Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 14th, 936
10:56 Commonwealth Standard Time
Morning came once more to the survivors of the crash. The sun rose to greet their weakened bodies, tired from the working training regime that Na'Subir tried to rush unto them. Those who did not learn how to fight, had to learn how to hold a rifle, and a knife, and then use it. Since Ammo was rather precious in the Nuocr, they had to work with their own imaginations when aiming with weapons. It wasn't actually enough to fight contingents of bandits, but it was enough for them to defend themselves should they come under attack. This training regime seemed to find more utility in the fact that the Sehaya was breaking down at constant intervals. Every two or three hours of running time brought six or seven hours of maintenance, making travel slow, and their journey to a safe place even longer.
Nights were no longer their own. During the evenings, when everyone was inside and resting, the patter of feet could be heard on the hull of the land-cruiser. Silent taps gently scraped the walls and occasionally there was a silent exchange of jibberish to illuminate the sound outside the hull. As a result, Aliye slept during the day, in the back of the Sehaya where Nova worked on her newest inventions and machinations. During the night, Aliye helped drown out some of the scrapings and creepier noises by making some of her own, by shuffling things around with her feet, at a futile attempt to clean the sand crawler. The scar-faced girl's arms were steadily returning, and now she had at least a elbows length of workable limbs to help clean. When there was nothing left to do beyond her abilities, she sat down next to the bed of the one person who she seemed to find trust in beyond Hanadi, and that was Shiki. Ever since, the young man has been waking up to a scar-faced girl staring him in the face.
Geruud was taking the week in stride. He knew how to defend himself, and he definitely had the stamina and willpower to back it up. Even the noises at night did not bother him. Ever since Hanadi had returned near unscathed after their encounter with the Broken Guard, he felt more fearless than ever. If Hanadi could come out unscathed, so could he.
Na'Subir, however, never slept. His nights were spent sitting in the living room, on a stool, staring up into the skylights, watching the subtle signs of intruders. During the day, he spent time on the top of the Sand Crawler, wrapped tightly in robes as he kept a consistent vigil. When the Sehaya moved, he sat behind the cover of the Sehaya's confining luggage walls, letting the sand pass over him. When it was still, he stood at the top, always staring out to the four corners of the Nuocr.
Today was Day Eight of this grand disaster. The Sehaya was still broken down from yesterday's mishap with the engine. Somehow sand kept finding it's way into the capacitors, and no matter how hard Hanadi would look, she could never find the source of the entry. Geruud was rummaging around in the kitchen, the clanking around bottles to find something to drink. Na'Subir stood vigilant, watching out over the desert, while occasionally looking up into the sky. Aliye was sleeping comfortably, or at least somewhat on a pile of rags in Nova's workshop. It was a quiet morning, the silence only interupted by the occasional gust of wind, or whatever loud words anyone had to speak.
Mikael Battle had spent most of his free time writing his life down in the journal he now kept. He wrote the day's events, the descriptions of the people around him and their behaviors: it would have been creepy, had he not possessed a memory problem. But the journal helped him keep track of things, and he was rarely seen without it.
That morning, however, he was sprawled on the floor in the living room staring up at the cieling next to the skylight.
"It's too bright." He groaned.
A sand-rat skittered along the floor, pitter pattering it's way along, likely out of the edge of Mikael's vision, but not his senses.
A side compartment closed shut on the outside of the Sehaya, followed by the sound of hands dusting themselves off and tools being dropped into a bag. Hanadi was growing tired of the near constant maintenance needing to be performed on the vehicle. Although this specific problem was a recent one, one that had started on the night she'd gotten her new charge. "I should've brained every fuckin' one of those raider bastards." she spat on the ground in mild contempt before looking up at the roof of the crawler.
"See anything up there?" Hanadi called to the Guardsman she knew who kept a vigil up there.
"Sand, rippling heat, and the wind. The only thing moving out here is Maekardan's sun." replied the Guardsman, looking down at Hanadi through the small slit of his wrappings, which defended him from the sun's rays. He sighed, a particular lack of shine in his stoney eyes, though, not like any could tell. His fingers drummed against the edge of the luggage wall, and he looked back out to the waste, shaking his head gently. "Are the repairs coming along?" asked the Temple Guard.
Peace pushed Harmony as was his usual wake up call for the Llamnel girl, and as per usual, Harmony groaned and pushed the large paw away. It wasn't that she hated waking up after working out all day the day before, in fact she relished it. No it was the simple fact that she hated forcing her limbs to move when they were so sluggish with sleep from the night before. It would be a few more nudges and pushes from Peace before Harmony finally got moving, rolling out of bed and stumbling her way to where she knew the opening of the hatch was. Like many Lorath of her caste, and especially those born after thier re-emergence to the surface, Harmony had a wonderfully golden tan that in the recent days in the sun, had come back to surface in full effect. She shouldered her way outside of the crawler and just stood there for a few moments in fresh bandages and panties eyes shut and scratching her belly, not really caring who saw nor what. No she was just enjoying the enviroment she was in, the fact that she was alive, and the golden sun beating down on her. Then again she was only half awake, and when even fully there most people said she wasn't the brightest one in the family...
"Good news is, we can run the crawler during the day without the capacitors. Bad news is I still haven't found how the sand is getting in. Unless I re-seal the entire compartment again with bio-polymer resin. Which I had to use up due to four-arms' dent in my wall." Hanadi said while she wiped at her brow having taken her sunglasses off. Putting them back on, the woman began plucking at the front of her tank top for air and then stopped. "So, you want a cold drink there, Ovoc? I'm surprised you haven't melted yet underneath your robes."
"I..." started Na'Subir, double-taking at Hanadi at her offer. He was going to comment on her status report, but her kindness seemed unusual. He walked back over to the edge, checking the sector of land on her end, before looking down at her. The Ovoc Wakir seemed rather quiet as he stared down at Hanadi, until he continued. "I do my utmost not to complain, it is does nothing good for all around morale, but... If it isn't troublesome to you... I wouldn't mind a dr--..." He caught sight of Harmony, and shook his head in realizing she was there. He waved at Hanadi and pointed at the Lorath. "Is there anything to that ritual? Or doe she not realize she's naked?"
While other of the group tried to busy themselves, Oskar was performing the greatest task of all. Applying Secondary School Education in order to build a still on the Sand Crawler. Scavenging the parts necessary from all the scrap in the hold, the Abwehran seemed to have a dogged, single-mindedness to his task. Though this was a combination of trying to escape the horrors of the planet (which he believed was spawned from the Void to kill him) and trying to get his life's blood...alcohol. He barely slept at all in his task and only stalled to get necessary sustanence.
Though he finally passed out during the previous night, leaning against one of the hold's walls and curled into a fetal position.
Hefting the tool bag Hanadi shrugged. "I don't know. Xenos do strange things. Just watch for sandplumes and glares. Best indicator of a vehicle out here." was all she said before walking to the door and entering her transport and home. Hanadi let out a long groan as she dropped the bag beside the door before making for the refridgerator.
As Hanadi entered into the room, she was passed by Geruud, who was carrying a bottle of an alcoholic beverage. He seemed to pay his kindred spirit of a mother figure no mind as he clutched the bottle to his chest, walking so normally. Apparently he thought nothing wrong of swiping a bottle of the crawler's already precious alcohol.
Mikael let out a cry. "SAND RAT!"
He twisted himself to get a look at the desert creature, and then quickly got his feet under him just enough to make a leap at it -- his pen and journal flying away from his hands violently. He hated those damn things -- they were a pest.
The Sandrat screeed and began to scurry away from Mikael, leaping just out of his reach before hopping along the corridors. It's little legs began to carry it all the way around, moving towards Oskar's still.
Outside, Na'Subir continued to stare down at Harmony. He had been practicing his colonial, and decided to give it a try.
"Hey. You boobies show." came Na'Subir's eloquent statment as he pointed down at the Lorath.
"Huh?" Harmony looked up at Na'Subir, blinking a few times before she looked down at her chest. "Nah they are covered, but I'll go get dressed..." and with little else, Harmony entered the crawler back to the area she had staked out as her own.
What does drool have to do with wearing nothing but your underwear? Na'Subir sighed as he stood back up, and continued in his silent vigil. I will never properly grasp this strange language.
"You know, " Hanadi began as she saw the boy walk by with the bottle, a hand planting itself on one of her hips. "Mu'Klamal invites nightmares into the dreams of little boys who drink. And Ruh denies them entry into the Eternal Dream when they pass on." The woman turned about face to look at the back of his robe. "And I make sure they never have dessert or cuddle with the winged girl again."
Geruud looked up at Hanadi with an extremely hurt expression, his eyes going wide and side. He poked his lip out as his eyes cast themselves in the direction of the bottle, and then up to Hanadi.
"But... I like lemoncake and hugs..." said Geruud rather quietly, still holding the bottle close to himself. "I just wanted to taste it..."
Mikael bearcrawled after the sandrat, giving a vicious snarl as he did so. He intended to KILL the little bastard for the crime of being born a sandrat. Stupid pest.
The sounds of a ruckus woke the Abwehran up as he looked to view a Daemon heading for his newly built still. Fear mixed with panick before coming to rest at down right frightful dread as he quickly rolled in between the beast and his creation. "RAAAAAAAA!" he shouted as menacingly as he could.
"OH SHI--" Mikael's exclamation was cut off as he collided with the Abwehran. Briefly he wondered where the Sandrat was before jumping away from the four-armed being of iron.
"Sorry! Don't go crazy!" Where was that damn sandrat?
"And if you want cake and hugs you'll hand that bottle over now. Besides, you are much too young to be drinking yet. It'll make you sick or worse. And who would protect your Color-sera then while you are laid up in bed with a bad tummy ache and a headache as big as a Herdtitan? You know the stories of bandits taking the loves of inattentive Caravan Guards." a black eyebrow rose as Hanadi stared down at the boy with an outstretched hand.
Geruud took this declaration with an outraged face, he held the bottle with one hand and pulled out his knife. The little boy's face turning red in color over it's usual dark-brown complexion.
"I'll kill anyone who dares to touch Color-Sera!" said Geruud loudly the ornate survival knife glinting in the electronic light of the Sehaya.
Oskar let out an 'oof' of surprise as he suddenly caught the Nepleslian lad. Blinking from behind his goggles, he focused on Mikael before glancing around. "Uh...why would I go crazy. Just be careful around my still," the Abwehran replied in heavily accented Trade before pushing the kid off him and crawling over to check on the still.
The pest looked up at Oskar from the depths of the still and squeaked in alarm. It leapt up and out past the abwehran, landing on the ground with perfect poise before scrambling back out the way it had come.
Hanadi watched the little display with patience. "You won't be able to if you don't hand me the bottle. Drinking that will make you sick. And before you say it. I drink, but I'm an adult and I'm built different. And Four-Arms drinks because he is a scardy cat." she then brought up her free hand to her chin, rubbing at it. "And you know if you drink that, beyond getting sick, I won't teach you how to defend your Color-Sera, remember the promise you made? You'd be breaking it."
Geruud nodded, holding the bottle up to Hanadi, with few if no questions wanting to be asked so he didn't threaten his chances of learning how to better defend his Color-Sera! He was a dutiful boy, and there was little he wouldn't do to make sure that he stayed responsible.
Harmony eventually made her way out to the living area in her clothes she had worn for the past few days, stretching out a little as she tried to first see where everyone was before taking a seat at one of the tables. She was bored and was just waiting for the training to start.
Tap Tap Tap! came a striking sound against the sky-light glass of the Sehaya. Above the group was Na'Subir, hitting his Fael-Raig against the see-through starship armor. He was gesturing down for them to come up, or out, whatever that 'come here' hand gesture went. Though, the quick way he made his fingers move made it obvious that it wasn't something that could wait.
Harmony spotted Na'Subir and made her way outside to see what the big problem was.
Looking up at the tapping, and then gesturing, Hanadi looked down to the boy as she put the bottle on the counter. "Go round up the off-worlders and bring them up top. Stone-Face is wanting us up there." said the Curdatl as she made for the front compartment and hatch that led to the roof.
"MEIN GOTT!" the Abwehran cried out in horror and fell backwards to avoid the crazed rodent. Landing on his rear, he twisted around to place himself in between the still and the sandrat with a grimace.
"How could you just let him go, Oskar?!" Mikael said in slight disgust. "Dammit! Now it's gonna go breed or something."
"....Last time I caught one of those things, Herr Battle, I was savagely mauled by a multitude of them. I'm not a dummkopf."
"So get vengeance! Marshal's Balls, Oskar, I thought your people could crush crap?"
"My brother's the soldier. I'm a merchant. Crushing is the last thing I'd do," the Abwehran muttered as he went back to his still to check for damage.
Disappointed in the "Merchant", Mikael made his way back to the living room. He kept an eye out for the sandrat, in case it decided to stick its neck out to be snapped.
"Two Jarin Wyrms came in over the horizon." said Na'Subir as Hanadi made her way up. The Temple Guard grabbed the .30 caliber rifle he kept up there with him and shouldered it. He grunted a little, not expecting the slight ache to still remain in his shoulder. "I'm not sure they're wild, I haven't heard any wyrm calls. Nothing else, no sand plumes, no figures, not even gunshots." He looked at her, "What do you recommend?"
Meanwhile, Geruud went around to round up who he could, first going to Oskar and Mikael and pointing towards the hatch way down the hall. The young boy didn't spend time to say much, though, as he continued down the corridor to find Nova. Every time he made the pathway down towards her work-shop, he felt his heart flutter a little bit. Still, he put on a manly air, and stuck his head around the corner to see if she was there.
Geruud would see that she was, and that the metal arm she normally sported had been detatched, and was on a workbench in front of her. From the looks of it she was performing some rather complicated maintenance on the cybernetic limb as she had a set of tools out and a light focused down on it. Apparently she'd been ignoring the commotion of "the boys", Oskar and Mikael's argument and had been stuck here for most of the morning.
Geruud walked over to the strange, enigmatic woman, his steps confident at first, but each footstep getting steadily less confident as he got closer. "Color-Sera?" he said quietly, almost shyly as he looked up at her.
"They try and signal at all yet?" Hanadi asked. " Wyrmriders usually have a radio, or a small pocket mirror for signalling using the sun's glare. If they haven't fire a warning shot. I have the others being brought up by Geruud as well, unless you want me to tell them to remain inside."
Harmony was looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. She wasn't quiet sure what Na'Subir and Hanadi were talking about, so she just simply waited.
Humming a soft tune, the Crimson-haired Abwehran fiddled with many of the hook ups for the still's frame, tightening down all the fixtures to make sure nothing would come flying off when they were in motion. "I can't wait to start firing this up," he cheerfully said.
A small glare came from the direction of the two Wyrms, almost as if on cue with Hanadi. The pattern seemed indicate that they were delivering something. Though, Na'Subir wasn't familiar with the trading signals of the wind-riders.
A frown marred Hanadi's face as she saw the flashes of light and then looked to the Guardsman. "Got a mirror or something reflective on you?"
The Temple Guard shook his head, signaling that he did not.
Hanadi just sighed as she made for the hatch again. "Keep an eye on them then. Until I get back up here." was her response before climbing back down into the Sand Crawler, yelling in trade as she went, telling the offworlders to head up to the roof with a weapon, like Na'Subir had been drilling them. Meanwhile she looked about the driver's compartment for the small hand mirrior she used every so often for signaling.
Nova looked up as the fingers of the cybernetic arm twitched as she touched the wiring with a saudering tool. "What want?" the Freespacer asked in her broken Saalsari. Nova brought the protective eyewear she had been wearing up to rest on her forehead as she glanced toward Geruud, waiting expectantly.
"Ahem..." said Geruud, clearing his throat. "Hana-Sera said that Stoneface wants everyone up on the top the Sehaya for something." He looked back at the corridor, throwing the glance over his shoulder, before staring back up at Nova. "I don't know why, though."
Mikael made his way up with the trusty pipe he had found when the raiders had come at night. He gripped it close to his chest.
Harmony made her way up to the top of the crawler, moving over to Na'Subir. "Whats going on?"
"Big birds" said Na'Subir pointing off into the distance, the small shadows of the Wyrms visible as they approached. As they got closer, they turned and began to circle around, seemingly awaiting the return. "Shiny light signal" the covered Temple Guard wobbled his hands as if he was holding the mirror and signaling with it.
"Big Birds? You mean what did this?" Harmony pointed at the scar that was forming on her shoulder where the wound was healing.
Na'Subir nodded, and tilted his head at her. His thickly skinned fingers reached out to gently touch the scar. "Good condition?"
Harmony nodded a little. "It's healing well enough." She said, trying to keep her speach as simple as possible so as not to confused Na'Subir's limited trade knowledge.
Nova looked up toward the roof a twitch at the corner of her lip as she thought of the outside. Most Freespacers disliked the outside world on planets, mostly because of the lack of sterility of the environment, bacteria and the simple fact it was not space. The Freespacer bit back this innate fear with a long intake of breath as she picked up her cybernetic arm and locked it back into place. The shots she'd gotten from the doctor in Laruslan had immunized her to the bacteria and germs of the planet thankfully but that still didn't mean she liked this.
"Ok, I go, I go." she was saying as she gathered her bag up and made to follow the boy.
The sound of a grunt behind Na'Subir would let him know Hanadi had returned carrying a small leather pouch in her hand to which she began to untie as she neared them. "Alright, keep the rifle ready. I pray you know how to use a bolt-action." was all she said before bringing the signaling mirror out and began flashing a response.
Another set of lets flashed as the Wyrms began to close in. They both flew down to a spot about ten meters away from the Sehaya. At that distance, they could see that there were three riders. Two were normal looking Eyr Ranr riders, their slender faces tanned by the sun. Another was not an Iromakuanhe at all, but a man, riding behind one of the riders. The other rider had a heavy strapped to himself and his Wyrm.
"Hanadi Istislah?" called one of the riders.
"Yeah, " Hanadi called down to them confirming her identity. "State your business."
"Delivery from an Outlander in Laruslan. One Xeno, One Bag of Clothing, and a Letter. All are addressed to someone in your group named Fangy. The sender told us the recipient would be with you!" called the rider, his Wyrm acting a little restless, just sitting out on the ground with it's rider still mounted. He elbowed the Nepleslian riding behind him. "Wake up."
There was a slight creaking noise in response, as the Nepleslian slowly sat straight up in his place for a moment before tumbling onto the ground, stuck in the sitting position. A few more creaks brought his stiff limbs into proper movement and pulled him into a standing position. He surveyed the area around him with a sharp frown. "Is it over now, all this... uh... What exactly were we doing out here?" he asked, uselessly rubbing stiff cybernetics jammed with sand.
"...Fangy? Hey did he say Fangy?" Harmony looked to Hanadi somewhat excitedly.
Hanadi looked over toward Harmony, nodding in confirmation of it indeed being "Fangy."
"Let me guess, I gotta pay the delivery fee as well then? Or did they pay up front?" Hanadi called down to the rider.
"Your sender was..." the rider seemed to consider his words, ", bloody effective, so to speak. He made sure that you didn't need to make extra charge, he had enough debts when we left and searched for you." He then jabbed the Nepleslian again.
As if being cued to speak, the Nepleslian chirped, "Are you guys talking about getting me some food that doesn't tear up my sinuses? Because, this experience has been really bad for them so far."
"Well come on Hanadi what did I get?!" Harmony was hopping up and down like a little kid, clearly excited.
Nodding to the rider, Hanadi looked back to Harmony. "Looks like you got a Colonial... a uh... human? And a bag of clothes and letter addressed to you. Delivery charge was already paid."
"Alright, cut him loose and I'll take him then."
The rider pushed the Nepleslian off the side of the Wyrm, seeing as he had taken long enough to get off. At the same time, the other Wyrm Rider set the clothes down next his wyrm, a note stuffed into the bag. The bag carrying rider reared his Wyrm and ascended back into the skies.
"You keep weird friends, Hanadi." said the rider that had been speaking to them, "I would stay away from people who handwrite strange letters in blood." With that, he shook his head, and fired away into the skies, leaving the bag, the letter, and the man there for the survivors to recieve.
"I sure hope this is something easy to deal with, at last." The Nepleslian said, turning his frown back and forth between the riders flying off and the group above him. His nerves were killing him.
Looking over the side at the now stranded Nepleslian, Hanadi waved and then pointed to him. "Hey! Colonial, head to the side." called the Iroma female surprisingly in his own language. She pointed to the right of her vehicle before walking toward the hatch. "You coming to collect your delivery?" she asked while looking back at the Lmanel girl before climbing back into the Sehaya.
"False alarm guys. No bandits wanting your blood, at least for now." Hanadi waved dismissively at the other aliens. "Just another one of your kind, Mikael."
The Nepleslian collected himself slowly, cybernetic limbs creaking all the way, and made his way towards the directed area. Despite following the orders, he still felt the need to shout back up at Hanadi, "Hey, Lady! Don't be so pushy!" After he said it, he felt slightly more stupid though, being rude to the first person to speak in Trade. His mind started racing as he thought of ways to apologize and make it up to her, images of rejection and hatred forming in his skull.
Harmony hopped from the top of the crawler, trying to spread her wings before she remembered the injury. Tucking them in quickly she landed some what hard off the sand in a crouch. After a moment of sucking in and exhailing some air in pain, she stood and walked closer to the delivery people, trying to keep a wary eye on the Wyrms as she went to collect her delivery.
"What?" Mikael snapped out of his thoughts -- he had been staring at the Nepleslian. "Oh. Hey!"
He moved toward the other Nepleslian, eager to meet him. What was his name? Where did he come from? Questions buzzed through his head.
"Don't hit me!" Was the greeting Mikael recieved, along with more creaking as a cybernetic arm slowly rose to cover an unprotected face. "If you dropped a rock or jumped off like that lady, you could kill me? Sheesh! What is this, the planet of dangerous everythings?!"
Mikael was startled by the greeting, but discarded the pipe with a grin. "No! Well -- sort of. Maybe. It is pretty dangerous. But hey -- at least we have another gun on the line! Marshal's Balls! I didn't think I'd ever see another Nepleslian again! I thought I was going to be stuck with that homosexual Yami!"
Harmony picked up her things, giving the man a odd look. Had he never seen Lorath before? Shrugging she oppened the letter to give it a read through.
The letter itself wasn't all that large, but it's letter were written in a reddish glaze that could easily be recognized as blood if Harmony could not already smell it. Luckily for her, and unlike everything else on this planet, it was written in a language she could easily understand.
Between and the next readable paragraph were a few scribbles, mostly crossing outs of the next writes, barely legible by the reader.
Another swiping out of blood, the dried, morbid letters no longer legible by the choice of the writer.
The new Nepleslian looked up with squinted eyes at his compatriot above, strange new worries blowing through his mind. "What'd he say about homosexuals? I hope he's not saying everyone here is a homosexual. Anal sex is so very painful. I know I heard something about balls, too. Oh no, I've been sold into prostitution. Terrible, terrible prostitution. Somebody help me!" Instead of voicing these concerns, he said aloud, "Well, isn't that nice, then?"
"YAY! Asher is ok!" Harmony started hopping around excitedly grinning ear to ear as she waved the paper in her hands. "Hey Guys! Asher is ok!"
"Y'mean the short little shit head with theZoloat beard?"asked Hanadi with a grimace.
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 14th, 936
10:56 Commonwealth Standard Time
Morning came once more to the survivors of the crash. The sun rose to greet their weakened bodies, tired from the working training regime that Na'Subir tried to rush unto them. Those who did not learn how to fight, had to learn how to hold a rifle, and a knife, and then use it. Since Ammo was rather precious in the Nuocr, they had to work with their own imaginations when aiming with weapons. It wasn't actually enough to fight contingents of bandits, but it was enough for them to defend themselves should they come under attack. This training regime seemed to find more utility in the fact that the Sehaya was breaking down at constant intervals. Every two or three hours of running time brought six or seven hours of maintenance, making travel slow, and their journey to a safe place even longer.
Nights were no longer their own. During the evenings, when everyone was inside and resting, the patter of feet could be heard on the hull of the land-cruiser. Silent taps gently scraped the walls and occasionally there was a silent exchange of jibberish to illuminate the sound outside the hull. As a result, Aliye slept during the day, in the back of the Sehaya where Nova worked on her newest inventions and machinations. During the night, Aliye helped drown out some of the scrapings and creepier noises by making some of her own, by shuffling things around with her feet, at a futile attempt to clean the sand crawler. The scar-faced girl's arms were steadily returning, and now she had at least a elbows length of workable limbs to help clean. When there was nothing left to do beyond her abilities, she sat down next to the bed of the one person who she seemed to find trust in beyond Hanadi, and that was Shiki. Ever since, the young man has been waking up to a scar-faced girl staring him in the face.
Geruud was taking the week in stride. He knew how to defend himself, and he definitely had the stamina and willpower to back it up. Even the noises at night did not bother him. Ever since Hanadi had returned near unscathed after their encounter with the Broken Guard, he felt more fearless than ever. If Hanadi could come out unscathed, so could he.
Na'Subir, however, never slept. His nights were spent sitting in the living room, on a stool, staring up into the skylights, watching the subtle signs of intruders. During the day, he spent time on the top of the Sand Crawler, wrapped tightly in robes as he kept a consistent vigil. When the Sehaya moved, he sat behind the cover of the Sehaya's confining luggage walls, letting the sand pass over him. When it was still, he stood at the top, always staring out to the four corners of the Nuocr.
Today was Day Eight of this grand disaster. The Sehaya was still broken down from yesterday's mishap with the engine. Somehow sand kept finding it's way into the capacitors, and no matter how hard Hanadi would look, she could never find the source of the entry. Geruud was rummaging around in the kitchen, the clanking around bottles to find something to drink. Na'Subir stood vigilant, watching out over the desert, while occasionally looking up into the sky. Aliye was sleeping comfortably, or at least somewhat on a pile of rags in Nova's workshop. It was a quiet morning, the silence only interupted by the occasional gust of wind, or whatever loud words anyone had to speak.
Mikael Battle had spent most of his free time writing his life down in the journal he now kept. He wrote the day's events, the descriptions of the people around him and their behaviors: it would have been creepy, had he not possessed a memory problem. But the journal helped him keep track of things, and he was rarely seen without it.
That morning, however, he was sprawled on the floor in the living room staring up at the cieling next to the skylight.
"It's too bright." He groaned.
A sand-rat skittered along the floor, pitter pattering it's way along, likely out of the edge of Mikael's vision, but not his senses.
A side compartment closed shut on the outside of the Sehaya, followed by the sound of hands dusting themselves off and tools being dropped into a bag. Hanadi was growing tired of the near constant maintenance needing to be performed on the vehicle. Although this specific problem was a recent one, one that had started on the night she'd gotten her new charge. "I should've brained every fuckin' one of those raider bastards." she spat on the ground in mild contempt before looking up at the roof of the crawler.
"See anything up there?" Hanadi called to the Guardsman she knew who kept a vigil up there.
"Sand, rippling heat, and the wind. The only thing moving out here is Maekardan's sun." replied the Guardsman, looking down at Hanadi through the small slit of his wrappings, which defended him from the sun's rays. He sighed, a particular lack of shine in his stoney eyes, though, not like any could tell. His fingers drummed against the edge of the luggage wall, and he looked back out to the waste, shaking his head gently. "Are the repairs coming along?" asked the Temple Guard.
Peace pushed Harmony as was his usual wake up call for the Llamnel girl, and as per usual, Harmony groaned and pushed the large paw away. It wasn't that she hated waking up after working out all day the day before, in fact she relished it. No it was the simple fact that she hated forcing her limbs to move when they were so sluggish with sleep from the night before. It would be a few more nudges and pushes from Peace before Harmony finally got moving, rolling out of bed and stumbling her way to where she knew the opening of the hatch was. Like many Lorath of her caste, and especially those born after thier re-emergence to the surface, Harmony had a wonderfully golden tan that in the recent days in the sun, had come back to surface in full effect. She shouldered her way outside of the crawler and just stood there for a few moments in fresh bandages and panties eyes shut and scratching her belly, not really caring who saw nor what. No she was just enjoying the enviroment she was in, the fact that she was alive, and the golden sun beating down on her. Then again she was only half awake, and when even fully there most people said she wasn't the brightest one in the family...
"Good news is, we can run the crawler during the day without the capacitors. Bad news is I still haven't found how the sand is getting in. Unless I re-seal the entire compartment again with bio-polymer resin. Which I had to use up due to four-arms' dent in my wall." Hanadi said while she wiped at her brow having taken her sunglasses off. Putting them back on, the woman began plucking at the front of her tank top for air and then stopped. "So, you want a cold drink there, Ovoc? I'm surprised you haven't melted yet underneath your robes."
"I..." started Na'Subir, double-taking at Hanadi at her offer. He was going to comment on her status report, but her kindness seemed unusual. He walked back over to the edge, checking the sector of land on her end, before looking down at her. The Ovoc Wakir seemed rather quiet as he stared down at Hanadi, until he continued. "I do my utmost not to complain, it is does nothing good for all around morale, but... If it isn't troublesome to you... I wouldn't mind a dr--..." He caught sight of Harmony, and shook his head in realizing she was there. He waved at Hanadi and pointed at the Lorath. "Is there anything to that ritual? Or doe she not realize she's naked?"
While other of the group tried to busy themselves, Oskar was performing the greatest task of all. Applying Secondary School Education in order to build a still on the Sand Crawler. Scavenging the parts necessary from all the scrap in the hold, the Abwehran seemed to have a dogged, single-mindedness to his task. Though this was a combination of trying to escape the horrors of the planet (which he believed was spawned from the Void to kill him) and trying to get his life's blood...alcohol. He barely slept at all in his task and only stalled to get necessary sustanence.
Though he finally passed out during the previous night, leaning against one of the hold's walls and curled into a fetal position.
Hefting the tool bag Hanadi shrugged. "I don't know. Xenos do strange things. Just watch for sandplumes and glares. Best indicator of a vehicle out here." was all she said before walking to the door and entering her transport and home. Hanadi let out a long groan as she dropped the bag beside the door before making for the refridgerator.
As Hanadi entered into the room, she was passed by Geruud, who was carrying a bottle of an alcoholic beverage. He seemed to pay his kindred spirit of a mother figure no mind as he clutched the bottle to his chest, walking so normally. Apparently he thought nothing wrong of swiping a bottle of the crawler's already precious alcohol.
Mikael let out a cry. "SAND RAT!"
He twisted himself to get a look at the desert creature, and then quickly got his feet under him just enough to make a leap at it -- his pen and journal flying away from his hands violently. He hated those damn things -- they were a pest.
The Sandrat screeed and began to scurry away from Mikael, leaping just out of his reach before hopping along the corridors. It's little legs began to carry it all the way around, moving towards Oskar's still.
Outside, Na'Subir continued to stare down at Harmony. He had been practicing his colonial, and decided to give it a try.
"Hey. You boobies show." came Na'Subir's eloquent statment as he pointed down at the Lorath.
"Huh?" Harmony looked up at Na'Subir, blinking a few times before she looked down at her chest. "Nah they are covered, but I'll go get dressed..." and with little else, Harmony entered the crawler back to the area she had staked out as her own.
What does drool have to do with wearing nothing but your underwear? Na'Subir sighed as he stood back up, and continued in his silent vigil. I will never properly grasp this strange language.
"You know, " Hanadi began as she saw the boy walk by with the bottle, a hand planting itself on one of her hips. "Mu'Klamal invites nightmares into the dreams of little boys who drink. And Ruh denies them entry into the Eternal Dream when they pass on." The woman turned about face to look at the back of his robe. "And I make sure they never have dessert or cuddle with the winged girl again."
Geruud looked up at Hanadi with an extremely hurt expression, his eyes going wide and side. He poked his lip out as his eyes cast themselves in the direction of the bottle, and then up to Hanadi.
"But... I like lemoncake and hugs..." said Geruud rather quietly, still holding the bottle close to himself. "I just wanted to taste it..."
Mikael bearcrawled after the sandrat, giving a vicious snarl as he did so. He intended to KILL the little bastard for the crime of being born a sandrat. Stupid pest.
The sounds of a ruckus woke the Abwehran up as he looked to view a Daemon heading for his newly built still. Fear mixed with panick before coming to rest at down right frightful dread as he quickly rolled in between the beast and his creation. "RAAAAAAAA!" he shouted as menacingly as he could.
"OH SHI--" Mikael's exclamation was cut off as he collided with the Abwehran. Briefly he wondered where the Sandrat was before jumping away from the four-armed being of iron.
"Sorry! Don't go crazy!" Where was that damn sandrat?
"And if you want cake and hugs you'll hand that bottle over now. Besides, you are much too young to be drinking yet. It'll make you sick or worse. And who would protect your Color-sera then while you are laid up in bed with a bad tummy ache and a headache as big as a Herdtitan? You know the stories of bandits taking the loves of inattentive Caravan Guards." a black eyebrow rose as Hanadi stared down at the boy with an outstretched hand.
Geruud took this declaration with an outraged face, he held the bottle with one hand and pulled out his knife. The little boy's face turning red in color over it's usual dark-brown complexion.
"I'll kill anyone who dares to touch Color-Sera!" said Geruud loudly the ornate survival knife glinting in the electronic light of the Sehaya.
Oskar let out an 'oof' of surprise as he suddenly caught the Nepleslian lad. Blinking from behind his goggles, he focused on Mikael before glancing around. "Uh...why would I go crazy. Just be careful around my still," the Abwehran replied in heavily accented Trade before pushing the kid off him and crawling over to check on the still.
The pest looked up at Oskar from the depths of the still and squeaked in alarm. It leapt up and out past the abwehran, landing on the ground with perfect poise before scrambling back out the way it had come.
Hanadi watched the little display with patience. "You won't be able to if you don't hand me the bottle. Drinking that will make you sick. And before you say it. I drink, but I'm an adult and I'm built different. And Four-Arms drinks because he is a scardy cat." she then brought up her free hand to her chin, rubbing at it. "And you know if you drink that, beyond getting sick, I won't teach you how to defend your Color-Sera, remember the promise you made? You'd be breaking it."
Geruud nodded, holding the bottle up to Hanadi, with few if no questions wanting to be asked so he didn't threaten his chances of learning how to better defend his Color-Sera! He was a dutiful boy, and there was little he wouldn't do to make sure that he stayed responsible.
Harmony eventually made her way out to the living area in her clothes she had worn for the past few days, stretching out a little as she tried to first see where everyone was before taking a seat at one of the tables. She was bored and was just waiting for the training to start.
Tap Tap Tap! came a striking sound against the sky-light glass of the Sehaya. Above the group was Na'Subir, hitting his Fael-Raig against the see-through starship armor. He was gesturing down for them to come up, or out, whatever that 'come here' hand gesture went. Though, the quick way he made his fingers move made it obvious that it wasn't something that could wait.
Harmony spotted Na'Subir and made her way outside to see what the big problem was.
Looking up at the tapping, and then gesturing, Hanadi looked down to the boy as she put the bottle on the counter. "Go round up the off-worlders and bring them up top. Stone-Face is wanting us up there." said the Curdatl as she made for the front compartment and hatch that led to the roof.
"MEIN GOTT!" the Abwehran cried out in horror and fell backwards to avoid the crazed rodent. Landing on his rear, he twisted around to place himself in between the still and the sandrat with a grimace.
"How could you just let him go, Oskar?!" Mikael said in slight disgust. "Dammit! Now it's gonna go breed or something."
"....Last time I caught one of those things, Herr Battle, I was savagely mauled by a multitude of them. I'm not a dummkopf."
"So get vengeance! Marshal's Balls, Oskar, I thought your people could crush crap?"
"My brother's the soldier. I'm a merchant. Crushing is the last thing I'd do," the Abwehran muttered as he went back to his still to check for damage.
Disappointed in the "Merchant", Mikael made his way back to the living room. He kept an eye out for the sandrat, in case it decided to stick its neck out to be snapped.
"Two Jarin Wyrms came in over the horizon." said Na'Subir as Hanadi made her way up. The Temple Guard grabbed the .30 caliber rifle he kept up there with him and shouldered it. He grunted a little, not expecting the slight ache to still remain in his shoulder. "I'm not sure they're wild, I haven't heard any wyrm calls. Nothing else, no sand plumes, no figures, not even gunshots." He looked at her, "What do you recommend?"
Meanwhile, Geruud went around to round up who he could, first going to Oskar and Mikael and pointing towards the hatch way down the hall. The young boy didn't spend time to say much, though, as he continued down the corridor to find Nova. Every time he made the pathway down towards her work-shop, he felt his heart flutter a little bit. Still, he put on a manly air, and stuck his head around the corner to see if she was there.
Geruud would see that she was, and that the metal arm she normally sported had been detatched, and was on a workbench in front of her. From the looks of it she was performing some rather complicated maintenance on the cybernetic limb as she had a set of tools out and a light focused down on it. Apparently she'd been ignoring the commotion of "the boys", Oskar and Mikael's argument and had been stuck here for most of the morning.
Geruud walked over to the strange, enigmatic woman, his steps confident at first, but each footstep getting steadily less confident as he got closer. "Color-Sera?" he said quietly, almost shyly as he looked up at her.
"They try and signal at all yet?" Hanadi asked. " Wyrmriders usually have a radio, or a small pocket mirror for signalling using the sun's glare. If they haven't fire a warning shot. I have the others being brought up by Geruud as well, unless you want me to tell them to remain inside."
Harmony was looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. She wasn't quiet sure what Na'Subir and Hanadi were talking about, so she just simply waited.
Humming a soft tune, the Crimson-haired Abwehran fiddled with many of the hook ups for the still's frame, tightening down all the fixtures to make sure nothing would come flying off when they were in motion. "I can't wait to start firing this up," he cheerfully said.
A small glare came from the direction of the two Wyrms, almost as if on cue with Hanadi. The pattern seemed indicate that they were delivering something. Though, Na'Subir wasn't familiar with the trading signals of the wind-riders.
A frown marred Hanadi's face as she saw the flashes of light and then looked to the Guardsman. "Got a mirror or something reflective on you?"
The Temple Guard shook his head, signaling that he did not.
Hanadi just sighed as she made for the hatch again. "Keep an eye on them then. Until I get back up here." was her response before climbing back down into the Sand Crawler, yelling in trade as she went, telling the offworlders to head up to the roof with a weapon, like Na'Subir had been drilling them. Meanwhile she looked about the driver's compartment for the small hand mirrior she used every so often for signaling.
Nova looked up as the fingers of the cybernetic arm twitched as she touched the wiring with a saudering tool. "What want?" the Freespacer asked in her broken Saalsari. Nova brought the protective eyewear she had been wearing up to rest on her forehead as she glanced toward Geruud, waiting expectantly.
"Ahem..." said Geruud, clearing his throat. "Hana-Sera said that Stoneface wants everyone up on the top the Sehaya for something." He looked back at the corridor, throwing the glance over his shoulder, before staring back up at Nova. "I don't know why, though."
Mikael made his way up with the trusty pipe he had found when the raiders had come at night. He gripped it close to his chest.
Harmony made her way up to the top of the crawler, moving over to Na'Subir. "Whats going on?"
"Big birds" said Na'Subir pointing off into the distance, the small shadows of the Wyrms visible as they approached. As they got closer, they turned and began to circle around, seemingly awaiting the return. "Shiny light signal" the covered Temple Guard wobbled his hands as if he was holding the mirror and signaling with it.
"Big Birds? You mean what did this?" Harmony pointed at the scar that was forming on her shoulder where the wound was healing.
Na'Subir nodded, and tilted his head at her. His thickly skinned fingers reached out to gently touch the scar. "Good condition?"
Harmony nodded a little. "It's healing well enough." She said, trying to keep her speach as simple as possible so as not to confused Na'Subir's limited trade knowledge.
Nova looked up toward the roof a twitch at the corner of her lip as she thought of the outside. Most Freespacers disliked the outside world on planets, mostly because of the lack of sterility of the environment, bacteria and the simple fact it was not space. The Freespacer bit back this innate fear with a long intake of breath as she picked up her cybernetic arm and locked it back into place. The shots she'd gotten from the doctor in Laruslan had immunized her to the bacteria and germs of the planet thankfully but that still didn't mean she liked this.
"Ok, I go, I go." she was saying as she gathered her bag up and made to follow the boy.
The sound of a grunt behind Na'Subir would let him know Hanadi had returned carrying a small leather pouch in her hand to which she began to untie as she neared them. "Alright, keep the rifle ready. I pray you know how to use a bolt-action." was all she said before bringing the signaling mirror out and began flashing a response.
Another set of lets flashed as the Wyrms began to close in. They both flew down to a spot about ten meters away from the Sehaya. At that distance, they could see that there were three riders. Two were normal looking Eyr Ranr riders, their slender faces tanned by the sun. Another was not an Iromakuanhe at all, but a man, riding behind one of the riders. The other rider had a heavy strapped to himself and his Wyrm.
"Hanadi Istislah?" called one of the riders.
"Yeah, " Hanadi called down to them confirming her identity. "State your business."
"Delivery from an Outlander in Laruslan. One Xeno, One Bag of Clothing, and a Letter. All are addressed to someone in your group named Fangy. The sender told us the recipient would be with you!" called the rider, his Wyrm acting a little restless, just sitting out on the ground with it's rider still mounted. He elbowed the Nepleslian riding behind him. "Wake up."
There was a slight creaking noise in response, as the Nepleslian slowly sat straight up in his place for a moment before tumbling onto the ground, stuck in the sitting position. A few more creaks brought his stiff limbs into proper movement and pulled him into a standing position. He surveyed the area around him with a sharp frown. "Is it over now, all this... uh... What exactly were we doing out here?" he asked, uselessly rubbing stiff cybernetics jammed with sand.
"...Fangy? Hey did he say Fangy?" Harmony looked to Hanadi somewhat excitedly.
Hanadi looked over toward Harmony, nodding in confirmation of it indeed being "Fangy."
"Let me guess, I gotta pay the delivery fee as well then? Or did they pay up front?" Hanadi called down to the rider.
"Your sender was..." the rider seemed to consider his words, ", bloody effective, so to speak. He made sure that you didn't need to make extra charge, he had enough debts when we left and searched for you." He then jabbed the Nepleslian again.
As if being cued to speak, the Nepleslian chirped, "Are you guys talking about getting me some food that doesn't tear up my sinuses? Because, this experience has been really bad for them so far."
"Well come on Hanadi what did I get?!" Harmony was hopping up and down like a little kid, clearly excited.
Nodding to the rider, Hanadi looked back to Harmony. "Looks like you got a Colonial... a uh... human? And a bag of clothes and letter addressed to you. Delivery charge was already paid."
"Alright, cut him loose and I'll take him then."
The rider pushed the Nepleslian off the side of the Wyrm, seeing as he had taken long enough to get off. At the same time, the other Wyrm Rider set the clothes down next his wyrm, a note stuffed into the bag. The bag carrying rider reared his Wyrm and ascended back into the skies.
"You keep weird friends, Hanadi." said the rider that had been speaking to them, "I would stay away from people who handwrite strange letters in blood." With that, he shook his head, and fired away into the skies, leaving the bag, the letter, and the man there for the survivors to recieve.
"I sure hope this is something easy to deal with, at last." The Nepleslian said, turning his frown back and forth between the riders flying off and the group above him. His nerves were killing him.
Looking over the side at the now stranded Nepleslian, Hanadi waved and then pointed to him. "Hey! Colonial, head to the side." called the Iroma female surprisingly in his own language. She pointed to the right of her vehicle before walking toward the hatch. "You coming to collect your delivery?" she asked while looking back at the Lmanel girl before climbing back into the Sehaya.
"False alarm guys. No bandits wanting your blood, at least for now." Hanadi waved dismissively at the other aliens. "Just another one of your kind, Mikael."
The Nepleslian collected himself slowly, cybernetic limbs creaking all the way, and made his way towards the directed area. Despite following the orders, he still felt the need to shout back up at Hanadi, "Hey, Lady! Don't be so pushy!" After he said it, he felt slightly more stupid though, being rude to the first person to speak in Trade. His mind started racing as he thought of ways to apologize and make it up to her, images of rejection and hatred forming in his skull.
Harmony hopped from the top of the crawler, trying to spread her wings before she remembered the injury. Tucking them in quickly she landed some what hard off the sand in a crouch. After a moment of sucking in and exhailing some air in pain, she stood and walked closer to the delivery people, trying to keep a wary eye on the Wyrms as she went to collect her delivery.
"What?" Mikael snapped out of his thoughts -- he had been staring at the Nepleslian. "Oh. Hey!"
He moved toward the other Nepleslian, eager to meet him. What was his name? Where did he come from? Questions buzzed through his head.
"Don't hit me!" Was the greeting Mikael recieved, along with more creaking as a cybernetic arm slowly rose to cover an unprotected face. "If you dropped a rock or jumped off like that lady, you could kill me? Sheesh! What is this, the planet of dangerous everythings?!"
Mikael was startled by the greeting, but discarded the pipe with a grin. "No! Well -- sort of. Maybe. It is pretty dangerous. But hey -- at least we have another gun on the line! Marshal's Balls! I didn't think I'd ever see another Nepleslian again! I thought I was going to be stuck with that homosexual Yami!"
Harmony picked up her things, giving the man a odd look. Had he never seen Lorath before? Shrugging she oppened the letter to give it a read through.
The letter itself wasn't all that large, but it's letter were written in a reddish glaze that could easily be recognized as blood if Harmony could not already smell it. Luckily for her, and unlike everything else on this planet, it was written in a language she could easily understand.
Between and the next readable paragraph were a few scribbles, mostly crossing outs of the next writes, barely legible by the reader.
Another swiping out of blood, the dried, morbid letters no longer legible by the choice of the writer.
The new Nepleslian looked up with squinted eyes at his compatriot above, strange new worries blowing through his mind. "What'd he say about homosexuals? I hope he's not saying everyone here is a homosexual. Anal sex is so very painful. I know I heard something about balls, too. Oh no, I've been sold into prostitution. Terrible, terrible prostitution. Somebody help me!" Instead of voicing these concerns, he said aloud, "Well, isn't that nice, then?"
"YAY! Asher is ok!" Harmony started hopping around excitedly grinning ear to ear as she waved the paper in her hands. "Hey Guys! Asher is ok!"
"Y'mean the short little shit head with theZoloat beard?"asked Hanadi with a grimace.
