THE RP THREAD!!! *sparkle sparkle*

[Wayfarer]

To Lauril, Syr's account seemed like fiction – a horrific story, but entirely unreal. The actions it related belonged to some other creature – distant, abstract, hypothetical – not the fox sitting next to her, still unconsciously squeezing her paw. And Lauril wanted them to.

But no, they didn’t. They were real. They were, and they were wrong, and they were the actions of the individual before her.

The tormented individual. Lauril felt a tremor run through the paw that gripped hers, and sensed with foreboding that she was about to hear worse. She was right. Slowly, but still with confusion, she began to piece together what was coming. Stealing information… going to the Viledarians… and…

How many… how many ended up dying?

And how could she respond? She was hearing about dreadful actions, a dreadful past… and seeing present tears, guilt, and remorse. She was growing tired again, and her headache had returned, and she didn’t know what to think. Throughout the account that followed, the sense of distance from what she was hearing – of its unreality – remained, and Lauril couldn’t decide whether or not to fight it. Hearing wasn’t the same as seeing. She believed what she was hearing and could imagine the implications… but imagination fought with the pain and need visible before her. She wanted to comfort the agonized fox… but how? And by doing so, would she be devaluing the many the fox must have harmed?

But you know – you know that even this can be forgiven, she reminded herself.

She still didn’t know what to say, though. She felt powerless and scared and ashamed of her fear. Terrible as the account was, she almost dreaded its end, because then she would have to find words, a voice. Even as she listened, the questions had begun to echo in the back of her mind: How…? What will I say? I don’t have words. I don’t know her. I don’t know any of these experiences. How can I offer anything in a way that will help? Why am I here when I have… nothing?

[Spacewolfomega]

As the Wolfstar took to the air, Omega settled into the command chair once again. Mac and Aldar were silent... everyone still too stunned from everything they had just witnessed. Mac worked the controls and then leaned over his shoulder to ask, “Where to, Skip?”

“We need to figure out what the situation is at the prison barge,” Omega responded. He then punched a few buttons on his console and spoke into his headset. “This the Wolfstar... Omega here. What’s the situation at the prison barge? Over.”

“Not good,” came the eventual reply. It was Captain Ferguson. “Looks like we were too late to stop the Viledarian experiments. The prisoners started mutating on us. They...”

“Same here,” Omega interrupted. “Five of them made their way to where we shot down the scout ship. They’re under control now. They... uh... they’ve managed to recover some of their intellect, but... it’s bad. Listen... it turns out that the Viledarians who we were chasing were actually trying to help the children escape. They’d managed to keep the children from being experimented on. I know this sounds hard to believe... but... I think we’ve got a handful of good Viledarians here. I know that sounds crazy coming from me, but...”

Fergie stared at Sergeant Blaghavist and responded. “Oh, no, I believe you... I’m with one of them now.”

“Okay... well, I think I’ve got their leader here... a guy named Thorkelgdt.”

“Sergeant Thorkelgdt?”

“Uh, yeah... how did you-?”

“Sergeant Bob here mentioned him to me.”

“Bob?” Omega answered, a bit confused. “That’s a strange name for a Viledarian...”

“My nickname for the sarge,” Fergie laughed, wryly. “I’m not too familiar with Viledarian names. This one was a mouthful.”

“Understood,” Omega answered, nodding. “Well, it sounds like I need to get Sgt. Thorkelgdt to you so we can start sorting out any of his allies from the main group. Plus, he may be able to help us figure out if there’s a way we can reverse this whole mutation thing.”

“We may already have a lead on that... Bob mentioned some guy named Tattawhack or something. Sounds like he’s the Villie’s mad scientist.”

“Roger that. We’re on our way, then. And Captain...” Omega paused. “Looks like you were right about my ‘take no prisoners’ approach... I just wanted to say that.”

[Sharuuk]

*SMACK* The pitiful creature struck the wall of the tube again, this time it held it's hand against the glass in Şaaruuk's direction. The pleading eyes looking even more desperate.

For some reason, one he can't really put his finger on....even now, Şaaruuk reach out and placed his hand on the tube exactly on line with the creature's. The creature's eyes appeared to relax as a wave of relief seemed to wash over them. The eyes closed and the head bowed slightly. The hand stayed pressed against the cylinder wall and Şaaruuk suddenly "saw" what horrors this creature had been subjected to.

Telepathy???? How was this possible? As the huge wolf 'watched', he witnessed a level of base cruelty and barbarism that he hadn't witnessed since the tribal wars of Bortaan II.

Suddenly, a voice at the far end of the lab broke his concentration and 'mind-link'. Slipping behind and between the foreward bank of cylinders so that he could see the blown door, he watched as a Viledarian came in and began to frantically work at a console. What really raised the huge B'Thraanti's anger was the fact the Villie was wearing the equivalent of a lab coat.....this piece of garbage worked in here.

Retracting the helmet, a grim smile tugged at his lips as he silently levitated over the banks and just as silently touched down behind the unsuspecting Viledarian. So engrossed in his activity was the tech that he never realized that death incarnate had just appeared behind him. That is until he caught Şaaruuk's reflection in the monitor panel when he shifted positions.

Spinning around, he came face to face with a living nightmare. Almost instantly, a huge, silver clawed hand incircled his throat cutting off his breath and lifted him completely off the floor. He was now staring into brightly glowing red eyes, that were looking out of a slightly blood smeared face with a long muzzle that had very large silver fangs sticking out of a huge mouth.

The scalp wound, that he was still unaware of, had started bleeding again.
The blood having now pooled at the snug collar of the armorsuit. The result was that it now ran around his neck and out onto the mercury-like surface of his chest forming two rivulets of bright red blood running downward. The overall effect was more than terrifying to say the least.

"Give me just one good reason why I shouldn't tear your head off right here, right now."

The strangling Villie frantically grabbed Şaaruuk's wrist with both hands in an effort to relieve some of the pressure around his throat. Şaaruuk could feel his claws starting to extend in preparation to slice thru his prisoner's flesh.

"You're part of this......answer me....NOW!!"

Punctuating the last word with a substantial squeeze, he relaxed his grip just enough for the slowly suffocating greenskin to take in a single ragged breath.

"Trying......to......h-h-hhelp!!"

"Not good enough." Came the growled reply as the pressure around his throat again began to increase.

In full panic mode now the Villie pointed to the console and it's monitor.

"Noooo....n..t...me..e..ee. F...l..s......FIIILES.....c...d...s." Came the strangled raspy reply.

"Not much better.....I intend to enjoy this......you, however will not."

The dying Villies eyes were beginning to glaze over as he desperately pointed to the door in the back of the room behind the tubes.

"I know about the door, I was about to go thru it when you came in.....still not good enough."

As his grip began to tighten for the final act, the Villie managed to get one last word out that stopped him cold.

Sss..aa..v....e.....t...e...m

"WHAT??....What did you say??

As he looked into the Villies glazing eyes, they rolled back into his head and he went completely limp.

Instantly releasing his death grip, Şaaruuk laid the unconscious lab tech on the floor and pressed his hand on his chest a few times to try and force some air into him by autonomic impulse. Aftere a few moments, the seemingly near dead Villie suddenly spasmed and took a very deep and very raspy breath....then another and another. Once his breathing approached normal the tech finally opened his eyes only to be greeted again by this hellish apparition that had been his last vision before he'd blacked out.

"Last chance....who are you and what do you have to do with this?"

"M..m..my name is Borcheldt....I came back to release them.....the ones in back!"

[Fusion]

Ben wanders onto the bridge of the Wolfstar half in a daze. He had gotten a lot of emotion out by crying on Xenda's shoulder, however a lot of the kids where getting restless, so he told her he could handle himself for a bit while she helped get things back under control. Now he was wishing she was there so he could ask her about something.

Something was eating at the back of his mind ever since he woke up, but the feeling was getting stronger the closer they got to the prison barge. It was almost like a presence of some nearby, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Without anything else to do, he headed for the bridge to watch the approach.

“Hey! Ben! What's got you looking like a hen in a fox den?” Mac asks glancing up from the controls.

Ben sighs, “I don't know. Can any of you feel that?”

“Feel what?” asks Omega giving him a concerned look. “She feels like she's flying fine!”

“No, not the ship. It's like...um...” he racks his brain trying to figure out how to describe it and comes up short. “I can't describe it! You'd know what I'm talking about if you did.”

Mac looks up again as a sigh escapes Ben again, “I think that mutant hit him harder than we thought.”

[BrockthePaine]

“Roger that. We’re on our way, then. And Captain...” Omega paused. “Looks like you were right about my ‘take no prisoners’ approach... I just wanted to say that.”

Fergie shrugged. "You have Gil to say that to, I'm afraid - that was when I was, um, orbiting Uranus. And please don't make any jokes about that..."

"Has anyone gotten through to the Professor yet?" Gil interrupted.

Fergie frowned. "I haven't heard him on the channel... I'm going to run ahead and make sure he's alright."

Gil nodded. "We'll join you in a few minutes."

Fergie turned and sprinted towards the prison barge. He saw nothing on his run, but still wished he had had the time to recover his helmet and body armor. Or... wait, the fleet had taken that when they left. He didn't need it - part of his commando training was learning to go without it. But he'd have to talk with Sharuuk about getting replacement armour.

Fergie dashed up the ramp and glanced around. He didn't see anything, but heard Sharuuk in one of the rooms. He nearly went after him, but something... something was screaming at him in silent horror. He turned and looked down the hallway leading to the cockpit. There was someone there... a Viledarian in a lab coat, sitting in the pilot's seat.

Walking quietly, Fergie headed towards the cockpit, training his rifle on the back of the Viledarian's head. He wasn't prepared to shoot the guy just yet - perhaps he was one of the good Viledarians.

But that hope died as the Viledarian swiveled around in the chair, having seen Fergie in the video monitors. "Good afternoon, Captain," the Viledarian said. "I am Master Field Xenobiologist Tahathak. I have a deadman switch and a vest full of frag grenades. And the self-destruct is going to go in five minutes. If you run, you may get clear." He pointed with his spare hand towards a computer monitor which stated the self-destruct had been activated.

"I don't suppose we can make a deal to get the prisoners off?" Fergie said.

"I don't think so, Captain," Tahathak replied. "I launched a communications pod containing my research notes while your other vessel was distracted with those sorry imbeciles... it's already in hyperspace. Just thought you should know. And if you try to shoot the deadman's switch out of my hand, it will detonate from the signal loss. I dare say you weren't planning anything that stupid."

"So this is a stalemate?"

"No," Tahathak said. "See you in the afterlife in five minutes, captain. I daresay all of you are too kindhearted to leave my experiments to die." He leered and took his hand off the deadman switch.

Fergie threw himself backwards, sheltering as best he could in the open hallway. Two grenade fragments richoched and ended up in his leg. Slowly he crawled into the devastated bridge, looking at the destroyed computer terminal Tahathak had been using. The interface was destroyed, but the holograph projector had been protected by the console... and it was still counting down.

Activating the bonefone, Fergie said "Emergency. Prison barge is rigged... to self-destruct in... five minutes thirty-one seconds. Tahathak is... dead. I think... I'm gonna black out now."

[Spacewolfomega]

Omega started to brush off Ben's feeling as nervousness, or something resulting from his killing of the Viledarian trooper, but then something that his mind had filed away for later decided it was time to come to the forefront of his thoughts again.

"Ben," Omega began. "Back in the scout ship you understood what Thorkelgdt was saying to me. How did you do that?"

"I... I don't know," Ben answered. "It's like I just knew it... like it all made sense to me. I know I'd never heard or spoken Viledarian before, but... it just seemed so simple... like it all fell into place."

Could it be that Ben had psychic abilities? Omega had heard rumors about that kind of thing with the Pantheryians, but they were such a secretive race that rumors were about the only thing one got. In Lupinian culture psychic abilities were the stuff of science-fiction. There were always reports that someone had psychic abilities, but there was never any evidence to back it up and most usually turned out to be charlatans of one sort or the other.

"Maybe the Viledarians' language has a similiar origin to ours or something?" Mac suggested.

Omega simply curled his nose up at that suggestion.... then he caught himself. Instinct... habit... he still thought of the Viledarians as an evil, vile race of beings. The ones on his ship now were the exceptions to the rule. But was that right? He'd have to check himself. If there was to be a chance at redeeming the Viledarians, he'd have to look at them differently. Of all the battles he had fought, this one was going to be a tough one.

"I'm not so sure," Omega replied. "Ben... you said you felt something... or sensed something. What is it? Can you focus on it?"

"Maybe, but it's more like it found me than the other way around."

"It's there, Ben... try and focus on it... See if you can get any clearer perception."

[The JAM]

N'marra looked at the terran jaguar for a moment. "Go back? I'm really not sure. I've lost a lot of my friends, family, and practically every city I know has been destroyed, so....perhaps I'd like to look around this planet for a while..." She then looked closely at him for a moment, then she seemed to squint for a bit--

Suddenly, she sat back.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" asked The J.A.M.

N'marra wasn't sure what to think. Was he not a feline? She'd been able to pick up vague mental images from non-sapient felines nearby, but as a Pantheryian, she would normally have been able to plant a thought on this guy's head, but there seemed to be some sort of.........

....blockage?

[Tbolt]

At the hospital Syr continued to remember with Lauril:

The diplomatic vessel landed cleanly in the middle of the large Viledarian space port. Immediately an entire battalion of ground forces surrounded it. The side portal opened revealing a dark interior. A few wisps of vapor trailed down the landing plank. Save for the dying whine of the ship's engines, the tarmac was silent.

A viledarian herald stepped to the base of the landing plank. He cleared his throat. “Viledaria welcomes the second Vulpinian diplomatic envoy!” a small flutter of sniggers broke out at the mention of the word second. This was cut abruptly short when a vulpinian launched itself from the doorway of the shuttle and clobbered the viledarian herald cleanly in his head.

The blow knocked him unconscious. Soldiers moved in to cover the prone vulpinian.

“What the?!” a viledarian trooper prodded the unmoving body of the delegate with his rifle. The barrel encountered a hard and stony substance.

The vulpinian female was frozen solid in a position of restful sleep.

A voice emanated from the open doorway. “I have four more pieces of trash like that in my ship. Which of you filthy little n’gacks will remove them for me?”

Two troopers growled and charged up the gangplank into the interior of the ship. A brief scuffle ensued followed by silence. One of the trooper’s helmets rolled down the gangplank. It hit the frozen diplomatic corpse and bounced to a stop.

Syrryxys sauntered into view. “Well, that was outstandingly unproductive. Who is in charge of this Terrazian nut cluster?”

A well decorated and battle scarred Viledarian stepped up. “What is the meaning of this!?”

Syrryxys barely let him finish the question when she launched herself out of the hatchway, a gleaming silver dagger held in each paw. She plunged them into the general’s neck to the hilt, and then tore them out to spray black blood in all directions.

“You are slower than a pack of Lupinian daisy slugs. I can’t believe you’ve survived as a race this long!”

A silver streak darted its way through the ranks of Viledarian soldiers, slashing at any and all exposed flesh or joints. In short order gunfire and pandemonium reigned on the tarmac. Finally Syrryxys found what she searched for, a large ground tug used to wheel spaceships into and out of their hangars. She pressed a button on her wrist computer and ducked behind the tractor, curling into a ball, covering her ears and eyes and opening her mouth.

The engines on the shuttle exploded in a deafening roar, sending debris and bodies flying in all directions. The concussion from the blast knocked the tractor over on top of the small vulpinian, trapping her underneath. The world went black.

[Sharuuk]

"You're WHAT?"

"I-I *cough* came here to free the ones in the holding cells behind those doors...

"Then what were you doing at this console instead of at the door?"

"Trying to retrieve the files on these experiments......maybe to be able to help some of these people."

"And you expect me to believe you?"

"Yes..yes...Tahathak is mad....TOTALLY mad! Most of us here wanted no part of his "research" but we had no choice....we either helped him or got used as test subjects."

Şaaruuk was still kneeling beside the lab tech when the blast from Tahathak's bomb shook the entire ship.
Looking up, his luminous eyes wide, huge ears snapping fully erect....

"What th....?"

A few seconds later, Fergie's call came thru.

"Emergency. Prison barge is rigged... to self-destruct in... five minutes thirty-one seconds. Tahathak is... dead. I think... I'm gonna black out now."

"T'c'aak....this is all we need."

Almost simultaniously with Fergie's transmission, a familiar beeping and a soft vibration in the armorsuit alerted him to something even more important. Whatever the explosion was, it had disabled the shielding that had made communication with the W'ykkryn while inside the ship extremely difficult and transport impossible.

Grabbing Borcheldt by the lapels, the massive wolf physically hauled him to his feet.

"What about them?" He said, indicating the rows of tanks with their grim occupants.

"I-I don't know.....I'm not sure they can be taken out without killing them....what was that noise?"

"The sound of time running out for all of us......the ship is set to self-destruct in about five minutes and I'm pretty sure the bridge has been mostly destroyed by the blast we heard. Do you know of another way to stop the self-destruct sequence from anywhere else aboard ship"?

"Actually, I do.....I was conscripted from engineering to assist Tahathak and there's an access console down there......but it'll take us at least five minutes to get down to the engineering section."

As the helmet flowed back into place, the vidscreen showed him a layout of the barge. As he thought, the display also showed massive damage to the bridge....and a still form that regestered as the young Captain just outside the main entryway to it. Some damage was evident, but his lifesigns were good....slightly erratic but strong enough.

The display also showed the engineering section to be six decks below them and about 50ft aft.

"Whoever you are.....there's no way we can get to engineering in time to stop this.....and I don't think I can, even if we could."

"Well....you're going to get to try.....I know a shortcut."

"Wh-what do you mean 'shortcut?'"

Before the surprised Viledarian could even react, Şaaruuk had him by the arm, tapped jewel on the arm of his suit and the familiar shimmer of the transporter surrounded the both of them.

As they disappeared from the lab a voice came over a speaker.

"Self-destruct will occur in 4 minutes and 45 seconds."***


***Translated from Viledarian

[Fusion]

Try and focus it? He didn't even believe in psychic powers, let alone that he had them! Although if he had been experimented on, it wouldn't surprise him to much if they gave him that too. I guess it can't hurt to try. Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes and begins to concentrate on it.

“Well?” asks Mac after a bit.

Ben shrugs, “I don't know. It didn't change any. I...just...”

Now that's odd! The feeling suddenly starts to get much stronger and more defined! He just stands there stunned as things seem to unfold in his mind.

The feeling seems to split into two groups, a large one in front of them and a smaller one behind him. The one behind him seemed to take shape first. Three things, no five. Three are just close together. Large, powerful, close, very close. The group ahead of them seemed to be taking forever to clarify itself, however it's obvious they're moving towards the group at a high speed. So many, so much power, so much pain.

~”Where did you come from?”~ a voice sounds in head.

Ben blinks. This was rather unexpected, he wasn't sure what to think!

~”Hello? You can hear me, right?”~ the voice sounds again.

This time a single thing in the huge group in front of them seemed to stand out.

Ben concentrates on it while thinking his reply, ~”Yes, I can hear you. What's going on?”~

~”You tell me! One second we can't sense anything right where you are, the next second you show up! You didn't just get beamed in or something, did you?”~

~”No! I've been here the entire time!”~

~”Oh? They didn't just change you too, did they? You don't feel like the others.”~

~”Change me? Others? What are you?”~

Ben gasps and grabs at the wall as a picture appears in his mind.

“Ben! Are you ok?!?”

Ben's stunned voice is just audible, “It's the mutants!”

[BrockthePaine]

*Dream sequence*

Captain Gilchrist Ferguson never forgot the smell of tea in the office. It permeated everything, the deep, rich odor which defined the UA2MQ Headquarters. Fergie had once asked what UA2MQ - the Terran government's bureau for studying the supernatural as well as time-related subjects - what the acronym stood for, and his boss, the irrascable Director Burkhardt, replied "You ask Too Many Questions."

"Captain," Burkhardt said, pointing to a chair in front of his desk. "Sit. I had Lucinda bring you tea."

Fergie sat, drank the tea, and said nothing. Burkhardt sat behind his desk, sipping from his own tea, watching, waiting. Something struck Fergie as wrong, an unusual lack of twitching in Burkhardt's eyes. Fergie broke the silence.

"Why are you here?" Fergie demanded.

"It's the first time you were quiet enough to listen to me," the other said. "You think too much. Even your past self was easier to talk to." The statement confirmed Fergie's premonition.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm the Final Word." The office suddenly turned into a whisp of vapor and Fergie was facing the Monolith, on the surface of a dead world, smoke-choked stars writhing painfully in the sky above.

"What do you want?" Fergie asked.

A light erupted from the center of the Monolith and Fergie saw... everything. He had seen it before in Sharuuk's lab, but now everything was crystal. "I want... an end," the Final Word said. "Do not force me to do that which the people of your time planned. There shall be a terrible cost, for you and for me. Someday you, or one of your companions, shall be poised to take that step into the abyss which you... truly... cannot... fathom. I want... an end."

"Who do you trust?" Fergie asked.

The Utolso Hir gave an anguished sob. "I don't know."