Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {02}

[shadowterm]

Izzie watched the tower begin to settle on the ground, a dust cloud rising from the ruins, then said, "So, who else feels the irrational need to fortify the HQ to prevent anything close to that from ever happening?" Izzie then sat on the ground and started fiddling with some of his "loot".

[Lisky]

while waiting for the rest of the team, darkshine decided that with nothing better to do, he might as well chat with his new friend... looking over at dorcan he said "ya know, if they've either got an extra driver, or maybe willing to scrap a van, i've got a rather nice vehicle parked a few miles away...  it's a ground effect beast, no external weapons, but i've got all kinds of goodies on the inside... Decent armor, and one beauty of a command and control system.  In terms of money, it took me my entire savings for 15 years of work to get it."

he paused, thinking about how best to continue, then giving a pleading look in his eyes, and giving the most sincere tone he could muster
"think there's any chance you could convince someone here to stop by and get it... i'd have to go along since it's on a biometric lock, but as i said, i'm in with these guys once i've passed any tests, so, adding to their motor pool, as well as their overall combat capacity couldn't be bad thing, could it?"

[Tapewolf]

"That's up to Morgan and Exo," Dorcan sighed.  "I'm not sure I'd trust you in your own vehicle, not yet at any rate.  It would be far too easy for you to grab a weapon, kill your minder and take off.  But I'll see what they say."

Over the comms, he began to reiterate.  "Exo, Morgan... Mr. Darkshine has a vehicle of his own nearby.  I'm not sure I trust him to drive it himself, but on the other hand, we'll probably get more cooperation out of him if we don't let it fall into the hands of the Brotherhood.  It seems to be quite expensive.  So I suppose we should probably try to bring it with us somehow.  Any suggestions?"

[Arcalane]

"End recording." Exo turns away from the collapsing tower, eyeing Darkshine. "You say that like we intend to keep you concious for the trip back. Have you ever considered you've been asking too many questions for your own good?"

"Dunno 'bout you, but I say keep him Murphy." Mack adds, grinning. "As fer that fancy van... eh, you think a fancypants biomet' lock's gonna stop us? Those hackin' tools an' cutters ain't fer looks or pickin' up the women, I'll tell ya that much."

Exo glances at Mack, then at Morgan, waiting to hear further input.

[Lisky]

slightly threatened by the bots attitude darkshine looks up, mustering what defiance he could "i've been honest and up front with you, i know that you can do whatever you damn well please under the circumstances, hell, even if i had weapons, i doubt anything short of a shoulder fired shaped charge rocket could actually scratch something like yourself... and as for my 'fancy van' as you called it, it's a M-161 banshee Command and Control vehicle and i'd rather have it in your hands than in the brotherhood's since the former at least gives me a slight chance of getting it back."
he paused, letting a little tension out of his system, knowing he'd probably gotten himself in trouble with the little outburst...
"if your going to stun me, so be it, if not, then lets get going... whoever has my equipment bag, has the headset, just flip the orange screen down, and say the command 'ranger, access map, banshee' in that exact order, it'll bring up the HUD function, and you'll have a display as to where i've got it stashed... "
(Edit:) after letting go of most the built up tension, he started feeling sick again, He crouched to a knee and said in a slightly pained voice "soo, anyone know where the doc is?  i'm thinking i'm gonna need something a little more serious than painkillers if we've got a long journey ahead of us"

The medic walks over to the crouched figure, and says "alright, lets go an check you out" holding out a small, flashlight like device.  He turns on a small, pale light, and shines it in Darkshine's eyes...  he paused "looks like you've got a nasty contusion, but that's about it, your probably feeling a little disoriented...  no permanent damage as far as i can tell" he paused, then quickly said "i think i've got something for that"  reaching into his bag, the medic pulled out a small bottle, while handing darkshine a pill he said "it's a mild pain medication, with a bit of a stimulant, it'll keep you awake, but it'll dull your senses a bit for a few hours"
Darkshine eyed the small tab, then, popped it in his mouth, tilted his head back swallowed it... he replied "thanks doc, i appreciate it" easing himself back on his feet and waiting for

[Azlan]

Murphy looked to Mack and brushed his hand over his pistol, "I'd say we pop a cap in this fool and take his wheels, but if you say keep him then I guess we do that."

Morgan had been listening to the exchanges, but spent most of the time considering the situation with their "unlawful combatant".  Which would turn out to be a good thing as even Exo seemed to turn to him as the final word on the subject.  This made him turn a shade paler than normal.

"Normally I would recommend we 'take care of him'.  As a killer who works only for money, he would be a liability and could never be trusted.  He is also too conveniently placed.  With gear like he has been outfitted with, he was likely a member of a special organization that may have had ties with some very bad news people.... but nothing like that has surfaced in over a hundred years."  Morgan sighed and massaged his temple with a hand, "personally, I say we send him on his merry way, we do not need a hired killer."

Especially one who knows me, or at least knows the name.  It will not take too long before he figures it out, and then I will have to remove him.

"First things first though, we should retrieve his vehicle."

[Tapewolf]

"Way to maintain the moral high ground," Dorcan snapped, giving Murphy an angry stare.  His wings had fanned out slightly.

"I realise that we're in a difficult situation here and we can't all be smiles and hugs, but think about what you're saying!  If the Rebels just go around killing random people for shits and giggles, or because you don't like their profession, then we're arguably worse than the Brotherhood itself.  And they would be quite justified in pointing out such atrocities in whatever propaganda they choose to broadcast.  Who'd join us after that?  What are you trying to achieve here?"

Calming himself with some effort, he glanced at Morgan.  "Respectfully I must point out that this guy has been targeting the Brotherhood.  It's unlikely those bodies executed themselves, right?  So in that respect our interests are aligned, at least for the time being.  Had he been targeting us that would be a different matter.
I don't trust him, and I don't like his methods, but I will not be party to the murder of neutrals or innocents.  I joined the rebellion to avoid that.

"Moral objections aside, if he is part of a larger organisation and he doesn't return from a tower that was subsequently demolished, that organisation will almost certainly blame us for his death.  Just saying."

He paused.

"If I may make a suggestion, I say that we make a report back to HQ.  Tell them that we've accomplished the demolition - that should be standard procedure anyway, right?  So we do that and inform them that we have a captive.  Let Jackson and company decide what we do."

[Lisky]

Just sitting in the background, gleaning bits of informations from the conversation  the others were having, Darkshine tensed at Murphy's comment, relaxed slightly when he heard Morgans response, and managed to get his heart rate back down to something approaching normal when Dorcan spoke up in his defense... he thought i owe that guy something... i don't know what yet, but at the least i owe him my cooperation for the time being
with that in mind he eased up to the little congregation and said in a low, respectful, almost submissive tone "i've worked for some bad people, no doubt about it, but when you've got the choice between vicious torture, and a slow agonizing death in front of your friends, or doing some as simple as pulling the trigger, if you want to survive,
you do what you have to..."

" the organization you were referring to was know to us as the Empire, they built their regime around terrorizing world leaders into following their own political lines, if they didn't like the way someone worked, or where that person stood on a particular subject, they'd have someone kill the target in question once a suitable replacement was in place... Like all organizations built on corruption, a rouge branch got greedy, formed their own small army, and destroyed a good deal of the compound i was stationed at... when they attacked, i just sorta borrowed a vehicle and left... that was over 50 years ago... since then, i joined on with various groups of mercs doing other people's dirty work... 10 years ago, i thought i'd finally found an out, a way to live a life most would call normal.. that was while i was working with the black hand unit... I hadn't met her before, but we had a near instant connection, and i'm pretty sure that what it was, was love... she was killed almost 3 years ago... right in front of me, and all i could do was stand there with my jaw hanging open in horror... frozen in place"

Darkshine didn't change his tone at all, he continued in a near monotone, keeping his emotions in check as best he could, though the signs of tears welling his eyes were obvious.  "after that bastard pulled the trigger, i had his face burned into my memory... i gave her the funeral service she deserved, then spent 6 months tracking him down.  He didn't recognized me when i used a stolen truck to run his transport off the road... he tried to run after i killed his security... i broke his left leg at the knee, then the right... He screamed, but it didn't do anything to calm my wrath...  i shot him in the shoulder when he tried to crawl away,  i asked him for names, anything he could give me about who ordered Laughs Brightly killed... when i was done, i shot him in the throat and let him drown in his own filth... when he was dead i hung his lifeless corpse from a tree just outside one of their communication's towers" 
he paused, his mood visibly changed as a thin smile appeared on his face "you may have heard the story in the news when it happened... blamed it on a couple of religious fanatics... either way, when i tell you that i'm not a nice person when the brotherhood is concerned, now, maybe you understand why"

[Tapewolf]

Quite a sob-story, Dorcan thought to himself.  I wish I could see how much of it is true.  Someone as ruthless as this guy seems to be could easily invent a pretty little tale like that.  Though if it is roughly accurate, it might explain a few things.

"Did I ask how old you are?"  the Doberman said at last.  Let's see if the numbers add up.

[Lisky]

Darkshine looked at the doberman quizzically at first then replied "i'm actually 141, turning 142 in a few weeks, as for proof of that, go ahead and do a blood test either now or when we get to where ever you plan on taking me, at the very least that'll show that i'm not normal..."  "Not that anyone would question that to begin with" he added with a smirk

feeling a little fatigued for several reasons, Darkshine leaned against the side of a van and said "look, any chance we can get going soon?  if you need directions to the banshee, you can put on the headset, or i can sit shotgun... though, who am i riding with?"

[Azlan]

Murphy was about to "get up and in" Dorcan's face, but Morgan stepped between them, using the opportunity to grab the headset.

Morgan half-listened to the mercenary's attempt to solicit sympathy and emotional response as he stared at the headset.  Though he hated having to do it, it seemed he had little other choice, this paid killer's intent must be determined.  He focused his full attention on Darkshine and attempted to peer into his thoughts.  He frowned as he found the mind closed and protected.

Bastard is lying to us, he has a bloody mind shield up.  Growled Morgan over the comm as he turned to face Darkshine. 

Continuing if nothing had occurred, Morgan spoke out, "Shall I go retrieve this... Banshee?  The banshee was always an unreliable brick on an air cushion.  Perhaps we can use it for spare parts." 

[Lisky]

Knowing it was a goad, Darkshine let the jab slide, though thought to himself hell of a lot more reliable then some of these so called soldiers the thought brought a slight smirk to his face, as he tried to think of an appropriate response. After a few seconds he said "ehh, it's worked well enough for me, and never given me problems... temperamental maybe, but unreliable is a bit of a stretch" he paused then continued "ya know, that still hasn't answered my question...who am i'm riding with?"

[Tapewolf]

"Sounds like a good start," Dorcan said, referring to the Banshee.  "Meanwhile, someone needs to report back to base, if only to signal mission accomplished.  Then, I guess we get moving."

[Lisky]

Feeling a slight twinge in the back of his mind, Darkshine realized that he'd been keeping himself too defensive, and ready for the worst, and because of that, had closed his mind off to someone who could have actually verified his story... debating whether or not to let them know he knew they had a psychic in the group, he decided I'm actually better off having them trying something here, i'll just have to watch the body language very carefully, and as soon as something seems wrong, duck behind a van, and see if i can't get enough cover to get the hell out of here...
cocking his head slightly, he looked first at dorcan, then the redhead, not really sure which had actually had tried the probe, he gave up on guessing, and got himself as mentally relaxed as he could, knowing now that dorcan would try and maintain the moral high ground until all other options were exhausted... "look, i know someone just tried a mind probe, i wasn't thinking how you'd see it, i was more concerned with someone knowing what i was planning for if you were going to try something, rather than thinking about the bigger picture... go ahead and try your probe again" he said with a sigh
he thought to himself god i hate psychics, at least i can keep them out when i want to, i wonder what people who don't have the natural skill of blocking do?

[techmaster-glitch]

    Jexx had followed the whole group out of the Tower, and saw it go down with some booms. This considerably lifted Jexx's spirits. However, the rest of the group was engaged in some big discussion, apparently about that weird new guy. Jexx wandered away a bit, and eventually settled with privately making odd little patterns on the ground with his handcannons at their lowest power.

[Arcalane]

Exo hrms, thinking deeply for a few moments. Close observers would hear occasional pops and clangs as lightly-dented armoured plates gradually reformed and cooled, still warm from the fight, the occasional flicker of electricity sparking between the 'bot's arm joints and fingers. "Marcus, Langley." It gestures to two of the personnel who arrived with the relief staff. "Go with Morgan and retrieve this... 'Banshee' vehicle. Heinrich, Matthews, Michaels, Holtz. Secure our friend here in the armoured transport, I'll drive. When we return to HQ, you keep him under full watch until things are verified. Am I clear?"

The four salute smartly and nod, a chorus of confirmations coming over the tactical network.

"Good." Exo claps it's hands together, though it sounds more like an accident in a bell foundry than anything else. "Everyone else, let's get this show on the road. Grab any fallen weapons and gear up. Time to head out!"

[Lisky]

looking at the bot, then the soldiers now around him, darkshine simply nodded in understanding "soo, ropes, cuffs, or is this a, we trust you enough to just keep you at gunpoint..." he kept himself relaxed, and decided, well, if they were going to try anything, it should have happened by now, might as well relax until things get sorted out and keep my mind open so that i don't have to deal with a more powerful psychic, or worse...

[Tapewolf]

"Sir," Dorcan said, and made his way back to the van he'd arrived in.  He was slightly concerned that they didn't seem to have relayed their success back to base, but if that was how they operated, he wasn't going to rock the boat.

[Arcalane]

(OOC: I apologize for slight amounts of autoing but I think it's best that we get things moving. We've been milling around far too long already.)

Exo clambers into the driver's seat of the armoured van, glancing back as the four soldiers escort Darkshine towards it. "Four gunpoints." There's a pause and a slight chuckle. "... and they all have quick trigger fingers, trust me." The van's engine starts with an irritated growl and it rumbles into life, the 'bot checking over the dashboard. [Best to maintain radio silence. Don't need the Brotherhood picking up anything we send back, and best we be moving quickly, I expect they'll have dispatched personnel to investigate lack of communications already.] Exo broadcasts over the tactical net.

[Azlan]

Morgan did not show any outward reaction to Darkshine's comment about mind probes, but did decide to respond out loud to his mental declaration and rhetorical question, "the prejudiced frequently fear that which they cannot understand.  It must be truly difficult for you fearing that psychics will violate you mentally at every turn.  I am not sure who you think you are, but I can guarantee you that the gifted have no desire to sift through your diseased mind.  You have spent so much time building defenses to protect dross, for that is all you have up there... lusterless and valueless scrap."

Bloody hell, can not anyone control their emotions enough not to project waves of them?

Morgan sighed, "look mate, just be careful how you throw around stuff like hate, it is strong even if you do not want it that way."

Taking a deep breath, the red haired lad "dove" right in.  It took several minutes, but finally Morgan seemed to be finished, "it seems he is largely telling the truth, or at least what he  believes."

Nodding to Marcus and Langley, whom both fell in immediately, Morgan queried the end point of the headset's tight-beam transmission line.  He fed the thing the exact line DK had said, completely in the appropriate vocal range.  He received telemetry data on the vehicle and immediately oriented himself with it.  Morgan and the two soldiers headed for the Banshee and after a few minutes, reached it.

[Lisky]

(OOC if we had a time frame this would happen just before leaving in the Van, and just before morgan went on his own little sidequest)

Darkshine considered what the redhead had said with regards to his personal distaste for psychics... he pondered sever responses, but none seemed appropriate ranging from describing how several friends were killed by Emperium psychics for having thoughts questioning what they were doing... to pointing out that had they, the rebels, actually tried something, knowing his own reaction plan ahead of time would have been paramount to suicide.  Instead, he choose subdued silence while he weighted his options. he considered how his past experiences had tainted his judgment of someone who he'd never met, and for all he knew, could actually be a good person such as Dorcan, who he'd actually given a chance and been rewarded with the start of a possible friendship.

He slowly  turned to morgan and said "i rarely do this, but i do feel i owe you a bit of an apology, you are right about hate, and my opinion of psychics has been tainted by past experience... as is, i never gave you a chance, never considered the possibility of a good psychic... While true that as of yet, i've never met a good psychic, i'll take your advice and give you a chance... as for that bit about lusterless and valueless scrap, while slightly insulted, i'm going to let it slide under present circumstance....but, just a little something to consider,  you are the one who's now prejudiced yourself against me."  he gave morgan a crooked smile.

He then waited for his entourage to get ready while they received further orders from the war bot.


Once in the van, darkshine adjusted himself to the feel and sound of the vehicle, and quickly fell into a much needed, though somewhat restless sleep, thanks to the mild stimulant in the painkillers

[Azlan]

Morgan and the two soldiers with him, approached the location where the Banshee was concealed.  Using the HUD through the headset, by way of emulation from Morgan's CTC, he quickly located the vehicle.

The small team examined the security access measures.  Marcus evaluated the situation, "biometric unit, if we can remove it, it is possible to polarize the leads from the magnetic deadbolt and force it to release."

"We dun have that kind of time mate, I can take care of this quickly." 

Touching the biometric interface, Morgan reached out and concentrated on the flow of power through the unit and to the door.  Severing power completely from the Biometric unit, he focused on redirecting it to each of the four bolt locks in the door.  With four satisfying 'thunks', the locks released. 

Pushing out again, Morgan studied the magnetic seal of the door.  Without input from the biometrics, the magnetic seal would prevent anyone who could bypass the mechanical locks.  Placing one hand at the 11 o'clock point and the other at the 4 o'clock point, he reversed the electrical current, changing the polarity.  He dusted his hands off and smugly lifted the latch, pushing the door inward.

Marcus and Langley swept the compartments for anyone that might be hiding and scanned for any hidden explosives or tracking devices.  Satisfied it was clear, Morgan headed into the "pilot's" area.  The computer systems were on, but locked out.

Morgan used his laptop and CTC systems to gain access to the wireless systems with a restricted guest level of access.  Despite being locked down due to a security breach, Morgan was eventually able to escalate his access completely to root level.  The 'Ranger' system that controlled things in the Banshee lurked about, shutting down systems, almost as quickly as he got access to them.  Its uncooperative nature forced Morgan to quarantine it from the system and elevate his CTC to the controlling host.  He demoted Ranger temporarily and locked off the computer core.

Morgan loaded a navigation program and sat back while the vehicle sped off, trying to catch up with the vans.

Now that he had some time to himself, Morgan pondered the words Darkshine had spoken.  He had been influenced by the strong hate that had embodied the strange creature's mind.  His telepathic abilities were largely controlled by his empathy, making him very emotion driven and susceptible to the moods of others.

He frowned and sighed, he had not intended to be insulting, but he slipped again due to the charged emotions involved.

The vehicle was in automatic pilot, following a carefully planned route.  Morgan closed his eyes and focused on the signature of the mind he had recently touched.

Morgan filled himself with peaceful thoughts and tried to elevate his mood as much as possible before trying to project.  When he felt ready, he established a link, Darkshine had left his defense down.

Morgan appeared as a pale, transparent, shadow of his true self.  His powers were strong (for the state of the world), but this kind of thing was difficult and very poorly understood.  He could project and interact, but he did not possess sufficient resources to conceal his astral presence.

Morgan, with foxy ears and fluffy tail, spun on his heels shifting his gaze across the dark and cold place that was DK's mind.

"Oi, mate!  You in here somewhere?  I just wanted to talk, so keep the SuperEgo and Id down."

When no response was immediately forthcoming, he flattened his ears against his head and dipped his head, fixing his eyes on the ground, "I... I am sorry for what I said, being empathic makes me easily influenced by emotions... I have never been good with strong emotions."

[Lisky]

Half asleep, darkshine heard the voice, but didn't really know how to react to it, his first thought was i must be hearing things until his head cleared, and he saw what looked like the redhead... it suddenly clicked that the he was communicating telepathically, not really sure if he could be understood, darkshine decided to focus his mind, thinking in simple, clear and 'loud' thoughts... after comprehending what had been 'said' he decided that he'd go along, he had promised he'd give Morgan a chance before becoming a total jerk anyways, soo, keeping to his word, Darkshine thought apology accepted, and don't worry about it too much, if our roles were reversed, you'd be in a similar predicament as myself...  Anything in particular you wish to talk about?

[Azlan]

apology accepted, and don't worry about it too much, if our roles were reversed, you'd be in a similar predicament as myself...  Anything in particular you wish to talk about?

Morgan dropped to his knees covering his ears as best as he could, a truly pained expression across his face, and his tail tucked between his legs.  As the ringing in his ears subsided from the booming internal voice of Darkshine, he stood and called out as loud as he could, "Darkshine!  The mental manifestation of one's internal voice is... well... LOUD.  Could you please come down here and not do the 'voice of the gods' thing?  The best way to do it is to visualize yourself in your room sitting on your bed, but anywhere will work really."

Morgan dropped to a sitting position on the 'floor', he felt a bit disoriented.     Projection was a rather taxing endeavor.

[Lisky]

Doing as he was asked, darkshine visualized a mid sized room, with a few coffee tables, a couch and some chairs set up around an old victorian style fireplace, a rather cozy environment... visualizing himself in one of the chairs, he looked over at morgan and thought

many apologies, i've never actually tried this before... though now that we're here, it seems a far more civil place for a discussion...

i don't know if you caught my original message, as it seems to have caused you much pain... i was merely trying to say that i accept your apology, and there's nothing to feel ashamed about... i know that if i were in your position, i'd be even more suspicious of someone with my reputation than your group seems to be. Especially from someone who's probably heard what most mercenaries have to say about me...   

i might add that my reputation isn't as deserved as some would say... i'm not a monster who will do anything for money.  i do have moral lines i will not cross, and in some cases, i even empathize with a target to the point of helping them disappear.  Faking a video, and having them give a blood sample, that's usually good enough to 'confirm' a kill... you don't hear those stories though...but, that's enough moping in the past, since your here, you probably have something on your mind as it we're, so, how can i help you? he kept his thoughts sincere, open, and level making sure to visualizing them coming from his perceived self in the room, rather than openly in his mind

[Azlan]

The chairs were a welcome sight and Morgan took the one across from where felinoid's mental projection had appeared. 

Darkshine began to 'think' at Morgan, causing the fox to curl up in his chair and whimper in pain, "Ugh, I think you just ruptured my appendix... Darkshine!  Stop!  This is your mind, stop trying to do things natural so unnaturally!  Do you think at people to talk to them in the real world?  No.  In here, what you are doing is akin to thought lashings... you are hurling thoughts at me like rocks.  Just try and talk normally... act like you would in the real world.  It takes practice.  Normally this would not be a problem, but projecting over distance is so taxing I am not left with much resources to work off of and defend with."

He relaxed a bit when DK seemed to set the hang of 'speaking' in his mind.  Morgan ran his hand through his hair as his ears drooped off to the sides, "I mostly just wanted to apologize, and I did not think it could wait.  I also just wanted to talk to someone.  Having seen in your mind, I know much more than any stranger should about your life.  We... we come from similar backgrounds, though I was 'made', sort of, and not pulled off the streets.  You had more of a childhood than I ever did, I was trained to be fight, shoot... kill ever since I could walk.  I was... transformed at first... I vaguely remember it... but we were evolved to be fully human as a 'proof of concept' of sorts in genetics.  I had a team too, we were betrayed, but escaped our own destruction.  I am known as Fox in the business, and I was trained to be a scout and a sniper.  I am telling this to you, because... I guess it is because you and I have a few things alike, and you are about the only one I can relate to.  I saw your life story and I have seen the good and the bad, so it is only fair that you know me."

Morgan cracked a smile, something he had not done in Darkshine's presence, but here he felt more comfortable after having talked a bit.  However, something in the back of Morgan's mind screamed at him not too get too complacent.

[Lisky]

normally used to dealing with psychotics and other just generally bad people, most of what Darkshine had seen of the rebellion so far seemed welcoming, besides Jexx's little outburst they seemed both kind, and yet professional, somewhere he could possibly fit in, somewhere he could start working towards being normal...  using his visualized self he replied to Fox" i really do appreciate your honesty, it seems comforting, as well as welcoming.  If you have any tests for me when we get back to base, let me know, but besides that angry little fuzz ball... Jexx i believe it was, it seems you have a rather decent group of people here, one that i wish to add my skills to if at all possible... I'm sure that it is a decision of someone else, but i believe that your word would carry infinitely greater weight than mine... I have one question before we get back, do you know what happened to Bloodwolf? if she is there, i might need these boys here to put on a show, or i'll never hear the end of it when we get back... probably a worse fate than had i tried something stupid at the vans..."

his projected image was practically beaming with delight at that thought, he then added "if this is going to be a long journey, you can find some iced tea, soft drinks, and a small jug of orange juice, along with a few snacks in the compartment just below the cot.  At the far end of the weapons rack, between the screen, and the wall to the crew cab there's a microwave... i'm going to be taking a nap until we get to where ever your taking me, so enjoy yourself and if you can, let the autopilot do the work, as long as it's nothing like a rock filled corn field, it'll be the better driver" 

with his last thought he relaxed again, and started to ease back to sleep

[techmaster-glitch]

   At one point during his random ground-scorching, Jexx, looked up and noticed the vans seemed to be packing up to leave. With a small yelp, he jumped up and rushed over, muttering incomprehensible things under his breath.

[Azlan]

Morgan's projection shook its head, "I am sorry, but I have not met your Bloodwolf.  I am a 'hired gun' with the rebellion, not an official commissioned member.  Do not get me wrong, I would venture we are as deeply involved and supportive of their cause, just outside of their official command structure at the moment."

He turned his head to the left, checking to make sure his exit was still where it last was, the last thing he wanted to do was wander about Darkshine's mindscape looking for an exit.

"Well, if you are going to sleep, it would be best if I returned to my own body.  When we get to headquarters, it will be up to Phoenix's people to 'test' you if they see fit.  I will give my word on what I know based on this contact, I am not sure what weight they place on a psychic's findings, but I am sure it will help.  I have seen much of your past, down to every name you have ever used or been called... good and ill, I will respect your privacy and will not divulge anything you do not wish me to."

With that said, Morgan disappeared, drifting the distance back to his own mind seated comfortably in the banshee.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

A patch of light melded into a cluster of shadow, danced across the surface in a dance that resembled cavorting angels. Fetrethar reached for the interplay, found his hands strangely unwilling to obey his brain's commands. The light was coming in from somewhere behind Fetrethar's head, and he slowly became aware that he was both lying down, and that there was some sort of grill, with three bars, creating some of the shadows as he gazed up into the ceiling. He could feel himself rolling along, being transported somewhere, in a slow, steady, regular pace.

His face and chest ached, a thousand little stress points sharply screaming for realease and then easing, only to resume their cry a minute later. His eyes felt hot, and closing them burned. Keeping them open was more effort than the burn however, and Fetrethar suffered under the scorch. His mouth was dry and dusty, like he had been chewing an old bone.............

A flash of memory returned to him as the haze gradually receded. Out with the herds, black bombs raining from the sky, men with some sort of chemical canisters on their backs and masks over their faces running into the caves that were inaccessible from the air.

Still unable to rise, Fetrethar waved his arms around, trying to restore a bit of circulation. Hearing was returning, and a few guttural voices were to his side and above him. He thought he recognized a few, but thinking was still too hard to connect those voices to names that he knew.

Sharak'ti! He was armed, he was always armed when guarding the flocks. If he lost his weapons, the clan elders would have his hide. Fetrethar clasped his hands together, stifled a groan when he realized the gloves were no longer presence. Another moment's search revealed that his belt was gone too, with it the simple dagger he possessed. Whoever had done this had left him only in his dark brown homespun cloth, which scratched against his back. A drop of something struck him on the forehead, reminding him of his thirst, the almost painful swelling of his tongue against his upper soft palate. Moving it around for some relief, Fetrethar finally found something he could smile about. His stinger was still buried in his gumline. Whoever had done this hadn't thought to check inside his mouth for a weapon.

Morale brought vigor, and blinking heavily, Fetrethar heaved himself up into a sitting position, taking a few deep breaths of the almost green and moldy air to pay for the exertion. Peering through the poor lighting, for the only illumination was what flowed through some sort of window behind Fetrethar and only seemed to reveal the ceiling well, Fetrethar made out about ten figures on each side of a low, rectangular room, huddled into knots and whispering to one another. Another group of forms, mostly children, were left scattered about the floor in various states of semi-consciousness.Whatever they drugged us with, the biggest shook it off first. Sharak'ti! I hate being small. Listening more closely to the voices, he realized that his own clanmates were the group on the left, while the rival Mongoose clan held the right. Neither group had any sort of visible weapon, and Fetrethar felt a sudden surge of hope. If he was the only man armed, that opened up all sorts of interesting possibilities. No chance to kill a Mongoose now though. There were nine of them up, he now distinctly counted, and even with his stinger, he'd doubt he could get close enough in his current state to use it on any of them.

Eventually, he made his way over to his own clan members. Nobody seemed particularly interested in talking to him, and with his low standing, it was not Fetrethar's place to directly address any of the people awake. Scratching an itch in his lower back, Fetrethar settled into a crouch against the wall and waited for something to happen. He could feel the tension between the two groups of men, and knew that something was probably going to erupt between them soon. He cast his eyes about the interior of whatever vehicle he thought this was, looking for a longer weapon, and wondered why whomever attacked had bothered to take prisoners.