as well, but without the serotonin release that ordinary Mici had.
“My friend here is Lucurie, he’s another ambassador.” Abbitt announced in reference to the one wearing white, who raised a hand to gave and give said female a soft smile from where he sat. One of the large, armored beings had lowered a metallic, rectangular food container on a table between them and Roxanna, opening it to reveal an assortment of Mici-made candy, likely intended for both parties.
“You asked about the White Reaper. If I did share something, what would you do with that info? Most think he’s not even real, just an old tale and a morale boost. There’s never been a recorded event in history where a beanlett would do such things, that people know of.”
Lucurie didn’t confirm nor deny his existence when reaching out for a handful of sweets, munching on one piece.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next