I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar, yet I can't seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place, I wish I'd seen the place
But no one's ever taken me
♫ Pearl Jam - Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town ♫
Mynydoed, Decontamination Chamber
The crew of the LSDF Akahar who were fortunate enough not to have severe structol contamination or radiation poisoning felt like they were sitting inside a sparkling amethyst or fluorite geode with fireflies and shivers up their spine as some unknown process was scanning their bodies and systematically rearranging things. The chamber opened and in the doorway stood Keib, and wrapped around one of his legs was the smaller Aiesu that was on the Akahar.
Surprisingly, they were both unharmed and far behind him, Merril was standing there, as tall as a frame, still a furry, Va'haar-aspected monster, staring down the taller Aiesu, in some sort of conversation with her. It looked like a spelling-out of terms, and making it abundantly clear that there was no perversion of her perfect form to go down if either the LSDF or Lazarus wanted her cooperation.
Keib didn't want to know what it entailed as he found a place to sit down, spotting a datapad in Ny'za's hand, with a harmless survey asking her what she thought of the WINTER-II and its capabilities. Whether or not it'd be confiscated by the LSDF wasn't a question that crossed her mind right now.
Other members of the Akahar's crew, including some of the Engineering team, and the Bridge Bunnies, were idly chatting amongst each other in hushed tones, each trying to put together their version of the events that were. The truth was still uncertain, not making it truth at all, or even facts.
Keib didn't have much to say about what was going on outside, or what words he exchanged with Merril. As far as he knew, Lazarus was still playing ball with the Matriarchy, keeping their distance as, from far away, ships were arriving with equipment and gear to get their own slippery handle on the situation.
If the Akahar was the lever, the Mok'ro was the ball on top of it, and it was all covered in dripping structol, the Akahar's crew would be the lever turning gears they couldn't see, which turned even more gears beyond their reach. Far reaching consequences throughout time that were impossible for them to map in the present - only able to give way to mere speculation as two sets of powerful hands fumbled for it, trying to pull it in different directions, perhaps even a second axis of movement present as a cat was trying to pull at it too.
Soon Keib was out of his suit, enjoying what the Mynydoed alleged was refreshment as he sat in the decontamination chamber with nothing but all the time in the world to think about what'd happened.
Meanwhile, outside, there was a cat scratching themselves, having spelt their terms out to a very terrified rabbit - maybe it was animal nature dictating instead of two people. Merril's eyes traced the horizon visible through the bubble separating her and the void. Not that it mattered that it was there, since she could survive in space. Specks on the horizon became dots, and dots became shapes, and shapes became forms, and forms became ships. The Matriarchy had arrived.
What followed was simple. An envoy from the mass of ships shuttled into the Mynydoed to talk face-to-face with the 'acting' captain of the LSDF Akahar, the Lazarus representative, and... the horrible, very big, snaggletoothed abomination standing before them...
A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER...
Talks were, for all intents and purposes despite the gross physical differences and the power dynamics which were initially earthquaked by the presence of the snaggletoothed, grinning Merril, who quote unquote thought that everybody was "just asking to get eaten with all this boring talk."
It seemed the Matriarchy and the Consortium were, for perhaps the first time, going to walk away from this with what they wanted. The Matriarchy got to cover up the situation and take the data, but the Consortium got to keep - not contain since Merril didn't like that word - the beast.
Merril got what she wanted, since Lazarus promised not to change her, and the Matriarchy would keep her in their interests - which meant she had a second interest looking out for her. Not that she worried too much about Lazarus since she came into her new form. Though, the interest started immediately as Merril noticed scans pointed at her apparently from nowhere, and expressionless 'R's attempting to 'grab samples' of her fur while she wasn't looking with tweezers. Even when they were swatted away, they didn't scream as they sailed across the deck - just picking themselves up and bottling the sample. Nothing personal, after all.
The samples turned out to be a horse of a different colour. The reason Merril was so hard to track, the reason she was able to adapt faster than structol, it wasn't structol. It was a hybridization of L'manel flesh rewriting structol as part of a defence mechanism overreacting. But it was also passively hostile to structol, and tried to assimilate it unless convinced not to. At the same time, it could not survive without a central brain, unlike structol. It was solitary. It received a classification and a name, but the implications of its abilities would become all to apparent later.
Then came the question, to be handled by Lazarus, and not the Matriarchy, of what to feed this thing...
IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED...
The Matriarchy kept Lazarus's developments on a short leash, at least pertaining to the Mok'ro incident and their own contractual obligations. The Akahar crew appeared to have been forgotten in all this as they were soon released from decontamination with clean bills of health. Everyone involved were given medals, commendations behind the scenes. Well, nearly everyone.
Keib simply disappeared from the LSDF's radar altogether as soon as he set foot - the Consortium couldn't track him down either as he faded away from any spotlight or scrutiny, having had enough. Some of the corrupted remains of those from the Mok'ro and the handful from the Akahar made it back to life, though they were forced to retire to quiet lives out of the way of the public eye, and possibly mentally transformed forever. Even under quiet observation, they kept being drawn to each other, subconsciously recognising their former crew mates and allies. A few still returned to serve with the LSDF, though rumours and questions of the fates of both ships still followed them thick.
Lazarus kept to its works and its silent feud with its newly formed sibling company, Lagrange, but in the shadowy recesses, Merril's corruption brought new possibilities, leverage, and exploitation to bright, terrible minds. In the end, the Consortium discovered Merril had a taste for beef.
Here's to you; Syltrucol, the lonely sylph.
END
Haunting, familiar, yet I can't seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place, I wish I'd seen the place
But no one's ever taken me
♫ Pearl Jam - Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town ♫
Mynydoed, Decontamination Chamber
The crew of the LSDF Akahar who were fortunate enough not to have severe structol contamination or radiation poisoning felt like they were sitting inside a sparkling amethyst or fluorite geode with fireflies and shivers up their spine as some unknown process was scanning their bodies and systematically rearranging things. The chamber opened and in the doorway stood Keib, and wrapped around one of his legs was the smaller Aiesu that was on the Akahar.
Surprisingly, they were both unharmed and far behind him, Merril was standing there, as tall as a frame, still a furry, Va'haar-aspected monster, staring down the taller Aiesu, in some sort of conversation with her. It looked like a spelling-out of terms, and making it abundantly clear that there was no perversion of her perfect form to go down if either the LSDF or Lazarus wanted her cooperation.
Keib didn't want to know what it entailed as he found a place to sit down, spotting a datapad in Ny'za's hand, with a harmless survey asking her what she thought of the WINTER-II and its capabilities. Whether or not it'd be confiscated by the LSDF wasn't a question that crossed her mind right now.
Other members of the Akahar's crew, including some of the Engineering team, and the Bridge Bunnies, were idly chatting amongst each other in hushed tones, each trying to put together their version of the events that were. The truth was still uncertain, not making it truth at all, or even facts.
Keib didn't have much to say about what was going on outside, or what words he exchanged with Merril. As far as he knew, Lazarus was still playing ball with the Matriarchy, keeping their distance as, from far away, ships were arriving with equipment and gear to get their own slippery handle on the situation.
If the Akahar was the lever, the Mok'ro was the ball on top of it, and it was all covered in dripping structol, the Akahar's crew would be the lever turning gears they couldn't see, which turned even more gears beyond their reach. Far reaching consequences throughout time that were impossible for them to map in the present - only able to give way to mere speculation as two sets of powerful hands fumbled for it, trying to pull it in different directions, perhaps even a second axis of movement present as a cat was trying to pull at it too.
Soon Keib was out of his suit, enjoying what the Mynydoed alleged was refreshment as he sat in the decontamination chamber with nothing but all the time in the world to think about what'd happened.
Meanwhile, outside, there was a cat scratching themselves, having spelt their terms out to a very terrified rabbit - maybe it was animal nature dictating instead of two people. Merril's eyes traced the horizon visible through the bubble separating her and the void. Not that it mattered that it was there, since she could survive in space. Specks on the horizon became dots, and dots became shapes, and shapes became forms, and forms became ships. The Matriarchy had arrived.
What followed was simple. An envoy from the mass of ships shuttled into the Mynydoed to talk face-to-face with the 'acting' captain of the LSDF Akahar, the Lazarus representative, and... the horrible, very big, snaggletoothed abomination standing before them...
A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER...
Talks were, for all intents and purposes despite the gross physical differences and the power dynamics which were initially earthquaked by the presence of the snaggletoothed, grinning Merril, who quote unquote thought that everybody was "just asking to get eaten with all this boring talk."
It seemed the Matriarchy and the Consortium were, for perhaps the first time, going to walk away from this with what they wanted. The Matriarchy got to cover up the situation and take the data, but the Consortium got to keep - not contain since Merril didn't like that word - the beast.
Merril got what she wanted, since Lazarus promised not to change her, and the Matriarchy would keep her in their interests - which meant she had a second interest looking out for her. Not that she worried too much about Lazarus since she came into her new form. Though, the interest started immediately as Merril noticed scans pointed at her apparently from nowhere, and expressionless 'R's attempting to 'grab samples' of her fur while she wasn't looking with tweezers. Even when they were swatted away, they didn't scream as they sailed across the deck - just picking themselves up and bottling the sample. Nothing personal, after all.
The samples turned out to be a horse of a different colour. The reason Merril was so hard to track, the reason she was able to adapt faster than structol, it wasn't structol. It was a hybridization of L'manel flesh rewriting structol as part of a defence mechanism overreacting. But it was also passively hostile to structol, and tried to assimilate it unless convinced not to. At the same time, it could not survive without a central brain, unlike structol. It was solitary. It received a classification and a name, but the implications of its abilities would become all to apparent later.
Then came the question, to be handled by Lazarus, and not the Matriarchy, of what to feed this thing...
IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED...
The Matriarchy kept Lazarus's developments on a short leash, at least pertaining to the Mok'ro incident and their own contractual obligations. The Akahar crew appeared to have been forgotten in all this as they were soon released from decontamination with clean bills of health. Everyone involved were given medals, commendations behind the scenes. Well, nearly everyone.
Keib simply disappeared from the LSDF's radar altogether as soon as he set foot - the Consortium couldn't track him down either as he faded away from any spotlight or scrutiny, having had enough. Some of the corrupted remains of those from the Mok'ro and the handful from the Akahar made it back to life, though they were forced to retire to quiet lives out of the way of the public eye, and possibly mentally transformed forever. Even under quiet observation, they kept being drawn to each other, subconsciously recognising their former crew mates and allies. A few still returned to serve with the LSDF, though rumours and questions of the fates of both ships still followed them thick.
Lazarus kept to its works and its silent feud with its newly formed sibling company, Lagrange, but in the shadowy recesses, Merril's corruption brought new possibilities, leverage, and exploitation to bright, terrible minds. In the end, the Consortium discovered Merril had a taste for beef.
Here's to you; Syltrucol, the lonely sylph.
END
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