Board Thread:The Company/@comment-24866242-20140705011408/@comment-24866242-20140705205425

“KAT!” Ben yelled across the chamber as the Wiveni loomed over her. It hadn’t noticed her standing at its feet yet but it would before long. She was still chanting her prayer, her eye glowing the same strange green the others had witnessed during her attack on Darrak..

The creature before them was huge, at least ten feet tall and even more thickly muscled than Darrak. It had a demonic visage but had far too many limbs to be considered truly humanoid. There were four blades strapped to the monster’s back and the leather straps were the only adornment across its chest apart from what appeared to be a shiny black exoskeleton touched with red war paint covering it from head to toe. One massive pair of pectoral muscles bulged under the natural black armor and seemed to handle the arms on either side. When it moved them the right and left pairs of arms seemed to move in tandem.

When Ben yelled the monster turned its massive head in his direction, momentarily distracted from Kat at its feet. Ryax took the opportunity to leap forward and pull her away, throwing his shoulder into her, lifting her off the ground before making a dash for the far exit.

Jack stared at the monster in amazement before grabbing Ben’s collar and yanking him back into the hall with the rest of them. “Fuck me life. Everaone out!” he roared as the creature took one step towards them, apparently still getting its bearings. Jack pulled out his comm and signaled to Krita. “Devon, don’t be askin’ ana questions and don’t ye be hesitatin! I need ye ta fire on me signal in three seconds!” The next move he made was to toss his open comm into the center of the room and dive back behind the wall with the rest of them. Ry disappeared from sight with Kat on the other side of the chamber.

The weapon blasts from orbit stabbed down through the open air above the creature a moment later and the Wiveni roared in pain as the searing energy pulses fractured the air around it, breaking down the very molecular structure of the gasses into the component atoms.

Ben hauled Jack back to his feet and the group hastily retreated down the hall and away from the blaster bolts raining down from orbit. Ben wasn’t sure who was at the controls up there, but keeping inside a thirty meter target from a hundred kilometers up was a challenge even for a computer.

“What th’ hell was that thin’!?” Jack demanded as they dashed away from the chaos behind them and out the temple’s main entrance. The creature’s pained roars faded behind them as they ran and the bolts from above kept falling.

“Wiveni,” Ben answered. “That’s what Kat called it anyway. She saw it in one of her mind walks when we were stuck on the Angel.”

“Wha th’ fuck is a ‘mind walk’?” Jack shook his head. “Nae mind. I’ll figure it oot later.”

From inside, the roars from the creature stopped and a loud crash replaced the cacophony. The sound remind Ben of an implosion of air suddenly filling an empty void.

“What was that?” Ben asked? The only sound now was the weapons fire from above. “Don’t suppose you had two comms?”

Jack smirked, shrugged, and shook his head. Sandra pulled hers out. “Krita, cease fire.”

One more strike from above and then silence.

''“Alright, Jack. What the hell was that all about? Why did I just spend energy shooting at you?”'' Travers was irritated, but they could tell he was worried as well. The only time Jack ever slipped into his ‘gutter Irish’ was when shit was serious.

Jack gave Sandra a “may I?’ look before taking the comm she offered. “Dev, I’ll be explainin’ it t’ ye later. There be no time now ta hae a joint committee meetin.”

''“I ain’t no damn commitee, Jack. What the fuck just happened?!!”'' Travers screamed into the comm just before Jack closed it and handed it back to Sandra.

“Ta.” was all he said before turning to head back into the temple.

“Any time,” she answered slipping it back onto her belt and shaking her head with a smirk.

“Do we go check it out?” Ben wondered.

“Do you think it’s dead?” Jarrid answered with a question of his own.

“Only one way ta’ find oot,” Jack called over his shoulder as he continued on his path to the temple opening.

They never made it to the entrance. Kat strode out into the sunlight, a very pissed Ry following close behind. “Oh shit” Ben said softly to no one in particular.

Her eye still glowed that odd green color and he could tell by the way she held her body, she wasn’t herself.

“To zmizol. Teleported do bezpečia.” Her voice was deeper than normal and she seemed calmer than the Kat they all knew.

“Well, I got the word ‘teleported’ out of that. Anyone else wanna take a guess what she said?” Jarrid scowled.

“What the hell is going on, Ben?!” Ry’s worry for his wife rode his anger as he watched her closely.

“It’s the same language,” Ben answered. “She spoke it when we were here before. Kept speaking it off and on right up to when we got back to Vextis. I don’t think she realized she was doing it, but this is different.”

“How so?” Ry demanded.

“Well, that’s not her voice for one. And the eye thing.” He gestured at the atypical glow, not sure what else to say.

“Are ye saying its nae her? That she’s, wha’? Possessed or somethin?” Jack’s voice chimed in.

Ben shrugged. “Sandy, lemme have that comm.”

She handed it over and he opened a channel up to Krita.

“Jack, I swear to God-”

“This is Stinel,” Ben cut Travers off. “What’s the situation up there? Has Vextis caught up to you yet? We need to get Korbin on the line ASAP.”

On the other end, Travers sputtered but calmed down quickly enough. ''“Vextis is mopping up the last bit of resistance from Jos’s ship, but we can relay you to them. Hang on.”''

After a bit of comm wrangling on the other end Korbin’s voice emerged from the speaker. ''“Korbin here. How can I assist?”''

“We need some translation work, Doctor,” Ben answered. “Kat’s stuck speaking that same language again.”

“That’s really quite fascinating!” Korbin said enthusiastically. ''“I wish I was there with you! That place is a treasure trove!”''

“Doc, the translation?”

''“Yes, of course. After the analysis I made of the recordings from earlier I think I have an algorithm in the computer that should be able to handle the translation on the fly. Just hold the communications device where it can pick up her voice.”''

Kat pulled away as the comm was placed near her. It was if she had never seen the device before in her life. Tilting her head, she studied the unit, then frowned at Ben, unsure of what was required of her.

“Doc,” Ben spoke into the comm. “She seems confused, maybe you could introduce yourself in that language? Explain that you’ll translate?”

Korbin’s voice came over the comm as Ben once again held it close to Kat. He watched as her eye widened, then she snatched the device from him and began a rapid conversation only Korbin was able to follow.

Moments later, she blinked, then slowly handed the comm back to Ben. ''“She said the Wiveni teleported to safety, but that it had been damaged in the attack. She’s sure it isn’t dead, however, and it will return. Might I ask what a Wiveni is?”''

She glanced at the people surrounding her as they listened to the doctor’s translation, trying to determine if her words had been understood.

“I’ll let you know later, Doc. Any chance you can get someone to send that translation program to this comm? I think we might be needing it for a while yet.”

“I’ll take care of it, Ben.” Lawrence’s voice made Ben twitch slightly, a movement that only Sandy noticed.

“Alright, so now what?” Jarrid asked, still annoyed.

"Let's ask her," Ben answered as the communicator beeped to indicate it had downloaded data from the other end. He quickly activated the translation circuit and held the communicator between him and Kat. "What do we do? How do we defeat it?"

She shook her head. “We never discovered this. Our best option was to imprison them in the ‘inbetween’. It is sad we did not know that sending the Mother Redeemer and the dias to them would end their terror before now.”

Ben glanced around the group. Jack and Ry shared nearly the same angry/worried look as they watched Kat. Jarrid scowled then turned and began pacing. Sandy smiled softly at him as Mack and the man he obviously knew spoke in whispered tones a few steps away.

Marissa cleared her throat as she approached the group, a woman Ben vaguely recognized on her arm. Mack and his friend broke off immediately and rushed to the woman’s side, relieving Marissa of her charge.

Eyebrow arched, she watched them until she was sure the men were being gentle, then she turned her best doctor’s glare on Ryax. “Do I have to drag you back to bed? You’ve still got a hole in your heart, you know.”

Ry snarled at her. “Don’t. Not now, Doc. I’ll come in if I feel the need, but we have other things to worry about.”

Marissa threw up her hands in exasperation. “Suit yourself!” She crossed her arms and tapped her toe before stopping suddenly when she noticed that Kat’s eye was glowing as the other woman regarded her cautiously. She grabbed Jarrid’s arm as he paced past her. “I think I missed something.”

Jarrid raised his eyebrows and gave her a slow exaggerated nod. She huffed and gave him a light slap on the arm. Sighing, he pulled her away and gave her the abbreviated version.

While he did this Ben had quickly showed… Kat… how to use the translation function on the comm and handed it to her so she could pay attention to the conversation around her.

Within moments of hearing Jarrid’s explanation, Marissa strode directly up to Kat and began examining her. Shining a small penlight in her eye, the doctor paid no attention the other woman as she pulled back, nervous at the sudden, yet non-violent attack. Kat’s gaze shifted to Ben, the look clearly saying “what is this woman doing?!”

“She’s a medical doctor,” he assured her. “She’s worried about our friend.”

Kat relaxed in understanding then smiled at the woman still poking and prodding. “No need to worry, little mother. This one is very much safe in my care. I will see no harm falls on her.”

Ry growled darkly at the translation, spinning and striding towards Darwin only to stop suddenly. “Anyone else notice we’re missing a ship?”

All heads turned, no one having noticed in the commotion that Jos’s private shuttle was gone. Mack stepped forward. “The woman, she helped Axin out of the temple. When the man-monster threw him, he landed wrong, though he did not seem badly hurt.”

Ben did not miss the dark grin that passed over Ry’s face at the mention of “his other” being hurt.