Hey peeps GhostNobody here hoping that your 2021 is going better than 2020, though from what I'm seeing on the news I'm not all that hopeful, I still have you all in my thoughts.
I'd also like to reach out and offer my condolences to long time readers and friends Doug and Sandy I hope you're both holding on and don't worry ol uncle Ghost has got you, your request won't be in this chapter but I'll make it happen.
If you guys want to chat among friends come to see me on my Discord, discord .gg/ hES52zn.
This is an open invitation to all, so come on down and say hi, I don't bite and neither do the many peeps already in there, so come on don't be shy join the fun and embrace the crazy.
So wishing you guys a better 2021 this is GhostNobody signing off and saying on with the show...
Chapter 13: Shadows in the Night.
Liam braced himself chanting softly as he called to the spirits for aid, grey smoke began to slowly and lazily swirl around him till it utterly surrounded him, and he vanished from sight making Ciri and her pack gasp in surprise, but Celia and her pack calmed them telling them it was alright that it was something he did.
The heavy wooden door folded in half like it was made of paper, two black shadows like blurs shot into the room and went right for the stunned guards, but before they had a chance to get even halfway Liam burst out of thin air kicking off one of them and slashing at the other with his blades.
The Nightmare Assassin he kicked flew backwards spinning over and sliding on her feet back towards the door, the second one was barely able to get her blade in front of her to defend against Liam's furious flurry of swings in time to block them, showers of sparks lighting up her scaly features.
"You will not lay a single hand on them while my heart beats, not a single one!" Liam snarled menacingly.
Both of the Nightmare Assassins snarled at him and began barking at him in their language forcing his translator to fight to keep up, "We are children of the Dark Seed and these creatures have been marked for death! Why do you interfere alien? This is not your world and these are not your people what do their deaths mean to you?" one of the Nightmare Assassins barked.
"Because I am a Seeker of the Guardian Core of Clan Mason, we fight for the innocent, to protect and defend them from any and all who would do them harm" Liam growled darkly as the Nightmare Assassins split and began to try and circle him, before they could get into optimal position Liam unleashed a series of shots from his plasma casters forcing them to dodge, and before they could get their footing he rushed them striking at one before spinning off her deflection and throwing a secondary strike at the other one trying to keep them both on the off foot until reinforcements arrived.
But the two were well-trained, they attacked him from two sides at once, they're weapons flashing and showers of sparks exploding from both weapons as their black blades crashed against Liam's.
Liam spun on the spot deflecting both blades at once before a series of flashes erupted around the room and five more Liams charged right at them making both Nightmare Assassins' spin to defend themselves from the perceived onslaught, only it never came.
But that didn't mean the real Liam didn't turn and stab one of them right through the back with one of his blades making her screech in a mixture of pain and rage at having been deceived so easily, the second one came into counterattack even as her sister was falling, but her attack never arrived instead it was deflected by a set of wrist blades, wrist blades that belonged to Ryan Mason.
"Nope," the big Yautja hybrid said with a deep snarl, the other Seekers had burst into the room behind him and the single living Nightmare Assassin now found herself surrounded by five Seekers all bearing down on her.
But regardless she was unwilling to back down and began to fight, she didn't have a hope in hell of winning, she launched herself at Ryan with a furious roar and swung her blade at him, all of them were moving so fast that to the Serpentinus onlookers it must have looked like six blurs moving around the room like glowing pinballs.
Ryan was able with a flurry of strikes to kick the weapon from her hand and instantly the room was filled with a mass of black smoke that morphed into ten other identical Scalathor but Liam and Ryan both saw right through her attempt at a Soul Split and both moved to cut her off from retrieving her weapon and then the others blocked both the door and her approach to the royal pack.
"There's no way out assassin, surrender, and we will spare your life" Ryan snarled approaching slowly with his twin sets of wrist blades extended.
"No one can stand against the will of the Dark Seed! No one! Soon you will see! Soon you will..." she began yelling but while she had her attention focused on Ryan she hadn't noticed the vines creeping out of the wall behind her, and before she could even finish her sentence the vines shot right at her like a web of tentacles.
Two vines wrapped each wrist, two more got her ankles, another grabbed her tail and her waist and most importantly a rather thick meaty one-shot between her open jaws before wrapping itself around her snout and preventing her from biting down properly, she was utterly immobilized, Ryan had overheard the transmission from his father and had no intention of letting her kill herself, this one was going to talk.
"Gotcha," Ryan said with a satisfied smile then he turned to Liam.
"Soul Knight Silver lets see if she's a puppet or a fanatic shall we?" he said and Liam nodded dropping his helmet and shaking his hair out, Liam instantly saw a look of surprise and confusion in the Scalathor's large red eyes.
"Let's see who's home," Liam said, and he reached forwards and grabbed the scaly head of the struggling Scalathor.
"While you do that I'll call my Patriarch and let him know the threat is neutralized and that we have a prisoner," Ryan said, and he opened his comms line.
"This is Seeker two one to both Seeker one one and the Dreamer, all Nightmare Assassins are down, one killed and one in custody, Seeker one-two is currently seeing what he can pull out of her, over," he said into his comms.
The royal guards relaxed somewhat and Ciri and her pack slithered out from behind their protective wall closely followed by Celia and her pack.
"Roger that my beloved cub message received and understood, stand fast your Patriarch is on his way to you, Dreamer over and out," Tik eleth's voice said over the comms.
"Message received Seeker two one we are five minutes out, Seeker one one over and out," Jack's voice said.
Liam began to whisper a repeated chant over and over, "Honored souls of the fallen aid me, fill my soul with light so that I may penetrate the darkness withing this being, help me to extinguish the darkness in her soul and pull it back into the light, I am your brother humble and true, help me now" he said and smoke swirled from everywhere flooding Liam's body while his hair danced and crackled with electricity, as did his eyes and with a rush like he was falling down a well Liam plunged into her mind which she screeched like a gagged banshee.
Liam was plunged into a dark place filled with pain, he could feel it all around him, pain, fear, doubt, isolation, rejection and a whole host of other negative emotions swirled around him in the shadows of this dark formless place like predators waiting to pounce. Liam reached out with his mind into the darkness.
Suddenly a wash of images and memories rolled over him and what he saw brought tears to his eyes and ice to his heart, it showed this young Scalathor being taken as a child from her family, taken to a kind of military installation, where they ran all sorts of painful and horrific experiments on her, this lasted for a quite a while, day after day, week after week all the while her mind slipping away, it happened.
In all the darkness and all the pain a voice reached out to her, offered her a way to end the pain, to become strong, to become more than she was and to protect herself from any who would hurt her and without a seconds thought she took it and the Dark Seed was planted, now her mind no longer belonged to her, her consciousness and will be sealed away, leaving only the seed in its place.
That's when Liam saw her a little green and yellow Scalathor girl sat in the corner with chains wrapped around her, Liam walked towards her and as he approached she looked up at him, "Who are you?" she asked in a surprisingly soft voice.
Liam crouched down and looked at her, big yellow eyes tracked him and looked at him curiously, "My name is Liam Silver Mason" he said softly but cautiously.
"You shouldn't be here, the dark thing will be angry with me if you are here," the little Scalathor girl said her voice sounding frightened.
"Who are you?' Liam asked.
"My name is Leeona Longtail, you must go the dark thing will be really angry if you are here!" she said looking around with obvious and very real fear in her eyes.
"Don't worry it cannot hear us for the moment, the Scalathor military took you when they found out you were a Dream Warrior didn't they, took you to a place and hurt you, made you suffer you couldn't take any more, then just when you were about to break the Dark Seed offered you strength, a way to end the pain and you took it because you were scared and in pain, didn't you?" Liam said.
Leeona looked at him curiously, "You are like me aren't you? You can see into people's hearts, see who they really are, but you're a boy? Boy's aren't strong like girls are, so how can you do this?" she asked.
"They are where I come from, boys and girls are the same, no different other than the obvious, but they are equal, boys aren't superior to girls and girls aren't superior to boys, we are equal save for some biological differences that set us apart and make one side or the other better at certain things we are still equal" Lia,m said.
Leeona looked at him and he could feel her trying to make sense of what he was saying but as he could see in her mind this opinion that males and females were equal made no sense to her, on her world males were nothing more than breeding tools and slaves, nothing more than living breathing toys for female pleasure and they were treated as such, it was an awful existence and it brought tears to Liam's eyes as Leeona's memories were filled with experiences that she had seen and felt with her own mind and eyes, of her male hatch mates as they were sold off to the highest bidders like cattle, or given as gifts to high standing families for the use of their females to increase the status of her family.
The images made Liam seethe with rage as he saw them and felt her dismay upon seeing it, it was obvious she didn't feel like the vast majority of her population did, but there was a lot more to it than that, it was like so many of them utterly lacked empathy but it wasn't that they couldn't feel it, it was like it was suppressed somehow, the influence of this Dark Seek maybe?
Liam could feel the darkness all around him now, testing his defences for weakness to try and access his bubble of protection that was being reinforced by the souls of the fallen that had come to his aid, their energy flowing through him like an umbrella of light.
Liam crouched down infront of Leeona and looked into her bright eyes, "You don't have to be like this you know, you don't have to live like a prisoner in your own mind, on my world a few strong and courageous people made a civilization, humans don't even know that aliens exist and Yautja forbid any and all mating outside of their species to preserve their purity, any who break that rule for lust or for love are put to death, though predominately for their females as our Matriach explained to us when it came to their males it was common for Clans to turn a blind eye for a male taking a slave of another species and forcing themselves on them, but if a female took a male of another species as a mate they were both put to death, then there are the Xenomorphs who because of the unfortunate method of their birth are universally hated by all species and are generally exterminated as a nuisance and deprived of their right even exist, but we cured their problem and now they live free and peacefully on our world, infact they have helped it not only to thrive but to flourish, making exceptional medics, farmers, engineers and scientists, search my memories you will see what I am saying is true, we live in unity and in peace" Liam said reaching out and touching the side of Leeona's face.
Her eyes flickered as her mind was filled with more images of his homeworld, "I-I-It's beautiful" she stammered in utter shock looking at him with wide eyes.
But then her fear returned, "N-N-No I-I-I cannot disobey the will of the Dark Seed, it knows what's best, it protects me, makes me strong" she said and Liam shook his head.
"No it doesn't, you are strong without it, look at me, do you feel the darkness inside me? Do you feel the Dark Seed within me?" he asked.
Leeona looked at him in a very curious way, it was like her eyes were peering through his soul but that was what we wanted, he wanted her to see him as he truly was, so see the love in his heart of his people, his home and his pack, how he had come to an alien world light-years from his home to protect a species they had never met and how he had fallen in love with four of them who had fallen in love with him.
She began to pant and her eyes went misty, "It's beautiful, so beautiful, I wish my people were like yours, that they could see the strength in togetherness and unity, but no I do not sense any darkness in you, how are you so strong?" she asked.
"We train ourselves to embrace who and what we are, to strengthen our abilities, it helps that we are not feared on our homeworld, we are loved and respected as we love and respect those around us, our Lady of the Hunt Paya of the Yautja teaches us what true strength is, what honour is, we are offered a loving paradise for our service to her and our Clan, it is a powerful thing indeed," he said.
"I see it! It's wonderful, I-I-I wish I had your strength" she said in a forlorn sounding voice and Liam smiled.
"But you can be Leeona, believe in yourself, let me show you how to be strong, take my hands and let me show you our ways as I have seen yours," Liam said sitting cross-legged before her, he held out his hands to her and she looked at them for the longest time before with a deep and meaningful breath she reaches out and took them.
"Calm your mind, sheathe your fear like a sword sliding into a scabbard of hope, open your mind and let it take mine like taking my hand, let my heart beat with yours, let my breath fill your lungs," Liam said.
A soft golden light began to pour our of Liam like he was exhaling golden smoke, slowly it made it's way into Leeona's lungs filling her up, "Let the light fill you, feel it's warmth in your heart, let it push the darkness out of you, let its strength support you, I'm right here with you, I won't leave you" Liam said.
The darkness around his light bubble went absolutely ape shit, it tried everything to break into the protection bubble as it realized what was going on, because with every breath Leeona expelled black smoke through both her mouth and nose making her look like a dragon that had just finished breathing fire, the inky blackness outside the bubble upped its attack on them, Liam felt the pressure bearing down on them like having anvils placed on their chests.
He felt Leeona's strength wavering, "It's alright Leeona, don't scared, sheathe your fear just like I showed you," he said and he felt her fighting back and then with one last push she expelled the final amount of darkness from her soul, "Excellent! Now it's my turn, now let me show you what our kind are truly capable of" Liam said and he opened his soul.
"Honored spirits of the glorious dead I call to you for aid, help me drive this vile evil from the heart of our sister, let he breathe the free air again, help me bring her out of the shadows and into the light, in the name of Paya Lady of the Eternal Hunt and of the Great Tree the bringer of life, help me," Liam said casting his hands upwards.
Like sunlight breaking through a bank of thick clouds a ray of golden light burst forth burning the roiling blackness back making it screech in an echoing voice, spirits burst from Liam's chest like transparent golden echoes, they inverted the golden umbrella turning it into a golden bubble which it sucked the darkness from all around them into, when every single wisp of the darkness was pulled in Liam sealed it, it was the shape of a golden seed filled with very angry black smoke that roiled and fought, "Be free young one, let me carry this darkness for you, let me draw it like pus from a boil" he said.
He could see Leeona was scared but she nodded and with a tremendous force of will Liam pulled the darkness into himself surrounded in golden light supplied by the spirits and held in check with his power.
Back in the real world, Liam drew the blackness from Leeona's scales like he was washing jet black ink off her revealing the colourful scales under it, as he let go of her the blackness pulsed through his body momentarily turning his skin jet back while all present watched in curiosity and apprehension, especially from his pack, Celia, Leba, Veme and Sev were dancing around him very nervously, wringing their hands unable to sit still as they watched their beloved pack male fighting the powerful darkness.
"Don't you worry ladies Liam is the most powerful Soul Knight to exist second only to my Patriarch himself, if anyone can defeat this darkness, it is him, he fights with the strength of the entire Clan at his back and with the power of Lady Paya and now the Great Tree at his sides, he will defeat this darkness, just you watch, your male will be back in your arms and err coils where he belongs" Ryan said proudly and no sooner had the words left his mouth than Liam's skin changed back to normal and between his hands, a black orb in a seed shaped formed looking like it was made of ink floating in the air.
"By the power vested in me by Paya the Great Huntress and Goddess of the Eternal Hunt I banish you, go back into the void from where you came vile creature and bother the innocent no longer" Liam roared and with a flash, the black orb ignited in a ball of screaming golden fire that burnt it to nothing but ash particles.
The energy flowing through Liam subsided and he returned to normal, Ryan drew his mandibles up into a smile, "See? What did I tell you? A spirit made of fire this one" he said as he helped Liam back to his feet and clapped him hard on the shoulder as he looked at him with a confused smile.
Before he even had a chance to have ask what was going on or what he meant Celia and the others dove on him and he found himself in the middle of a ball made of undulating coils as each of them planted kisses and nuzzles on him, squeezing him tightly in their coils as they did.
Once his pack had finally released him from their embrace Liam was able to get back to his feet albeit a bit shakily, "I think it's safe to say you got the love of four good women there" Ryan said and Celia looked at him.
"A Serpentinus female protects her male and a good pack protects what is theirs and he is ours, no one else's, ours," she said with fire in her voice that made Ryan chuckle softly.
"I don't think you have to worry about young Liam here but it is good that you do, it shows your care," he said.
The royal guard had now surrounded Leeona who was still sat on the floor and looking very scared at the large females pointing weapons at her, "Stand down! She is no threat any more" Liam said and they glanced at him and then at their regent who along with her pack had slithered out from behind their living protective wall and were no looking at the frightened and unsure Scalathor girl.
"I never in my life would have believed such things possible, it was like witnessing our mythology come to life in this very room, it was like nothing I could have ever dared to dream about, it was like watching you suck someone's soul from their very body and burn it before our very eyes," Ciri said quietly in obvious awe of Liam.
"Not her soul Regent Ciri but the darkness that had infected it, it appears this Dark Seed is like a form of dark infection capable of overwhelming Dream Warriors and turning them into puppets, I saw this poor girls life and the numerous pains and indignities she suffered at the hands of her own people when they discovered what she was, then amid all that pain and fear a voice reached out to her in the dark, it offered her safety, strength and a life free from pain, who in her situation would refuse such offer?" Liam said looking at Leeona with pity in his eyes.
"Are you saying she was compelled to do these things?" Ciri asked curiously.
"Worse than that, compelling someone means there is still some iota of free will, but with this Dark Seed it imprisons the Dream Warrior in their own mind, then joy rides around in their body like a meat puppet, fully in control of that body and all of its abilities, we've seen something like this before or rather our Grand Patriarch, a Dark God called Loki did something similar to a female Yautja Dream Warrior called h'chak and turned her into one of the most fear Bad Blood clan leaders know to all the clans, she was a scourge on the galaxy till our Grand Patriarch and Matriarch defeated her troops and our Grand Patriarch freed her using his powers, but this...this is far worse," Liam said.
Ciri looked at him curiously, "How so?" she asked but it was Ryan who answered.
"Because whatever did this to her was able to imprison her in her mind using only a fraction of itself, it took all of Loki's strength to hold h'chak prisoner in her own mind as the mind of a Dream Warrior or Ghost Slitherer as you call us is a very powerful thing, a weapon like no other in the right hands, so to be able to hold such a thing using only a tiny fraction of yourself like that, a seed of yourself, it is a dire circumstance for all Dream Warriors everywhere and from what we have seen here it would appear that all of the Scalathorian Dream Warriors and maybe the Draconis ones too have already been enslaved to this create, force, entity, deity whatever the pauk it is and an army of dark Dream Warriors is not something anyone would wish to face," Ryan said with a shudder.
Liam stepped forwards and pushed through the royal guards, he crouched down in front of Leeona, "I'm taking her into the custody of the Seekers, she will be returned to our homeworld and taken to the Seeker temple" Liam said offering his hand out to the scared Scalathor girl.
"My Regent I must protest! This woman made an attempt on your life! She should remain a prisoner of the Serpentinus! This attack was on our soil and in the royal palace itself!" The captain of the royal guard yelled loudly.
Ciri looked between them and instantly she saw the Seekers present begin to close ranks, it was obvious to her that they protected their own as passionately as they themselves did, "No Seeker Silver is right, we would have no idea how to hold her and the way I understand it this is not her fault, we would be holding a person we know to be innocent of a crime they did not willingly commit, the Seekers have far more experience in these matters than we do so I believe it would only be smart to defer to them and Clan Mason" she said.
The royal guard captain opened her mouth to protest but Ciri gave her a look that said 'Fuck with me I dare you' and the captain promptly closed her mouth again, "Thank you Regent Ciri and I promise you we would not leave you in the dark on what we do find out" Ryan said and she nodded in thanks.
Literally, moments later Jack Mason and his team entered and his eyes scanned the room before locking on to the now very frightened Scalathor female, "Report" he said looking at his son.
"The Nightmare Assassins used a variant of cloaking similar to the one our Soul Knights used to slip passed us but they did not slip passed Seeker Silver, he stopped them dead here and protected both the Royal pack and his own, he also managed to pull off an extraction on her, pulled the Dark Seed right out of her, he did the Soul Knights and the Seekers proud Patriarch," Ryan said.
"He did his pack proud as well, it is almost unheard of for a male to be responsible to be forced to protect his pack as it the female's job to protect our valuable males, but he stood tall and proud in front of those that would wish both us and our beloved Regent harm and fought for all of us and he prevailed," Celia said very proudly as she and the rest of her pack slithered up to flank Liam.
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Jack looked at the Serpentinus girls that were flanking Liam and he smiled, "Got yourself a fine loyal pack there Seeker" he said with a smile and this seemed to please Celia and the others.
"I'm sorry Grand Patriarch I was unable to contain the Dark Seed once I'd removed it and I felt that it was too much of a threat to be allowed to escape my grasp, so I destroyed it," Liam said sounding a bit despondent like he was worried that Jack would punish him.
Jack planted a hand on his young shoulder and smiled at him, "You protected the ones you love as well as the ones whose lives I placed in your hands but not only that but you pulled the essence of a dark force from the mind of a fellow Dream Warrior and freed her from a torturous horrific existence, you've done well this day young Seeker, you have made your pack proud, your Clan proud, the Seekers proud and you've made me proud young one, you saved many lives today, it would have been too easy for you to kill her once struck down but you didn't, you honoured both our Lady Paya and their Great Tree with your actions today, so puff your chest out and stand proud Liam, you've done well this day" Jack said.
Liam smiled proudly and Jack turned to the Scalathor girl who tried to hide behind Liam, "Do not be frightened young one, my name is Jack Mason I am Grand Patriarch of Clan Mason and leader of the Seekers of Truth, we're Dream Warriors like you" he said.
"Dream Warriors? What's that?" she asked her scaly face looking up at him?
"Its what we call people like us, people touched by the divines, granted abilities different to those of those around us, made us different from our brethren, which is both a blessing and a curse because to peoples who don't understand who and what we are we can be seen as a threat, it makes them fear us, but we come from a place where those differences are not feared, they are embraced," Jack said.
"The place Liam showed me in his mind, in his memories, the beautiful place filled with strange creatures and with love and pride, he called it the Seeker Temple," she said her voice surprisingly deep.
Jack nodded, "Yes it's on our homeworld and it really as beautiful as Liam showed you, our whole world is like that, a place of peace and unity, we will take you with us, we will show you a different way to live, we will give you a chance to be part of something bigger than yourself, something that will shield you from all harm and will protect you, all we ask is you show us what you know of the Dark Seed, help us and we will help you," he said.
"Y-Y-You will take me to the beautiful place? Like Liam promised me?" she said and Jack nodded.
"Then I agree, I don't know how much help I can be but whatever I do know I will share with you," she said and Jack smiled and helped her to her feet.
He looked at Ciri and the others, "This woman is now under the protection of Clan Mason and we will defend her" he said and Ciri nodded understanding him perfectly well.
"Do not worry Grand Patriarch she is released to you, it would be the least we could do considering all the aid that you have given us" she said and Jack nodded.
"Thank you, regent, I'd also like to inform you that we have not only found but offered the same amnesty to your Ghost Slitherers and they have accepted, they are as we speak aboard the Dreamer waiting to be taken back to the Seeker Temple for training," Jack said and this stunned Ciri.
"You would steal them from us?" she asked and Jack shook his head but before he could reply the door opened and a familiar face marched in.
"I swear if one more royal guard asks to see my identification I may just start feeding people their own tails and playing hoopla with them!" Tik snarled and Jack laughed and allowed himself to be embraced by his lifemate from behind.
"Regent Ciri may I introduce Grand Matriarch Tik eleth Mason in-person," Jack said and Ciri flicked her tongue and nodded.
"It is good to finally meet you Grand Matriarch," Ciri said and Tik smiled at her.
"And you Regent Ciri, I came down to inform you both that the Ghost Slitherers are all safely aboard the Dreamer and we currently have a lot of very curious Serpentinus slithering all over our ship who are very happy to meet everyone and everything, plus I needed some fresh air," Tik said with a smile.
"Why are you taking the Ghost Slitherers from us?" Ciri demanded looking at them both.
"We're not, we're taking them for training at the Seeker Temple, but I assure you we are not stealing them from you, believe it or not, most of them are very keen to lean our ways so that they can put them to use defending their home despite and I emphasise this word strongly past persecution and fear they have suffered at the hands of their own people," Jack said and suddenly Ciri looked rather embarrassed.
"If I may speak your highness?" Sev said suddenly drawing the Regent's attention and she nodded.
"It is indeed true that our Ghost Slitherers have suffered persecution in our past, there are well-documented hunts that had the sole purpose of hunting them down and destroying them out of fear that they were witches or demons, I believe that in more rural areas such superstitions may very well still be in effect," Sev said and Jack nodded.
He stepped forwards towards Regent Ciri, "With your permission Regent?" he said holding out and un-gloved hand, she looked at it curiously and flicked her tongue at it, but she nodded her consent and Jack touched her head and her eyes instantly flashed to match Jack's.
"W-W-What is this!?" she exclaimed.
"The memories of Vallaran the male leader of the Ghost Slitherer colony we found," Jack said softly.
"B-B-By the Great Tree! T-T-That's awful! Truly awful! That poor poor male!" she exclaimed as Jack released her and he nodded.
"No one should ever have to experience something like that, being forced to slither this world alone at such a tender age like that! I-I-It shames me that not only one of our precious males was treated like this but one of our Ghost Slitherers, they are the blessed children of the Great Tree and we shamed ourselves by treating them this way" Ciri said with tears in her eyes.
Jack shook his head, "Fear is a powerful thing Regent and I have no doubt in my mind that my origin species would have a similar reaction if they found out there others like me among them, but you are all children of the Great Tree, every one of you and that's the point, you are all brothers and sisters of the Great Tree just as we are all brothers and sisters of our Lady Paya, you need to show your people that, teach them that Ghost Slitherers are nothing to be feared, they are beloved family members to be embraced, nurtured and loved, that way we will rob this Dark Seed of any more potential victims, at least Serpentinus ones" Jack said.
Ciri looked at Jack and then at her pack then at Liam as his pack moved around him both Celia and Leba both leaning on him and she nodded, "It seems that we owe you for far more than protecting our home Grand Patriarch and Matriarch, I had no idea that such injustice and appealing superstition was happening among my people, that our beloved brothers and sisters were being cast out of their packs and their homes to slither this world alone and afraid and I swear it to you upon my immortal soul before you and all gathered including the Great Tree herself, we will begin educating our people immediately, we will teach them of the Ghost Slitherers and te Dream Warriors and we will show them the kindness they showed us here today how they stood for us when we could not stand for ourselves and how our brothers and sisters are going to learn to stand for us as well" Ciri said with such fire and passion in her voice that it made both Jack and Tik smile and nod at one another.
Both Jack and Tik sat down with Ciri and the royal pack and they hashed out the details of their next move, Clan Mason had repurposed the two Scalathor frigates and repair crews already had them functioning to a decent degree and Jack could only imagine the Savior Xenos running all over the ship screeching at one another as they repaired things.
They agreed to leave some of their ships from their fleet here to protect the planet while their orbital defences were being both repaired and upgraded, Clan Mason were outfitting these orbital platforms with both heavy railguns as well as anti-ship torpedoes and missiles, they used a type of missile that used a multi-warhead missile that was designed to combat fighters and gunships and then heavy torpedoes that were designed to take down capital ships like the frigates, they would also share with them designs for ground-based weapons too protect the planet.
Regent Ciri also granted Celia and her pack permission to go with Liam and the rest of the Clan Mason leadership as they returned home, she also made plans to send an envoy to the Raptorians to warn them of a possible attack from the Scalathor, their fleet had also now returned to aid and protect their planet, granted it was not as powerful as the ships of Clan Mason, but Clan Mason also promised to help them with ship designs for their engineers to work with and they also began to draw up plans for both trade routes and Jack and Tik promised to work on way to open communications and promised to get their scientific hive working on the problem as soon as they got home, while Celia promised to work on getting an embassy up and running as soon as was possible.
So with the negotiations at an end, Jack and Tik made plans to return to the Dreamer along with most of their teams leaving one team of Hunters, a couple of teams of Saviors and a team of Battle Angels behind to help with the immediate rebuilding around the capital as well as helping the royal guard to protect the royal pack, Jack also assigned both Mav and Rita as the royal pack's personal Seeker bodyguards to prevent any sneak attacks by any Scalathor Nightmare Assassins their Ghost Slitherers were able to return and protect their people.
Though given the looks that Mav seemed to be getting by a few of the Royal guards when his time came to return Jack got the feeling he may very well may not be doing it alone, these Serpentinus girls sure weren't shy when it came to expressing interest.
Both Jack and Tik walked back onto the bridge of the Dreamer, "Well it's about time we got home wouldn't you agree my love?" Jack said with a smile and Tik draped his arms around his chest and pulled him into her.
"Music to my ears my love I yearn to feel solid ground beneath my boots again, I think I may have to go for a barefoot run in the forest when we get back, apart from that minor respite I have spent way too long cooped up on the ship, as a full-blooded Huntress my spirit yearns to run through forests and leap through the trees, Goddess I need a damn good hunt" Tik purred and Jack smiled.
"Sounds like you need a damn good something though I'm not sure it's a hunt though I'm pretty sure the thing involved rhymes with it though," Jack said giving Tik a playful grin and she purred very loudly and it drew looks from everyone on the bridge.
"Set a home course call us when we arrive then I simply dare one of you to interrupt us" Tik growled loudly and with that Jack found himself dangling from her shoulder and facing the bridge crew who all seemed to be grinning at him, he just grinned right back at them and shrugged, there wasn't a person alive brave enough to challenge Tik eleth's private time with her beloved male, a real emphasis on the word alive.
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Liam's pack had made themselves at home in his quarters, his entire bed and been pulled off the frame and the mattress was on the floor along with every pillow he owned, right in the middle of said pillow pile was a rather obvious and familiar blue one that Leba was currently coiled upon, sometimes one needed the comforts of home even when you were far from it.
The Ghost Slitherers had certainly made themselves at home aboard, the mess hall was utterly filled with them and by all the screeching and hissing coming from the galley their chef was determined to impress, Liam had picked up all their meals to go which involved a service trolly to wheel it to his quarters and right now he was being set upon by four very hungry Serpentinus girls.
"Oh, you were right sister! Their food is utterly delicious! It utterly melts in the mouth" Leba said sitting back on her pillow and patting her belly and coils, the others nodded and agreed before the four of them slithered up to Liam and surrounded from all sides.
"It ha been a most exhausting day but I don't know about you my sisters but I do believe we owe our beloved male a display of our gratitude and love" Celia purred nuzzling his cheek and tickling him with her tongue before turning his face and slipping said tongue into his mouth.
"Mmmm I do believe your right sister, so why don't we get this suit off him and get comfortable because I don't about you but now my hunger is sated I find myself with a very different hunger and I know only one way and one person that can sate it," Veme said and before Liam could even squeak a reply he was flat on his back minus his suit and witnessed four sets of clothes being flung into the air, it was going to be a long night and he'd never been so glad of Seekers stamina before but he got the distinct feeling he was going to be very glad of it before this night was through.