[Lor] Investigations and Revelations

[Vesper]

/ON: Lor, Capital City; Marele Medical Complex

Despite the events that had transpired in the depths of the medical complex the outside of the complex looked more or less business as usual. There was a large amount of chatter about the 3 platoons of LSDF soldiers that had rushed through the place with no explanation earlier and the supervisors where having a hell of a time getting everyone back to work, made all the harder by there own curiosity about the matter.

Outside the building, the sleek form of two of the LSDF aerospace VTOL transports from the nearby land base rested in the open space in front of the building, a hubbub of activity going from one to the other and back into the building. The company commander of the marines that had entered the facility stood at the base of the ramp of the rightmost transport, talking with one of the lieutenants when he noticed the matte black shape of 3 other transports moving to land around the complex. He signaled one of the squads near the transport and they ran to where the nearest one was touching down. He had not been informed of any additional reinforcements and he couldn't very well let anyone into the facility, given the current situation.

Looking at the transport as neared he did not recognize it and it had not symbols on its smooth, angular hull to help him. Though he did not know the design it bore some resemblance to his own LSDF transports, although it seemed somehow harder, more aggressive, more dangerous. Just then a group of 6 individuals dropped from the transport to fall the 7 meters to the hard permacrete roadway. One of the soldiers with him gasped, expecting to here the sickening crunch of bone and then cries. After all, 7 meters was high to fall. He wouldn't want to fall that far unaided, not even in his bionic body.

But such was not the case. The group simply stood and calmly walked towards the soldiers, ignoring the fractured ground around there impact site. He noticed now that three of the group where in some sort of power armor, the lines and shape of it emanating a palpable menace. The other three where wearing a deep, consuming black with dark blue highlights, the design similar to his own but, again, slightly different.

He swore under his breath as he recognized the uniforms as those of the Special Research Bureau. He had never met one of there number before, and quite frankly he could have gone his entire career happy to never have to deal with one of there kind. If the rumors where true... The man in the front of the entourage said, with barely any hint of emotion,” Commander Err'at?”, it was not a question and he continued,” what is the status of the situation?,” he finished finished, continuing past the soldiers and saying nothing. The subtext to follow was there, but he did not say it.

"What’s going on here?" Commander Erra'at demanded to know, as he and the other LSDF soldiers walked quickly to catch up with the group. "These are your new orders," a second black suited individual said sternly holding a datapad out to Erra'at as they walked.

[Karma Mechanic]

/ON: Lor, Capital City; Marele Medical Complex


To one of the agents with him he said,” We will have to secure the surveillance records of the isolation facility. Also find the doctor that gave the Yamatians authorization to enter the ward.”

"Yes sir," the agent replied quickly, "I'll take Beta Squad and secure the surveillance records, and I'll have Delta squad find the Doctor and have them bring him to you", With a slight nod he moved off to join one of the other groups of SRB agents.

“Very well,” was the terse response he gave as headed for the lift that led down to the isolation ward. He noted the damage in and around the elevator as he stepped into it, noting the large hole in the floor the Mindy had made. A group of the power armors peeled away from the main body to secure the entrance to the elevator as he punched in the override code on the elevator and it began to descend to the ward.

The devastation he observed as the doors opened was not surprising given the information he had, but it was impressive none the less. Most of bodies had already been removed before the recall order had come from the commander. The agent stepped over several of them as walked down the corridor, carefully examining the surroundings. Several of the agents following behind him had taken out various electronics, most likely scanners of some sort.

He stopped and knelt as he noticed something on the floor amongst the remaining bodies. Picking up the mangled remains of the aether rifle he turned it over, examining it closely. “Unfortunate,” he said, looking it over, however it may still be of use in reconstructing the emitter device from the ones salvaged after the battle he thought handed it to one of the other agents and stood up to continue into the ward proper and began his examination again.

Elsewhere in the building Beta squad was moving toward the surveillance room at a brisk pace. Coming to an armored door the lead agent put his hand to a scanner adjacent to the door. Special Research Bureau Door Override ConfirmedFlashed on the small screen above the scanner and the door slid open. Inside the two security personnel were a bit surprised to see the black suited individuals in front of them. “Who ar…” one of them started to say before she was cut off by the lead agent. “Special Research Bureau, this agent will lead you out of the building,” he said motioning to one of the other agents. Seeing they didn’t have any choice in the matter they quietly agreed to be led out, while the other agents had already started to go to work on they computer systems in the room.

The lead agent was crouched on the ground examining the remains of the black Mindy's helmet, carefully inspecting the interior of the helmet for anything that might be of use. Even if none of the electronics would be of use, the casing would prove useful for a metallurgical analysis. As he pondered over the helmet he heard the voice of one of the agents communicating telepathically with him, encrypted of course. They had decided on the cycling before setting out on the mission so there was no need to send that information over the link. ”Delta to Alpha, subject Echo secured, returning to gamma for questioning.”

His only response was a terse, “understood.” The two squads with him in the isolation ward where nearing the end of the scan. They would have all the information on the incident shortly and the cleaning team was already at work at the elevator making sure all of the material left over from the fight had been removed. Soon they would be done at the complex and the vast majority of the workers there would be none the wiser as to the event's below the facility. Still, they had not found the subject that was to be kept in the ward, and that concerned him. He knew it, 'she', whatever the scientists here wished to call it, could not have escaped the perimeter. They would find it eventually. They knew its signature now and it could not hide for much longer.

“Complete surveillance data for the facility has been retrieved, returning to surface,” was the encrypted telepathic message that came in only a few minutes later from Beta Squad.

Receiving the message with no comment, he turned to one of the agents who had been working on one of the terminals, a thick grey block connecting him and the terminal together. “Are we done here?” “Yes, sir. We have all the information from the local database and all of the information regarding the incident and who was down here at the time has been cleared from the database. They will not be able to detect our alterations.” “That is good,” he then sent a telepathic message to all of the units, “we have the retrieved every thing we need, squads kilo and foxtrot are to maintain watch on the facility, discreetly. If you locate subject lima you are to inform command immediately before trying to detain it. All other squads, pull out to the transports. We are done here.”


/OFF

[Vesper]

//Approximately 2 hours after the team left the medical complex.

A dozen of the members of the team sat around a conference table in a secure facility, one of many, in the bowls of the Matriarchy capital city. Placed on the table where several of the items retrieved from the containment lab in the medical complex.

“…and we have confirmed that the alterations integrity is secure. The records will show a conflict and the gravimetric spike from the teleportations but there are no details of most of the events. Some items remain however. The records continue until the first Mindy armor teleported into the exit hallway, however the records are of unfortunately low quality and the exact configuration will not be determinable. Also, the record showing the face of the initial attacker remains intact, although the field of vision from the camera that captured the image did not show any of the other armors. Some of the other sensors show part of the firefight, including the fire from the ‘Sakura’ version Hanako. We have several analysis AIs working on the original data to examine the properties of this ‘Rebeka as well’. The voice print, while easily modifiable, from the Hanako that left with the Sakura crew confirms its identity with existing records as much as well as they can be. We have had Maturazzi do an analysis of the data records present at the medical facility as of now and he was not able to locate any discrepancies.” One of the agents at the table finished.

“Excellent,” said the officer that had led the investigation at the medical complex, who was sitting at the head of the table. ”We must ensure that the data is intact if the operation is to be successful. Karyus, what is the status of the casualties from the facility?”

“They are under observation in an intensive care unit,” said one of the agents further down the table. “We have been discreetly probing them, but they do not appear to have any additional information that we had not already gathered. Lt. Violet is also currently undergoing treatment. The ‘Rebeka’ creature was able to repair much of the bodily damage but she has suffered serious radiation poisoning, well over 200 syverts and her survival is not looking good. Frankly it is a miracle she is not dead already. Even if the medical teams can repair the damage she will have suffered irreparable brain damage.”

“She was bonded with that creature, have we found out anything from her about it or the combat? Also, do the survivors know anything that could compromise the mission?”

“We have extracted some information from her, but she is already in coma and will not likely recover. We are going to continue the probes but the usefulness of any information extracted is not assured due to the brain damage. The medical officer on duty at the ICU has said that none of them are expected to survive through tomorrow. A few, including the Lt. had consciousness back-ups but we have already examined them. They contain no compromising information and will not have to be altered.”

“Good work,” said the lead officer. “As to this ‘Rebeka’ it seems the matriarchy has extended ambassadorial privileges to the creature so our paths of action are quite restricted in that regard, though we will be monitoring ‘her’.”

“As to the culprits in the incident, we will have to backtrack there actions from the landing. Anyone they interacted with, anyone they talked with, anything they bought or sold; we must trace this all. We will be sending out teams to each of the areas the crewmembers where spotted. I will be leading the team to investigate the palace as Hanako and her associates where there for over 16 hours and we will likely find the most information there.”

“If there are no other questions that is it for this meeting. Everyone, meet with your team leaders and requisition what you need and move out,” he said as he stood up, the rest of the agents following suit. “These Yamatians seem to be involved in something they would prefer not be known. If it can threaten us and this state then we must know all we can about it.” With that he left the room. The salvaged material would be handled by other individuals. It had already been catalogued and cursorily examined and would soon be transported out to SREB research facilities for in depth examination.

[Vesper]

//3 days after the incident at the medical complex

The agent, clad in the traditional garb worn by the Occhestan members in the Matriarchy palace was walking through the palace halls. As she walked by small group of Occhestans who had been quietly whispering about the events in medical complex she smiled as they silenced and nodded in deference to her. It was neither the respect nor talking they had been doing, she thoroughly disdained gossip, but the topic of their discussion that made her present a faint smile.

The events that had transpired, or at least what had been on the databanks damaged in the combat, had come out only some 6 hours after her team had left the building. The SRB could most likely have kept the events hidden but it had been determined at the very highest level that it was not worth the effort. In fact it was likely to prove a boon to their objectives. There had already been protests about the matter in several cities across the planet.

The team she was part of had already thoroughly examined nearly all of the areas Hanako and her retinue had traveled through. They had found little of consequence, much like the other teams, judging by the reports she had so far seen. Currently, the focus of her efforts was on the Yamatians stay in the palace overnight. They had learned several days ago that Hanako had stayed with the Empress over night in her chambers, but it was proving extremely difficult to find anything about what occurred within the room since they had no surveillance in that section of the palace. Not for lack of trying mind you, the SRB regularly tried to put sensors and taps in the area but they where invariably discovered and removed in short order. Nothing had been discovered to even point towards the SRB, but it was still a great annoyance to the organization that this region was outside of their view. They had also learned that the empress and the high priestess had had a fight not long after the empress left her room. The body guard had even required medical serious medical treatment after it. She was confident that something important had occurred in that room if it had provoked the two siblings to attempt to do such harm to each other that the highly trained body guard had been seriously injured in their stead.

It was proving extremely difficult to find the cause, the servants of the Matriarchy were well known to the SRB for their loyalty and difficulty to turn. She knew, she had tried on two occasions in her long career. Though she had eventually succeeded, it had not been pleasant and had been a great pain to cover up, though it had been successful. After all, you can only explain away so many accidents, fatal or otherwise, in such high-profile staff before investigations would begin. Then even further efforts would have to ensue to further obfuscate the facts beyond believable half truths and convenient facts. All in all, the SRB had decided that it was just not worth it to try to get to them. Now the spying was mostly in the areas of covert datacracking, surveillance devices, and microscopic spy drones.

She turned a corner and walked up to a door that led to her official office. It looked quite nice, covered in finely carved wood. Under the cover though she knew lay a hardened alloy door that could withstand a light infantry company. The SRB liked to keep its offices secure, especially this deep in the Matriarchies demesne. She removed a small cylindrical rod from within her robes and inserted it into a low profile slot to one side of the door. As she turned the cylinder, the tiny quantum computer within performed a quick telepathic scan of her to confirm her identity. She then returned a telepathic message to the unit, containing the current variant of the ever-changing cipher key. The unit then confirmed the key segment through a tri-cell entanglement link with the main SRB system. The main AI system responded with the second half of the cipher key. The rod transmitted quickly transmitted the key to the door lock, which confirmed the key and locked with a low click of the locking bolts retracting.

As she had said, the SRB liked its offices secure, and using high-end military security was a justifiable expense as far as they were concerned.

She swung the perfectly balanced door open easily and walked inside, the door closing itself after she walked in, though it did not lock. Such measures were only necessary when the user was not in the office. Moving to and around her desk she sat down at it. She began working through the work she had outstanding. After all, even though her work involved a good deal of actual operational ‘cloak and dagger’ type of work, much of her time was spent with mundane paperwork and generic management. The SRB was after all a complete agency and had many more things that it needed to do. Documenting, reviews, accounting, all these things had to be down for any organization to function.

As she filled out a work review for one of the technicians under her (overall positive) she received a encrypted telepathic message from one of the other agents,” Sir, I believe we have found something here in regards to the current issue.”

Her response was,” Excellent, but do not transmit any further details in the clear, bring it by my office as soon as possible.”

“Acknowledged, Delta,” was his simple response.

Some ten minutes later a man dressed in similar garb to her own opened the door and walked in. The door closed after he entered and sealed itself with an audible click from a telepathic order from her. As he neared her desk he removed a small chip and handed it to her. “It seems the High Priest ordered a investigation himself after Hanako left but before the Empress left. The tests he had done from the empress’s bed-nest had some interesting results, to say the least.”

As the man was talking she had inserted the chip into her computer whose encryption system supplied the key and easily decrypted the data stored within. As she read the information presented in hologram form above her desk her face became pale and she looked back up to the agent and said,” Are you sure this information is correct? Where was it retrieved?,” she said sharply.

“One of the AIs was attempting to access some of the internal recorder files from the royal wing and stumbled across a hidden file. It traced it and the file came directly from Velor’s personal files. I have had several AIs run through it; it appears completely genuine,” the agent replied.

She shook her head,” If these test results are correct, to call it ‘interesting’ will be one of the biggest understatement of our generation. This could cause anarchy throughout entire society. You know how highly tradition is regarded in our culture.”

“Those where my exact thoughts, Sir,” the agent said.

She sighed and looked up to the ceiling for a second before responding,” We need to confirm this. I will have to get permission from the higher ups to bring in one of the staff involved. Someone or something in the room at the time would be ideal, but one of the lab techs would be acceptable. Either way, start looking into who was in there and who was involved. Find me some candidates. I will contact you as soon as receive permission.”

“Yes sir,” the man said, turned around and left, the door unlocking as he opened in and resealing it again as he closed the door.

She tilted her head down resting her forehead on her hands for a minute, looking under her hands at the scrolling report still floating above her desk. Taking her head off her hands she reached down with one hand picking up an earmic and entering a series of commands on her desk console with the other.

Speaking into thin air, confident the bone-conduction mic would pick her words up, she said,” This is special agent Syrenna,
ID Echo-Tree-November-Zero-Kilo-Tange-One-One-Lima,
I have a priority message for the Minister, code Zulu-Niner. No, I don’t care if he is at lunch, connect me immediately.” She sat back in her chair and waited to be connected to the minister. They would have to move fast.

============

3 hours later she was sitting behind the glass of an observation room in a secret facility far below ground and well outside of the capital. She was looking through the glass at the two subjects restrained in the room beyond. Neither of them where fully conscious, both in a drug induced haze. Around the restrain chairs a swarm of technicians was milling about, attaching various probes and sensors to the individuals. One was a attractive young Helashio that had been in the Empress’s room during the events, the other was one of the technicians that had handled the samples and performed the tests.

“I don’t know whether to be pleased or terrified,” said a man in a suit sitting next to her in the room, the aid to the minister in charge of the SRB. “I had hoped we would get something useful from your palace investigation, but this is almost too big.”

“I understand how you feel sir,” she said in response continuing to look into the room as three individuals entered, one wearing a strange, wire festooned suit and elongated helmet, the other two carrying a similar helmet in their hands. The two each moved to one of the subjects, carefully placing the helmet over the receptors that the technicians had placed on their heads. The Lorath subject softy grunted something but was too heavily drugged to really notice the world properly. The third sat at a intricate reclined chair facing the two subjects. The technicians then busied themselves connecting bundles of wires to the three helmets.

Inside the room below one of the technicians spoke, his voice retransmitted in the observation room,” All connections check out as good. We are ready to begin the probing of the subjects. “

The minister’s aid responded,” Very well, begin.”

In the room the eyes of the SRB member wearing the helmet glazed over as he began focusing his telepathic might through the helmet to the two subjects. While the man could have simply probed the subjects’ minds himself without aid, the SRB had learned that some operations required more delicacy than such manual probes allowed. The helmets on the subjects where designed to focus and amplify the telepathic signals of the connected telepath. These amplified signals where able to probe to the darkest reaches of a individual, easily breaking through any block.

The process took nearly 30 minutes to complete, interspersed with the occasional grunt or cry of pain from one subject or the other as a probe had to apply more force on a given area. All of the information was being recorded input and extracted was being recorded for later examination.

Slowly the eyes of the telepath cleared and focused again and he said, somewhat hoarsely,” The probe is complete.”

Speaking to the air, her words transmitted to the room below the window, Syrenna said,” Good, and what have you found?”

Sighing, the man said,” The test report we found was correct. Hanako and the Empress engaged in sex during the formers stay in the royal chambers, removing the Empresses virginity. Further, Hanako attempted to repair the hynemen through her hemosynthetic capabilities. I will now begin the alterations to make them forget their abduction and time spent here.”

“Very well,” said the aid rather weekly. Turning to Syrenna,” It looks like we both got more than we wanted.” Standing he added,” The ministers orders where very clear should the report be corroborated. He wants a full report put together within the hour. It is to be sent directly to the Prime Minister. Where it goes from there is up to him, but I cannot see this not causing uproar.”

Standing as well she said,” Understood sir, I will get on it immediately.”

Both left the observation, paying no heed to the power-armored guards flanking the door. Neither payed any attention to the two subjects either. They were confident in the work of the agents involved. The SRB after all had entire offices whose sole duty was to develop believable stories to put into interrogated persons heads. And this operation was being handled by the best in the bureau.

Heading to a office within the facility, she contacted several of the agents working with her, apprised them of the situation and its urgency and told them to meet her in the office.

She had a report to write. As she sat down at one of the desks she ordered a meal to be delivered from the bases mess hall. It was almost lunch and one didn’t want to write a report that could very well change the course of the nation on a empty stomach.

[DocTomoe]

On: Lor – High Priest’s Chambers.

It had not been too long since the incident, at least to Velor’s best memory as he sat behind a desk which he kept in his private chambers. As he sat behind his desk and sorted through papers and reports, his mind wandered to the events which had transpired, and he knew full well that the situation had come to a head. First, there was that mysterious armor which was reported, the visage of Hanako inside of it, and the incidents which transpired that resulted in the loss of a high grade experimental wing. Above all else, Velor was concerned with the incident which took place in his sister’s bedchamber.

This is to remain within the family. Velor settled on as he picked up a data pad and began to sort through his own investigations into such matters. The resources which he had under his control were immensely underrated by anyone who would look upon him. Velor often found that recently, when people see him, they looked upon him lightly and thought little of his position, this worked in his favor. While his sister would be looked upon with fear, she would have far more intricate walls placed between her and those who would wish to undermine her authority. He on the other hand has had quite an upper hand due to his position seeming minor and unimportant, in truth, he was just as much of a danger as his sister to those who wished to undermine the importance of the throne, and the secrets which it held.

As Velor went over the reports which came from his investigations, he found something which perked his interest. Busy little apes… He cared not for the methods of which the Occhestains did their work, even more so when they pried into the matters of the throne. When situations such as these arise, situations which would put a blemish upon his sister and himself, this is when the privileges of the throne, and the importance of the greater above the few came into play. ”High Priest to LSDF forces, Fyunnen Wing, 1st Division. I would like you to arrest the following individuals, and their families, and whomever they have been in contact with within the last three days. “ As he gave his order, he forwarded a list of hundreds of names to the leader of Fyunnen wing which he had contacted, the individual was untouchable except for by the two Fyunnen royals above her. ”High Priest to LSDF forces, Lamanel Wing, 1st Division. A royal servant has been taken by Occhestain forces, please retrieve the servant and conduct information retrieval, I want to know what has happened to her. Please keep her safe, my sister loves her so.” Again, another individual with no superior other than the house leader above him. ”High Priest to Zvevda'Esajt, we need to talk, no questions, I want you to put a freeze on all communications between individuals under your caste leadership.”

With his orders distributed, Velor stood up from behind his desk and went to the wall within his chambers where he kept his personal blade and he placed it upon his hip beneath his robes. He knew that times had changed, people had changed, he could not even feel safe within the confines of his own palace, even more so since he had seen the recent tactical reports from the Yamataian forces. “Why now of all times… why do these fools have to do this now?!” With a grunt of anger, Velor strode from his quarters, as he went about his affairs, he silently went about freezing the assets of every single individual whom had overstepped their boundaries, when he would be done with them, they would be no more important to the eyes of the Lorath than a Helashio slave, and even their words would be taken as nothing more than useless prattle. All because of Yamatai… no… no… all because of Hanako. The only reason why he even bothered to rethink such a thing, was that he realized that no one else within the Yamataian Empire had wronged him, other than the crew of the YSS Sakura. The best example of the best intentions of the Empire could be seen outside of their 1st XF, which he hoped his people could get out from under.

As Velor strode about the palace, hundreds if not thousands of Occhestains were pushed from their position in the sun of success. Fyunnen troops broke into offices, disposing of paper and electronic data. Entire investigative groups under the OCG went into bankruptcy. Entire office complexes and secret labs which remained hidden from the public eye, found themselves without computer access, or even basic utilities such as water, and power. Even individual Occhestains found themselves without access to the Lorath communication networks, their very telepathic signals which allowed them to communicate so well, caused them to be marked as individuals to be silenced. But, no individual would be killed if they did not deserve it, only those who went directly against the crown, and had the ambition to “change the world” so to speak, would be removed from existence, the very memory of them would be removed.

This was a Matriarchy, and no group would dare to place a blemish upon the Queen, the sister of a loving brother, and the people beneath the twins would see to the disposal of those who would dare to question the position of the Royal caste, the last bastion of pure Lorath blood.

As Syrenna sat to eat her lunch, she would find that she would not even have the credits within her personal accounts to purchase even a drink of water, soon after, her world fell silent as Fyunnen-LSDF forces closed upon her position, clad in far superior equipment, even in comparison to the guards which stood aside at their very presence.

[JoMidori]

On: Lor Royal Palace, Gardens of the Goddess.

Why her...Why did this have to all happen around her? With a sigh the queen paced the grand garden, unable to meditate today. She had known about the nosey Occhestans...she had known about the inquiries, and often times it was her who picked the taps and other pieces of spy-ware they thought they had hidden so intricately. But no, she always found them. She had been aware of the spy within her room as well, she had let her stay there to give the group a sense of satisfaction, but it seemed that had come back to bite her in the ass.

She still did not see the big deal...Was she not a woman? Did a woman not have desires? Did she not have needs and wants? True she never really understood these needs and desires on a level headed setting. But deep down in a feral sense she knew what they were, what they meant and how she could satisfy them. She had never acted on them, deep down afraid of whatever it was that could instill such a feeling in her, a feeling that threatened to make her drag the next living thing she saw to her room and damn near tear him apart. No...she had never acted on it save for this one time...

And why should this spring into some great monumental deal! Her mother had taken others to bed after she had bore her and her brother...hell her father had even joined! Why was she not allowed, the same as her mother, to indulge her senses? Was she to be her brothers now and forever? Never to rebel and feel the flesh of another?

No! She had and she would again...and goddess be damned it would be Hanako again if she so choose. It was her life, her body, and her choice. Why did these people feel...no how DARE they intrude in her life, in the sanctity and privateness of her room, simply over a matter of whom she gave herself to the first time. What did it matter so long as she bore twins as well, or a sister and brother, one each to raise and rule her people when her brother and her passed on to rest with the goddess.

Anger surged through her as she gripped her hands into fists, blood dripping to the soft white sand as she stood in place, infront of the alter to her goddess. Turning to it she fell to her knees, the sand shifting as she lowered her head. "Goddess...is it so wrong that I indulge myself once...Must so much come of this? This was my doing, not the Yamatians...I invited her, I pushed her on...It was me, not her."

That in itself, speaking in the shrine, was enough of a taboo in itself as it was. But to speak the words aloud, had there been even a living soul in the area would have been all the confirmation they needed. With a sigh she slumped her shoulders.

As she thought on it, the more she began to realize it was not her fault. Had they taught her about such dealings, had they shown her what to and not to do...had they taught her what it was! She would not be here. Damn her mother, damn her father and damn her brother! They blamed her for this, yet it was not her fault! She was ignorant, stupid to such events and yet they held her accountable for such a thing! How dare they do such a thing?!

With a growl she finally left the shrine, muttering curses as she stormed to her room. Instantly though as she left the wonderous garden she was confronted by alerts. Alerts that the Fyunnen household special forces had been deployed. Reading through the report she sent her brother a message telepathically.

"I will personally see to these people individually. This is not a request, this is not a order from your sister, this is a command from your Xiaah. Am I clear?"

The anger and power of the message made sure to get a point across. She was not to be second guessed or questioned, she was to be followed without a word.

It seemed her rage made the forced Raport all the stronger, even her trained brother would get a rather nasty headache. As she stormed into her room the Helashio quivered, something they were unused to in the usually calm world that as Destiny's room. Someone was threatening her peace, her world. And so sadly it was some of her own people, those that had looked to her for support before, had come to her when they were on the space station. Those she had tirelessly tried to help until she was to sick to move. She remembered the dimly lit room where Fate had to crouch as she ranted at Destiny for doing such a thing...

Fate! There was one thing that was, like her name, never changing. With a sigh she decided to call upon the woman. A moment later, there would be a message blinking infront of her face from Destiny herself. Since the little...squabble...Destiny had been somewhat subduded around Fate, outright avoiding her at times. The message would be simply a message that she wished for Fate at her side immediatly, even if she were still hurt.

Destiny had a long day ahead of her...and it had already been long in her first two hours of awakening...Goddess above why did she have to be the Xiaah...?

[Vesper]

In the office Syrenna toiled away on the report, her lunch uninterrupted by Velor’s efforts. After all, the banking system, like so many things on the planet had been designed, built, and was operated by Occhestans of the OCG. The particular system he had been attempting to access, the system-spanning banking network had always been one of the high priorities in terms of security. After all, what nation, what world, could easily survive the failure of its entire economy?

Because of this, the banking system was controlled by a massive hyperturing AI secluded within heavily fortified bunker in Kaalla. Due to the incredibly task of maintaining the economy for what had once been some 10 billion Lorath its power was immense, with a intelligence tens of thousands of times higher than a normal Lorath and a subjective time nearly two thousand times faster. What would be a second for someone engaged in futile hacking attempts was seen by the AI as more than half a hour. Had it been possible to network the entire computing superstructure outside of the OCG it would have but a small fraction of the mercantile minds capability. Even the newly acquired Souricon vessel, for all its power, was paltry against that of the machine. After all, how can one see into the mind of that which can think thoughts beyond the ken of mortals?

Unfortunate it was as well that Velor’s authority was not quite as absolute as he thought it was. While no doubt quite powerful in affairs within the Matriarchy as a whole, the authority to restrict the funds of someone would have required a good amount of paperwork, proof of investigation, and authorization from someone at the higher levels of the police, be they OSF or otherwise. Even Esajt, the Prime Minister, had the authority to do it himself. This had been done to protect the rights of the citizenry and to prevent politically motivated actions against them. Against persons who were flagged as members of the military or special operations their where even much stricter requirements. After all, it would not do for the accounts of the defenders of the planet to be remotely easy to disrupt.

And so her meal was delivered without delay. She noted it was delicious, she always loved coming to these bases, and they always had a good menu. Her efforts on the report went on uninterrupted until an alarm sounded within the base.

”This is Commander Ilryoun. Set condition one throughout the base. This is not a drill. , we have just received a report two hostile LASDF wings headed towards this base with orders to invade this facility. I repeat, set condition one throughout the base, this is not a drill,” sounded out through the bases intercom system.

Soldiers and agents began hurrying to their positions and power armor pilots began clamoring into their armors and go through the short start-up procedures. Three factors further enlarged the already significant gap between the bases defensive forces and the incoming hostile wings. The first was the simple, although incredibly powerful, matter of their knowledge of the surrounding tunnel network. The attackers were headed to terrain they knew almost nothing about while the defending Occhestans had intimate knowledge of its complex pathways. The second was the detailed knowledge the defending SRB pilots had of the incoming Fyunnen and Lamanel. The OCG had after all designed the weapons used by the LSDF and all of the ones for the power armor, a field that had never even existed in the Fyunnen military much less the Lamanel, and knew exactly what equipment the hostile pilots had access to. They knew the details of them, their strengths and their weakness. The two wings knew almost nothing of the sort about the defenders. They did not know the numbers or equipment they would face, did not know the training of those pilots. The only information Velor would be able to provide them with was the general location of the base. The third was a matter of training and experience. The Fyunnen, though considered elite, had only been piloting the armor for a scant few months and the Lamenl even less and while already quite proficient did not match the elite of the SRB, each of whom had years or decades of experience in the armor suits.

All of this stacked the deck heavily against the attackers but the killing blow had yet to be seen.

Within the base Syrenna moved towards the bases C&C, the report stored in a datachip in her hand. She entered paused at the entrance to the room while one of the suited guards confirmed her id before letting her enter. When she walked into the multi-tiered round room she moved towards the communications officer and gave him specific instruction on whom to and how to transmit the message. In turn the man sent the quantum coded message with a unjammable, untraceable directed neutrino burst which traveled through the rock above the base as though it where no more substantial than the air above it.

With that done she moved to the base commander who was busy around the holographic tactical station at the center of the room. Stopping on the other side of the table from the commander but making sure she did not interfere with any of the individuals moving around the room she said,” What is the situation, commander?”

The commander glanced up at her and then returned to her work,” It seems Velor found out about the pickup of the tech and the helashio and has sent two wings of 18 M279B1 power armors each with orders to invade this facility and arrest or terminate anyone they find here. At max speed for those armors they should be here in approximately 20 minutes, assuming they have good luck once they get into the tunnel system about 30 km from here. We have moved two of the squads of armors to the outer perimeter to intercept them, though our analysts do not believe they will have much more to do than clean up the remainder of the wing because of this,” he said quickly typing in a series of commands into the table. The image smoothly zoomed out from the surface image it had been showing, tracing the path of the armor wings as they neared until the lower orbit of Lor was visible. Moving rapidly over the horizon was a small blinking dot on which the display then zoomed in on, showing the arrow shape of a Yushi destroyer. “That is the YD-172, one of the Yushi destroyers we purchased from the Yamatians. It will be in weapons range of the Fyunnen and Lamenl wings in approximately one minute. The immediate threat will be over a few short seconds after that.” The two looked at the image of the Yushi as it finished its accelerated orbit closing on a low orbit above the power armor wings.

====

6,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet and the armors zipping across it at the flank speed of the armor, some 340 kph. As it moved into weapons range of the two wings the sensor officer on the bridge of the ship turned his head to the captain,” Sir, we have entered range of the targets, which are moving away from us at 340 kph absolute towards the facility above the SRB base. Sensors confirm that all vessels are maintaining the perimeter established around the operational area."

" Intel has confirmed that the paltry number of planetary defenses are powered down and the YD-171, -173, and the SDS Sairon are in position to terminate them should they begin to power up. In any event, the missile and MAP weaponry mounted on them should not prove serious threat to the Yamatian vessels.”

The operations officer then piped in,” The communications directorate in charge of the Lor local grid has confirmed the armor wings communication privileges have been rescinded. They will have to rely on their internal radio systems since there armor does contain the neutrino array or subspace communicators. Wide area jamming over the area from the defense network has been initiated, so they will be isolated from any support from their launch base.” Touching the ear mic on her right rear she then said,” Engage authorization confirmed,” and then turned to the commander,” we have received authorization to terminate the hostile armors.”

“Understood, Pilot, roll to port to present dorsal to the planet, OFFDEF, you are clear to fire at will on the targets.” For once in the last 4 months the captain was pleased the dfense net had proven so difficult to rebuild.

“Free fire understood,” the officer responded as the ship finished its rotation,” weapons are active… target acquired by fire control. Firing.”

At that moment the 16 weapons pods mounted on the upper surface of the ship opened up on the ground below. In the span of just a few seconds nearly a hundred a fifty bolts of energy lanced out to the two groups of unsuspecting armors 5,000 km below. The armors would have no time to dodge, no time to even perceive the threat, much less act on it, as the light speed beams struck them 15 miliseconds later. A simple blink of the eye took more than twenty times as long to occur. Not even the suits AIs would be able to react, the sensors of the unable to detect anything faster than light. The beams, carrying enough energy to bore through over 200 kilometers of solid rock, tore through the power armor formation, vaporizing armor, bone, and flesh with abolm. Only three of them survived the first assault through freak luck, falling in the second salvo. The deep punctures in the earth littered the ground beneath the two, glowing brightly in the night and slowly diming as the liquid rock flowed to reseal the holes.

“All targets confirmed destroyed Captain. Defense net still at condition 3, none are powered up,” was the sensor officer’s simple response.

“Good, Pilot move us over the base that launched them. If you see any further launches, you are cleared to terminate it.”

===

On the planet Velors forces would have similar difficulty with the other systems spanning the planet as he had had with the banking system. While some of the larger cities such as the Matriarchy capital had water supply and treatment facilities locally within the city under the control of the local agencies, most of the planet received its utilities through massive networks controlled, for efficiencies sake, by the OCG that had designed and built them. The small facilities within the cities where lightly defended in and of themselves, protection expected to be provided by the local police force. In many of the major Matriarchy cities these forces where Fyunnen, most of which were very loyal to the empress and the Matriarchy. The facilities in those cities fell quickly, it being obvious to the Occhestans running them that they were heavily outmatched with their paltry internal defense forces.

The massive regional distribution and pumping stations were another matter; however, having been built with OSF bases nearby or on site to ensure that no interruption would occur from even very large attacks from the remaining Helashio rebels. With the OCG enjoying effectively total space superiority in the vicinity of Lor it would prove disastrous for the Matriarchy forces to attack them facilities. Any attack large enough to overwhelm the defenses would likely critically damage the utility stations themselves which would lead to massive shortages throughout thousands of square kilometers, something that neither side could afford.

To the energy-hungry Occhestans, power was of even greater import and the network that provided it had been built with huge redundancy and powerful defenses to protect it from any disasters. With the advents of the last few months and the threat of invasion from outside even the generating and distribution stations within the cities had their own OSF security forces, greatly complicating any attempts to take them over. Much like the economy, the power grid itself was monitored and controlled by a similarly powerful AI system, controlling the entire network to maintain its functionality. Since the failure of the power grid could have much faster and more damaging results than the failure of any of the other utilities, the AI had a fairly significant force at its disposal to deploy to points of the grid where persons where attempting to interfere with it.

Those Occhestans unlucky enough to be in the Matriarchies cities and singled out had little recourse. Only a handful of them knew anything about the recent activities of the SRB, even fewer having anything to do with the matter. Most of them were confused by the actions of the Matriarchy, seeing it as unfair bigotry against their kind. As the arrests and harassment spread many others, Occhestan, Fyunnen, and Lamanel alike saw a similar picture. The Matriarchy was well known for its views on maintain the cast system. The OCG on the other hand had been the clearing house of members of the other castes that wished to be more than their genome, to follow the dreams the Matriarchy would not allow them to follow. While many citizens, indoctrinated their whole lives, no doubt believed that the caste system should be inviolate, many other felt the freedoms granted by the OCG was more in line with what the future for the species should hold. While the caste system had had merit millennia ago many from all the houses in the last decades had begun to question its necessity and the need for the heavy handed enforcement the Matriarchy employed.

No outright protests had began, but they where no doubt on the way as the requests from the harassed and arrested families and friends met with little assistance, more than likely simply leading to visits to those people by the police. The news networks were abuzz with the massive police raids on Occhestan burrows and the complaints of the friends and family of those detained.

Most of the offices in the palace where simple administrative facilities, handling mundane paperwork and nothing of real interest would be found inside. The individuals inside confusedly where hauled out of them, and the offices no doubt thoroughly ransacked. The few offices of the SRB and other high-profile OCG agencies where constructed of significantly sturdier material and design than the palace itself, designed to survive a attack should someone manage to invade the palace. Anything powerful enough to breach them would result in rather impressive damage to the palace itself. Even if they got into them they would find even less than in the mundane offices. For security reason, these offices did little with hardcopies, everything done on hypersecure networks, which Velor and the attackers would find quite impenetrable.

===

Esajt stood on the bridge of the Yuumi-class battleship gripping the railing in front of the overlooking the lower bridge below as it burst out of the warp gate and launched itself towards Lor. Around it was arrayed a flotilla of 5 Ayame and one of the Kyoto. He had left the a few days previous to retrieve the ships the OCG had purchased from the Yamatians. Things had been going quite well, the ships checking out and having been transferred to the command of the OCG crewmen they had brought along with no trouble at all. It was not surprising though, the purchases had been made in the name of the OCG, not the Matriarchy and Esajt had come along to smooth over any difficulties that might occur, even though none of note did. They had intended on bringing the ships back to the fleet yards for crewing and distribution throughout the fleet but the recent occurrences on Lor had put that plan on indefinite hold and they had had to rush home.

Esajt could have brought the whole fleet with him, but he suspected bringing so many ships into the system would make it too tempting a target for the Mishu to ignore. For the time being they seemed to be overlooking the Lor system, no doubt focusing their efforts on juicier, more threatening targets. The small fleet he brought with him, though powerful enough to defeat the entire Lorath navy prior to their purchases several times over, was paltry compared to the forces the SA and Mishuu fielded. The Mishuu would almost certainly take notice of a several hundred ship fleet and move in to squash the Lorath and he could not risk that.

One of the COMM techs turned in his chair and said,” We have confirmation that the two wings sent to attack the base have been destroyed. The YD-172 has moved to a station keeping position above the base that launched them. Also, The High Priest, Velor, has sent a transmission to you requesting you sever communications with the SRB facility.”

Esajt raised one hand to rub his forehead as he turned away from the railing,” I can’t believe this has spun so far out of control. And of all things, he is attacking us just to cover-up one of the greatest scandals of the last thousand years. Unbelievable.” Walking up to the admiral who sat at one of the chairs at the back of the bridge he said,” Qwynuo, we have to prevent this from escalating into civil war. Get in contact with the loyalists in high command and have them get the whole fleet ready for combat should it occur. Also, as much as I hate it, have them look into which ships are likely to turn their loyalty to the Matriarchy. “

“Very well, Mr. Prime Minister, though I can say from the last report the analysts did we can be assured that the majority of the fleet, including almost all of the capital ships, is going to be loyal first to their homeland, the OCG. Of the remainder ~30%, primarily the Fyunnen majority system patrol ships, are expected to side with the Matriarchy in any major conflict. The remaining fraction is uncertain and could shift either way. Even though they are new to this, I can’t say I am looking forward to fighting our own kind.”

“I know admiral, it rankles me as well. We haven’t fought amongst ourselves for nearly three thousand years since the treaty formed our current system. Still though, we cannot let the Empress and her brother undermine the safety and tradition of the entire planet just to cover up the child’s ill-conceived sexual antics. Now though, I need to contact Velor and try to talk some sense into the man before he tears our world apart,” Esajt said as he walked over to the captain’s office at the back of the bridge and entered it.

Moving in front of the screen on the wall he mentally sent a series of commands into it, opening a secure channel with Velor’s office.

He waited for it to finish connecting and began to speak,” Velor, I will not abandon my people to your own personal agenda. They were following their chosen duty, to seek the truth, as everyone’s duty should be. I know you are aware of the information they discovered and where trying to confirm,” he said, sitting down at the desk. “Velor, how can you make acts of war to cover up your sister’s scandal? You know full well as I that she violated tradition standing for nearly 3 thousand years. Had it been for love of another, perhaps then it would have been understandable and explainable, but it only occurred because she could not maintain control of her urges. It makes it even worse who she chose to have her fling with, that bitch Hanako. The agents interrogating the two palace members are causing them no harm, and they would have been returned shortly none the worse for the matter, the same apparently cannot be said of you and yours.

There is no reason that this impropriety, this scandal need tear our people apart but that is exactly what you are doing Velor! You are arresting innocents without reason, on the flimsiest suspicion they have views different than you. You will release them. They have done nothing to you or yours, they were doing their duties to aid our people like so many others.

I took my position, accepted the duties and responsibilities that go with it not for my own gain, Velor. I chose to serve my people and have done so for nearly two decades now, with their best interests my guiding star. I had hoped that the same could be said for you, that the good of the people outweighed your own personal ambition and fear of losing your power, but your actions in the last day have made me seriously question that.

I do not wish to continue this conflict, Velor. Stop attacking the innocent and let the people hear the truth. The repercussions from the public will only grow more onerous the longer and more violently you try to keep this secret from the light of day.

I will not stand idly by as you attack our own, harass and imprison innocents. If you fail to see reason, see that what you are doing is wrong, I will have no other choice than to stop you, by force if necessary.

Please, Velor, I ask you to note force me onto such a course. It will tear our people apart and create an irreparable rift. We have lived in peace and harmony for over three thousand years; do not throw that away on something like this.” He sat in the chair, waiting for a response from the high priest.

[DocTomoe]

((I hate to say it Vesper, but this post is void. You're not quite aware of the scope of power which the royalty has on Lor. There would have been no way that such a system would have been allowed to have been made with a lock-out against the royal family.

Also, the armors which you have mentioned have not been approved yet, thus they can not be used yet. Along with that, you lack the SRPs to have even built said armor. I suggest you re-evaluate your post, and ask your GMs about the setting more.

To be honest, I did not even bother to read past the first few paragraphs before writing this post, because of the glaring inconsistencies in plot and setting. Along with the blatant use of technology which has not been put through the approval process yet.

Your local GM has spoken.))

[Vesper]

((I am opening a thread in the OOC section of the board to discuss this as we should not be doing it in the thread itself. See here: http://stararmy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59255#59255))

[Vesper]

((Post revised with suggestions made in our conference. I believe this fixes most of the issues, so lets get this thing moving.))

[JoMidori]

What he got, instead of Velor, was Harr'Ikke. The queen was enraged and looked the part as she sat in her throne infront of the camera. It seemed that she was to speak, and not her brother.

"Esajt, You will de-arm your ships and yeild your forces. We have drawn no blood, nor had we intended to. I will not kill my own, but I will also not stand aside as I attempt to quell a threat to our peace. And that is exactly what this is, a threat to our peace! Do you not see what can come about by this?!

No, our people will not turn inward, but outward. That is a PROBLEM! Look at where we live! If we let this out with our races hatred twoards the empire...What do you think they will want!? They will want blood, they will want revenge, they will want what we will not get! And then what?! Attack Yamatai? They will leave us to our enemy the Mishhu, and we will not survive! Or maybe they will come to do the job themselves!

We have not attacked any innocent, nor taken anyone into custody. And is it not the reaction to spying? To take those whom invaded a sacred space...MY BEDROOM...into custody? Would you not react in the same way had I sent someone to spy on you?! To leak every detail of your intimate life to the public?!

And who in the name of the goddess pays attention to those stupid traditions?! What does it matter if I give myself to my brother the first time! It is a heir that is all the matters...And with the way you have been spoutin on over the past few months it seems that is all I matter for...my brother and I matter for. For giving you a heir and being nothing but a trinket, a show piece while the other three houses rule. Our ancestors saw how well that worked, and they made our house, house Tur'Lista! Dedication and loyalty to house Tur'Lista!"

At the mention of the informal oath, Destiny slammed her fist into the arm of the throne, cracking the stone. Her anger was rising as she growled and watched the screen, her eyes burning with anger.

"Esajt...Call down your forces, or we will act. I do not wish to see our people die, but I will act and defend them should the need arise. Remember, you drew first blood, if a war springs from this it is on your shoulders!"

With a sigh Harr'Ikke seemed to lose her steam at the mention of the war that threatened to tear her planet in two.

"Esajt...call down your forces and I will call off the Fyunnen. They will crush you if I give them the word but I will not have needless bloodshed on my planet, I will not have our people fighting when we are in so much danger. Now more then ever we need to work together..."

She let out another sigh as she dropped her face into her hands, her shoulders shaking as she began to cry. It was a good few moments before she looked up, her eyes already starting to turn red. "Please Esajt...Give me the evidence. I will reveal it myself, but after what we need to do. Esajt we need to leave, all of us. Please trust me...We need to work together, we need eachother right now more then ever. Please, I am begging you, I need to have everyone helping together. You have my word as your Xiaah that I will release this information after we have finished...But we can not have everyone angry with the Yamatians. We need thier help right now, we need to leave Lor, everyone does. The Mishhu have us surrounded, it is but a matter of time before they attack us. So what is it you will do Esajt? Will you release this information now and condem our people? Or will you give me the information and help our race?"

After a moment of watching the screen, Harr'Ikke sighed and let her head slump down, shoulders wilted down as her wings did the same. She waited to see what he was going to say, to see if he would tear apart the race in such a tough time, or see the need of unity in such a situation.

[DocTomoe]

ON: Lor - Shortly after the conclusion of the meeting aboard the YSS Sakura.

As the blazing red sun of the Lor system loomed over the horizon, the dawn of the first day of a time of hardship set upon the capital city of the Lorath race. It was almost like the entire population had endured a post traumatic stress, but they continued onwards as many shopkeepers began to peddle their wears at a marked down price so they could manage to pack up for the evacuation with a greater ease. Lamanel, Fyunnen, and Helashio could be seen moving large loads of essentials for the evacuation, food, water, portable shelter, and more.

Along with the Fyunnen and Lamanel, were white and blue robed people who could no longer be called what they once were. In various Lorath cities and towns around the planet, there were massive groups of psionic Lorath who wore white arm bands emblazoned with the LSDF logo, and the Lorath script for "Loyal" embroidered into these armbands. The OCG had gained what they wanted, a rift between their Lorath kin, and themselves, and they also lost members who once considered eachother brethren. In many formerly-Occhestian towns and provences, large efforts could be seen to seperate the betrayers from the loyalists as entire clans of psionic Lorath seperated from eachother.

The divide would be made apparent by just looking upon the faces of the two factions. Loyalists to the crown were the newer generation of Lorath, the grandchildren of those who were once exiled beneath the ground. While many of those who sided with the OCG were older individuals, whom had been raised in the traditional manner which bordered upon brainwashing when the OCG had a stronger control over the upbringing of the once Occhestian people. Due to this rift, the OCG would only gain a fraction of the people which they expected to leave with, and only a fraction of the funding, equipment, and knowledge which they sought to take with them as many of the younger and brighter Lorath took their projects and data with them as they fled their OCG controlled offices and labs.

Arguments took place between Loyalists and OCG Separatists. Arguments which carried words and phrases such as "The Xiaah means nothing, we are our own people! We must seize our future!" which would soon be countered by a counter argument. "The Xiaah and High Priest have had our best interests in mind from the very moment the First Xiaah and High Lord delivered them upon this world. The Lorath will remain together, as we have from the beginning!" Such arguments became common place as the day wore on, some argued purely from an opinionated standpoint, others argued statistics and figures. despite the arguments, there was no bloodshed, yet, and the Fyunnen peace keepers saw to that.

Even in the space above the planet, there was a shift which took place. The QnS shipyards launched several dozen of their escape pods, loaded with OCG separatists. LSDF ships descended to the surface of Lor to release OCG separatists upon the planet. The most dramatic of these actions were aboard the ships which were ordered from the Star Army Fleet Depot, aboard 350 Kyoto, 70 Ayame, 3 Horizon, 3 Yushi, and 2 Yuumi some of the troops attempted a mutiny against the OCG loyal commanders.

The rift had been formed, and it was by the choice of their young to abandon the will of their misguided ancestors.

As the once-Occhestian people evacuated, they attempted to take their Helashio slaves with them... oddly enough, they refused. Millions of Helashio who had labored under the Occhestian command, began to lash out in a manner which had not been seen since the wars which took place to reclaim the surface. They did not act violently unless upposed, instead, they attempted to break free of bonds that they were placed under, and others who were unrestrained simply bolted away from their owners. Helashio whom could speak shouted at the Occhestians who attempted to spirit them away. "BETRAYERS!" "HEATHENS!" The slaves cried out, many of the ones who provided the most argument were the elder Helashio, the ones who were old enough to be part of the population of slaves who agreed to serve under the Lorath as penance for the sins of their ancestors. They viewed the former-Occhestians action with the utmost disgust.

In the outskirts of many Occhestian towns, in farmland and plains which free-roaming Helashio resided in, elder Helashio spoke to the younger under-educated Helashio in their native tongue. "Children, the Lorath who once were the wise ones of their people have taken to greed, and have cast aside the loyalty and memory of their ancestors who served the Tur'lista loyally. They also cast aside their memories... we shall not remain loyal to those who do not serve their memories. Our bond to them is broken my children!" A similar scene took place outside of many towns and in many areas which were separated from the primary cities. The Helashio may have been a primal and enslaved people, but they clung to their ideals which had been the guiding force behind their very enslavement, and these ideals were even followed by the slaves which once obediently followed behind their former-Occhestian owners by a leash. Now, their leashes were broken, their bonds were cast aside. As many Helashio who could, fled from the betrayers.

In some cases, Helashio who were bonded by collar to their owners, were sought out by their fellow Helashio who maintained a strand of free will. Silently, with tears and remorse, the free willed Helashio freed their kin from their bonds by simply ripping at the collars which their kin wore, killing them and freeing them from their damnation. Even with such actions, the Helashio did not act out directly against the Occhestians, it was an absurd peace, something which was barely able to be comprehended... this was a stand-off of ideals, honor, and loyalty, it was carried out with as much pride as a Yamataian Samurai or Lorath Fyunnen would show in her service to her charge. The Helashio which gave their own lives, did so with grace which was unfathomable. Others who were restrained and bound would meet their own deaths as days wore on, their release would come from self induced starvation and dehydration.

[Tyler]

The lmanel that were in the areas of the Helashio revolts set aside their project for a short time opening their camps to the fleeing slaves. Now was an important time, these Helashio were free and deserved to be as such. Shamans Ion and Storm were the first on the scene where the largest one was happening, the two were welcoming the fleeing Helashio with open arms and warm caring.

The helashio, despite being a little wary of the shamans that had for so long been their masters and disciplinarians, were seeing that they were trying to help instead of hurt. Being that they were on the same side here the slave race was hurrying toward where they'd be safe and secure from being removed. Such an event was happening wherever the uprisings were taking place.

Back at the Citadel, the falcon from Ion would arrive with it's message on it's talon. not wasting any time Notan would send word to Velor and Destiny about the situation as he heard it. Word was that the lmanel that were in the field were busy setting up shelter camps for the fleeing helashio everywhere it seemed.

[Vesper]

((OOC: This thread is PAUSED until discussion in a OOC thread can resolve the blatant discrepancy in the events posted by Tomoe and stated IC fact. Please see here http://stararmy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59821#59821 for the thread.))

[DocTomoe]

[Wes]

OOC:

Basically, this looks like an attempt to hurt Jeffrey's dudes however possible, and it looks like OOC drama when it should be just IC.

The Helashio would go with the Occhestans. They're slaves and even if they did want to run free (unlikely) the collars would keep them under their owners' control. The collars are even made by the Occhesta house -- thus the attempt to subvert the OCG Helashio is hereby VOID.

Additionally, the Occhestans have the option of remotely controlling the slaves of the rest of the Lorath houses...so be thankful Vesper has used some restraint. Maybe you should as well.

[Tyler]

OOC response: Wes I am doing nothing to take them from his dudes. My shaman are merely welcoming the helashio that dont' want to go into shelter camps. That's perfectly reasonable considering the Lmanel caste is responsible for the Helashio for the most part.

[JoMidori]

OOC:

Actually Wes, alot of the Helashio culture has been freed, and has been giving working jobs and some choice in this. Most collars have been removed (Note the recent visits to Lor from the Sakura and Serenity on the Ygg, as well as Jiaarya on the Reclaimer.)

Just as Yamatai demanded in thier treaty, Lor has begun the release of the Helashio. No, not all have been released, so those under Occhestan collar will go, but not all of the house will be under control. Those of lesser jobs, like those in the shops and the lesser servants or domestic jobs will not have collars, but those in the higher stations, personal assasistants and the such, will yes be collared.

And ontop of that, he said that not all went. There are those who went with the Occhestans yes, but not all, just as not all stayed.

So Wes, this is NOT Void.