ARC1/C22 – Escape
With the help of the very handy AI Sam had acquired he was able to easily track his course to the coordinates of the safe house given by the unknown messenger. He had been able to secure a second and more useful contract with the AI that of general information conduit as apposed to legal council. The only problem was of course whether he could possibly be heading into more trouble than he was already in, as that seemed unlikely Sam carried on with his current trajectory heading straight for the mirror realm he had entered.
It seemed that “The group” hadn’t used any great slight of hand or ingenuity to get him and the others into this world hub from the Seracian kingdom and that it was common for even the lowliest of low to be able to manipulate the mirror realm to head a destination of their pleasing.
Assuming the lowliest of the low had 5,000 credits to hire for one time use a bit of tech that could psionic-ally implant a single image into the mirror realm, allowing them to journey on.
Sam wonder what Sarah and Maria feelings would be about their current predicament and more pressingly his command of the situation. They were heading straight back the way they had came, to Earth it seemed. None the wiser as to a course of action and less to or even three of their only comrades, cutting their contingent in half in only a day. Sam hung his head, it had been an abject failure. Although maybe he had learnt a few things and they themselves hadn’t died.
And so he passed impassively through the outskirts of the city and through into Seracian territory.
----
Quato Vex normally a calm and calculating man, stood staring in disbelief at what had been done to the Star Corps facility. Looking intently at the precise cuts made in the four walls needed to penetrate to escape the building. The final one including a metal shielding designed to stop bomb damage. It was not just that this was the work of a very skilled and high powered individual. It was the fact that this was a confirmation that this was the real deal. Psionic tests could only tell you so much about a person’s capabilities.
The question now was which would bring him the greater prize, searching for the individual with his own currently available local resources or contacting a certain someone, higher-up and losing any further claims. And also there was the fame. It was not everyday that you came across a Psivore after all. To be more precise nobody in the past five hundred and thirty seven years had. Since the Vore Wars.
He was also of course tempted to have everyone including this vore destroyed but he knew it would take more than that to stop the wheels of change from turning. Once one vore had appeared it would not be long before there were more. Also corruption was so rife everywhere he would be hard pressed to keep this knowledge secret.
Making his decision he contacted Terius Kimvelo head of the Order. The sultry tones of Saya Ochalant, Terius’ right hand, greeted him. Typical. In theory Saya and Quato were of equal rank but Saya was incharge of intelligence, where as he Quato was the military field marshal of their order. This put them directly at odds in the power struggle that had been going on for the past forty years within the Seracian Kingdom. He could leave an encrypted message but there was no form of communication that Saya wouldn’t see through just to get one over on him. Then it came to him
“Prosso of the Seers, had news of a potential candidate for research. A very strong candidate.” Said Quato finally.
“Then why are you coming to me?” was Saya’s reply within a nanosecond.
“The candidate broke out of confinement and could be heading into enemy hands” tried Quato.
This did cause Saya to pause to think for a moment.
“I do as it happens have intel from the Seers that would corroborate this. They have noticed fluxuations in the mirror realm psi-energies and have been getting very excited over the past few days. However this knowledge has also been obtained by the Vanguard” stated Saya, clearly suggesting that they should also sell this information to the Vanguard rather than sully their hands any further.
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“Would not Terius need the final say in this matter?” intoned Quato, trying to leave any emotion out of his words as he had effectively out manoeuvred Saya. By pure dumb luck!
“Yes, of course, of course” said Saya, remembering what her duties were actually supposed to be, for once.
----
Sar tranto and a few of his subordinates had blocked Lopez and Bartholomew’s plan of escape, with child like ease. Lopez had had to drag his partner who was practically unconscious across the blooded sand of the arena, towards the exit.
“You are in luck! I don’t know how you managed to win but it doesn’t really matter. We will talk at length about that later. What is important is our continued business relationship. That is you are going nowhere. But do not worry we will tend to your friend who is clearly injured. Come now there is nowhere else for you to go.” Sar tranto said absentmindly as he looked around at the still disappearing throng.
Lopez’s shoulders sagged as the weight of his predicament took hold and allowed one of Sar tranto’s men to grab his arm and pull it behind him, ready to be manacled.
Then the man stiffened and fell back. Lopez still conscious of not dropping Bartholomew, tried to turn his head only to find Sar tranto, eyes wide was backing off.
“Guards! Guards!” Sar tranto called but it was to thin air, the last remaining security were outside talking to the Star Corps.
Traksis was enjoying herself and her new found skill [Psi Shadow] it had allowed her to not only be invisible herself, but also to create a bubble around her intended victim leaving her attacks to go unnoticed.
She also could tell she was much stronger now, her level not really doing her justice as she was easily the length and breadth of an adult human arm. Her chitinous dark skin was also far thicker, in fact she had been surprised when she went airborne that she was not more sluggish. But her knew wings were well able to propel her now heavier body with ease.
What exactly had happened she did not know? Her knowledge of [Absorbing Regeneration] was nothing more than rudimentary. She also wondered if the tactic that she had employed in every one of her subsequent attacks had played a part also. Since the unnamed attacker in their competition had taken to targeting his opponents core’s, she had done the same.
She wondered why it wasn’t common place, it meant after all you could kill your opponent and absorb their core in one shot. There was obviously something she was missing.
She could feel the waves of psi-energy coming off the one called Sar tranto but resisted the urge. Mainly because killing five opponents in a row had almost tipped her into her frenzy state. One more kill would do that leaving her unable to think rationally for the duration.
Instead she headed straight for Lopez and Bartholomew and used [Psi Shadow] on them too.
----
Sam eventually found himself back in the desert wasteland of the Seracian Kingdom. He idly wondered whether this was historically the geology of their Kingdom or a result of their war like nature. Approaching the coordinates given, he found it seemed like just another droid encrusted sentry post, teaming with drones going in and out, like a metal bee hive.
As he was pondering the fool hardiness of going any closer, when he heard a ping as the AI received another message. The message detailed to head for a sand dune a few hundred feet to their south.
Doing so they found an entry way, that lead them down a sloping entrance way where they were greeted by a man wearing clothes much more fitting than theirs for the desert heat. He beckoned them on, his face covered with a cloth mask. As soon as they were a few hundred yards in, the external door could be heard closing and lighting flickered on all along the tunnel.
The man just said “Follow” and walked on, ever deeper underground, making Sam feel irrationally annoyed at all the trust he had placed in this individual or organisation.
Another man approached them this time without a mask. He was young with long hair tied up, in a casual style. He put out his hand and touched Sam lightly on the chest. Then stepped back saying,
“Welcome! Welcome. I am Hiroma and I will escort you to a place of safety where we may talk freely. I’m sure you have many questions.” He said in an upbeat tone. The other man simply stopped then walked off back in the direction they had come.
Sam would have asked who on earth the man was but as Sarah and Maria had been in the dark about this whole plan, he just followed on blithely wondering whether this guy was nuts. Both gave him weird looks but he just shook his head signalling it was best not to talk right now.
They finally reached larger areas, where every person they came across stopped to gawk. This began to ware on their already fragile nerves.
Entering a large room which looked like a vast meeting room. This time they were all searched, presumably for weapons. Many people were seated there but one caught Sam’s eye in particular, a woman with brown hair in Arabian style attire, with odd looking hoop pigtails and long platted hair.
She was looking straight at them and beckoned them over. Another woman went to block their way but with a signal from Hiroma she sat down, still eyeing them.
“At last you are here. Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable. My name is Velta. And this that you see before you is what is left of the true resistance movement…”