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December 16, 2577

Location : Planet Kyasumeni

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Kirindi opened her eyes to darkness and he echo outline of Shadhahvar crossing a nearby catwalk. She seemed lost, but not in any immediate danger of falling, so Kirindi considered going back to sleep. Karga'te was still dreaming with Ti'chai-di, he wouldn't like to be on his own there.

Ti'chai-di's dreams were misted swamps and iced halls, chasing shadows of those she hated. There was no joy in it, only raw instinct and survival. They'd have to figure out how to bring her sister into her father's dreams instead. Karga'te had fire in his nightmares, but he more often he dreamed of things he loved. They tamed beasts and had weird adventures with his odd old friends, who were just as misplaced in yautja culture as he had been. Monstrous humans sometimes wandered by, and a little girl who Karga'te both cared for and despised. Karga'te's brother was a silent presence, his weird wives more lively and their stuck up sister Meidache a low key enemy. She liked those dreams better than the hollow pain of his sister, whose reason for living she couldn't even decipher.

Karga'te turned in his sleep and she had to avoid a flaying arm. His breathing was too heavy. She tried to figure out how to reverse the dream flow, but didn't know.

"Okay, I give. It is too dark. Weird chimera thingies, where are you?"

Karga'te got grouchy without sleep and Shadhahvar would most certainly wake him, so she slipped out of their spot and met the woman.

"I'm here," she whispered as she climbed up from the bottom of Shadhahvar's catwalk, causing the woman to startle. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, the robot people are here for Jake," Shadhahvar said. "I don't trust it."

Kirindi agreed on that, so she went to wake Karga'te. He'd be more grouchy if his humans disappeared.

While he struggled to wake up, she pushed the information Jake had given her into his mind.

Karga'te gave a deep growl. "Blasted machines."

After stretching to wake up, he jumped down the catwalks. Kirindi stayed a bit to comfort her sister, who had been jarred from the sleep she needed so badly. Then she followed Karga'te.

Persephone and five other Auton had gathered in the hall's little front room, where the controls were. Jake spoke with them in low, anxious tone that Kirindi couldn't hear clearly with the buzz of nearby machines.

Karga'te jumped down to the floor and drew the attention of the Auton with a short bark.

"That's my human." He lurched for Persephone, grabbing her by the neck and tossing her away.

Anudjan was not present, in his stead came a rather clean-cut looking android with a sharp face and a matching voice. "We are taking these two humans to continue the psychological investigation. They may be returned to you if the matrix deems such safe. We have reason to believe—"

"Update for you, machine : I took these weaklings in. You got a whole cargo of soft meat to play with, you don't even need mine," he snarled.

"I am aware, but that does not mean they cannot go as they please, right? Or did you really take in slaves?"

Jake thought he didn't wanna talk about the adventure, but he did want to talk about going home, so he wasn't sure. Kirindi gave him a nudge to speak up.

"They just wanna run some tests," Jake said. "The other humans woke up and they're full of side effects. I think I should go."

Persephone rejoined them, at a distance from Karga'te. "Besides, we're still a little curious as to why Kirindi doesn't have them in her hive mind?"

"Not your business and not your humans," Karga'te snarled. With that, he grabbed Jake's shoulder and dragged him out the room.

Ti'chai-di growled as she woke up and jumped down, following some vague sense of leaving. She didn't like the Auton wanting to bring people anywhere, it reminded her of things she hated.

Kirindi waited for her and followed when she stumbled past the small group, after Karga'te and Jake.

"Karga'te, you cannot take her outside! There already is unrest about her presence. Half the city fears she will start a plague!" Persephone called after them.

Karga'te just kept dragging a Jake along. Persephone jogged after them.

"We can't recover Y-921's memory and there's some things that make no sense. Jake might know the answer. Maybe he's holding something back, maybe he's got cognitive issues we can clear up. Just let us—"

Karga'te stopped in his track, spun and backhanded her to the ground.

"You will keep your filthy needles and machines away or I'm going to visit your place again."

Persephone didn't press further.

Karga'te dragged Jake to a nearby aircraft, which was technically public transport right up until Kirindi sidled up to the pilot and convinced them to be a very helpful lift. For once, Karga'te allowed her to pull in someone from here, albeit not all the way. An overworked public servant who got little gratitude for their job was easy, even when Ti'chai'di crawled into the cargo area.

Shadhahvar followed on her own and, having gotten the gist of getting away from Auton, deactivated the modem so they wouldn't hack it. This involved the refined method of shooting it after typing didn't work.

Kirindi leaned out of the window to give the Auton a sweet smile and a wave. Now began the game of avoid Auton and keeping secrets, lots of them. With that began a fun game of avoiding androids and keeping their secret. Karga'te would doubtlessly try to get information out of Jake and Shadhahvar, but she knew he'd be less effective than the Auton.

"Where are we going?" Shadhahvar asked.

"We're moving in with my employer," Karga'te grumbled.

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December 28, 2577

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Had she been keeping a diary, Kirindi would have described the following days as the days of status refinement. She'd heard the Auton refer to upgrading a faulty system like that once. In her own instincts there were no words for this.

Karga'te called it step 1 of controlling Ti'chai-di, which meant making her understand that obedience to Karga'te was directly relevant to her survival in this place. This was not easy.

Step 2 was making the immediate surrounding less suspicious to them. This was even harder. Neither goal would be reached any time soon, so she hoped that Hguthreeit would be lenient or think the results were funny.

Now, for the first time since her return, she was able to go out alone. There were some plants Karga'te needed, as during a hunt to obtain food for Ti'chai-di he had gotten wounded. And slightly delirious as well, since the critter he had hunted was poisonous to yautja. He seemed perfectly happy though, almost giddy, so she didn't mind taking a little longer. There was someone she needed to meet, though she was sad that she could not take Ti'chai-di along with her.

After such a long time in the crowded city, the cool rainforest seemed almost a new experience all over again, but she was more interested in her new friend. The mapped area in her mind, she followed a clear trail through the trees, leading to a lake miles away from the city.

It was surrounded by a cliff on one side and the roots of half-water trees on the other end. Without hesitation, she ran onward and dived off the cliff. Her hands came close to her body and her spikes folded down right before she splashed into the water. Any normal human would have been knocked out by the impact, but the hard skeleton hidden right under her white skin gave her a pretty solid resistance.

When the momentum of her impact slowed down she began swinging her tail to swim faster down. Daylight faded swiftly as she reached the bottom, leaving only a blue haze above. From here on she went on senses alone. Her echo worked odd down here, but her telepathy was clearer than before.

There was a cave behind a small opening of a few meters wide, hidden by a group of darkwater plants. She wrestled her way through and took the long swim into the caves. Oxygen she did not need, like the two drones who had taken the same way before her had not needed it either.

As she drew closer, the powerful telepathic aura of the two drones became intenser. They pulled at her, kin far more than ordinary xenomorph. Odygos had been calling for her for a long time now, but the other only joined now. He was a bit calmer than the former and she found his calling to be just as beautiful. It formed a serene backtone to the high calls of the smaller drone.

Odygos, she now realized in their contrast, was a bit nuts. He had been forced to grow up in rapid speed as to aid them on Enigma II, but the new drone had taken proper time to develop. He was clearer, calmer and did not have the touch of chaos that his brother sported. A smiled, a mere reaction of the human side of her instincts and entirely meaningless to symbolize the growing euphoria she as she entered a perfect, flawless hive mind for the first time in her life.

They drew her in with strength, the presence of Karga'te and Ti'chai-di decreasing to a distant knowledge, not important to the present. There was the hive, only the hive and they called her in, they wanted her to join to complete it.

The beat of her tail increased. A strange scent, a feeling increased on her skin and she began to see something on the walls. No longer rocks save for a few places; the two drones had worked hard on producing a useful hive environment. Nutrition was abound in the resin they had created, using "dark matter" from a world she could not see. A soft glow emanated from bubbles within the texture, filling the underwater realm with an eerily beautiful light.

Reaching out, the tips of her fingers brushed the texture. In her mind an image formed of the complexity of the entire palace. She screeched to let it echo. A pathetic tremor waved through the water, but they heard her. The hive texture carried their vocal answer to her, so much more powerful.

It did not take much longer before she could see two swimming shapes approach her, vaguely visible in the dim light and sharply contrasting with the world around in their minds.

The familiar black form of Odygos came side by side with his younger brother. One would not say such on appearance though, as the new warrior was much larger and ... pointier.

Born from a deinonychus, the DNA Reflex had not only adopted feathers, but enhanced them into blades. These sprouted from the warrior's arms and replaced the tubes on its back. He was sleek yet incredibly powerful, she could feel it. Odygos was a messenger, a guide, while this new drone was the fighter.

They slowed at an intersection. Kirindi kept herself afloat in one spot while the new drone circled her. He was curious only to her as he reached out telepathically. She let her fingers trail over her exoskeleton each time he was close enough, tracing the ridges and ribs feather lightly. The warrior let it happen, incapable to perform such a touch himself and not caring to either.

She asked him who he was.

He had been given an assignment, he was to protect her. His mother herself had called out to the facehugger and imprinted it into his very nature by her superior Calling. Now she was here, after a long time. Patience was an irrelevant word for a creature such as him, for he knew no anxiety or any other emotion that could hinder in his function. Yet, he did experience a sort of relief his task finally came face to face with him. How would he serve, he asked.

Just be with her, she said.

He halted and brought the dome of his head close to her, seeing her into every detail with echo and telepathy. Not unlike her first meeting with her sister, yet so unlike in its serenity. Neither of the drones were burdened with negative and pointless emotions such as sadness and suffering. Crystal clear they were, especially the youngest.

Kirindi found it strange now, suddenly. He was designed to protect her, yet never before had anyone specifically protected her save for Karga'te. The human part of her mind fought to give this a place in the structure of her all, her life. Her instinct however simply danced with the minds of the others.

He was hers, so to say. Part of her and that was what he was for. So, she could name him, right?

"~ Eliath. ~"

A spark of confusion came within the warrior, at which Odygos explained her human habit of "naming". Eliath let it be. She could do as she wanted, it didn't matter to him.

Kirindi reached out with her hands, pulling herself closer to the front dome of his head, like she did with her sister and Karga'te. Eliath did not understand it, for Odygos spoke to him at that moment : that he was wrong, it would matter.

Kirindi's mental touch rolled through him, the human aspect of her mind interwoven with the alien one. Unlike Odygos, he did not wonder. It felt pleasant, yet meant nothing to him still. She persisted and he began to recognize why it felt so right; it was like the calling of a queen and compliance on his side. It also felt wrong, as it conflicted with the idea of only having a single queen, yet that soon faded. Reassurance was pointless, technically, but it was a concept the warrior could grasp. She placed herself submissive under the Mother, such she told him and that was enough. He'd live for her.

All seemed well to Kirindi. Peacefulness was a rare experience, something she now learned to love. Life here had never been dangerous before, but would be if Karga'te found out about the drones. She'd seen enough dreams of him to know his fears.

But it would be alright. When Sarah would come, she would bring order to it all.

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Location : Enigma II

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Sarah opened her eyes to sharp, bright light and closed them at once. Considering she'd been in pain and bleeding just before, that was good. She wasn't dead yet.

"I'm gonna keep saying it until someone listens. She should be dead. How did she survive this?" A stranger, who?

"Well, not all these injuries result in instant death." This stranger didn't sound very convinced. "It's that's she waking up while the drones are stirring that freaks me out."

She drifted off again, but didn't lose consciousness. Rather, sound became less relevant the more she felt.

In the absence of life threatening danger, she became aware of an ongoing pressure that enveloped the station, as if she was deep in the earth with weight threatening to crush her at any time. Rather than feel it on her body, it was in her mind alone. The absence of acid and adrenaline made it stand out so much more.

The drone had left her here, because she had to stay ... for Noasyvé.

"Sarah?" That voice she knew, but she didn't sense much she felt should be there. A body, some radiation, few thoughts ... not enough. Not like the humans earlier.

"Sarah, it's Jonah. You're alive and not slated for execution, but you would do well to stay down for a while. It's raising a few questions how you survived and I'm not sure how to explain that in a way that doesn't make them want to dissect you."

She didn't want to say anything to him, not anymore.

"I know you can hear me. You don't have to respond. In fact, it's better if you play unresponsive and ill. I've told them you had some enhancements that explain this,

She didn't need his permission to open her eyes, she just didn't want to.

What she wanted was explanations and something to hold onto. Between the pressure and the veil, there was little but the black mother. The Oldest. Her.

She owned the veil ...

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Location : Planet Ro, Beast Nebula

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Ayo stretched out before opening her eyes. The cave surrounding her was so still compared to the wilderness she'd she come from. Nothing but dripping water on the moss and dim light.

The others were still gone, or Oihana at least would be be near. Ayo didn't worry, they'd be fine. She'd made sure of that. The problem was how to keep them being fine now the plans would need to change.

A shadow at the edge of the door and powerful radiance in the Ashla revealed a visitor. "If you're going to hover, you might as well do it in here."

"What about your whole 'the bogan disturbs my radiance', hmm?"

Ayo smiled. "Well, it seems you didn't today. It's getting better. Were you testing?"

"You bet."

Azenkastral had to bend down to enter the cave. Purring, she slunk closer and dropped at Ayo's side, curling her tail around her. Ayo leaned against her arm, content not to get up yet and to ignore that Azenkastral was tense.

"So? What did you see just now? You're back earlier."

"Am I?"

"What's going on?"

No use hiding it.

"A lot going on, but the short version is that we're going to need the Sanhedrim ship soon. Noasyvé decided to do the drastic thing. I thought we had years yet."

Azenkastral thrilled, but Ayo knew she'd be annoyed deep down. Still, she could commend that Azenkastral had enough peace not to immediately blow up her surroundings.

"You need help?"

"Not yours specifically," she said. "Stay hidden for now."

Contacting the Aing-Tii wasn't impossible, but she had no innate skill for it and the nature of her hidden self meant she'd expose herself to the enemy's telepathy. She'd try reaching Oihana through Xylia.

They could fret over handing Shanderah after that.

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