Chapter 17 - Fate of the Guided Wrath

A/N - There is nothing saying what the eldar use to measure temperature in canon literature, so I came up with my own. A renaming of Kelvin, called 'degrees above void,' though the measurement that they will use are slightly different from actual Kelvin, as space is about 2.7 degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. Using the temperature of empty space as a baseline seems a logical place to base your temperature gauging around. Though I probably won't be using it much.

'Can you hear the voices too?' - Chaos Space Marines, Dawn of War

Arlas finished the last pirate off with his long rifle, before putting it onto his back. *See? Long rifle kills.*

*You killed twenty seven mon-keigh, and only three of those were with your long rifle. And only because I reminded you.*

*I was trying to save time. So, do I need to try ripping information out of that Darius mon-keigh's head, or do you know anything about the location of your vessel? And on that matter, what can you tell me about it?*

Arlas was grateful this eldar was more personable than Yol'Pvera, as otherwise he might start going primitive without someone to talk to. Kap'eiyl wasn't the most outgoing of eldar that Arlas knew, but at least he prefered the living to their war machines, unlike Yol'Pvera. He could also feel the spirit stone inhabitant shifting through some of his memories, finding the one of the Farseer giving him his mission before the spirit replied. *The Guided Wrath was a dragon class troopship, cruiser sized, carried one hundred thousand Asuryani aboard, including five hundred exarches, three Farseers, a few hundred Wraithguards and a hundred Wraithlords, and the pride of the ship, a single Wraithseer.

*I do not know why or how the mon-keigh got on board, but I did extract its location from the leader while driving him mad, though his method of movement through the galaxy is useless to me. Also convinced him that going back for more would only lead to his men rebelling and killing him. Which they likely would, they lost quite a significant portion just getting me.*

Arlas got the location from the spirit, and allowed himself some grim amusement. *It is a standard coordinate string. The local mon-keigh use those instead of sensible mental images.*

Arlas looked over to the door the Entry team had gone through, to see Garrus and Wrex entering the room. "Wrex, Tweaks."

Garrus rolled his eyes at the nickname before replying, while Wrex simply nodded back. "Twins sent us, you thought you might need help?"

Arlas pointed to the door he had just fought the pirates through, before addressing the utter confusion and mild alarm from the spirit at the realization that Arlas was working with mon-keigh. *They are useful.*

The spirit sent an amused snort in reply. *Careful, that is Farseer thinking there.*

*I'm a Pathfinder, it's allowed.*

Arlas pushed off the wall as the spirit sent a long, loud laugh at his deadpanned reply. "Any orders? I already got what I need from the leader."

Garrus simply shook his head. "No idea, we were told to help you hold the location."

Wrex was looking at the destroyed hallway. "At least a dozen doors down here, could be barracks, might be storage."

Arlas didn't move, letting Tweaks talk with the Twins, while he continued to converse with the Shadow Spectre. *You gave the mon-keigh nicknames?*

*Mildly demeaning, lets them think I am getting familiar and friendly with them, and helps keep me amused. Tweaks there is a Turian, warrior species that thinks they can kick anyone and get away with it. Wrex is a krogan, basically an orc that can actually think and do long term strategy baseline instead of just the Warbosses. We have humans, not the same group as the ones we are familiar with, but physically almost identical though these ones are driven mostly by their lusts.*

He showed mental images of the next species, since he didn't know if Kap'eiyl had seen them before. *The asari are basically longer lived, blue humans that wish they were eldar. Salarians seem to be the worst parts of the Adeptus Mechanicus of the Imperium rolled into a mind almost as fast as ours without any limits on their thinking; if they think they can use Science on it or with it, they will. Here, we have the batarians, a group that wishes they were the Fallen Asuryani but don't have the ability, brains, or courage to go that far. These are the drell, almost eldar in physical abilities according to my research, but are servants to the hanar and are biotics instead of psykers. The hanar are exactly what they look like.*

Kap'eiyl needed a moment to get his amusement under control at the last image. *Big, stupid looking invertebrate ocean dwellers? Are they all that glorious bright reflective pink?*

Arlas nodded. *Also religious, possibly on the color, but yes. This is an elcor, slow, dumb, and slow, nothing more to be said. And here are the volus.*

Kap'eiyl would have been in the eldar equivalent of collapsing in gales of laughter at the image of a volus if he had a body. *Enough! This universe is bad joke. Is there anything here that is actually a threat?*

Arlas sent a smirk back at his fellow eldar, glad to finally have someone interested in talking. *The humans, but that just goes with what we know of humans. The krogan might be, depends on if and how they organize, and if they do, well, we have rangers and pathfinders for a reason. The quarians could possibly be threat, didn't get to them before you gave up, but only if you are foolish enough to get close, they specialize in repairing things and electronics. Since we don't use anything they recognize, they aren't a threat, but then again, we don't recognize what they use, so we have to learn it, which makes them a threat. So… they are a quasi-hypothetical potential threat?*

*Right, that would be a no.*

Arlas gave a mental shrug, before looking up as the Twins entered the room. "I know where we need to go, but need the ship navigation system. Since you have denied me access to everything but the codex, you will have to unlock it."

Jaclyn gave him an exhausted glare. "Arlas, you nearly vented the hangar bay with your last stunt with the omnitool. With some of the crew not in suits in there."

"And I informed you beforehand that I required assistance in learning what did what, and no one tried to assist. Therefore, it is as much your fault as my own."

Gemling just gave him a sour glare, having come in right behind the Twins. "I am still trying to figure out how you got into that system. It was admin locked, which should only allow the chief engineer, the XO and the captain to access, and yet somehow you got in. Without going through the password verification screen."

Arlas simply shrugged. "Regardless of my aptitude, or lack therefore of, I have what we need from this human."

He nodded to the back of the room, and the door he had fought to hold. "Might still be pirates in the back, perhaps we should clear the rest of the base and see if our ship is still intact?"

The Twins just shrugged, before pointing to the back. "Liara, Ashley, keep the prisoner alive and in our custody; everyone else, advance to contact."

A day and several hours later, they were orbiting the third planet in the same system. They hadn't found any more pirates, but Wrex had been right about the back rooms. They had been half barracks, half storage, and stuffed to the brim with loot. Arlas had gotten a couple suits of armor and several of the unattached shield generators, all of them lower end things so no one would complain about them missing, but the Twins had found him gathering them, and insisted on him at least taking one of the better sets. He wasn't planning on using them, as none of them were big enough to fit him, but instead he wanted to know how and why they worked before seeing if he could add them to his old carapace armor. If it was easy to add and didn't degrade the plating, he would recommend that the Craftworld consider adding such shielding units to their own infantry; anything that improved an eldar's chance of surviving should be considered. Though doubtless the boring traditionalists would complain, but they did that anyway about everything.

The SAI frigate had dropped in a day after they had finished clearing, securing and looting the base, and the Normandy had relinquished the site and only survivor/prisoner to them, before heading to the coordinates Arlas had provided. The problem was the coordinates had pointed them to the tiny third planet in the system, which had only a thin atmosphere of ethane and carbon dioxide, and was a wasteland of sharp edged rocks and half melted metals, in addition to the incredibly weak magnetic field which caused the planet to be baked by solar radiation. Arlas swore mentally as he looked over the readings from the sensors, even as the twins logged a massive outcropping of some mineral they called Samarium they had found on the first orbital pass.

He knew if the ship was as big as Kap'eiyl claimed it was, he should have been able to sense it psychically from much further from the planet than they were, which only reinforced the suspicion he had that he was looking for a crashed dead ship, holding the souls and corpses of a hundred thousand eldar. He shook his head, before looking at the Twins. "Lioness, are your people going to move into this system in force?"

Joannis looked up, and nodded. "Yes, Nonuel has a significant chunk of eezo in it, and they are planning on turning this entire system into an outpost and resupply center for the sector. Why?"

He pointed at the sensors. "Because there is another crashed eldar ship on this planet. I haven't found it yet, but I know it is there. If we get closer and use the sensors, see if you can locate anything unusual, we might find its location quickly. If not…"

Arlas sighed, before running his right hand through his hair, before pulling it over his shoulder and quickly unbraiding and then braiding the hair with one hand as he thought. "We can… come back... later to find it. Though if the fleet you station here finds it first, do not get anywhere near the crash site or attempt entry. I haven't convinced this crew you aren't going to try and exterminate them yet."

He ignored the shock and anger coming from Kap'eiyl, only promising an explanation later. While he delayed his debate with Kap'eiyl, Lioness nodded. "Alright. Joker give us a series of lower and slower passes around the planet, start with the daylight band, around until we loop around to the start. Arlas, hang by the sensor reads, we don't want to miss your missing ship. That would be tragic."

Arlas sent a feeling of satisfaction to Kap'eiyl, before mentally reaching out to Yol'Pvera. *Power up the sensors, you are looking for a ship of ours.*

*Are they letting me out to do a sweep?*

*Probably not.*

She sent back a feeling of annoyance, but started up the ship sensors anyway. Done with his co-pilot, Arlas turned his attention to Kap'eiyl. *Let them think they have a choice, and these two will gladly help. Especially since they know we Asuryani have laser and plasma weapons, and think we might trade some of the tech, or at least give hints, if they are helpful.*

His newest spirit companion sent back understanding, but laced with suspicion and doubt. However, Kap'eiyl didn't send anything else, and settled back into the gem, observing what Arlas was doing.

After a hour of circling the planet, and right before they finished the first full scan of the planet, Arlas spotted something interesting. They had already found several dozen easy to access mineral lodes, but nothing that seemed to be what he was looking for, until they hit a section of the planet near the end of their first full sweep that had just entered the night side. Arlas frowned, and tapped the scan, trying to get a better view, his movement not going unnoticed. Tali, who had come in to help optimize the sensor readings, noticed his movement first. "Spot something Ar… I mean, museum escapee?"

Arlas didn't answer at first, staring at the render of the scan for a full minute, before speaking. "Possibly. Joker, take us back, there might be something."

Tali had to send the coordinates to Joker, as the nearby humans started getting excited about finally getting some results. Once Joker had swung the ship around, and did a focused, high powered scan of the area, though, everyone else seemed disappointed. It looked like an empty cavern in the ground. Arlas, however, reached out to Yol'Pvera. *Scan directly below us.*

After a moment, Yol'Pvera sent back surprise and then despair. *That is them.*

She couldn't show or really tell him what she had scanned, but Arlas knew it was bad if she was reacting like that. "That is it. Let the Twins know, I leave in ten minutes, no later. If they aren't on the lander, they can deploy from the mako or jump."

The Twins had stepped out to get something from the mess hall. Arlas saw them stepping into the elevator, but they waited for him and Tali to get in before letting it head down. "Found it?"

Arlas gave Jaclyn a flat stare, before reaching down and pulling his helmet back on. "Why else would I have made that declaration?"

The elevator was silent after his response, and thankfully the door opened before he got any more inane questions, he was not in a tolerant mood at the moment. He headed straight for the lander, not even nodding to Wrex as he strode up the ramp into the bay. The krogan gave the Twins a look as they hurried to their lockers to begin pulling on their armor, before turning to Tali. "What's going on?"

Ten minutes later, Arlas flew the lander out of the bay, and quickly descended toward the surface. On board was Liara, Tali, Ashley, the Twins, and Wrex. Garrus had been torso deep in the turret of the Mako, cursing up a storm as he tried to fix a 'minor bug, will only take five more minutes,' that had taken two hours at that point. Icivia had been in the communication and briefing room for the past half hour, apparently having an exceedingly important conversation. Kaidan was in the med bay, having to lie down on one of the tables as he had literally collapsed earlier in the mess hall from another migraine.

Arlas transferred Kap'eiyl into one of the spirit stone holders on the lander as they descended to the planet, before tapping his omnitool and opening a channel to the squad. "This is an eldar ship, so I will have lead on this. If that is a problem, stay in the lander.

"We are descending toward a crashed eldar ship. We are to make entry, and do a brief scouting of the interior until I find an active console or someone to talk to, and see what kind of damage the ship has suffered. The defenses and defenders inside are unknown, but I suspect it will mostly be passive and intermittent static defenses, with very few guards and active defenses. However, I will dictate when and how we engage as well as disengage, as I may be able to bypass some of the interior defenses. Entry will be gained either by breaching the hull, or by using an existing breach."

He finished his briefing, and let Yol'Pvera do most of the flying. After a moment, Ashley spoke. "How big is this vessel we are checking out?"

"It was a standard troop conveyance vessel, in the cruiser range, so it only carried one hundred thousand troops, likely in stasis pods."

There was a moment of deafening silence in the troop bay, before Joannis spoke. "Wait, one hundred thousand troops? How big was the vessel?"

Arlas just sent back a feeling of smug amusement as he watched through the ship itself. Tali brought up the scan again, and examined the image. "Arlas, that hole you were examining. How much of that hole was your ship?"

"All of it."

Tali looked at the image again, before tapping a couple of keys on her omnitool. "Arlas, that hole is over one hundred meters deep, five hundred wide, and nearly four kilometers long. That is not a cruiser."

"It is to my people. As I told Councilor Tevos, your people's inadequacies, issues and problems are not mine or my people's."

A moment later, he enabled the bay viewer, showing the passengers the blasted hellscape they were flying over, though as far as hellscapes go, Arlas had seen much, much worse. It was only unending rough terrain of dark grey rocks mixed with black rocks, with the occasional stretch of dark brown rocks. Rarely, there were even light grey streaks in the rocks, but for the most part, it was rolling plains of rocks with the occasional hill, or the rare mountain of rock. It was hot, practically without an atmosphere, and light on minerals, making it lacking in any redeeming qualities. A few seconds after turning on the viewer, the lander crested a small mountain, and found the first indication that Arlas was not just pranking them.

A slowly widening trench, polished smooth from some great impact, started in front of them, the trench angled to one side away from the mountain and eventually reached more than three hundred meters across. Arlas did a slow turn, and rose, showing the trench went on for kilometers and after nearly a half minute of flying at a reduced speed, found that the trench ended at the edge of a couple kilometer wide and hundreds of kilometers long fissure, right beside the base of a massive, jagged mountain range.

The fissure was only a few hundred meters deep, likely formed when the planet had a massive impact with something eons ago which also formed the range above it, but Arlas wasn't interested in paleoseismology, and simply directed the lander into the fissure without hesitation. The trench continued at the bottom of the fissure, but now the trench was partially or even completely covered in sections by rocks. But even the rocks couldn't hide that the trench he was following kept widening, well past the five hundred meter width the hole had hinted at, or that at several points in the fissure massive holes had been gouged out of the sides by some immense impact, dropping tons upon tons of rock into the trench.

Another minute or so of flying at a reduced pace so the primitives in the back would stop screaming about cliffs and such, passing gouges where he thought pieces of the ship might have landed before eventually dissolving back into the immaterium, they reached what he suspected was the ship. If it was still worthy of being called that. It looked like a small mountain of rubble had fallen into the fissure, but small pieces of off-white wraithbone poked through in a couple spots, hinting at the massive ship buried under it that Arlas could finally sense.

Everyone in the troop bay could hear him sigh in vexation, before slowly circling the pile of rubble that blocked the entire fissure, looking for a decent landing place. Eventually, he settled the lander in the fissure near one of the off-white outcroppings of exposed wraithbone, and disconnected from the lander. Yol'Pvera and Kal'eiyp would stay in the lander, along with everyone that didn't want to risk the rubble or follow his leadership.

Everyone else had their helmets on, so he opened the bay, and looked at the rubble pile. It was significantly bigger on the ground than in the air for some reason. *Stay here, I will look around, find a safe spot to either breach or enter.*

Arlas started looking around the rubble pile, using the taller pieces to survey more of the pile faster. It wasn't perfect, but the planet was a touch hot, a 'mere' 400 degrees above void in the fissure's shade. Since the day had just passed, no doubt it would continue to drop significantly as night wrapped the land in its hold. However, it was still hot enough that Arlas had to retreat twice to the lander to cool off before he finally found a spot where the hull was already open. A quick glance inside showed rubble clogging the interior, the ship's former ceiling was at a slight angle and now acting as the floor, and while the doors were completely sealed, damaged and warped to the point of never opening again with even a basic glance at them, a hole had been blown in the wall, heading deeper into the ship.

Arlas figured he had found the way in, at least without fully scouting the interior, so he headed back to the lander. He entered the lander, and sent them what he had found, simply using an image instead of words as he gave Yol'Pvera the location at the same time. It only took a moment for the landing craft to arrive, so Arlas took the time to remind everyone to not touch anything, and to follow his directions inside. Once the landing craft had settled, the ramp nearly touching the breach Arlas had found, he gestured for everyone to follow.

He barely looked around as he entered, but did pause as he got to the second break in the walls, and realized that the rest were only slowly following. While there wasn't anything to see here, just an empty passage with two badly warped blast doors, there were enough rocks that only the asari and quarian were making good time. Both were abusing their less inhibited movement thanks to their lighter plating and the lower gravity, and while Lioness could have followed, she was staying near her twin. Wrex and Ashley were the last two to arrive cursing quietly, and Arlas moved into the next room. Arlas saw this was a modest sized storage room, and he spotted dozens if not hundreds of crates scattered about the room. Many had been damaged, bent or partially crushed, but most had simply shifted, rather than breaking open. The few crates that had been breached spilled raw wraithseeds about the room, not configured for any particular task, and without a wraith singer, utterly useless, but they did create a hazard for the mon-keigh with him.

He frowned, before leaping up onto one of the stacks, and noting a path through, before gesturing for the group to stop. He picked up one of the small seed, smaller than the size of his palm, before turning to Wrex. "Wrex, how long would it take for you to regrow your arm if an incendiary explosion took it off?"

Wrex snorted, but seemed to understand that Arlas was going somewhere with the question rather than making conversation. "Centuries if ever, krogan regeneration is good, but not that good."

Arlas turned, and gave the small seed an easy toss at the krogan after infusing it with a touch of his psy-energies. "Then think fast."

The seed was a blur as it streaked toward the krogan at the front of the group, but Arlas had underestimated Wrex's reflexes, and he sidestepped out of the way of the easy toss by eldar standards. Liara was standing directly behind him, however, and either wasn't paying attention or simply lacked the proper reflexes, and took the small wraithseed to the chest. She yelped at the unexpected impact, but before anyone else could move, the seed suddenly shot up and away from the group as Arlas gestured, stopping in the clear area between them and the eldar, where the seed abruptly finished destabilizing and exploded.

The explosion was pure warp energy, so it created little in the way of a shock wave, but it produced significant heat as it flashed into warp fire in a heartbeat, and vanished just as quickly. Arlas spoke before anyone could get angry about the fact he just put the group in danger to make a point. "Some of you have been questioning how effective my people's biolocks are, as well as the consequences of trying to brave them. I trust I have answered that question to your satisfaction?"

The Twins shared a look, before nodding. "Yes, though there were better ways to do that."

Arlas shrugged, and began moving crates to ensure the clear path he had spotted was easy to traverse as possible. "Perhaps, but I believe that the demonstration created a far more lasting impression than just explaining it would have."

It only took him a moment to finish moving the few crates out of the way of the group, before he started toward the far exit. One he got that door open, he looked around, and followed the only open path, as a section of the ceiling had collapsed, sealing the passage to his left. As the group headed deeper into the ship, Tali glanced at each door they passed, one on each side every one hundred meters, and eventually asked a question. "Why aren't we checking these rooms?"

Arlas didn't hesitate or even look at the doors. "These are for material storage. From what I know of how these types of ships are layout, the outermost ring of rooms is weapon, fighter and repair bays, then a layer of reinforced armor, then material storage rooms, another layer of armor, then armories, troop living quarters or storage depending on the mission, and finally the important things like life support, engineering, the bridge, the engine room, or the like."

Tali nodded, but Liara asked her own question. "Then why did we enter to a hallway and then a storage room?"

Arlas glanced back, before resuming his walk, looking for either a lift or a specific rune in ultraviolet ink near a door, which would allow access to the next layer of rooms. "Because the outermost section got torn loose there, obviously. It did crash on the planet and leave a trench several hundred kilometers long."

He did pause outside one room, and contact Yol'Pvera, before entering the room. "Wait here, I am getting some supplies for me and my co-pilot."

As he entered the room, he heard Jaclyn speak. "So when are we getting to meet this mysterious co-pilot?"

"When you tell me what a monkey is."

The closing door ended the conversation, though he could hear Jaclyn making unpleasant suggestions about his probable parentage and partners through the squad channel. "Lynx, squad channel is still open."

"SUCK! A! DICK!"

"No, I prefer females, thank you."

It didn't take long to find the extra patch seeds Yol'Pvera had suggested picking up, and after adding several other seed sizes and types to the crate he had selected, mostly a number of weapon and armor seeds so he could do some experimenting, he carried the crate out, enjoying the ease that the reduced gravity made moving the crate. It was a quick trip to the lander to drop off the crate, and then he rejoined the group, where Jaclyn was still grumbling. Arlas got the group moving, and finally found a hallway, though the upside down nature of the ship made getting the door open something of a chore, especially as this section didn't have power. Arlas eventually solved the problem by sliding his sword through the gap in the center of the door, causing the bottom half to immediately fall into the floor as he sliced through the locking mechanisms.

As they ducked under the door, Tali glanced over at him. "So, what did you get from the storage room?"

Arlas looked over the hallway, but the two turrets on the actual floor of the ship, now its ceiling, hung limply, indicating a lack of power. At least he didn't have to worry about being torn apart by a hail of monomolecular shuriken moving at several times the speed of sound, and even worse, these looked to be the mid-sized ones, meant to shred light armored vehicles and heavy infantry, but they fired slower than the lightest ones, meant to shred infantry swarms. Done making sure the group wasn't walking into an ambush, he answered Tali's question as he led the way forward. "Some supplies for making repairs and modifications to my weapons."

He got to the edge of the hallway, and reached up to run his hand against one of the turrets, before glancing around the corner. "This is where we are likely to start running into active patrols and defenses. So do as I direct, and touch nothing. I don't know what has power, or what is still active, so avoid as much as you can, and we should get through this alive."

Liara glanced around nervously. "So… if it is so dangerous, why are we here?"

Arlas gave an indifferent shrug. "Because everyone invited themselves, in spite of my warnings."

He was glad for his helmet as everyone glared at him, it kept them from seeing his smirk of amusement. He took another look down the hallway, before stepping into it. "This is the troop living areas or storage. For this ship and its mission, likely storage."

They moved along the passage for a few minutes, before taking an intersecting passage deeper into the ship. Arlas led the way, and for the most part the groups kept in a semi-sensible patrol; Ashley following behind him, with Joannis and Jaclyn behind her. Next was Tali and Liara, with Wrex watching the back, especially as they moved deeper into the ship. After a few more turns, Wrex finally looked at one of the doors, and spoke up. "So, what does the inside of the rooms here look like?"

Arlas shrugged as he paused in one door frame, using his long rifle's scope to scout ahead. "Depends on what exactly their mission was. If it was simply explore, then they would have a stasis pod, a bed, table, small storage container, and a chair in each room. If colonize, then just the stasis pod and storage. Wouldn't be very big, we don't need much room to rest, and the warriors would spend most of their time either meditating or training if they weren't in stasis."

Arlas abruptly stopped, and twisted his head slightly, before hissing. "Damn, its moving faster than I expected. It might have seen us. Move faster."

Arlas picked up the pace, no longer moving at a light jog, but at a slow run for the others. For him, it was a gentle jog so he could check every room they passed. After a moment, the others could hear something thudding down the hall they had just come from, approaching the turn, its steps slow and deliberate, but heavy enough to be clearly audible on the deck of the crashed ship. Just when Arlas was thinking they would have to turn and try to fight what was coming, a fight he was not anticipating enjoying, he spotted what he was looking for; a door that was already partially open but only a few centimeters.

Arlas quickly glanced at the door from close up to measure how open it had been, and then yanked it open to frown at what was inside. Turning back to the group, he gestured them inside. "Get inside, and try to not touch anything."

The inside of the room was… not a mess, most of the fabrics and other soft materials had long since degraded away from the changes in heat, even this deep into the ship, but the interior of the room had sand up to the ankles on the ground. The eldar warrior in the pod, a Swooping Hawk aspect warrior judging from the armor on a stand next to the pod, had fallen free of their restraints to lay against the clear cover of the pod, a skeleton clad in a bodysuit, it's uncovered skull leering at the group. Jaclyn and Joannis waved their omnitools at the armor and pod respectively, as Arlas yanked the door to the position it had been in. Liara was examining the bodysuit clad skeleton, idly rubbing her thumb against her other palm as she spoke. "What kind of warrior was he?"

Arlas didn't look away from the door, listening to the slowly approaching footsteps. "She. And a Swooping Hawk. Light flying units that would deploy above their opponents, drop grenade packs, and then drop in to massacre the survivors, before moving around to flank other units."

The group glanced at him, as the footsteps kept getting louder. Wrex snorted. "And you can guess that without looking at the skeleton for longer than a second?"

After a few seconds, Arlas stepped away from the door, and shrugged. "My Craftworld has a population imbalance, no one knows why. We have about seven women for every three men."

Arlas was glad for the radios, especially as he watched a seven meter tall wraithlord stomp down the hallway. After a second, he gestured for Tali to approach the door. "Switch your omnitool to record, and point it out the door in the direction we were going when I say to."

He examined the wraithlord, noting that the colors were the same as the ones he was familiar with; a dark grey torso and limbs, while the head, shoulder pads, and tabard were the color of deep, burnished gold. Instead of the distortion cannon most wraithguards carried, this wraithlord was outfitted with a pair of massive gauntlets that crackled with energy similar to his sword, and attached under the forearms were a flamethrower on each arm. But most alarmingly was the scatter laser mounted on its shoulder. That weapon would butcher the group without the Wraithlord slowing down, the locals' armor was too thin to resist the powerful weapon, and the narrow corridor would force them to group up and be cut down in a few bursts from it. Better to avoid the encounter entirely, and that wasn't even taking into consideration the fact he didn't want to fight a wraithlord from his own craftworld.

He waited for the wraithlord to pass by the room, apparently not aware of the group, before waving at Tali. "Go ahead. We will wait a moment before moving."

Once Tali had finished the quick recording, he let her show it off while he went back to the door, watching the retreating wraithlord. As he did that, Joannis activated the squad channel. "Arlas, what was that, how many are there likely to be, and how dangerous was it?"

"Wraithlord, at least a dozen wandering the ship if they have the usual amount active, if not more and not counting the hundred minimum wraithguard, and that one was extremely dangerous, it was outfitted to kill groups like ours. I could have disengaged and survived, but the rest of you would have been slaughtered. Which was why I suggested letting me do this alone. I can move among them without an problem, but you six are going to set off every alarm and alert every patrol we come across."

He didn't bother suggesting the others head back, he already knew their answer was no and even why each would say so. Wrex because the fighting would be fun, Ashley because the Twins wouldn't go, and the Twins because he was technically part of their squad, so needed support. Tali and Liara would be less concrete with their answers, Tali mumbling something about learning a bit about his something or other, and Liara would quietly agree with Tali, making the three human females very amused about something; blasted mon-keigh.

So instead he simply opened the door, and headed deeper into the ship. Tali stared at his back for a moment as the group followed. "So how do those wraithguard work? Can't be AI or VI controlled, no electronics my omnitool could find, as usual with your weird stuff."

Arlas considered her question for a moment, before answering with a shrug. "We put the soul of a dead eldar warrior in the shell, and they drive it."

Tali gave him a flat glare, before throwing up her hands and muttering a few words in her own language under her breath as she slowed to join the others, about him making things up. The next hour was a slow trek through the half destroyed ship, and they had to backtrack several times as their path became blocked by collapsed bulkheads or buckled plating, or they came across several patrols, or they started heading back toward the exterior. Tali had been working on a map, so the group had a vague idea where they were, and more importantly how to get out, but no one was really worried yet. They had had to dodge into rooms several times already, and had learned a bit about the various types of warriors the eldar fielded, though after they had entered the last room, Arlas had cursed out loud, before giving a short and very terse response, and then stopped responding to questions at all.

They had finally found a way through the storage areas after leaving that room and letting a patrol of two wraithguard pass, and the still silent Arlas led them into the hallway. He paused as they entered, but the four sentry turrets on the end, one heavy, one medium, and two light shuriken cannons, were all unpowered, so he pressed on. Tali glanced at Arlas' back, before turning to Joannis. "Any idea why a Farseer corpse would upset him more than the others?"

Joannis gave the quarian a shrug. "Farseers are the civic leaders of the Craftworld, from what I understand. More than that, I don't know. Everyone is sort of scrambling for any information on them."

Arlas was too focused on getting through the charnel house of a crashed ship, so ignored the conversation behind him, though he wouldn't say why he was upset if they pressed. What so upset him was the fact the Farseer had died early, rather than from the natural consequence of their power overwhelming their body and causing it to crystallize. The resulting crystal was then joined to the Infinity Circuit at the heart of the Craftworld, causing the Craftworld to grow and become capable of housing even more eldar souls and bodies.

Arlas looked up as they approached a sealed door, and after a moment of concentration, nodded. "We are in an area with power. Be wary. The bridge should be on the other side of that door."

Everyone else started readying weapons and powers, until he projected his amusement. Liara looked at him, before suddenly understanding dawned on her face, visible through the clear face mask she wore instead of a helmet. "Lasers, your people primarily use lasers. Kinetic barriers are almost useless against them."

Arlas nodded. "Good, you are paying attention. But considering most of the weapons the guards are equipped with, not getting in a fight would be the only way to survive."

He looked at the group as they stared blankly at him, before he sighed. "Fine, I will explain what most of the weapons here do when we get back. The nice ones will kill you messily. The not nice ones will make you wish they had killed you messily. For the moment, just wait here."

Jaclyn leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. "And if a patrol comes by?"

"Won't, the dust on the floor is undisturbed."

Everyone looked down at the floor, and noticed that he was right, the dust on the floor was not very deep, but solid and completely covered the ground. "And if something comes by?"

"I will hopefully have convinced the guard inside before then."

Joannis' head tilted slightly. "What guard? I thought you just said…"

Arlas sighed. "Who is the expert on the systems here? When I say there is a guard inside, there is a guard inside. Besides, remember those armor systems I was talking about? One of them is why Tali can't sense anything inside the wraith forms."

Tali's eyes narrowed. "Wait, you were being serious, about the dead piloting those things? And that would mean Yol'Pvera is dead, she was in one of those things you called Wraithguards."

The eldar groaned and rubbed his forehead, before turning and heading down the last hall. "Later, Tali."

Wrex let him walk about four steps, before calling out to him. "It's later, start talking."

Arlas sighed, before tapping his omnitool, and closing the squad channel. Once at the door, he realized he could feel the small power plant humming through his feet, directly under the bridge where the emergency power generator was, rather than just with his psy-senses. He winced at that thought, and knew that while the wraithguard and wraithlords were undoubtedly trying to prevent further damage to the ship, they were losing the battle against time and the elements. He took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts to something more appropriate for a Craftworld eldar, and then touched the door, causing it to sigh open, before he stepped through. He looked around the ruined bridge of the ship, and winced internally. Plates had fallen off the floor-turned-ceiling, and the various stands that crew would use had been warped or ripped off in several places.

But more concerning was the heavily decorated wraithlord standing in the middle of the bridge. Instead of the usual colors and weapons, this one had a pale white torso and limbs, and a silvery tabard and shoulder pads, while its head was jet black and adorned with red runes. And instead of the power gauntlets and flamers, this wraithlord carried a massive spear in one hand, while its other arm had an ornate shield attached, and a starcannon was mounted on its shoulder. It wasn't until he realized that the wraithlord was directly tracking him, not affected by the distortion that all the spirits of the eldar in the wraith forms suffered from, that he realized it wasn't a wraithlord, but a far rarer and more powerful variant called a wraithseer.

He shivered slightly in atavistic respect, realizing that the wraith forms that had been patrolling the ship had to have been aware of the intruders, and had allowed them to pass. He started toward the wraithseer, deliberately putting his weapons away, keeping his movements slow, sure and fluid as he slowly approached. He was a quarter of the way across the bridge when his omnitool abruptly vibrated, and he tapped the device to open the communication channel. "Bad time, what is it?"

Joannis' voice was calm and steady, belying the fear her words revealed she had to be under. "Arlas, two of the wraithlords and four wraithguard just turned the corner, and are not moving. They are looking right at us, and have been for a half minute."

He brought his hand up to the side of his head, silently telling the wraithseer he was talking with someone even as he continued to approach. "They have a wraithseer leading them, it allowed us to get this far. I believe it wishes to converse with me. Don't draw your weapons, they will not help and will cause the wraith forms to attack."

He could hear several of the others start speaking, but cut them off as he was approaching the wraithseer. "Ask later."

He turned off the channel as Jaclyn snarled something about his insistence on doing things later, and finished his approach toward the wraithseer. *(Greetings, revered Wraithseer, I am Arlas, Pathfinder of Craftworld Ae'Imedra. I apologize for the trespass, but wished to ascertain the situation with my own senses.)*

He gave a small but elegant bow, holding it for a second before straightening. After a moment, the Wraithseer responded, its form as still as a statue since it had determined he was approaching it, its mental tone revealing the inhabitant to have been male before they had died. *You keep fascinating company and interesting equipment. For a pathfinder. You may call me... Del.*

A/N - You have NO idea how strong the desire was to make the Wraithseer's name Tim. And make references to big pointy teeth, leaping, and looking at the bones.