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The sun is setting over the cityscape around the landing pad, its glowing disk painting the landing ships in shades of orange and red. Towards one end of the landing pad, two large gas canisters are being loaded into a freighter with the Dusk logo painted on its side. Toward the other end, The Black Dragonfly has its boarding ramp lowered, and a female Lyiri waits patiently, tapping the claws of her feet against the ground. The Lyiri has the Dusk Corporations logo stitched into her sleek flightsuit, and people who have been on previous expeditions might recognise her as the spokeslyiri
Akamatsu has notably abondoned his sunglasses for his short stay on Hekayt Prime to get onto the ship the spokeslyiri is waiting by. The ronin makes his way over to her at a reasonable pace, giving her a simple nod and then waiting for the rest of whatever crew is coming to show up.
A shuttle settles down and Raisa comes meandering off, stretching herself out with a yawn and shifting glance around. The Lunite looks interested in her surroundings, a lazy smile resting on her lips. Spotting the ronin, she changes directions to trot after. "What's up, Aka," she calls. "You selling yourself on the side too?
Aukido disembarks from a shuttle, panting softly as if he had just ran, although it's noticable that he simply has something on his mind causing a bit of worry, however he calms himself, and adjusts his clothing, before the Lyiri walks over towards the ramp, bowing politely towards the spokeslyiri, curling his muzzle into a smile, "Ancestors know peace," he greets, before giving a wave towards Akamatsu following him.
Rachael leaves a ship that just lands on Hekayt Prime, and heads over towards the Dusk ship, pair of swords at her side. "Hello friends!" she greets, perhaps overly cheerful.
The spokeslyiri offers a polite bow to those gathered here. "On behalf of Dusk Corporations, welcome. We at Dusk Corporations would like to take this opportunity to remind all expedition members that we are in no way responsible for any personal or psychological injuries sustained during the expedition." She pauses, her dark green eyes shining. "Today we will be destroying the last of the infestation on Enaj, once and for all. If you'll all please make your way into the ship when you're ready, I will begin the briefing." Her voice is calm and clear, carrying across the landing pad.
Akamatsu nods to the spokeslyiri and also gives a very slight, almost unnoticable facial twitch when Raisa uses his name. He quickly suppresses it and merely nods in greeting to the other members of the group as they arrive before heading into the ship.
Completely unfazed or perhaps just unaware of Aka's twitch, the Lunite ambles up the ramp of the ship looking both amused and cheerful. Might be something a bit odd about a well-armed woman looking so cheerful, but she pulls it off.
Aukido nods softly to the spokeslyiri, observing for now as he makes sure his equipment is in order, stretching a bit as he rubs his cheek.
"Oh, that's okay, I'm in no way responsible for any injuries or psychological damage anyone contracts either!" Rachael says to the Dusk representative with a bright smile. Then a pause as she looks over the others assembled, "I get to be the pilot, right?" she asks, somewhat mocking with perhaps a bit too much gleefulness at that prospect.
The spokeslyiri casts Rachael a glance, ears perked, as she boards the ship. She shakes her head, her fluffy tail swaying slowly behind her. "Feel free to sit back and relax, we've got a pilot already in the cockpit."
The interior of The Black Dragonfly is covered in sleek black metal plates. The only light shines from green globes placed along the ceiling. There's a spiked metal cage nestled towards the back of the ship.
The spokeslyiri reaches up and speaks into her commlink. The next moment the engines rumble to life, and The Dragonfly begins to lift off.'
Maina only barely manages to slip into the ship before the exit hatch closes, and it's easy to tell that she'd be panting for breath if she had to breathe. She glances around at those present, giving a little wave.
Akamatsu takes his seat in the shuttle and takes a pre-fight sip of sake while he does so. The ronin also takes the longer of his blades out, the katana, along with a rag and some polish from the depths of one of his coat pockets and begins to polish the blade. A nod is given to Maina as she enters.
Raisa eyes Rachael for a moment but does not comment but there seems to be a little relief as she's declined the piloting duties. Her green eyes flicker around her surroundings before she finds a seat and reclines.
Aukido finds a seat himself to relax in for the moment, working to manage his pistol and his PDA, making sure he has them set up for the situation should the need of either of them arrise, his ears flicking gently.
To the perceptive, there appears to be a sizable humanoid figure /crawling/ along the main cabin's ceiling. It doesn't seem to be making any attempt to keep itself hidden, despite it's sudden emergence. Detaching and landing smack in the middle of the cabin, it rises, keeping its palms up. If one could call them that. "Hello," it begins, voice decidedly masculine. He seems to be an infected host, not unlike the one Akamatsu had sliced up, only less further along in terms of mutation. Slimy brown-green chitinous plates line his pale flesh beneath torn clothing. "I'm only here to speak," he assures serenely, keeping his palms out harmlessly.
Humanoid in figure (for the most part), this apparently masculine being serves as a deeply infected host for the adolescent spider buried into his back. The most notable thing about him is the extra set of arms right beneath his first set. Wicked, sycle-like claws sprout from the digits of all of his limbs, even his toes which have torn free of the work boots that haphazardly cling to his legs. Remnants of a teal leather coat, now sleeveless, and gray slacks are seen beneath the brown-green growth of slimy plates lining his shoulders, back, the sides of his legs and parts of his wearied face. Beneath the brown, unkept mess of his hair and gruesome growth is the picture of malnurishment and desperation, but vague youth in his indigo eyes.
"Preparing to kill things on the shuttle en route already? How violent!" Rachael asks as she takes a seat, looks up towards the ceiling, then ahead.
As The Dragonfly climbs through the atmosphere, the female Lyiri takes her place at the head of the shuttle, near the hatch to the cockpit. She smooths down her flightsuit and... and finds a disfigured creature in the middle of her cabin. Despite its words, she cries, "Grab your weapons!"
Maina hadn't quite taken a seat yet. She doesn't really have issues keeping balance generally, after all. She starts at seeing the host, but she doesn't reach for any weapon... of course, it's notable that she doesn't appear to have any weapons, either. She hears the call for weapons and frowns, "Don't kill it!" she calls out, "It just wants to talk..."
Akamatsu takes the blade he already has in hand and raises from his seat while dropping the rag and drawing the other blade. The ronin doesn't actually take a stab at him yet, but does hold them very threateningly towards the creature. "Better talk fast, then." Is all the ronin has to say to the thing that claims to only wish to talk.
"What the hell," Raisa growls out at the appearance of the... thing, rising and pulling a pistol from the pair she has holstered on each hip. She glances askew to the one in charge, leveling the gun at the intruder. "I have a short attention span so I'd keep what you have to say brief before I decide to go ahead and blow your head off," she muses almost absently.
Aukido stands politely and approaches the creature curiously, speaking to the others, "I agree we should let it speak," he then curls his muzzle into a smile towards the creature, "Ancestors know peace, I am Aukido, son of Aukiro," he offers to it in greetings, "What is it you have to say?" the Lyiri not going for any weapons, his ears flicking gently.
Idlewise (the parasite) narrows his eyes every so slightly Raisa and Akamatsu threaten him. He stares at the sword, then pistol, brightening a bit when Aukido and Maina take the more passive approach. "Very well, I'll be as brief as I can. Well met, Aukido. The queen has been made aware of your current attempt to destroy us. We will not practice any sort of restraint should you proceed with this extermination. That said, we wish to avoid casualties... Perhaps we can negotiate. We do not plan on leaving the station..."
"Shouldn't you be talking to someone who can actually make decisions?" Rachael asks. "Instead you try and convince the hired help sent to do cleaning to not do this?" the small woman considers this again. "I mean, you are going to offer us twice the pay offered already or something right? Because otherwise it sounds like you really didn't think the evil plan through."
Unarmed, the female Lyiri clenches and unclenches her paws. "What are you doing? Listening to it? We're not interested in negotiations with vermin!" Spits the spokeslyiri, ears laid back against her head. "Kill it! What are you waiting for?!" She glares from Maina to the host-creature. An approving nod is spared for Rachael, and the felinoid folds her arms across her chest.
Maina glances past the host towards the sposelyiri, "It will be -cheaper- for you if we can do this without you having to invest heavily in more extermination, right?" Then towards the host itself again, "That said... it better be good. I think about everyone here wants you dead really, really soon."
Akamatsu looks to the spokeslyiri as she yells for the execution of this parasitic creature asking for diplomacy and then back to the creature itself to say "What? So you can have more bodies to feed off of? No thanks." With that the shorter of the blades makes a stab for the stomach and the katana is stabbed at the neck.
Aukido notices Akamatsu's sudden reaction during the situation, and disregards what anyone else says for the moment, jumping between the creature and the Samurai, waiting for an opening as the swords come at him, and through will and perhaps chance, at the last moment he watches the positioning of the blades and his hands move to catch the Ronin's wrists, and seperate the attack's directions to where they won't harm anyone, using his own body weight to keep the human from moving any further, the Lyiri standing firm now between them both.
As Akamatsu and Aukido tangle amongst themselves, Raisa just calmly takes a step to the side, clearing up her line of sight and squeezes the trigger of her weapon to send a slug in the direction of the unwelcome visitor.
Idlewise just.... stares at Rachael for a good long moment. "There is no evil plan here. We simply want to continue living. And it seems the hired help plans to do the attacking, not the 'person in charge'." Then it pauses, frowning at the spokeslyiri. "Do you really want to murder this host?" Before he can get an answer, Akamatsu is making to stab him in multiple places! Aukido steps before him just in time.
All for naught. Raisa clips off a bullet that gets him right in the shoulder. With a pained yelp, green blood pours onto the ground, and he staggers to a knee, glaring at Raisa. "If you are not interested in any sort of negotiation, I cannot guarantee another chance at it. We /need/ hosts to survive!"
"So... if you need hosts..." Rachael begins after Raisa shoots, prepared to move but holding back for now, "Why can't we just build bodies for these things again? I didn't read the memo."
Akamatsu glares at Aukido and says in a very quiet tone "What the hell are you doing? You really want to throw your head on a blade for a parasite you've known all of a minute?" The ronin tilts his head to the knee'd creature and states "They had no problem killing my kind to live. Tell me why I should have any higher level of sympathy for them." The ronin makes to pull free of the grip on him and if successful holds the blade threateningly on the mutant once more "Give me a few goood reasons."
The hatch of the cockpit slides open just long enough for Tres to poke his head out and a small purple and titanium colored bot to come zipping out before the door closes almost all the way, perhaps so the strange person doesnt have a chance to get in. The bot hovers in place watching for a moment. "So much for negotiation. Observing." says the bot as it hovers into a corner.
Maina gives a sigh, stepping over towards Akamatsu, near Aukido, giving a glare towards the triggerhappy woman. "We can kill it no problem. That much is obvious. What possible harm can there be in just listening to another option? Maybe it knows something we don't. Maybe there's been a development since we were last there." She looks towards Rachael, "And I could produce bodies for them, I think, with the proper equipment. Nobody has to die on our side or theirs, if his proposition is good."
Idlewise is beginning to look a little more than impatient now. "Bodies? Yes, we'll take bodies... any bodies... No one else has to get hurt..." He licks his lips, looking up at each of them. Then he appears to falter, wincing and rubbing at his temple. A glimpse of the host manages to break through. "No, d-do not listen. Kill me! Kill all of them! Don't bother saving us! Just kill them!"
"It talks of being murdered, what of the people their kind has murdered?" The female Lyiri looks as though she'd give a lot to have a good plasma rifle in paw. Venom drips from her voice as she talks to the creature. "Yes, don't deserve hosts, you don't deserve to live. You're animals, pests, and you'll be exterminated like the vermin you are."
Aukido moves to the creature's side, placing a gentle hand on him, and telepathically reaching out as if in an attempt to Soothe it's pain, for now he only regards Akamatsu's words, and the original host's words in his head, before trying to tend to the wound, avoiding getting near any swords that might be pointed at perhaps both of them because of proximity.
The Lyiri searches through his coat for a few supplies to quickly tend to the wound before it becomes too serious, speaking as he does to any around, "They did this from necessity, it is not as if they were given a choice as most of us were, and I won't let anyone here harm him, without going through me," his words are tense with a slight growl, "My father was a genetic researcher and I learned from him, with a lab on B'hira or perhaps Comorro a safe development could be made for them, and perhaps even recover these original hosts and preserve both them and these beings," the Lyiri moves a hand to wipe his brow, speaking to the creature now, "Don't worry, either of you, I'll protect your friends," Aukido's eyes welling up with tears as he attempts to treat the Creature/Host, obviously at a loss of what to do here, but trying his hardest not to give in, disregarding others for now.
"Were you dropped on your head as a small child or are you just /this/ damn stupid," Raisa asks of Aukido with a simple roll of her eyes. Her expression tightens at the host's words and she looks to Akamatsu. "If I get this furball out of the way, will you finish the job?" she asks simply before pointing her gun at the Lyiri. "Move, or I shoot," she says very slowly, as if addressing a small child. If he does not move very quickly, in about roughly five seconds, the Lunite fires.
Aukido continues to work, not paying any attention to Raise, however, after waiting a bit, he hears a shot, and his tear-filled eyes widen, his lower torso beginning to pool blood on the spot the shot hit, letting out a scream as it does, one hand moving to grip it, however he falls against the creature slightly, and tries to hold on through the pain, not moving from his side as he pants and groans, whimpering as the blood begins to pool more.
Rachael sighs with this, "Look, let us negotiate. If we can't work out a deal, I have a Plan B to kill all of them." she doesn't seem particularly shocked by the violence. "But I am not going into a situation with a team that can't agree on how to handle these things." then she brightly smiles towards the injured parasite-being. "So, how about you tell me how this parasite thing works, okay? You know, like if we can get all of you out and put you in new empty bodies so you don't have to steal hosts since stealing is rather impolite."
Akamatsu nods to Raisa, having expected Aukido to move. When he doesn't the ronin winces visibly at the shot and begins making to massacre the thing when Rachael speaks up. The ronin turns to her and asks "What about the people they already...stole? I see no reason to give these things nice new shiny bodies when the only thing they've done for us is murder. Last I checked we punished for murder, not rewarded it." With that the ronin's katana drifts closer to the parasite's neck and he looks once more to Rachael "Can flood the place with poison gas and I won't...wait a second..." The ronin then looks to the Lyiri "Can we just do that?"
The purple and titanium bot stays hovering in the corner where it parked its self clearly just observing, and it's probably safe to assume transmitting what it sees and hears to Tres who it would seem is keen to stay where he is since the door to the cockpit closes when people start shooting.
Maina raises a brow at the plea for death, then she steps aside from Akamatsu. "Well. Survival is nature's way, too. If the host thinks this is a matter of survival, then perhaps it isn't the time for negotiation. I won't get in the way anymore, myself." She glances towards Aukido as she step away, "... you really are dense." She eyes the blood with a frown.
Idlewise regains control with a grimace, eying Aukido as he extends a telepathic painkiller. When Aukido is shot, the creature slowly rises with a frown. "You fight amongst yourselves. How evolved can you be." Rachael is met with a relieved look. "Yes, that would be /grand/." Again, he seems to lose control as the host himself shakes the telepathic grip. "Are you all fucking insane!? They'll take over! They'll infect more than just empty bodies! The queen is preparing even as we speak, make haste! If you can shoot your comrades then shoot me! Please!" Just as he tries to push his neck up against Akamatsu's blade, he steps away, shaking his head with a nervous laugh. "Yes, let's go with the body idea, yes? No need to plant the canisters."
The spokeslyiri replies to Akamatsu's question with a quick nod. "Of course, we even have the poison gas en route to Enaj station. Gas masks are being supplied, we just need to move them close to the infestation and let them do the rest." She falls silent as the creature begins to speak again, just shaking her head.
Aukido continues to struggle through the pain, however where he was shot allows him to recover just a bit from it, enough so he doesn't collapse from any vital hits, and shuffles a bit to try and sit up... However, something different is on his mind, he telepathically reaches out through the pain he's feeling, in an attempt to put the spider feeding on the host asleep for now, perhaps giving the host himself room to regain his own mind.
"Have you people all gone fucking insane?" Raisa asks, looking first to Maina and then Aukido. "Besides the fact that this thing has apparently tried to kill you people before and it somehow managed to sneak aboard this ship, which no one seems to find the least bit peculiar, the obviously tortured and in pain host is being manipulated and has /begged/ us to kill it." Her pistol raises for a third time to focus in on the creature. "To say nothing of the easy fact that our employer - the one who pays us good money - has already said to kill it." She glances aside to the female Lyiri. "Boss lady, by your leave then," she adds. With permission, she'll fire again, or hold off and wait for further instructions.
It's that moment in which Raisa asks for permission that the infected host sidesteps with surprising speed, but only barely managing to dodge the bullet as it twangs against the bulkhead. He starts to become defensive, flexing his claws. "If you cannot come to a decision, then I should probably take my leave..." With this, however, a telepathic intrusion will commence, and if successful, those with organic minds will begin to think that perhaps it's best to leave the spiders alone.
"That wasn't very nice!" Rachael points out to Aukido and the parasite. Then to the spokeslyri. "So. New plan. One, we're turning the ship around. Two, I'm getting off. Three, I'm getting double pay for my trouble because I just saved your mind from being nice and fried!" then another pause, "Or this could get even messier, and I really don't like messy things. So unsanitary!" then another bright smile, "Of course, I'm not responsible for any physical or psychological damage you suffer." she adds to the spokeslyiri, "So it'd probably be in everyone's best interest to cooperate and work as a team on this!"
Akamatsu sighs a bit at Raisa's inaccuracy and then at the words from Rachael. The ronin then looks to the wounded spider and finally attempts again what he tried to do in the first place. Kill it. Though this time he's getting flashy. The targets of his blade are the temples, the wakizashi aimed at the right just under the spot the katana is aimed at on the left to avoid meeting in the middle. Yes. He's trying to sword temple strike it.
Idlewise frowns deeply when his attempt is stifled by Rachael, his cold glare narrowing on her. The telepathic connection he had maintained with the queen is severed. "Hnnn. Very well. We have tried. Th-" WELP! Akamatsu takes matters into his own hands and slices into the spider's 'head', killing it instantly. This kills off the host as well, who drops to his knees and flops forward in a pool of green blood.
The purple and titanium bot hovering in the corner rotates left to right on its vertical axis as though shaking its head, even though it doesn't have one. "My owner doesn't see why you took so long to get that point."
Maina purses her lips at this, "Well then. Are we turning back or moving on to cull the population?"
With her eyes narrowed, Raisa inches forward with her weapon still raised. Can never tell if there will be headless spider-alien zombies in the near future. "My thoughts exactly," she agrees with the bot, eyes rolling. "Now are you taking us on to a real job or are we going back to where we fucking started?" She lets out a huff and glances briefly toward the Lyiri.
As per instructions, and with only a hint of hesitation, the spokeslyiri speaks into her commlink for the ship to turn around. The engine rumbles and hums in response, as the dragonfly heads back towards Hekayt Prime. "Yes... a report will have to be made of this." She mutters,, looking down at the spider/host's corpse.
Aukido moves to his knees, and simply looks over the body of the creature and host, his hand moving to his wound as he attempts to Soothe and treat himself now, the bleeding having slown down slightly, and shakes his head, "Why..." is all he says for now, however, before the corpse gets in any worse condition, the Lyiri attempts to examine it carefully, ears flicking gently as he does.
"And maybe someone out to report we have a bleeder." Rachael adds, though she removes a scabbard from her waist and dips the tip in the puddling blood and begins drawing a circle with it, smiling brightly as she does so. "So, anyone want to see a magic trick?"
With the infected person down the cockpit door opens and Tres steps out. "I'd suggest spacing that before we land. Just a suggestion. Completely optional." The purple and titanium bot looks to Tres and rotates as though nodding. "Completely Oprional." It agrees a few times, in several languages just to make sure."
Maina frowns faintly towards Rachael, "The bloodshed may have been necessary, but that doesn't make it a joking matter."
"Idiot," Raisa mutters as she looks in Aukido's direction and instead just goes back to her seat to check her weapon and reload it. It gets secured back into its holster as the Lunite reclines and stretches.
The female Lyiri wanders across to the corpse and gives it the ol' boot in the side, making sure it's good and dead, which it seems to be. "Yes... well I'm glad no one got hurt. No one that followed their orders, at least." A meaningful look is directed towards Aukido before she stalks back towards the front of the ship. "Magic trick?" The ship lurches as it hits atmosphere and begins to descend.
"Okay, okay, no magic trick." Rachael says, seeming a bit disappointed. Instead she uses the scabbard like an improvised quill and opts to write 'Get Well Soon' in the circle.
Aukido takes steps to preserve the corpse as much as he can, before finding something to help him transport it quickly as soon as they land, the Lyiri's ears flicking a bit as he works through what pain he has left, having soothed some of it, and stopping any of the more troublesome bleeding.
Akamatsu returns to his seat as well and grabs the rag that he'd dropped earlier and wipes off the blade. The ronin then looks to Aukido with a fair amount of distaste as he says to Raisa "If he'd have just let me kill it we could have gassed the place and been done with it by now, but no they just want to talk. Yeah, talk us into becoming slaves in our own bodies that him." The ronin's head tilts to the dead body and he trails off into irritated muttering.
Tres looks to his bot, "Well Erving, looks like they're going to keep it onboard for a bit and ignore our suggestion. Better stabilize for landing." The bot shrugs it's arms as Tres moves to a seat and buckles in. "Doesn't look like it." The bot, Erving agrees and adjusts it's repulsors to counter any movement from landing.
A heavy thud, and The Black Dragonfly lands firmly on Hekayt Prime, the four guardian statues of the landing pad offering a sense of protection in the cold night sky. "Space it?" The spokeslyiri looks horrified. "We'll be keeping this for scientific study. Know your enemy." She taps her head, whiskers twitching with excitement
"People are idiots," Raisa replies to Aka, shaking her head. "I don't kill for fun but damn, it was tempting to put a bullet in that damned Lyiri's skull instead of his gut," she mutters. A lazy smile appears. "But hey, money is money, huh?" As the ship begins its descent, she rises to her feet. "Still... kind of a waste of a night, I think." As soon as she's able, the Lunite moves to disembark the Dragonfly.
"And a steady supply of future jobs." Rachael adds cheerfully after a moment, seeming to skip over some middle piece of logic there. After landing, she stands, "Bye everyone!" she says cheerfully and heads off the ship.
Maina frowns faintly at all this, "No harm was done by giving it a moment to speak. And now that we've heard from the host as well... well, we are that much more informed." She turns to go, herself.
Aukido calls in to have the corpse quickly preserved and frozen for delivery, making sure that everything is in order and it's set to be delivered to the Dusk Corporation's base, he sighs and rubs his torso, wincing visibly, before heading on to get treatment and rest.
Akamatsu stands and adds to Raisa "One of the first rules to things like this: always expect a trap from known enemies." With that the ronin is out the door and walking at a rather quick pace for the shuttles.
Tres quirks one purple eyebrow at the spokeslyiri and stands a moment holding his hand out over the body of the host. A beam seems to project out and scans over the remains. "Studied. Now you can get rid of it, right?" Obviously the quirky techie firmly believes data is all that's needed.
The body is loaded into a freezer, and a team of hazmat suit clad Lyiri move in to examine and clean the blood, as well as anything else the parasite may have left about. They're looking for nasty surprises. The spokeslyiri places a paw on Tres's shoulder. "You're a bit jumpy, Outverser."
Tres looks to the paw on his shoulder then to it's owner but doesn't make eye contact. "Yes. Quite a bit of experience with virus' and infections and aliens taking over bodies. Helped cure one and tried investigating another back in my home dimension." He nods his head a few times and blinks behind his fringe. "Good reason to be jumpy. Yep."
The spokeslyiri scratches behind her ear and shrugs. "Doesn't look like that's going to happen. All the spiders are back up on Enaj Station. We should've reduced it to molten slag months ago..." She mutters, shaking her head. "Even so, the canisters will be in place shortly. They will be destroyed."
"Well, I'm no biolgist anyway. Dabble a bit. Better with human biology." He pulls his left sleeve up a bit and unplugs a data chip from near his wrist. "Maybe give this to your scientists. Gassing them will work I guess. Just a guess though. I'll just stick to computers and robotics. Make much more sense then most people."
The spokeslyiri takes the chip and nods. "You've earned your pay." She tells him, bowing slightly before padding off to exit the ship, tail swaying slowly behind her.