Death is not the End

*frooooowns at muselessness*

Jairus took a step back, examining his crude creation. It was a stone cross with Adailia Jones, 3575-3590 engraved on the little part of the t-shape. He had landed his ship in the virtually unpopulated Priori City several hours ago, and had immediately decided it was time for a funeral. A proper funeral would have to come later...if there was a later. That's why he had decided to make the funeral now. There was a nearby park. He had seen it from the air, but whether it was supposed to be a park or was actually a hole in Sigma's concrete ground remained uncertain.

There were two gravestones and one other cross next to Adailia's; the ship captains of the Aeon and Darkstar, and Fennris. Jairus wasn't sure Ada or Fenn believed in religion, but it just seemed like crosses were a very common human grave piece. He picked up Ada's cross and balanced it on his shoulder, keeping one hand on the long part of the t-shape. Then, with his free hand, he picked up the Aeon captain's gravestone. His arm strained to carry the large stone, but he ignored the pain and left the crumbling building he had assembled everything in.

It was late-evening outside. Everyone who boarded the Iroquois earlier that day was either asleep in its passenger area or in the surrounding buildings. Jairus knew his ship didn't have enough beds for everyone who got on board. He had also reserved everything for soldiers and humans first, leaving only about 20 lucky civilians a room in the large cruiser. But not everyone was asleep. Some people were too scared; others were walking aimlessly through Priori. Jairus walked through the streets in the direction he hoped was the park. Everyone outside seemed to be acting the same, whether they were walking or leaning against one of the ruined buildings' walls. As Jairus walked past, they would give him a look of curiosity and hope, realize what he was carrying, and look away with sadness clouding their eyes. No one spoke. The only sounds were footsteps, the crackling of flame, and the occasional distant explosion.

Jairus replayed the last moments of Adailia's life in his mind. Maybe he could have saved her if he stayed? But no, instead he ran. He fled, like a cornered rat. He felt guilty about the brave human's death. He could have shoved her behind cover, away from the lasers, and gotten her to safety. But, he realized, the human created the shield because he got shot. Because he had exposed himself from cover without being fully aware of his surroundings, and the invaders' presence. And because he had chosen that street to go to the spaceport. They were following him. Ada's death was all his fault. Jairus was overwhelmed by guilt and almost stumbled as he walked through an alley. A loud bang shook him from his thoughts. It sounded like a block of concrete hitting a slab of metal, and hard. He tried to ignore it. The sound came from far away. As Jairus rounded the corner of the alley, he came upon his destination: an expanse of sand, rock, and dirt about half the size of a football field. But that wasn't what caught his eye.

Once the expanse ended, a body of water began. And past that, a brilliant display of flashing orange fire and curling black smoke, formerly known as Tamaran City. A gold and black death hung suspended over the city, raining down lasers. The sun seemed to have positioned itself so that everything looked even worse. All this was in the distance, about 25 miles away, but the day was as clear as the invaders' goal. Jairus shuddered. When he had landed the Iroquois several hours ago, Tamaran was fine. The invaders were spreading all across of Sigma. How long would it take for them to come here? How many Sigmians were already dead? He took a deep breath to clear his mind, then drove Ada's cross through the ground like a stake. Then he dug through the ground with his hands and put the Aeon captain's gravestone into the ground. He looked at the hell of Tamaran once more before he turned to go get the other graves. Jairus jumped as he saw another soldier right behind him, carrying the two other graves. Behind him were several civilians. Jairus wondered how long they had been standing there. He took the graves from the soldier and planted them into the ground. He wondered what connections the soldier had with them, or if he was just being nice. The soldier stepped back and into the small crowd when Jairus took the graves. He was left alone, in front of possibly more than a hundred people. He turned to face them all. They were of all races, some human, some chromakan, and he even spotted a Galaxior. Eyes like mirrors stared back at Jairus; he could see Tamaran's burning flame in them. He started to join the group when he stopped and turned back towards Adailia's grave. Yes, there was still a little spot to write on. Jairus walked up to the grave and took out his combat knife. He pressed a button on the hilt and the blade lit up, a bright blue stretch of plasma along the blade. Below Adailia's name and date, he carefully engraved a quote he had learned several years ago. It was just two words, but had the meaning of a thousand. Jairus pocketed the knife and took several steps back, joining the crowd.

Lux Aeterna.

"And there he goes folks! The Great Jairus!" screeched a loud voice, perched with his arms folded on a large boulder. The sun at his back making his natural blond hair gleam and the wind causing it to bounce revealing one purple eye. In front of him was a news crew, or what was left of it. All the news crew had was one green skinned and purple haired alien woman, with four arms. And a little droid hovering in the air. The bot had tiny spindly arms that held its cartridge shaped body, a video camera. Taking shots of the so called heroic Odysseus. He had found these two looking for a story and knew that they were his hookup to the outside world of Priori City. They had been covering the cities demolition, but with recent events, their bosses had said to film the humans fight for survival. He had personally named Odysseus, and here he was for an interview. It had started calmly enough, at least. He hadn't been looking for an interview, in fact, he looked like a mess. His hair flopping every which way, his eyes blurry and caked with sleep. And that unsightly glob of drool on his chin.

But with a quick dab of water on his face, he had tried his best to look presentable. Now dressed in a white base colored jacket with black and yellow stripes crossing it. He looked like a bumblebee. But he knew a smile on his face and good background setting would take that look away. And the only really good looking place was what looked like a cemetery. He could see some alien that looked human dragging headstones every which way, though he tried to position himself so that he was out of the shot. He had begun his tail almost instantly. "It was horrible. There I was going shopping with one of my friends when that laser descended upon us. Of course I was scared, everyone was scared. But I knew that I had to be brave if I was too survive. I dove into the apartments gathering everyone that was still alive and leading them away from the apartments. It was a glorious rush to freedom, we barely even managed to survive, if of course we hadn't found the ship port. We would have all surely perished a horrible death by the hands of those beasts... Did I tell you they were the same ones that killed my family back home. I plan to fix them." he continued making a one-two punch movement.

It had continued very much like that, he emblelished every part of the story he could, skipping Adailia's heroic actions (he had no idea how to turn that to make himself look good), and continued on. How he checked every human on the spaceship, and how he had seen the Aeon and Darkstar, (names being supplied by the reporter) had gone down like falling angels in a blaze of glory. And when he finished, he looked at the reporters with a blank stare. They said that they still had five minutes, and instantly Odysseus was searching for his last closing remarks. "Well... I of course didn't do it all by myself." Yes, yes clever. Make yourself look humble. "I couldn't have done any of this without the support of well... All the humans and one special person..." who was special, he hated to spread the limelight, but it was the only way to milk this story a little longer. He couldn't just brag on about his manicured fingernails now could he? "Our pilot! Yes, our pilot." Now what was that alien humans name? He hadn't quite figured that out, he hadn't even asked him really, it had never come up in conversation. Though he had heard some humans discussing his exploits.

"Jairus. He supported me in our dash to freedom. An amazing soldier that 'un. And there he goes folks! The Great Jairus!" screeched Odysseus, sweeping his arms at the the alien carrying the headstone around. It was a depressing sight, he knew. But hopefully the scared viewers would only catch a glimpse before the video feed ended. The reporter turned the camera at Jairus for a moment. And a sharp beep and a red light caught off the broadcast. Ending it with a sweep to Odysseus's face and a warm smile with a friendly wave. Hopefully, the audience would like that fleeting glance. He shook hands with the reporters one last time, before leaping off of the boulder and stuffing his hands in his pockets, a gesture that he despised, but often forgot to not do it. Odd's smile faded in an instant, why did interviews always leave him drained of positive emotion. Maybe it was the constant smiling or the encouraging of his admirers that he was okay. He knew this facade wouldn't last long. Someone would spill the details. He had to do something that would blow them away, and make his daring race to Priori City look like crap.

The Evoknights had trashed his honor, killed his family and split royal blood. He but his thumb in his mouth, the tiny cut was a warriors mark to him. It was the only scar he had on his entire body. Payback. Maybe the viewers thought revenge was immature, but he knew it was the only way to avenge his family. The false hope was gone. It was now time for him to get serious, rarely did he ever, but it was all up to him now. With the strongest humans gone (that was a serious dent to his ego). He couldn't control his power very well, but knew he had the strength. He could save everyone... If only he was given the chance. Unknowingly he passed by Jairus, the man he had called out too, and possibly aggravated. But Odysseus was too busy sucking his thumb to care. Deep in concentration.

Heart rendering like sorrow in a soulful sonata. Xeda watched in the distance, eyes cast to the ground at the funeral. She didn't care about the soldiers who died in their unlucky ships. She cared about the two humans who had died in action. Adailia and Fennris. Adailia had died nobly while Fennris had died like the most of them. Just... unfortunate. She had only taken one day with him at the zoo after Cezar's departure and she thought that more would follow after since everyone had been in such gloom, but that was untrue. With the coming of the Evoknights that never happened. They brought their weapons and tore at them with uncaring might. She felt sorrow for both of them. How could this have happened?

She lifted her head to the horizon, seeing the ships of the enemy fleet blast away, the echos of destruction reaching here. She felt so helpless... so useless. What could she do now? It was clear that it was nothing. All humans with a chance were on Varsia, safer than they'd ever be. She narrowed her eyes, angry going through her like wildfire. Why? Why now? Why here? It was the same ones too. The same goddamn ones from Earth. Why the hell did they have to come here and ruin everything? Why did they have to go through this twice? Before she left she told her parents that she wanted to stay on Earth and help and die with them. They refused and forced her onto the ship. She'd never been truly happy sense then, and now again they plague her. Why? To show her that, wherever she went there was no chance? If they left again, what will happen? Will they live? Die? What?Would they even get a step farther from this spot? It was only a matter of time before they came.

Her head... it was dead. All she felt in her was the pain from where it had been torn from. She felt like crying, and as she tried to force it nothing came out. Why not cry? Did she not really care? Was she forcing herself? Or was this just another trial? Behind her she heard the shout of a boy, cheery, happy, congratulating ol' Jairus for his heroics.

What was wrong with him? She didn't even turn to see who it was. How could someone be so heartless? So careless and so rude to this moment now? After all this, why? It was then that she decided to cry into her palms. Her fist tears since she left. And in these tears she cried about everything. Her parents, her friends, the journey, the struggle. This, then, and what will come. The humans gone off to Varsia to die and the ones here to suffer. Why? Such cruelty unneeded.

----

Tamarian City, a beautiful display of their might, no? Brigadier General Ghastsi looked down from his seat in his large ship. He was the charge of this fleet, sent to scour the North-Eastern Hemisphere. With swift clicks of the buttons before him he opened a side panel square that showed his multiple camera's. It was time to see which was next. They were almost done with this heap anyways. He swiveled his sights to the next city Priori. It seemed innocently ready, maybe there was something over there. He zoomed in, the lenses not even reaching a quarter out before he got a view across the lake an at the open area. There, in one large group these were a few people. He estimated a little over fifty, standing there and doing something that interested him not a bit. There didn't seem to be enough of them to bring down judgmental lasers. No need to waste ammo on something so worthless.

He would send a scout over there. Ghastsi spun his seat away from the window and got up slowly walking to the wall of the ship where a small square pad lay. Finger's precise he pressed each button, and on request a log of every species he'd captured on there. All of them sat in the hull, probably making the most hideous racket as they always did. He loved collecting them, though.

With each click he scrolled through the pictures of each one, checking to see which would be suitable. There were people there, yes, but he wanted them to be eliminated and done so discreetly, just in case there was an underground bunker there. Make enough noise to bring them out, but not enough to rally them in a fearful riot. He liked to reuse scouts.

Aha! There he was, the one he wanted. The perfect creature. Pressing the buttons he commanded the cage it sat in to be capsuled and sent out. With confirmation given of the successful command he returned to his post, enjoying the view.

Out of the ship a pod fell, gaining momentum as it went, faster and faster. Below the buildings and even tree-line until it finally stopped. It was a smooth bellied machine. It was shaped like a large cylinder, the front rounded out like a smooth cone tip. Instead of the nice colors of gold, this craft was silver, and at the end, blue. The face of it was twelve feet in diameter, big enough for the large cage inside.

The craft flew low, weaving through the city of Tamarian. It went passed soldiers, citizens, and weaved expertly passed blasts that landed right in its path miliseconds before it reached that very spot. It traveled at amazing speeds, cutting through air as the technological phenomenon mocked the grab of friction. It made its way to the smaller sister city of Priori, cutting through the black instantly and soaring across the top of the water. At the very edge of the lake it began to slow down, and like a departing ship the outside layer split apart, releasing large inner container shaped similarly to a pyramid. It landed upright on the ground. The pod that had carried this seal itself back together and with no hint of what it was turned around and left the premises at the same speed it came.

On the front of the thick, metaled golden back, the front door of it opened, waiting for the creature inside to step out so it may once again close until it returned.

Jairus felt like screaming. His agonizing efforts to get humans he hardly cared about outside of Xychus City had just been stolen by some moron who was alive only because of him. Jairus couldn't contain his anger and he reached down to his utility belt and pulled out a pistol. He turned halfway around and aimed expertly at the back of the human's head. He willed himself to pull the trigger and kill the ungrateful son of a bitch. His hand twitched, unable to decide. Most if not all the humans had powers. If he fired, he could end up dead. That, and he was supposed to protect the humans. But there was such a thing as acceptable losses.

Just then, heard someone start crying. By the sound of it, it was clearly a human girl. Jairus immediately hated himself for even thinking about murdering the human. Enough people had already died this day. The human would be dealt with later, and by payback. He would just have to wait for the right moment. Jairus lowered his gun, put it back in it's holster, and turned to the crying girl. He wanted to comfort her, but there was zero compassion left inside him. He didn't even try. She could cry a river for all he cared.

Jairus frowned as he started to hear a quiet whistling noise. It grew steadily louder. He turned to look out over the lake, where the sound seemed to be emanating from. He scanned the surface of the water, his heart racing. Were the invaders already coming? Sure enough, he saw light reflect off something silver, heading straight at him. It wasn't gold and black, but it still looked hostile. "Shit...Shit, everyone get back!" Jairus called to all the civilians around him, his voice laced with fear. Big mistake. Some civilians panicked and ran terrified. After all, if a military commander was afraid, what hope was there? The shape drew ever nearer, and he made out its dark, cylindrical shape. He began to shake. There wasn't a single damn safe place on all of Sigma. Everyone would eventually be hunted down and shot like dogs. As the shape stopped and began to open, Jairus clenched his fists in anger. Damn invaders, whatever the hell they called themselves. No one had ever done anything to them...they were all just golden bastards. He fumbled for his rifle and pointed it and the dark inside of the cylinder. He couldn't see what was inside, but there had to be something. Jairus raised his gun, aimed, and fired.

Searing... Burning... Pain. But did it matter? Not at all. Sphinx's pale white skin that had adjusted to the darkness of the Evoknight ship prickled at the warmth around him. He was built for cold, well not for long. The discomfort would fade. He entered the light slightly hunched over, black blood sizzling on the ground. The literally cold-blooded Sphinx paused a moment and looked around, his tail resting on the ground beneath his feet. Ears adjusted to the sounds around him, his nose sniffed out the scents of fear and surprise. Please don't make me hurt them... Please let me go back! he pleaded to no one. He looked at one of the beings that surrounded him, he had seen thousands of different species of aliens, though not one that so closely resembled his own, if it wasn't for the ghost like skin and eyes. Then he picked up something, the man was holding a gun.

Sphinx looked down at his chest, looking at the hole that had been burned into it, right where his heart would be, should be. He had five hearts, a shrunken stomach to accommodate the lack of space, a single enlarged lung, and a brain covered in impact tissue. One shot could not kill him, he continued forward, remotely, feeling his skin stitch together and blood vessels reconnect, an incredibly painful process he had grown use to. He walked towards the alien with a gun, his movements labored and shaggy. BLAM! An invisible force struck Sphinx flinging him back into the pod, and through it. His back collided with shards of metal and glass on the ground as the force sent him flying. He landed, ungracefully, with his legs hanging horizontally in the air while he balanced precariously on his neck. His spine had been broken in the blast, and limply his legs fell down.

"It worked... I mean. Of course it worked!" screeched a blond haired boy, whose hair covered his eyes. Sphinx's spine cracked back into position, his head rolled back into the correct position on his shoulders, and his legs realigned. He rolled to his knees. "GAH!" he screeched, his voice amplified by his enlarged vocal chords that could only make a roar. "Stand down, beast!" cried that trumpeting voice again. "Ungh!" he had received no commands so far, maybe he could get away before he killed all of them. Ripped the boys head from his shoulders, or impaled the other man with his claws. His wings unfurled now. A sharp buzzing in his ear made him cry in agony. His animistic tone was horrifying as the buzz amplified to a devastating screech that only his ears could pick up. He charged, lifting his pod and kicking it like a... like a... like those balls that were black and white back on that one planet.

Odysseus's eyes grew wide as the hunk of metal was roundhouse kicked towards him. He ducked out of fear, and watched it fly overhead. That... thing was strong. And it had withstood the force he had thrown at it, and the gun shot from Jairus. This wasn't fun anymore, this was serious. Odysseus got to his knees and looked at the creature before him, it was nightmarish with those black teeth that spat a toxic dark drool, and the way it took everything that was thrown at it with ease. "Okay... Everyone get back!" he murmured, taking a step back from the... thing. He didn't know how many blasts he had in him anymore, this thing was on the attack, and would do anything to kill. But how to stop it if it couldn't be killed.

Ghastsi watched the unfoldings through his high-powered camera. There was no hesitation to their attack. They'd shot even before Sphinx got out of his cage. He lifted the controller that he had gotten off of his lap and considered what to do next. The former human had already thrown some things around himself, including his cage. It irked the general, considering that was his only safe way out of this even if it did have a hole in it. He was lucky he had wings.

Sphinx was in a good position to go. With light taps to the controller that send out signals here and there, he commanded the mutated human to attack and kill all, but one human female and one of those Teroare (or however it's spelled) down there. He didn't have a girl or a single Teroare in his collection yet. Any of them would be fine. With those two left, he could take them back to be captured.

---

Xeda shrieked at the sudden gunshots. What the fuck? She looked up to see Jairus firing at well... a case thing. Now where had that come from? Geez, she wasn't paying attention one lick. But out of it from a whole in the front was some... alien... bird thing. Like... that thing they made in Splice. Echk.

It was immediately shot, which made Xeda happy. Hopefully they knocked that thing out quick. But oh the luck she had... or any of them. It came right back up, all healed and such and kicked that huge thing it came out of right at Odysseus, which... well... that didn't make her too mad, but still worried her. Lucky enough he dodged. She could expect a head or two to be flying.

But what do do in this situation? She flinched when she heard Odysseys to yell for her to get back. The words rung in her head familiarly. Yes... Jairus had said it too. When someone from the military said this or that, you knew it was serious. With most of the crowd, or at least the competent ones that weren't running around to get shot, she backed up to what she thought was a safe place and hide behind good sized debris, knowing that large objects and lasers were apart of this fight.

Jairus watched the metal hulk get smacked away in awe. That thing was incredibly strong. He looked at the human who had just saved his life...and snapped at him. "Human fool! I order you to get back! The human race must be preserved..." He recited this through gritted teeth. He wanted that bastard human dead. But he was trained to put his orders above his emotions. Jairus steadied his rifle and aimed at the beast's eye. It was a creepy, pale blue thing. Just looking through the scope at its magnified picture made Jairus want to shudder in disgust. It made him want to kill the damn thing even more, just so he wouldn't have to look at it. And the drool didn't really help.

And where the hell was Cosmas? Probably back in the ship, where Jairus had told him to keep sentry...damn. Probably lounging at a coffee table too. He frowned. Cosmas was basically doing what he told him to do...but he would think of something to yell at Cosmas tomorrow.

...If there was a tomorrow.

Jairus tightened his grip on his gun until his knuckles were white. Not that anyone would notice; he was in full combat attire including helmet. He resteadied his aim on the pale blue eye and pulled the trigger.

OOC: STFUIHADTORUSHTHIS.

The blast nailed him in the chest again, piercing his lung, he vomited a river of blood, pain. He felt it now, but almost immediately, the command was given to him. Kill all, but capture two. A hand lashed out at the human boy who had nearly killed Sphinx. Sphinx gripped the boys pant leg, and ignored the boys shocked face and disgusted remark. He knew that he was being controlled and that the boy was to do. He had at least destroyed his ride home, if only these wings didn't work. He twisted around swinging the golden haired boy away, and watched him fly like a bat out of heck through the air, not caring where he landed, but knowing he'd be dead if he hit the ground. He turned his eyes back on the crowd. He roared, at the creatures, his mouth opening to inhuman sizes. "GRAH!"

He launched himself past the Teroare, his wings unfurling to capture the wind, as he flew overhead of most of the creatures. He landed amidst a pack of these aliens, he lashed out, fangs, claws, tail and even his mouth on occasions. Tearing into these creatures with a monstrous ferocity.A head was not left on it's shoulders, a limb was not left unbroken, and a body was left unchewed. He looked at his hands, covered in blood yet his thirst for it was unquenched. He looked from the being that his master had told him to capture, that one with the gun, to the girl. His tail flashed at the one with a gun, aiming to pierce through it's gun, the tail was mostly bone, but at the end was a spade of pointed flesh capable of tearing straight through steel, and in this case a pistol.

Jairus whipped around as the creature soared past him. He watched in shock as the thing quickly started shredding a bunch of innocent civilians. He raised his rifle and aimed once more. He tried to stead the scope on the creature's head, but it was moving too fast for an easy shot. Then suddenly it's tail lashed out at him. Jairus cried out in agony as his rifle was torn in half. The thing's tail pierced through his solid metal gun and sliced open his left palm. He had barely been scathed by the tail, but it had created a perfectly straight and deep cut. Blood swelled from his hand and dripped onto the useless pieces of his gun, now on the ground. Red blotches dripped all over the gun and the ground.

Jairus reached for a pistol on his waistbelt, but found nothing. He looked down in dismay at pieces of pistol among rifle. The tail must have not only torn his rifle and nearly his hand in half, but kept going and destroyed his pistol. Not that the pistol would have done much in the first place. But now he was out of ranged weaponry. The only things he had now was a knife and his fists. Jairus was never much of a hand-to-hand fighter. He reluctantly realized the best option right now was to run to the UCAV Iroquois and get as many civilians away as possible. As the creature began to kill more and more civilians, he started to remember an oath he had recited to a Colonel before being allowed to become an UWUC officer.

I am Cheif Sergeant Major Jairus Cavaco, 19. I solemly swear that I support and defend the galaxy in the name of UWUC against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the heirarchs and officers appointed above me. As an officer I swear I will command UWUC forces to the best of my ability. I will not back down to an enemy and I will hold my ground even on a suicide mission, if be the decision of a heirarch or officer appointed above me. I will complete my objectives, even if it means sacrificing my life in the process. I will complete my objectives even if it means spilling familial blood. I will not falter at the hands of torture and I will not falter from the hands of influence. I will fight, even in death. I will conquer all who oppose UWUC without fail. And I will not fail until I die.

Jairus recited this perfectly in his head. He curled his hands into fists and pushed all emotions except for anger away. He unsheathed his knife, the same one that had just made the gravestones. The dull metal blade started to glow a whitish-blue from the plasma circulating around it. The three words of a soldier floated around in Jairus' head. Loyalty. Honor. Sacrifice. He flipped the knife 180 degrees, holding the blade downward for stabbing uses. Then Jairus screamed a battle cry that came from the depths of his soul and sprinted at the being that had just killed an innumerable amount of people. He lept at it's back and aimed to drive the blade into the creature's skull. Hopefully that would kill it. If not... he would probably die.

Cosmas rummaged through the ship, collecting all the weapons he could ration moderately. He picked mainly low-grade weapons; one scoped, the others not. He didn't need much for the mild mission he was going for. He already kept two pistols on his belt and three blades of different functions--one picked because of its close qualifications to what he really needed. On what he commonly identified as the counter of the ship, he set two rifles, considering them carefully. CH-Ronin. FJ-1 Comatic. Both of them were inconvenient in the case he needed them. The Mirav was out of the question.

"I'd go with that one." Cosmas lifted his head to see Target, a Private by the name of Gunther. He was a white-haired Ilet. A rabbit one actually; ears high as skyscrapers. He was born with something so impractical for a man in the army that his name fit well. He was just lucky he could put them down. The younger Private pointed a finger at the Mirav that still sat upright in its lock.

"I don't need a flashlight. I'd rather waste a battery when its dark out," Cosmas answered. The rabbit gave him an odd look.

"Dark out? Yer getting something for now? I thought you were gettin' dips on throwin' rocks." Cosmas scoffed. He wasn't too concerned about which gun he'd get right now. He would think about that when he was actually being shot at. Right now, each gun was pretty much the same. He just needed the right combination at the moment.

"No. I'm going to go hunt something." Target asked his "What?" quite loudly in his disbelief, catching the attention of the other few on the ship. He apologized afterwords and got grunts for comment before they looked away.

"Yer going to use militery weaponry to go... huntin'?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"If that ain't the most charndren thing I'd ever heard..."
"What could be the harm? Can't be that much different from the traditional." Honestly, Cosmas had never shot one of these things in his life. "Little extra kick, probably more accuracy, but other those two things, its not much different. They all deal out a little red death."
"Yer not serious... are you?"
"Yes."

Target groaned and leaned himself on the table. Cosmas was a little amused by his mood. He really couldn't find much harm in it rather than a lack of ammo, but he was hardly taking a sixteenth of what they had. Then again, they had more ammo than they had guns for sure. He was only bringing... four? Yeah, just four, and it was for his own good too. What if some crazed thing came after him? Now he had defense, but good Gunther didn't seem to care about any of that.

"You can't just an' start huntin' crap. Yer wastin' ammo! We have food anyways." Psh, food. How much food was his deal.

"Yeah, less than a weeks worth. I'm not too confident about how long I'll make it with all these Evoknights and shit around. I have to think about the now. And right now I'd rather die with actual food in my stomach." Cosmas swung the sash of the XM-11 Sniper Rifle over his body and secured it on him, the gun resting snugly on his back. And in quick decision, grabbed the Comatic. As of now, he was ready to go.

"Ye're going to take an XM and an FJ to go hutnin'?" Cosmas nodded his head. Yes, he was. "No." Cosmas grunted.

"I'll bring 'em back just the way they are, rabbit-boy, don't you worry." He was going to walk out of here with them, he knew it. He and Gunther were quite close to equals, though, he did think himself a little superior just because of their age difference. Target may have had senior military experience, but he hardly counted it.

"Wait!" Suddenly called the voice of a female, whom both males swiveled their heads to. She was human, that was obvious."Don't take that one, take the other. This one is damaged." Cosmas looked down at the weapon he held and then back at the girl, a quizzical look on his face.

"And you are...?" He'd thought he'd seen all of them, but this one was new. She wasn't with their group when they got here. Maybe she was on the other one. Whatever it was called. He didn't remember the names.

"Jennifer," she said with a small nod to greeting, a non-hostile smile on her face. Her short black hair and deep blue eyes hinting on something familiarly unnatural to him, but she looked rather normal, and he saw no alarm in Target. He was probably just mistaking himself. What he saw in Target was disbelief. One that he could share.

"And you think it's... broken?"
"It is broken. The scratches on it," Jennifer said, pointing at it. "They give it a second delay." A... second?
"And you know this, how?" It was Target this time. "All of them have scratches on 'em. Besides, I can't see how you could tell with jus'sa quick ol' glance." Jennifer's smile faltered somewhat. A flick of her eyes betrayed some thought.

"Fine," Jennifer sighed, "but when you have hounds on you you'll see." Hm. He'll see, she says. What was she, some kind of scanner? He doubted there was anything out here worth thinking about. It was just a safety weapon. Now she had to go off and tell him that it had a second delay. How was he to believe that? Well, there was no point in asking, because without a proper test, he'd rather not believe it, especially if some human girl he'd never seen in his life just said it was. The military checked these things occasionally, right? Of course. They wouldn't keep a Comatic with delay of a second. Unless they had a cheap streak.

"Uhr... Who er you again?" Target asked her with a suspicious glance.
"Jennifer Solis."
"Mhm..."

Cosmas grunted. He was wasting daylight. "I think I'm going to go now." He had everything he needed. He was a little surprised he got out of the door without being stopped again. Once getting out, he was pleased to find the air was somewhat refreshing, and while it was the ruins of an attack, it didn't carry the smell of death. a burning street, and exploded fuel. Well it was all nice except... that over there. Cosmas frowned, seeing the large Evoknight ship over a city far away from them. How far? He wasn't sure. He'd say... Twenty-five miles or so, just a rough guess. Now where was Jairus? Cosmas would think he would be here in case they needed to make a sudden evacuation. Heh... maybe he shouldn't go out and find something.

He turned his head when he heard footsteps behind him and was greeted by the image of Jennifer, eyes to the ship in the sky with a frown on her face. He expected her to start freaking out and preaching about how all was lost, as people tended to do. Instead she fixed her gaze forward, her eyebrow raising. Well, she seemed more inquiring that anything else.

"Cosmas, theirs an attack going on over there," she said gravely, pointing ahead. Well, duh.

"Yes. I'm sure they won't come over here though," he said, observing their surroundings. It looks like they'd already been here anyways.

"No, not the Evoknights in the other city!" She said urgently. "Here!" Eh!?

"Wait, what?" Jennifer groaned and didn't waste time explaining. In a sudden bolt she ran off in the direction she'd pointed in. Oh, great. Saying something about an attack and then running off! Fucking humans! Cosmas growled and ran after her. "Wait!"

Elfish ears had only one purpose, super hearing. Then again, they were utterly pointless if you're opponent screamed to get your attention anyway, and when Sphinx turned around to see a human looking alien jumping at him while screaming, he almost struck his head with his palm. Didn't they get it? He wanted them to run! To be afraid! Not attack, especially not in close combat. The man had to have seen what he could do already, and attacking Sphinx with a knife was like hitting a boulder with a pebble. Sphinx raised his hand, not bothering to use his prehensile tail. If the man continued on his path, yes his knife would embed into Sphinx already tough skin, but also, he would collide with Sphinx's open palm, aimed directly at his throat. Almost automatically, after this brief interaction whether Sphinx trapped his prey or not, his tail would shoot out, aiming to attack the girl human.

His orders were simple, capture these two, and hopefully no one got in his way. If someone popped into his way, then he'd have to kill them all. Nothing could stand in his away, that was an order. But already his super sensitive ears were catching onto a noise nearby. He heard voices, faint of course, but he knew someone was coming. He unfurled his wings, even though it went against command. Screeching like the beast he was. Sphinx waved at Mem. He needed to get away quickly, but how to do that when flying away would be in direct opposition to his owners orders. Owners... His master. Ugh... The phrase made him want to throw up. Was life always like this?

Jairus couldn't stop. After all, he wasn't known to be able to change course in midair. Jairus slammed into the beast's palm and starting choking as the hand closed around his throat. He tried to stab the thing, but he was at a bad angle and the knife hardly made any scratch at all. He dropped the knife and grabbed the hand around his neck. Damn it! Jairus tried to pry the thing's hand open, but to no avail. "You..." Jairus choked and coughed. "You fucking monster." He kicked the thing several times, but it obviously didn't do anything. But as long as it's focus was on him and not murdering innocent civilians, Jairus had succeeded.

Savage. Murderous. Unthinking. This... Thing, whatever it was, were those things and more. Some slimy creature from the depths of the world that probably couldn't think with more sense that a mole. Her only leads on it was that it came from some pod over the water and has something sticking out of its chest like a beacon.

Xeda hid among the madness, hoping that the screams and death would conceal her, bad as it sounded. As much as she would want to help, she couldn't, or at least didn't know how. Her best action was to keep safe and out of the way. The soldier, Jairus--she believed to eb his name--who had guarded them earlier would find her a nuisance, most likely. He didn't need her getting in the way of his operations, even thought they seemed to be failing by her eyes. Every attempt was thwarted easily, especially the latest one, a knife attack that ended with him in a grip that seemed inescapable. Another one gone then? She could already imagine hearing the crack of spinal cords and shuddered. She felt useless, but also felt the same need to help. Maybe she couldn't adequately fight, but she could go get help in a speedy escape.

Just before she got heroic, though, something snaked around her ankle. Dread struck her before she saw what it was. The tail of the monster over there, forgotten like a blade of grass. Before she could react with so much as a scream she was jerked back, falling onto the ground and being dragged through the grass before she was lifted in the air. She screamed, green eyes wide with fear as she hung upside down, now captive and victim to this monster. Why didn't she just flee?

She struggled, flailing around and such from her upside down position. It didn't do much but make her feel like she was going to get whiplash or break her ankle. Things were going too quickly for her to think very clearly. She just knew she had to get free so she could run or hide or... Something. On first thought that proper judgment she used her power, transforming within five second into a large hippo, the only logic behind this being that the tail may be weighed down. As she transformed the sound of shifting bones changing and popping into new places; deliberately breaking themselves to form new structures. She cried out in a loud roar, pain sketching the sound. She didn't shift nearly enough to get used to the pain.

At Xeda's loud noise, a split-second of attention was put on Sphinx and those around him from the few still surviving, and their horror could only rise, seeing an animal completely foreign to anything they'd seen on this planet or any other. Truly a specimen from a dead planet light years away, undiscovered by this civilization.

OOC: Don't feel like BRSing it. I might add it later, but... Meh. -.-

From a girl to a hippo. Sphinx stared at the purple and odd creature before him, resembling something awkward, like a horse and whale fused together into one compact form. Though the fact that a hippo, that was supposed to be completely extinct, was not the weirdest part. The weirdest part was how it came to be. The girl of ivory skin had changed shape, of course it looked like a slow and painful process. The way her bones jerked as they fitted themselves to this form, or the way her body seemed to change so unnaturally, this power was a fairly astonishing feat. For a precious moment, he didn't move, knowing that his tail had been crushed under the tons of weight the girl had just put on, his tiny brain tried to wrap around this for a moment. This girl could change shape. And he could survive almost anything. Putting two plus two together would be easy for a normal human, but this was like rocket science to him. He squinted for another moment and then yelped with happiness. He had figured it out. This wasn't a human, it had been a hippo in disguise this entire time.

Sphinx frowned, looking at his damaged tail and feeling pain rip through his nerves. Hippos were bad. Sphinx launched the creature that was in his hands high into the air, barely needing any effort to throw the twig of a Teroare. He then focused on the hippo. This creature was hurting him. He didn't like bullies. Bullies deserved to be punished. He reached his two clawed hands out and attempted to grab the fleshy creature, if it didn't move fast enough- and even if it did he was faster, he could most likely grab onto it before it got too far away -he would throw it just like the Teroare. Except this time, he would throw it with all the prejudice he had within him, throwing it into the sky with all of his might. Disposing of the creature with out killing it would be easy, he was sure that it wouldn't go too far or too high that it would splatter on contact with the ground. Muscles pumping he frowned, knowing that his boss had told him to catch both creatures. But now he must know that the girl had been a hippo all along, he'd be fine.

Now to catch that Teroare. Unfurling his pale white wings, he leaped into the air, spiraling into the sky without even having a running start. His wings worked much different than the ones used by birds or other flying creatures. He only needed to catch the air and his naturally light body would carry him into the sky, couple that with the fact that he could jump fifteen feet into the air on average and he would fly extremely easily. If the Teroare had actually been thrown, Sphinx would dive at it, catching it in-between his feet, and continue flying back to base.

Jairus was thrown. He flailed around, unable to do anything.

OOC: 8I

Xeda winced when she made contact with the hard ground. The transformed human rolled onto her stomach, glancing around she saw that the monster-thing was gone as well as.... Jairus? Where's Jairus?! She pointed her head to the sky, seeing the monster flip him around and catch him and begin going back where it had first come. She narrowed her eyes as she shifted back, biting back the pain. It couldn't get away with this! But how could they save him? She jumped, almost screaming out when a loud and sudden crack boomed near her ear. In a flash a blue beam speared through the air at impossible speeds, aimed at the butt of the creature. Xeda's head whipped back and saw the body of Cosmas, the other alien who guarded them while they lived in the apartments. Next to him was that Brianna girl who'd nearly killed them when they were saving Len. She sighed in relief. At least someone was here to help. Pray God it worked.

----

Cosmas watched the odd creature through the cross hairs of his sniper rifle, ready to shoot again if he missed and luckily not hitting Jairus. He'd run out here behind that human girl to come to this? How did she even know this was going on? He didn't have time to ask. It didn't take him long to get a good aim so he could fire. Behind him he heard heavy steps slide across the gravel. Already he had a guess of who it was.

"What the...?" Target. The private was just as suprised as he was and the human near them wasn't.

"Yeah, I said the same thing," he said dryly, keeping an eye on Jairus. "Go see how many casualties we have, Target." Reacting immediately, he heard the steps of the younger private leave to, in the least, calm whoever was still alive.

Mm. A weird day.


OOC: WOW! XD This post is so full of fail!

Sphinx flew on, his monstrous face was clearly pouting never mind all of the disfigurement. And then something sharp, almost painless, that burned a hole straight through him. He froze for a moment, gliding on the air with his undamaged wings. Even he was smart enough to realize that shooting his wing was the only clear way to stop him from kidnapping this Teroare. He looked at his horribly disfigured leg, it was barely holding onto the rest of his body. He could already feel the regeneration happening, it was just like someone knitting him back together like a stuffed toy that had been played with too much. He shook his head, braying like a donkey and sailing through the skies.

And still sailing. That ugly, mutated, flying bat-thing didn't even flinch an inch! It was like he hit a flying brick wall, but Cosmas wasn't all that concerned. Yes, Jairus was being taken off by something that crawled out of a radioactive power plant, but at least it broke from the short moments of peace that they had before. After being shot at by giant fleets, the sudden stop was unsatisfying to him. A good story needed a much better ending than that. Something that made the people cheer. A human he barely knew dying wasn't going to supply that kind of excitement.

He was distracted from his sharp concentration when that high pitched ringing of a charging weapon came to his ear. Glancing to his side, his eyes widened. Next to him the Jennifer girl stock still, eyes narrowed in concentration. Her arm extended, pointing towards the sky at the monster and its proceeding path. Where her hand should have been an open laser was mounted, glowing blue light growing in size and radiating brightness on every form in range. The intensity of the light stung his eyes and blinded his senses. Cosmas nearly fell over Target, who looked equally stunned.

What was going on? Did humans always have robotic laser arms? How come no one briefed him on this?

The blue light shot out from the cannon, emitting a noise too loud for him to quite hear. The only thing coming up was a sudden ringing in his ears as if he were suddenly afflicted with tinnitus. The beam had the same affect, more of less, on the people it sped by, beaming towards its target at light speed. With its futuristic power it could carve through ships, a more fleshy target would be effortless, yes?

OOC: Disreagard the lameness and imagine that it was spectacular.

Jairus tried to wrench free from the monster's grasp, even if he would probably be killed by hitting ground or water at this height. But it was worth a try...maybe some magical flying human would save the fricken day like some stupid superhero, while his men were doing all the dying on the battlefield. True heroes were the ones who died.

But either way, he had to get away from this flying monstrosity. Maybe Lom Cardac would have his heli ready. Jairus tapped a button on his radio, and a reassuring burst of static hit his eardrum. Although he had no god, Jairus mentally prayed a few seconds before he spoke into 171's private com channel. "Lom? Lom, ya there? Sergeant?" He paused, waiting for an answer. He could use the regular army or air force channel, but he hardly trusted them. If they ever got the job done, there wouldn't be any need for his crew.

Jairus was growing impatient after several seconds. The coastline was edging away and would be gone within a moment. "Holy damn shit Lom, where the fuck are you?" Still nothing. Weren't these idiots smart enough to keep their radio at hand right after the biggest damn battle they had ever seen? Nah, it's okay, after an enemy lands it doesn't advance. It just sits there and rusts.

After nearly all hope was gone, Jairus heard a sound that had become well-known over several years of combat: the engines of a Sparrowhawk gunship. Their loud shrieking engines were growing rapidly louder. Jairus craned his neck to look at it, and sure enough, the VTOL was heading right at him and the flying beast. And he could see half of another craft. But he was rather disappointed to see they were the regular Air Force's colors. Yeah, he was dead.

That guess became very believable when Jairus turned back to see a bright blue bolt fly right at him from the ground. "OH SHIT!" Cosmas, what the fuck did you do now? He braced himself, ready to be shredded by autocannons, torn in half by claws, or disintegrated by a laser.