HollowKoP

I posted this message elsewhere last night, but putting it up here seemed appropirate as well. This is a message I wanted to put together back in early September when I first read the message that City of Heroes was to be shutdown, but for a variety of reasons I was never quite able to get together. But I did not want to miss the chance to say farewell.

In many ways, the news of the impending shutdown of City of Heroes is the latest “ending” I have had to face with this game.

COH was not my first MMORPG, my first foray into the online gaming world being Ultima Online. For a number of reasons, I did not play too much UO, though the second time I gave it a go, I did play a bit more, and had a bit more fun.

Eventually, I found my way to Everquest, and was quickly hooked. I believe in the first year of playing, I logged 1 month of time online with my main character (representing a LOT of lost sleep). I had a tremendous amount of fun playing EQ (I joined a little before the Scars of Velious launch) and made a number of very good friends (some of who would eventually migrate over to COH on the Justice server). I have very fond memories of various adventures with my guild members, exploring the vast world of EQ, and slowly leveling my wood elf ranger. While I would not trade the time I played EQ, EQ also had its failings. For one, it often took a lot of time to get anything really going as far as grinding or raiding for that special drop (particularly at the higher levels). Another major drawback, was that there was a considerable amount of game content that was simply inaccessible unless you were part of one of the uber-raiding guilds, which I was not. When COH came out, I cancelled my EQ account, and have never looked back, though I cherish the memories of my time playing the game.

I also played Star Wars Galaxies for a short while, starting the day it launched. I managed to advance one character to being a bounty hunter (back when it required training two complete professions, marksman and scout to do so), but eventually got bored with the game, plus, COH was set to come out.

So that brings me to COH, a game I have had a connection with for just over eleven years. Yes, I know, the game has only been out a little over eight, but I first read a small, half page article in PC Gamer (or some other game magazine) that talked about this new MMORPG superhero game that was under development back in October, 2011. As many I am sure recall, the events of 9/11 were still very fresh in the psyche of the American public, and the idea of a superhero online game easily caught my attention (I have also long been a comic book/superhero fan as well). So, I went to check out the website the article mentioned that was associated with the development of the game (you can see what that old website looked like on the wayback machine (http://web.archive.org/web/200112022...yofheroes.com/))

Looking around the website only heightened my interest in the game, and eventually I stumbled across the forums, where I created an account under the name Thevshi. It was not long before I came across the roleplaying section of those forums, which had been set up for those interested in the game to tell stories about their characters. In addition to people already starting to write about their characters, there were already supergroups forming, the premiere supergroup of the time being the Knights of Paragon, though there were other great supergroups at the time, including Team 1 and Justice Force.

I happened upon an rp thread taking place in Paragon High School, started by two players for stories about their teenage characters, but was generally an open thread for others to join. For some reason, I took the chance and posted in that thread as well with my teen character, Thevshi, joining about the time as a number of other teenage superheroes joined in. Almost immediately I was swept along as a number of the team characters were recruited to join a teen supergroup called CAST, and the rest was history.

Though I did not recognize it at the time, the time I spent on those roleplaying boards (and especially the first year or so) was one of those particular moments in time that you always look back on fondly. There was an incredible amount of creativity on those board and for a long time the community was small enough that one could keep tabs on a number of different stories being told by different groups of people. The amount of interconnectivity between the stories was also amazing, events in one thread would be mentioned in another, and teamups and crossovers were not uncommon. We also had various party threads (Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day and Beach Parties, to name a few) that allowed even more interaction between groups of posters that might not necessarily interact. With Thevshi, and other characters, including Hollow (a member of the Knights of Paragon), I was part of several dozen threads for the more than two and a half years I was involved on those boards while we waited for the game (though in part, I was having so much fun I kind of did not care if the game was ever launched, just as long as we had those boards).

But eventually, COH went to beta, and my registration date (and possibly along with my activity on the forums) got me among the first 500 to be allowed into the closed beta. By that time, the boards were not quite what they had been. I was still involved with them, but many of other players I had know in the early days were gone, and the boards had become so crowded with new players, it was hard to follow everything going on. But the early closed beta was in many ways like the rping boards of old, running around were many of the characters that had been part of those early stories, and so along with the fun of trying out the game, there was a sense of nostalgia.

Of course, in early 2004, COH launched (and I was there that very first day, along with other members of the Knights of Paragon on Virtue). When COH launched, those old roleplaying boards (along with all the other old forums) were whipped, and all those wonderful stories that I and so many others had worked on for more than two and a half years were gone. While I saved nearly every post I ever made, I only saved a small handful of complete threads from those old boards. I greatly regret that I did not save more of those old threads before they were erased. (If anyone knows places where some of those old threads might be saved on the internet, I would love to know!)

So the launch of COH represented the first end of sorts for me, the final end of that wonderful roleplaying community I had happened upon in the dark days of the end of 2001. But of course, we now had COH to play, and it was certainly a game that had been worth waiting for. That first year was quite exciting, as I leveled up Hollow to 50 and helped run the Knights of Paragon and made numerous other friends along the way. But, after a little over a year, real life interceded, as I decided to return to law school, and the amount of free time I had for COH greatly decreased. But through it all, I continued to maintain my account, logging on when I could, though eventually my computer stared have a harder and harder time handling COH.

During law school, I got back into some of the roleplaying on the COH forums, joining in the Paragon University thread (and a couple of others), though I was generally on and off due to my often hectic schedule in law school. It was a bit like returning to those old days on the pre-launch COH forums for me, and I got to revisit several of my earlier characters and where they were in their lives now. It helped keep me in touch with the game some when I was not able to actually be logged in very much.

When I finished law school, I managed to upgrade my computer, and start playing COH once more (even during the summer when I was supposed to be studying for the bar exam, though I still passed ). While I was happy to be back in game, and was enjoying making new characters with new power sets that had been released and exploring new content, I was also saddened to discover that many of my old friends and teammates had moved on and were no longer playing, marking in a way the second ending I experienced with COH.

That was four years ago. Since then, real life has continued to keep me busy, but I have logged on to COH when I could, leveling various alts as well as exploring new content in the game. COH has been everything the EQ was not, a game that I could log on, and play for a 30 minute span and feel that I had actually accomplished something for a character. If there were things in COH I have never done, it is because I just had not quite gotten around to them, not because accessing those things required being part of an uber-guild as in EQ. Rare has been the pickup group that I have not enjoyed crime fighting alongside (or causing crimes when playing some of my villains). And of course, soloing was always available as well, if not involved with trials or task forces and the like.

Though I was not always able to be on COH as much as I might like, it always seemed as if it would be there waiting for when I could. And now that is coming to an end as well.

While I have not been as invested in COH of late as many playing the game, I am still deeply saddened by the end of this wonderful game. Not only is it the end of a game that I have long enjoyed playing whenever I had some time, it also marks the final end of the community I joined in the last months of 2001. While it is easy to be angry about how this has come about, it is also important to remember, nothing lasts forever.

To all the developers involved with COH, both from Cyptic and Paragon Studios, thank you for all your hard work and dedication to making one of the most amazing online games ever. Your incredible work and imagination helped me reinvigorate my own imagination, which had become rather stagnant for some time until I happened upon that article in that gaming magazine.

To all those who spend so many long hours posting on those old rolepaying boards and chatting with me on AIM as we did so, I was privileged to be able to tell such wonderful and entertaining stories alongside you. I could list names, but I know I would forget to mention someone, and I would hate to do that. We were part of something incredibly special, and I often look back to those times with a since of longing for them. As I mentioned, I went by Thevshi on those old boards, and if you ever need to try to reach me, I can be reached at velve@comcast.net.

To all the other players involved in posting in Paragon University and the few other threads I was involved in on the current roleplaying threads, thank you so much for the great times. I wish I had stayed more involved, but greatly enjoyed the time I was part of the adventures and stories of those threads.

To all my teammates in the Knights of Paragon (Virtue), as Hollow and Thevshi, as well as to other friends and pickup teammates for those characters and far too many alts to list, throughout the years, it has been my distinct honor to fight alongside each and everyone of you in the streets of Paragon City and the Rogue Islands. It was those experiences which has made this game one that can likely never be matched.

Farewell Paragon City, I will never forget you.

Wow, that is a LOT of reading Welcome aboard.

Been absent from this thread for awhile, but planning to start reappearing, so figured I would put up my characters.

CHARACTER NAME: Hollow/ Lucilla Giovanni
DORM ROOM/LOCATION: Loft apartment a few blocks from the university
STORYTELLER: HollowKoP
THEME SONG: have to look up the title of the opera aria again I posted in the theme song thread.
SHORT DISCRIPTION: Olive complexion with raven black hair and dark eyes indicating her Southern Italian heritage. Experience practitioner of the mystical arts with a connection to a mysterious shadow plane.
KNOWN ASSOCIATES: The Knights of Paragon (Virtue)


Planning to add a new character as well, so I figure I will post about her now. She is the original character I stated rping with back on the old roleplaying boards from long before the game came out. Ironically enough, her first appearance (and she appeared in some 20+ threads on those old boards) was in a thread titled “Paragon High School”

CHARACTER NAME: Thevshi/ Bernadette O’Connell
DORM ROOM/LOCATION: TBD
STORYTELLER: HollowKoP
THEME SONG: hmm, not sure on this one.
SHORT DISCRIPTION: Petite young woman with long red hair and green eyes and thick Irish accent. Her rather small size is quite deceptive of the powerful strength she possesses.
KNOWN ASSOCIATES: The Knights of Paragon (Virtue), former member of teenage supergroup CAST, formerly associated with the Powers Corporation, former member of British sponsored supergroup Project Deadalus, members of Team 1 and Justice Force.

Whitney began to raise her left hand as Sergeant Brown leveled his M-16 at her. Behind her, she heard Peter yell out in surprise as he grabbed her right arm and began to pull her backward. Just as Sergeant Brown pulled the trigger of his assault rife, the air right in front of Whitney rippled as she put up a telekinetic forcefield. The rounds from the weapon glanced harmlessly off the shield as Peter pulled her down onto the ground and was about ready to put himself between her and Sergeant Brown when he saw the attack deflected.

The Sergeant’s face held no emotion as he looked at the scene before him, dropping the empty magazine from his weapon as he reached for another to reload. Behind her, Whitney heard one of the Marines yell out as he looked at what was going on in front of him. “Holy sh*t! Sergeant Brown has been controlled!” Whitney kept her focus on Brown as her pupils contracted.

There was a ripple in the air between her and the Sergeant, like a vortex that spiraled towards the man. Sergeant Brown was flung backward with sudden force as the ripple connected with him, hitting the nearby wall with a loud thud before falling back to the ground. As the Sergeant’s body fell to the ground, Whitney sensed the entity leave him, almost making it out as it streaked through the corridor, passing right over her and Peter as it speed towards the Marine who was behind them.

“It’s switching hosts again!” She yelled as she pushed Peter off her and turned to look over at the Marine who had been coming up to help them. The young man’s body jerked as Sergeant Brown’s had as the entity entered his body, the teenager yelling out in pain as he lost control of his body. The Marine’s head snapped back to look at her once more, a malignant look in his eye as he lifted up his assault rifle to prepare to fire.

Adrenaline was rushing through Whitney as she focused on the controlled Marine, knowing she had to be extremely careful to avoid killing the man. Gritting her teeth, a flash of silver shot from her head, streaking towards the Marine like a flash of light. The concentrated blast of psychic energy hit the young man just at his throat, passing through his skin as if it wasn’t there and disappearing into his body. There was a brief moment as the young Marine stood there looking at her and Peter before he crumpled to the floor like a rag doll, his limbs strangely uncontrolled as he fell.

As she felt the entity leave the young Marine’s mind, Peter pushed himself back up to his knees, looking first from Sergeant Brown’s still form, then over to the other Marine’s. “What did you do to them?” He asked in a somewhat amazed voice. Whitney tried to focus on the entity as it made its way under them, answering with a slightly distracted voice. “They are both still alive, if somewhat injured. With the Sergeant, I merely used my telekinesis to slam him into the wall and the entity decided to vacate his mind. As for the young Private First Class, I hit him with a concentrated blast of psychic energy that disrupted his nervous system, effectively paralyzing him.”

Peter looked over at her, his face showing he was somewhat shocked. “You mean like a neuro-toxin?” Whitney nodded as she stood up, the Marine with the M249 coming into the room and scanning around with a shocked look on his face. “Same basic concept, except this doesn’t continue to spread through the nervous system like a neuro-toxin would, and it will ware off with time.”

The entity continued to pass underneath them, Whitney realizing it was making its way towards the two Marines that were still down the passageway ahead, one of them wounded by the initial ambush. Focusing on the minds of the two Marines, Whitney transmitted her warning straight into their minds. <The entity is making its way towards you both! Get back here with the rest of us!>

As it passed beneath the humans on the level below them, it realized that the female was proving to be more dangerous than it had truly anticipated. It was beginning to wonder if any of these other humans on the structure had a means of destroying her. It might have to try and use her as a vessel, though that was not without other dangers. Above it, it could sense the panicked minds of the two human Marines it had fired upon when the engagement had begun. Altering its path, it started up towards the two, moving towards the non-injured human.

Having been initially shocked slightly at the mental messages, the two Marines quickly began to act. The unwounded one grabbed the wounded Marine under his uninjured arm, helping to lift him to his feet. “Lets get the hell outta here Corporal.” Suddenly the Marine’s body jerked, his body going slightly ridged as the injured Corporal fell back down to his knees without the other’s support. “Bersinio? You okay?” Corporal Davies asked as the Marine suddenly looked down at him and reached down to grab the Corporal’s M-16 with undermounted M203 40mm grenade launcher.

“What the hell are you doing Bersinio?” Davies yelled as the controlled Marine pushed him aside with his foot, lifting the M-16 up to his shoulder and aiming it down the hallway towards where the others were, reaching his hand towards the front of the magazine well where the trigger for the grenade launcher was. The Marine Corporal grunted in pain as he fell onto his wounded arm, but he focused on the other Marine as he kicked with his right leg, catching Lance Corporal Bersinio just behind one knee, causing it to buckle as the fired the grenade launcher. The barrel of the weapon lifted up as Bersinio went down to one knee, the 40mm grenade spiraling off target to hit the ceiling of the hallway between him and his targets.

The explosion shook that part of the oilrig, the emergency lighting in the area blinking out as the hallway funneled the blast in both directions, flame and shrapnel blasting out of each end of the hallway. The Marine with the M249 was caught directly in the path of the redirected blast, screaming briefly as he was flung forward to lie still. The concussion of the blast knocked both Whitney and Peter off their feet, Whitney felt a sharp pain in her lower right leg as a piece of shrapnel cut the side of her calf, causing her to cry out in pain.

Back in the other room, Lance Corporal Bersinio was knocked back by the explosion, shrapnel cutting into the Marine’s left shoulder and right knee. As the vessel hit the metal floor, it realized that the vessel was badly damaged, and would be no match for the female now. Focusing its senses, it detected the human next to the vessel writing in fresh pain from shrapnel injuries, the leader of these Marines was also injured and the only other Marine still alive nearby was still immobilized by the female’s psychic assault. The only uninjured human in the area was one of the humans that had been on the structure when it had originally arrived. It could sense the female was injured some, it needed to do what ever it could to destroy her, all these humans were expendable in accomplishing that.

Whitney pushed herself back up with her arms, the pain in her right leg burning slightly as she rolled over so she was sitting up and looked down and could faintly make out the tear in her scrubs and dark stain that seemed to be around it. The only light around them currently came from the small fires that the explosion had started in parts of the hallway and an emergency further down the hallway. Peter had pushed himself up as well and seemed uninjured as he looked over at Whitney and slid over towards her. “Lie back, I’ll check it and do what I can.” He said as he gently grabbed her leg. Whitney felt a slight amount of pain, but didn’t lie back as she scanned the area around them. “It’s still in one of the Marines ahead of us.”

“There isn’t much we can do about that right now, everyone seems to be down at the moment. I can’t see well enough to tell how badly you are bleeding or if the shrapnel is still in there or not.” Peter said in a voice that was tight with frustration. Whitney felt a sensation of pain shoot through her as Peter touched around the wound, causing her to cry out. “Sorry.”

As the pain subsided, Whitney realized the entity had left its host and was moving towards them. “It’s coming this way!” She cried out as she pushed her self back slightly, tying to focus on the entity’s approach. Peter looked over at her as she cried out, a slight look of panic visible on his face in the shadows. Turning back towards the hallway ahead of them, he started backing up along side her as he asked. “Where is it?”

Whitney could sense the entity as it sped towards Peter at incredible speed, before she could reply, Peter’s body went ridged as the entity entered him. “No!” She called out as she felt his mind vanish from her scanning, the entity fully integrating itself into his mind. Peter suddenly turned towards her, the cold malignant look in his eyes as his right hand shot forward to grip her throat as he pushed her to the ground.

As she slammed down hard on the metal floor, Whiney felt pain jar through her as she instinctively reached up to grab at the hand cutting off her flow of oxygen. Peter’s left hand grabbed her right hand, pushing it back down to the floor as he put more pressure on her throat. Struggling for air, Whitney pushed at Peter’s side with her left hand as a ripple formed and a telekinetic push slammed into his right side. Peter was thrown off her, his hand suddenly pulling away from her throat as he flew a few feet to land on the metal floor and roll a few more feet away.

Whitney rolled to her left as she gasped as her airflow was restored, her throat still hurting from his tight grip. Glancing toward Peter, she saw him pushing himself back up to his hands and knees, his head turning back towards her as his eyes fixed on her with a cold stare.

As Dee and her mother were talking, Dee caught a glimpse of her sister looking out one of the windows with a sad look on her face. For most people, the brief glimpse would not have allowed them to see the girl’s emotion, but for Dee the glimpse was more than enough to have a permanent record of the instant thanks to her photographic memory. It was easy enough to study the memory to see Maya’s sad face reflected in the window. But when the younger girl turned back towards the other two, she had a smile on her face.

“Yes, it would seem too.” Tabitha replied to her daughter’s comment about how the penthouse had most everything her mansion did. Looking back at her older daughter once more, she realized that there was obviously no more point in trying to fight about this issue. “This is indeed a rather comfortable and usable space you have gotten a hold of Dawn. I can understand the desire of wanting to be in the city, closer to school and to the other activities the area has to offer.”

Dee couldn’t help but grin slightly, if there was one thing her mother understood, it was the importance of placing yourself in the correct location. They had never lived anywhere that was not one of the most desirable locations in the city, and usually situated very close to any sort of center for upper class social life. At least her mother seemed resigned to the fact that her daughters were ready to move out on there own, which most likely she would find the better arrangement for them all. For many years, Dee’s less than lady like behavior, and eventually Maya’s somewhat similar behavior, had made them something of an embarrassment to their mother in social gatherings. Due to that, it was a rare occasion that their mother would make them go to some social event with her. With the two of them not living with her, it would be far easier for her to continue her busy social schedule without having to get them out of the way.

“Well, now we just need to start moving things in.” Dee said with a smile. “With classes started soon, we don’t want to have to be trying to get the place in shape once we start having studying to do.” For herself though, Dee was really more looking forward to getting her equipment set up so she could work on her own experiments, she wasn’t overly concerned about most of the homework any of her classes might give her.

A wide smile came to Tabitha’s face as Dee mentioned moving in. Hooking one arm around one of Maya’s she did the same with Dee with her other arm as she started back towards the door with the two girls. “Yes, you do need to get to moving in, but the two of you don’t have anywhere near what you need to set this place up right now. So that means it is time to do some shoping.”

Dee watched quietly as her sister quickly quieted their mother’s suggestion that Maya shouldn’t be staying with her here in the city. In some ways Maya had long been caught in the middle in the conflicts between her older sister and their mother, but over all she came down on Dee’s side on most things. That was likely due to the fact that through the many years of different step-fathers and living in different cities, the one solid constant each of the two girls could count on was each other.

Relived that their mother’s objections had been silenced, Dee was glad when Tabatha brought the issue back to the tour of the penthouse. “Yeah, quite a bit more actually.” Dee said with a slight grin. She was very pleased with the purchase of this place, and was glad to finally be showing it off to her mother. Though she might not agree with her two girls living her together unsupervised, even she would appreciate some of the luxury that the space provided. Dee lead the two towards the right from the entrance, towards a spiral staircase that was against the far wall of the living room.

“Well, this is the living room, obviously, and you can see the dinning room over there and the kitchen beyond that.” She pointed back behind them to the left before starting up the stairs. The stairs rose up to a large loft area, which covered the half of the living room near the entrance and covered all of the dinning room and kitchen, making a huge open space. “This can be used for whatever we want, though I was thinking part of it would make a good lab, and maybe we could use some of the large part for a workout area, or just a great party space.” She had a sly smile as she made the last comment, looking at her mother in hopes of getting some reaction from the older woman.

Though the comment did seem to bother Tabatha, she didn’t react quite as Dee would have hopped. “Well, it would be a far stretch to expect you not to hold some sort of functions in such a large area for entertaining, but I would hope that such parties would not be too common. After all, you are going to be in college, and that will require a great deal of work for both of you, unless you are just planning to waste four years of time and a great deal of money partying.”

Dee smirked again as she lead her mother and Maya over towards a door near the top of the stairs. “Don’t worry mom, I plan to make quite a bit of my time in school, while enjoying myself as well.” Stopping at the door, she looked back at her mother as she continued. “At each end of the penthouse are two bedroom suites, on the floor below us, each has a large bathroom, complete with large oval jet tub, and large walk in closet. ON this floor is each bedroom loft, a very, very spacious area for each, with great views out the arching windows. But this was what really sealed the deal for me.”

Opening the door, she lead the other two into large room, light from the skylight above reflecting off the water of the pool taking up most of the room. The pool was not a complete rectangular shape however, up next to the windows, as section of the rectangle was out, with a good sized hot tub positioned right up against the glass of the large arching window. “As you can see, the pool and hot tub just make everything about the place so much better.”

Artius spent the rest of the day showing Brutus his way around the Roman camp, giving him information about the daily life of the soldiers that Brutus would be overseeing as they went. The camp was a buzz of activity, which Artius explained was primarily due to the preparations for the deployment to the East. “But in truth, it is a rare day that you find many of the soldiers of a legion idle. There is always some work to be done for them, be it improving the fortifications of the camp, or training, or working on a local building project, soldiers that are kept busy are soldiers that can’t be planning trouble.”

The veteran centurion gave the new tribunal a little wink at the last comment as he gradually led him back towards the center of the camp. As the two neared the tent of Legatus Kaeso Sosius Durus, they saw a few other young men gathered outside the tent, all dressed in fine armor. “It would appear that some of the other tribunals have been gathered.” Artius commented as he noted Kaeso Sosius gesture over for Brutus to join them. “I will leave you in the Legatus’ capable hands for now Tribunal Brutus Marius. Please don’t hesitate to seek me out should you need any further assistance.” Artius gave a slight bow and headed back into the camp as legion’s legatus and other tribunals waited for Brutus to join them.

Whitney, Peter and the remaining Marines had made their way back to the cafeteria, those gathered there looking at them with questioning looks particularly with less returning than had originally left. Chris Hanson made his way straight over to the table Whitney and Sergeant Brown had gone over too, Chris noting the frustration on the Sergeant’s face. “What happened, why has the power been cut?”

Whitney looked up at the Parcon executive with a slightly disgusted look as Peter came over to the table as well. “The entity was in your missing worker and sabotaged the generators. Doctor Atkins believes that the damage might be to sever too easily repair. The entity then took control over one of the Marines and killed your worker and another Marine. It retreated back into the area just above the storage tanks and we choose not to follow it for fear of any gunfire igniting the tanks.”

Chris glanced at Peter for a moment before focusing on Major Thomas once more. “Perhaps now would be a good time to contact your superiors and get someone else out here to take over the situation, this is obviously quite beyond you.” He said with a slight sneer. Whitney didn’t let the insult get to her as she looked at the man with a steady gaze. “If you think there is anyone else better equipped to deal with this entity, then I would welcome them here. But in all truth, I don’t think there is anyone else who could do any better. This would be a lot easier if you and your crew were not here, and Sergeant Brown and his men as well.”

Chris looked at her with a look of disbelief as Sergeant Brown looked up as well. “Why do you say that Major?” The Parcon executive asked with a cynical tone. “Because Mr. Hanson, everyone is just another potential host for this entity. Even if we were to manage to kill a host while the entity is in it, I am not sure that would stop it.”

Sergeant Brown finally spoke up as he looked at Whitney. “We may be potential hosts ma’am, but what if it was just you with this thing? Who’s to say that it wouldn’t just take control of you?” Whitney looked over at the Marine, not at all offended by his somewhat confrontational tone. “We don’t know Sergeant, but I would be willing to face it as I have more defense against this thing.”

“Is there anything you can do to help us develop some sort of defense against this thing?” Peter asked. Whitney looked over at the geologist as she shook her head sadly. “No, I don’t think there is. Perhaps I could help lock off parts of your memories from it, at least for awhile, but nothing permanent. I just don’t know enough about how this entity controls its hosts and merges with them so I can’t sense it to determine a means of defense against it.”

As the discussion was taking place within the oilrig, Lance Corporal Reynolds reached the top of the ladder he had been climbing. Wind and rain blew around the Marine as he made his way across the main deck of the oilrig. It could sense all the humans down inside of the structure, all gathered in one room, including the woman. So far its options seemed rather limited as to means of leaving this structure. This vessel had knowledge of a means of contacting other soldiers, a communication device that had been set up near the damaged space craft it had arrived here on.

But this vessel did not have the means of requesting a new transport, to do so it would need to take a new vessel. It seemed that the female was the leader of the soldiers, meaning she would be the one with the best chance of getting a new transport to take it from this structure. But that was problematic, as the female was dangerous, her abilities could make it difficult for it to control her. From its previous host, it had learned that there was a human on this structure who could likely have the ability to have a transport brought out to the structure, only the human’s authority seems to have been overridden by the female’s.

Perhaps if it destroyed the female, that would allow it to control this other human and obtain a means of leaving this structure. Turning to look at the doorway that lead back into the structure, it decided that what ever it did, it should act now to secure the communications device so it would have easy access to it when the time came.

Back in the cafeteria, one of the Marine Corporals came over to the small meeting between the Whitney, Sergeant Brown and the two Parcon employees. “Excuse me Sergeant, ma’am.” The Corporal said as everyone looked over at him. “I thought I should point out that the comm gear you had me set up earlier is still down by that alien spacecraft. When we are ready to leave this rig, we will likely need that unless we can get the power up and running again. I think we should secure it and bring it back here where we can keep an eye on it.” Sergeant Brown’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Corporal Davies. “Why should we…oh f**k it.” He cursed as he realized that the entity now had knowledge of the comm gear having taken control of Lance Corporal Reynolds. “Get your team ready Davies, we are going down to get the gear.”

Whitney stood back up as the Corporal made his way over to where his fire team was waiting. “We should hurry Sergeant. I don’t want us to be away from the rest of the group for to long.” The Sergeant turned to look at her before he said. “Ma’am, this should be an easy quick recovery. Perhaps it might be best if you remain here?” Whitney shook her head as she replied. “No Sergeant, I am going along. The comm gear is a very likely target for the entity, and if that thing is there and I am not, who knows what could happen.”

The Sergeant nodded in reluctant agreement as he turned and made his way over to where Corporal Davies had his men ready. Whitney was following along behind when Peter came over to stand beside her. Whitney looked over at the geologist as she said. “I don’t think we will be needing your help this time Doctor Atkins. I believe we remember our way back down to the crash site.” Peter just smiled slightly as he replied. “You may not need me as a tour guide, but I might be helpful in other ways. If nothing else, I am an extra mind for the thing to target before it comes after you.” Whitney reluctantly let Peter follow along as the two doctors joined the Marines as they set out from the cafeteria again to make their way down to where the Kurriganian spacecraft had crashed into the Parcon oilrig.

It was approaching where the spacecraft that had brought it to this planet had crashed into this rig when it sensed several of the humans move from where they had all gathered, the female among them. Stopping for a moment, it wondered if somehow the female had somehow sensed it. That had to be impossible, there should be no way she could sense it when it was in a vessel, more likely they had decided to come and retrieve the device it was moving towards as well.

Looking back towards the ruined corridors that lead to the room the Kurriganian scout ship was in, it decided this was likely a good opportunity to try to eliminate the female. Moving into a section of the hallway, it moved into a shadowy area of the hallway and raised it’s vessel’s weapon, taking aim down the direction it sense the humans approaching from.

It did not have to wait long before another of the “Marines” came into view, moving cautiously with his weapon held ready. It decided it would be best to wait for the female, so it let the human continue uninterrupted. Not far after the first, came another human, this one looked right at it’s hiding place as his eyes widened in recognition.

The human aimed his weapon at it as he yelled out. “It’s Reynolds!” Having been detected, it decided that it would have to get at the female by another means as it opened fire at the human, one of the weapon’s projectiles hitting the man in the shoulder as he yelled out in pain and fell to the ground, his weapon firing a few rounds off, but far from it’s position.

The gunfire ahead caught Whitney slightly be surprise as she heard more M-16 fire follow after the initial shots. Just ahead of her, Sergeant Brown cursed as he started forward, yelling out as he went. “All units, Reynolds is down near the crash site, we are engaging now!” More automatic weapons fire sounded in the hallway ahead of them, the muzzle flashes from the M-249 SAW lighting the area as the Marine ahead of Sergeant Brown fired his light machinegun at their attacker.

Whitney suddenly sensed the entity, as it left it’s host and began to move towards them. There was a brief flash of mental activity from Lance Corporal Reynolds before that too went away, telling Whitney that the Marine had been hit by the light machinegun fire. “It’s lose! Reynolds is down!” She yelled out, trying to move forward to see if she could pinpoint it and try to stop it from taking another host.

Sergeant Brown started to look back towards her when Whitney sensed the strong presence of the entity as it streaked towards the Marine. “Look out Sergeant!” She yelled as she could almost see some ghost like shape that sped towards the Sergeant, disappearing into his body as the Sergeant’s body suddenly jerked in pain, almost as if he had been electrocuted. Whitney came to a halt, Peter just behind her, looking at the scene with shock as well. The Sergeant suddenly relaxed as he looked over at the two doctors, his eyes seeming to be somewhat cold and empty as he leveled his M-16 at the two.

(ooc Hello Jennifer8, for various reasons, Radical Dreamer and I will not be jumping into action right off the bat. Your action will have to be taking place elsewhere in Founders. Hopefully our characters can meet up in another situation.)

A ding echoed into the empty rooms of one of the penthouse suites in the heart of Founders Falls, signaling the arrival of the suite’s private elevator. Three figures emerged from the elevator into the sunlight rooms of the penthouse. The lead figure moved quickly through the small entry hall at the elevator and into a large open room with hardwood floors that was situated in front of two massive windows that each formed half of a large arch. Sunlight poured in through the windows into the large empty room.

Much of the large room was open to the cavernous raised ceiling, though a loft area was visible above, a spiral staircase up to the upper floor off to the right of the room against a wall. A few thin columns were to the left of the room, below the loft above, beyond was another smaller room. A counter separated this room from the kitchen that was visible beyond.

Turning back towards the two trailing figures, the lead one extended out her arms to each side, indicated the penthouse as she asked. “Well? What do you think?” The lead figure was an attractive nineteen year old woman, with long blond hair that went just past her shoulder. Two locks in the center of her forehead were dyed light green, one hanging down in front of her face, the other combed back with the rest of her hair. Standing about five foot seven inches, she was dressed in tight black jeans with a short white T-shirt that reveled her midsection and pierced bellybutton. Partially visible on the small of her back was a tattoo of a black circle with thorns pointing both inward and outward around it.

Her question was mainly focused on one of the other two women, the older of the two, who was rather easy to identify as her mother. The older woman, Tabatha Farrington-Donalds, was looking about the penthouse with a somewhat skeptical look. Thougn in her late forties, she was very attractive as well, with a very confident baring. Looking back at her daughter, she finally said. “I guess it is somewhat quaint, but are you sure you want to live here while in college Dawn? You can always use it as an investment property and just stay with Harold and I, you know we have plenty of space.”

Dawn Farrington, frowned slightly at her mother’s suggestion and use of her full name, when she much preferred the nickname of Dee. Harold Donalds was her mother’s fifth husband, a wealthy investment banker. Her mother had made something of a career of marrying rich and successful men and then eventually leaving them, often with sizable divorce settlements, dragging her daughters with her from city to city over the years. Not that she really needed more money, coming from a wealthy Boston family.

“I know you and Number Five,” Dee began to reply, causing her mother to frown as well at her use of the nickname Dee had come up with to describe her mother’s current husband starting with the third when Dee had been ten, “have plenty of space, but that’s not really the point. You two really didn’t like me around when I was in high school, I doubt you will want me around any more now. Besides, it should be good for Maya and I to have a place to ourselves as we start college. Not to mention that I spent quite a bit of the money I made from licensing my patent earlier this year on the place, and I think it is a cool place and a great location.”

Tabatha walked out into large open space, looking out the windows at the city outside. “Well, it was your money to spend as you wish, your father and I were both proud of you accomplishment at your age. And it’s not as if you don’t have plenty of money waiting for you in trust funds once you reach twenty-one. But please let’s try to put my mistake of sending you to live with your father behind us. I acted hastily, but over all it seems to have been good for you. And don’t forget you would never have met that wonderful Trevor if I hadn’t done so.”

Dee shook her head slightly at her mother’s mention of kicking her out to live with her father in Seattle about a year ago. While Dee had to admit there had been much about the experience of living with her father again that had been good, not the least of which was her boyfriend Trevor Rosenthal, she still had not fully forgiven her mother for her falling into her typical pattern of pushing away a problem instead of find a way of actually dealing with it.

The older woman scanned the loft area above from the large space below before continuing. “I guess I can understand your wanting to have your own place while you go too school. But I am not so sure that it would be a good idea for Maya to be here with you.” As she spoke, Tabatha turned back towards the third figure, who had slowly been following the other two, her younger daughter, Maya.

(ooc I am starting this thread for myself and Radical Dreamer to reintroduce two of our characters into Paragon City. In a previous thread on the old boards, the two characters left the city, but are now returning to go to college.

We would post in Paragon University, but that is a little big and crowded with storylines at the moment. Perhaps there can be some cross over at some point. Anyway, people are welcome to join in but if things get a bit crowded, might close it to new people.

I am reposting the old thread here: http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.asp...opicID=1290374


Thanks )

There are three characters that I have used in at least one story on these boards (or there is one who will be used in a story shortly). I have picked out a song for each of them that not only fits them in some way, but would also be a piece of music the character would enjoy listening too.

Hollow- For this character, who has been appearing in the Paragon University thread, her song would be “O Mio Babbino Caro”, the famous aria from Puccini’s opera “Gianni Schicchi”. This aria fits the character very well, for the timeless beauty and grace of the piece is very much like the character. In addition, with it being by the last great Italian master of opera, it fits Hollow very well as she is Italian-America, with very close ties to her relatives in Sicily.

Thevshi- Have only posted with this character in a short story in my Facets thread, and that was an alternate version of the character, who is only 19. Her song would be “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2. This song works well for the character as she is somewhat torn between her pride of being Irish (Catholic) and the Anglicization she experienced with spending six years as part of a top secret British government superhero project while she was a young teenager.

Dee Farrington- This character will be appearing soon. Her song would be Sum 41’s song, “Fat Lip”. In addition to being a song she would likely listen too, she very much is one who does not want to be “a victim of conformity”.

As the final race finished for the day, many in the crowd began making their way from the Circus Maximus, returning home or some other errand. Emperor Hadrian arose at the finish of the last race, causing all those around him to stand out of respect as well. The emperor faced Antonius Justus with a smile as he said, “It has been a most entertaining day Antonius Justus, and I am sure you feel a most rewarding one. Like you, there is much that requires my attention now, but I would like to meet you and your lovely daughter for lunch tomorrow.”

Antonius Justus gave a slight bow as he responded. “We are most honored by your invitation. Until tomorrow Caesar.” Emperor Hadrian then made his way from the booth, the Praetorians and his other aids following after him. Antonius Justus then looked at his daughter. “You heard the emperor, there are several items of business that require my attention right now, but you should know I have hired a new cook to accompany us to the East.”

Lucilla smiled at her father as she replied. “Yes, Orvius Plautus told me he had recommended him to you. I look forward to meeting him when I can.” As her father made his way from the viewing stand, Lucilla turned towards Pyris with a warm smile. “Well, there are some things I need to attend to as well Pyris, it was good to see you once more. I look forward to seeing you next great creation.” Glancing at Lucius Marius and nodded to him as well before making her way from the stand with Berit following close behind.

Inside the generator room, Whitney came up behind Peter as the geologist was examining one of the generators with a flashlight. “Well, looks like this thing has done a pretty good job of messing this one up. Could take awhile to get repaired, if we even have the parts here.” Whitney sighed as she looked over at the emergency light that was in the upper corner of the room. “How long do the batteries on those last?”

Turning away from the generator, Peter looked up at the light as well as he replied. “The emergency lights? About twelve hours or so I believe, could be less as they kicked into use last night when power was first shut off.” The news wasn’t very comforting to Whitney, things were likely going to get very tense once they had to be in darkness, and they couldn’t have people outside during the day, the weather was to harsh still for that. “We need to see what we can do about salvaging the batteries from emergency lights that we don’t need to keep the ones going in the areas we will be using.” Turning back to look at Peter and Sergeant Brown she continued. “The last thing I want is to send out some people here to try and fix these things if they will have to be here for an extended period of time. They would be far too vulnerable to the entity.”

Just as Peter was about to speak, Whitney spun around to face the door to the hallway as she sensed the entity’s presence outside. “It’s in the hallway!” She said quickly as the echo of M-16 fire sounded out. There were two quick bursts that caused the two Marines in the generator room to spin back towards the doorway, their weapons aimed at it as Sergeant Brown raised his M-16 as well, moving between the doorway and the two doctors. “Reynolds! Edgars! What is going on out there?” He called out into the radio as he started to move slowly towards the doorway.

Whitney reached out towards the area outside the generator room, scanning for the two Marines. As she feared, she couldn’t find a trace of either of them. “Sergeant, I am not sensing either of them outside!” She called out as she started after the Marine, Peter grabbing her arm as he said. “Shouldn’t you be more careful? We don’t know what is going on out there.” Whitney turned back to look at him as she replied. “I need to go, there is really nothing they can do to this thing, except kill its host body, and I don’t think that will necessarily stop it.”

Peter released her arm and nodded slightly as Whitney turned back towards the door, the other two Marines in the room now at either side of it. The two nodded to each other before they quickly moved back out into the hallway, sweeping to either side to cover both directions. There was a brief pause before Whitney heard one of them call out. “Man down!” Speeding up, she followed after Sergeant Brown into the hallway, turning to her right to see one of the Marines kneeling beside the body of another Marine, reaching down with his left hand to check the man’s neck as his right kept his M-16 aimed down the hallway.

“He’s dead Sergeant, there is no brainwave activity. I am sorry.” Whitney said before the Marine that had moved down the other side of the hallway called out. “There is a body over here as well, one of the rig workers.” Whitney and Sergeant Brown spun back around and moved down the hallway to where the other Marine was standing next to the body of one of the rig workers. Peter came up beside them as he looked down at the body. “That’s Rodriguez.”

Frustration was evident on Sergeant Brown’s face as he looked back over at Whitney. “They have both been shot. This thing has taken control of Lance Corporal Reynolds.” Turning back towards the hallway past Rodriguez’s body, the Marine sergeant keyed his radio. “All units, be advised, Lance Corporal Reynolds is under control of the entity. Until further notice, consider him hostile if spotted.”

Looking back over at Whitney, Sergeant Brown indicated the direction of the hall past Rodriguez’s body. “It has most likely moved down this way. What is down this way?” He said, focusing on Peter as he asked his question. Peter looked at the Marine, pausing for a moment as he recalled the layout of the rig. “Not much really, some access to the drilling equipment, the upper halves of some of the storage tanks are also accessible down that way. There are also some access hatches to the outside with ladders up to the main level.”

Sergeant Brown looked over towards Whiney as she nodded. “We need to pursue it Sergeant.” Nodding back, he waved towards the Marine over by the body of Corporal Edgars as he motioned for the Marine near him to start off down the hallway. Whitney and Peter came up behind the Sergeant as the small group started off down the dark hallway.

Back up in the cafeteria of the oilrig, Chris Hanson came over to Corporal Osterman as the Marine finished giving instructions to the members of his fire team. “What is going on down there soldier?” The Marine corporal looked over at the oil company executive, a slight look of annoyance on his face as he replied. “They are going after the thing that took over one of your crewmen sir. Just sit back and relax, we have everything under control.” Pausing for a moment, he then added. “And soldiers are in the Army sir. I’m a Marine.”

Smirking slightly, Chris turned away from the Marine and went back over to sit at the table he had been sitting at since the Major had taken out some of the Marine’s to look for Rodriguez and sent another group out to get some mattresses and other items to make things more comfortable. That group had returned, and many of the rig workers were now sitting on the mattresses, some of them asleep already. It irked the executive to see things at a stand still on his rig, this was going to put them far behind on production and he doubted that the higher ups back in Austin would be sympathetic to his situation when it came time to compare output with other rigs.

Back down in the dark shadowy hallways on the lower deck, the small group was making their way along the path that they believed the entity had gone after taking control of Lance Corporal Reynolds and killing Corporal Edgars and Hector Rodriguez. Suddenly, Peter came to a halt as something seemed to dawn on him and he looked up at Whitney and Sergeant Brown as they came to a halt as well, regarding him closely. “I don’t think we should follow this thing down here.” He said, Sergeant Brown giving him a curious look. “Why not Doctor Atkins?”

“Well, I think we are walking into a potential trap, whether intentional or incidental. If we keep going we will be among the upper parts of the storage tanks. Any gunfire in there has the potential of piercing a tank and igniting the oil, possible even causing an explosion. Now this entity probably could careless if that happens, if something happens to its host, it can just go and acquire a new one.” Whitney sighed slightly as she looked over at Sergeant Brown. “He’s right, intentional or not, this could be a very bad place to encounter this entity. Even if we limit our fire, it will likely not be as restrained.”

Frustration was evident on Sergeant Brown’s face as he struggled over what Whitney and Peter had said. He didn’t like the idea of leading his men into such a dangerous situation, but also didn’t want to leave another of his men under the influence of this thing. Focusing on Whitney finally he simply said. “What are your orders ma’am?”

Whitney could tell this was hard for him, he was really dealing with something he and his men were in no way equipped to deal with. “We are going to fall back for the moment. I don’t want to needlessly risk you or your men’s lives. Right now if feels like we are going forward on its terms, we should make it come to us, and I think it will eventually.” Sergeant Brown’s face was unreadable, but Whitney could sense the struggle he was having with choosing to fallback and wait. She wasn’t sure it was the best idea herself, but walking into a dangerous situation which the oil tanks represented was definitely not a good idea. “All right Marines, lets fall back.” He said finally as he signaled to the Marine who had been leading their advance and the group turned back to retrace their path.

Further ahead of where the group turned around, it was waiting in one of the shadowy corners of the hallways, the vessel aiming its weapon down the hallway as it waited for the approach of the female and the others with her. When it sensed the humans stop and then turn around, it felt a sense of anger as they began to move further away. The female had decided to delay encountering it, though what she hoped to achieve by this it was not sure of. The other humans were no threat to it, the best they could do was destroy it’s current vessel, then it would just dominate another. But the female, she was much more of an unknown. Her power was considerable and she could well have abilities that could directly attack it.

Standing up as it lowered the its vessel’s weapon, it knew that the female needed to be eliminated to insure its survival and freedom. Moving out of the shadows, the vessel moved on down the hall away from where the humans had been. Soon it reached a hatchway that the memories of the previous vessel had indicated would lead to a means up to the main level of the structure. After slinging its weapon over it’s back, the vessel turned the wheel on the doorway, swinging the metal door inward as heavy wind and rain began to blow in from the storm outside.

Stepping out onto the narrow walkway outside the structure, the winds blew rain against the vessel. Looking up into the darkening sky, it could faintly make out the ladder that lead up to the upper level of the structure. Moving the vessel over to the ladder, it began to climb upward in the heavy wind and rain. Likely the humans that were on this structure at its arrival would inform the female about this means of reaching the upper level, but it mattered little what happened to this vessel if trapped, there were plenty more on the structure.

Resisting the urge to just put the annoying executive to sleep, Whitney remained calm as she responded. “Its very simple Mr. Hanson. I am a telepath. When this entity is moving from host to host, I can sense it, but there is something about the method it uses to dominate a host that renders it undetectable, and I believe also prevents me from sensing the mind of the host as well. I can sense all of you in this room, as well as the injured man down in the infirmary, but I can’t sense Rodriguez anywhere in this facility, just as I could not sense anything on the Marine helicopter when it was being piloted away. Most likely, this entity encountered Lieutenant Benning on the rig and took control of the Lieutenant in order to try to leave this rig in the helicopter.”

“Until we can locate this entity and I can discover some means of subduing this entity, I am quarantining this facility. With everyone’s cooperation, this should hopefully not take very long and things can be returned to normal.” Whitney looked about the room, picking up a general sense of shock that was apparent on many of the faces of those present. As was to be suspected, Chris was the first one to speak after her statement. “This is outrageous Major! This thing is your problem; I want it off my rig so we can return to normal operations. Where do you get the authority to shut us down indefinitely?”

Whitney couldn’t help but smile as she regarded the executive. “You would be amazed at the amount of authority that I can command in the right situations Mr. Hanson, this being one of them. If you have a problem with this, you can take it up through your corporate headquarters and they can complain to the Department of Defense and the United Nations.” Turning away from focusing on the oil executive, she continued. “This thing appears to represent a clear and present danger and I am not about to let it slip away into more populated areas where it will have countless hosts and will be all but impossible to track.”

Pausing for a moment, Whitney continued to look around those gathered in the room as she continued. “Now, night is approaching, and I do not want us to be separated so we can be easier prey to this entity. So I want a few groups to go and bring mattresses and bedding into here so we can all remain together. No one is to go anywhere alone, groups of at least three would be preferable.” Looking back at Sergeant Brown, she spoke directly to him, some grumbling audible from those gathered in the cafeteria at her orders. “Sergeant, I want one of your fire teams to be split to accompany two groups to bring what we will need for the night here. Another will remain here to watch those that remain, the other will accompany us in searching for the entities new host. Mr. Hanson, if you would please pick a few of your crew for the groups to get us what we need for tonight. I also would like the injured crewman from the infirmary brought up here as well Doctor Gregory.”

Sergeant Brown nodded in understanding as he began speaking with his team leaders to assign them to their various duties. Whitney started back towards where the Marine was, ignoring some of the less than happy looks many of the crewmembers were giving her. As she neared Sergeant Brown, the team leaders started off to gather their teams. Sergeant Brown looked over at her as she neared, speaking in a quite tone. “Ma’am, is there any reason for you to believe that this entity might be aware of your presence and the fact that you can track it when it is not in a host?”

Her face calm and serious Whitney was impressed with the forethought of the Marine NCO. “Yes Sergeant, I would say it is very safe to say that it is aware of me and what I am capable of.” Sergeant Brown nodded slightly as his suspicion was confirmed. “Then I am concerned that it might try to come after you ma’am, either to take you as a host, or kill you.”

Peter had come over and heard the Sergeant’s last comment, looking over at Whitney with a concerned expression. Whitney nodded slightly as she replied. “That is something that I think we can count on Sergeant, though I am not sure how successful the entity will be at dominating me, but if nothing else, it will see me as a threat.” Peter shook his head as he spoke up. “So this thing will likely be gunning for you? Do you really think it’s a good idea to be going out and making yourself a target?”

Whitney turned towards Peter as she replied. “I thank you for your concern Doctor Atkins, but sitting back here will not accomplish anything. This entity is out there somewhere, likely plotting out its next move. For whatever reason, it wanted off this oilrig, so it will likely be somewhat angered by being denied the easiest means of leaving. Its going to come after me sooner or later, buy going out myself, hopefully I can bring it out sooner. If I hide back here waiting for it to come to me, who knows what damage it can cause, not to mention who else could be killed before I can face it.”

Neither Peter nor Sergeant Brown seemed particularly happy with her reasoning, but knew they really had no way to refute it either. Sergeant Brown lifted up his M-16 to the ready as he indicated the doorway. “Well ma’am, if you are ready, we should get started.” Whitney nodded as she started to follow after the Marines who would be accompanying them as Peter started to follow along as well. Turing back towards the geologist, Whitney held up her hand. “Doctor Atkins, it would probably be best if you were to remain here with the others.” Peter grinned slightly as he regarded her. “I am sure you could use my help Major, after all, someone who is very familiar with this rig will be very helpful in trying to track down someone who is hiding on it.” Whitney hesitated for a moment, realizing that Peter was indeed right. Sighing slightly in surrender, she turned back towards the door. “Alright Doctor, but be careful, I have a feeling things will be much more dangerous now that the entities presence is not longer a secret.”

Down on a lower level of the rig, it was moving its current vessel through the empty hallways of the structure. The female was indeed cunning, having gathered all the humans into one room, making it far easier for her to keep track of where potential vessels were located. From the memory of the vessel it had lost trying to escape and this new vessel, it had learned that some of these humans were trained soldiers, and there for likely to be more useful in trying to eliminate the female.

Stopping for a moment, it looked up at the level above it. It could sense several of the humans moving from the room they had all been gathered in in small groups, including one that contained the female. Very likely they were coming to search for it. Focusing back on where it had been heading, the vessel started forward once more. It had learned that these humans were very dependent on their physical senses, sight perhaps more than others. In the memories of this vessel it had learned how it could greatly limit this sense.

Reaching the door to the main generators, it proceeded through the loud hum of the generators echoing in the large room as it stood on the metal catwalk over them. Apparently the crash of the vessel that had brought it to this planet had damaged this power source but the humans had been able to get them working once more. In the memory of the vessel, there was knowledge that would allow it to disable them again, and in a manner that would not be easily repaired.

The search team that Whitney was with were making their way down towards where Rodriguez’s crew had been working on repairing some of the damage to the rig when the lights went out suddenly. Whitney halted for a moment as they were plunged into darkness as she felt brief feelings of panic around her and back in the cafeteria. Reaching out with her mental senses, she confirmed that she could still sense those around her. A few moments after the lights went out, emergency lighting kicked, the scattered lights scarcely illuminating the hallways.

Sergeant Brown quickly looked about the hallway, ensuring that everyone was present. As his gaze fell on Whitney, he moved closer. “It seems the entity has decided to make things more difficult for us.” Whitney was nodding in agreement as Peter came over to the pair. “While that is very possible, it is also likely that the generators have just failed. They were damaged when the spacecraft crashed into the rig and took us most of the night to get running again.”

Whitney sighed slightly. The timing of this seemed far too convenient for her. Looking back at the two men she had a gut feeling that this could be a trap but they had no real choice. “Well, what ever the case, we need to go down to where the generators are and determine what happened and if possible get them back in operation.” Peter nodded as he looked back towards the Marine at the front of the group. “Take the next right and follow the hallway to the next set of stairs. We need to go down about two more levels.”

The Marine glanced over at Sergeant Brown who signaled for them to continue forward. The group started to move forward again, the Marines moving slowly as they scanned the areas around them and stopped from time to time to listen for an possible movement around them. Whitney had Sergeant Brown call back to the fire team in the cafeteria to have them make sure everyone remained there and calm. Finally the group reached the doorway to the generator room, two of the Marines taking up positions on either side of the doorway as the other two took up positions to watch down the approaches towards the room.

Peter pulled the door open, moving to one side as the first of the Marines moved through the door, aiming his M-16 into the room as he quickly scanned the dark shadows that filled most of the room. Moving to one side, he made room for the other Marine to follow behind, moving to the other side as he also scanned the area. As soon as the entry was clear, Sergeant Brown moved into the room, his weapon sweeping over the shadowed corners as well as the two Marines moved down to the ends of the catwalk.

As Whitney and Peter stepped into the room just behind the Sergeant, further down one of the hallways leading from the generator room a figure was crouched in the darkness. It could feel the female’s presence nearby. The humans had come to investigate what had happened to the structure’s power source. There were two humans still outside the room, it suspected that they were likely these “Marines” it had learned about. The time had come for it to strike.

Lucilla took the pendant slowly from Pyris hand as he held it out to her, his pride in his accomplishment obvious. Holding up the object, she studied it closely, marveling in the intricate and delicate design. “This is magnificent Pyris. I think there are few who could produce something this amazing. If you continue to produce objects of this quality, you will soon find yourself in high demand as a jeweler.”

Giving Pyris a wide smile, the raven haired young woman handed him back the pendant. Glancing over at Marius, she hoped that her father’s client had heard her comments, Pyris deserved better treatment from his master.

The races continued after a short while, the crowds having to settle some after finish of the eight race. Some of the enthusiasm was gone from many of the fans of the other teams, particularly the green team, but the followers of the blue team seemed especially energized. In the emperor’s section of the stands, the mood was similar to that of the rest of the stadium. While he bet on some of the other races, the emperor seemed a bit less interested in the races than talking more with Antonius Justus about the situation in his new provinces.

While her father and Caesar began talking more about business, Lucilla focused a bit less on the races as well. Looking over a Pyris, who had been excited when the blue racer had won, the raven haired woman noticed the quite young man looking at something in his hand. Catching a glint of silver in the sunlight, she smiled warmly at Pyris as she asked. “Is that some of your latest work Pyris? Your brother showed me the ring you made for him, it was masterfully done. May I see this new object?”

Berit turned away from the current race as well as she heard Lucilla’s question. Pyris was skilled with his silver smithing, and she enjoyed seeing how he was improving in his craft.

The other two Marines moved up as well, the one with the SAW opening the bipod on the front of the weapon as he laid down on the helicopter pad. Sergeant Brown and the other armed with an M-16 started firing as the one with the light machinegun was getting in a stable firing position. Soon the sound of his quick bursts joined the steady fire from the M-16s. The helicopter began to bank, trying to make itself a harder target as it continued to draw further away.

Whitney watched as they Marines fired at the helicopter, realizing that it would take either a good amount of fire or a lucky hit for them to damage the aircraft enough to bring it down. Stepping forward slightly, she fixed her gaze on the helicopter as she breathed deeply, focusing on another of her mental abilities. She had never tired to use her telekinesis at this great a distance, but she didn’t have much choice. There was something piloting the helicopter, even if she couldn’t sense it, and she wasn’t about to let it get free to cause who knows what harm.

Wind and rain blew around Whitney as she released her attack, pushing as much as she could with her mind. Out over the stormy ocean, a ripple appeared in the air beside the helicopter, rushing towards the aircraft like some sort of wave. Rain was pushed aside as the telekinetic force slammed into the back of the Sea Knight. The back of the helicopter was knocked to the side, causing the aircraft to start to spin, part of the rear hull buckling in from the force of the impact.

As she saw the Sea Knight begin to spin, Whitney felt a wave of dizziness wash over her as she staggered backward, experiencing tunnel vision. The hard impact with the helicopter pad never happened as she realized that someone had caught her. Her vision returning to normal, she realized the Marines had stopped firing, the three looking out at the scene before them in shock. Glancing up, she saw Peter’s concerned face as he held her up. “You okay?”

Bringing her right hand up to her face, Whitney brushed at the side of her mouth, looking at her hand as she pulled it away, rain was mixing with the blood on her hand that she could feel flowing from her nose. Nodding slightly as she started to stand herself back up, Peter still holding her under her arms. “Yes, I okay, just not used to projecting that much force over such a distance.” Looking back out at the result of her telekinetic attack, Whitney saw that the helicopter was rapidly loosing altitude, still in a spin as the rear rotor had locked up and was no longer turning.

Sergeant Brown turned back to look at Whitney, his eyes narrowing slightly as he regarded her. Peter let her go as she was once again steady on her feet. “I would say you are much more than just a telepath.” Whitney didn’t respond as she watched the Sea Knight smash into the rough seas, a large splash of water flying up into the air. Just as the helicopter hit the water she sensed the presence that she had felt during the autopsy. Trying to focus her abilities on where it was, Whitney felt a slight wave of dizziness, causing her to stagger slightly as Peter grabbed her once more.

“I can sense it again, but I can’t lock onto it. It’s moving, I think back towards the rig.” Sergeant Brown spun back to look out at the stormy sea, trying to look though the rain for any sign of what ever it was Whitney was sensing. The other two Marines were back on their feet, scanning the area as well. Peter was looking at Whitney, a concerned look still on his face. “You don’t look so good Major, I think you might be pushing yourself a bit to hard.”

Whitney stopped trying to focus on the location of the presence she was sensing, her dizziness subsiding as she did so. “That telekinetic blast just took more out of me than I realized.” The presence suddenly vanished as she looked over at Peter. “It’s gone. It can somehow shield itself from me.” Sergeant Brown came back over towards the two, his face grim as he looked at Whitney. “I couldn’t see anything ma’am. What exactly is going on here, and what haven’t you told me?”

Whitney looked at the Marine, his frustration was understandable, he was supposed to handle the security of the mission and should have been informed of the full extent of her abilities at the start. “I am sorry Sergeant, you should have been informed of my abilities from the start, but the Department of Defense prefers that they be reveled only when necessary, and now is one of those times. I am a telepath and telekinetic, as well as some other mental abilities. I am also part of an organization called the Gatekeepers, it is our task to monitor contact between extraterrestrials and mankind. Particularly in the case of hostile species such at the Rikti.”

Sergeant Brown looked like he was about to say something when he suddenly stopped, listening to his radio. Holding it up to his mouth, he replied to whom ever had been speaking to him. “I understand Corporal, stand by for orders.” Looking back over at Whitney and Peter he continued. “Corporal Davies finished his sweep of the lower level where you first sensed whatever this is, they found the body of one of the rig workers, sounds like it was the one we saw in the infirmary with the broken arm.”

Whitney felt a slight feeling of exhaustion come over her. Things were starting to move rapidly and she was beginning to get a picture of what might be taking place. “Sergeant, tell the Corporal to bring the corpse up to the infirmary and to find all the workers he can and get them into the cafeteria. I think we need to get everyone on the rig together now. For all our security.” Sergeant Brown looked at her for a moment before he nodded. “Yes ma’am.” Holding up the radio, he relayed Whitney’s orders before signaling the two Marines with them to take the body of the dead crew chief down to the infirmary as well.

Turning to look at Peter, Whitney could see a slight frown on his face. “I take it your thinking things are much more serious here than they seemed at first.” Not waiting for an answer he removed the light jacket he was wearing and put it over her shoulders. “You should get inside. Those scrubs can’t be very warm in this wind and rain.” Whitney nodded as she let him leaded her back down the stairs from the helicopter pad and towards the door back into the rig, Sergeant Brown following after them. Chris Hanson was likely going to be very upset with the disruption of the repair work on the rig that she now felt was necessary, but he would just have to deal with it. What ever this thing was, Whitney was sure it was dangerous, particularly as she could only sense it part of the time.

On one of the lower levels of the oilrig, Hector Rodriguez stopped the work he had been doing on some of the damage to the rig, looking over at the other workers who were busy welding. Inside a new vessel, it felt almost uncontrollable rage. The female had managed to damage the aircraft that could have carried it away from this structure to freedom. Now it was stuck here with the rest of the humans, unless it could find another way off.

Dropping the welding torch he was holding, Hector began to walk out of the room, the others to focused on their work to notice his departure. The female was far to dangerous to it, it was sure she could sense it when it moved from vessel to vessel, if she proved able to target it in some way, she might posses some abilities that could injure it. Before it made its next attempt to depart this structure, it would have to find someway to destroy the female.

After going down to the infirmary with Peter and Sergeant Brown, Whitney made her way up to the cafeteria once Sergeant Brown had received word that everyone was gathered there. Walking into the room with Peter, Sergeant Brown and Doctor Gregory following behind her, Whitney ignored the stares that turned her way from the gathered workers as the room went silent. Chris Hanson was standing off to one side of the room with some of the Marines, his gaze falling on Whitney immediately. “Major Thomas, what is going on? You can’t stop everything on this facility, we need to get it up and running again as soon as we can. There is money being lost every minute we are not in operation.”

Whitney glanced over at the Parcon executive before she strode through the crowd towards the front of the room. She was still wearing her wet scrubs and the rain jacket Peter had put on her, her hair soaked from standing in the rain. Turning back towards the gathered group she looked over at Chris, her expression deathly serious. “Is this everyone Mr. Hanson?” The executive seemed rather agitated that she had ignored his questions as he quickly scanned the room before looking back up at her. “Yes, this is everyone.”

From back near the doorway, Peter spoke up. “Sorry to disagree Mr. Hanson, but I don’t see Hector Rodriguez here.” Chris looked around the room once more, anger very visible on his face now. “Where the hell is Rodriguez?” One of the foremen looked over at the executive as he replied. “I don’t know Mr. Hanson, he was working with my group on some repairs when the Marines brought us up here. I could have sworn he was with us.”

As Whitney listened to the exchange, she closed her eyes, reaching out with her telepathy to the rest of the oilrig. The only mind not in the room with her that she could detect was the other injured worker in the infirmary. Opening her eyes once more, she spoke up. “Where ever he is, he is no longer who or what you think him to be.” Chris looked back over at her as did everyone else in the room as he asked in an annoyed tone. “What the hell does that mean? What is going here Major?”

Whitney maintained her calm composure as she looked about the room and answered. “As you all know, an alien spacecraft crashed into this oilrig last night. The pilot of the craft attacked you and several of you killed it in self-defense. What I believe is now the case is that the spacecraft did not hold one extraterrestrial life form, but two.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment before she continued. “There is now evidence to suggest that the extraterrestrial that was killed, a Kurrigan, was being controlled by some other entity, an entity that possesses other life forms, and uses them as a means of interacting with the physical world.”

There was a hushed silence over those gathered in the room, the looks of shock evident on their faces as well as in their surface thoughts. “What are you talking about? How can you know this?” Chris asked as he looked at her with disbelief. “There was an alien that crashed here, but we killed it after it attacked us, killing two crewmembers I’ll remind you. Now another crewmember is dead, as well as at least one of your Marines and your helicopter is destroyed. But other than that, how can we know anything else about what is going on?”

Far to the East of Rome, a patrol of horsemen made their way through a low canyon near the Tigris-Euphrates valley. They were scouts from the Eastern half of the Parthian Empire, trying to determine troop strength of the rebellious forces in the Western half of the empire who followed Osroes I. Since the Roman Empire had withdrawn from this province that they had taken in the last war, the former ruler of the province had declared himself king and started a war with Vologases III, the true king of the Empire. Since the time, civil war had existed between the two halves of the empire, the severity of it rising and falling in the last few years.

Vologases III had decided that it might well be time for a new offensive against the rebellious provinces, so his forces were trying to determine the strength of Osroes I’s forces. Hastrian was the leader of this patrol, having served Vologases III for many years, fighting the Romans for three years during the recent war and having fought against the rebellious provinces since the civil war had begun. The sun was beginning to set to the West, leaving little more they would be able to learn today.

Calling a halt to the small column of horseman, he turned back and gave instructions to begin setting up their camp. The soldiers in the patrol quickly setting to work to carry out the order. Most dismounted, to begin preparing the area for their camp, a few gathering all the horses to be tethered. Several remained on their horses, moving to provide security for the others as the camp was set up.

Rishar was one of those still mounted to guard the camp, moving a short distance from the camp so he could still see his comrades, but had a better view of one end of the canyon. So far their patrol had seen very little to report back, which was somewhat troubling. While it could mean the forces of the rebellious provinces were weak, it could also be an indication that they were massing somewhere else.

Looking back briefly at the camp, Rishar noticed something that caught his attention. An unusual darkness seemed to be forming around between him and the camp. At first the horseman thought it might be a trick of the light, but he quickly realized the darkness was rapidly spreading. There were suddenly shouts of panic and surprise from beyond the cloud of darkness, telling him that something was wrong.

Drawing his sword, the horseman started back towards the camp and the swirling darkness. Slowing down as he neared the cloud, Rishar was surprised as some dark form erupted from the darkness, knocking into him and causing him to fall to the dusty ground at the feet of his horse. The animal panicked, something highly unusual for a mount breed for battle. Quick reflexes prevented Rishar from being trampled by the panicked horse as he quickly got back to his feet, looking around for whatever had knocked him off his horse.

Screams sounded from in the camp, as the sounds of battle increased. Spinning around, Rishar saw no sign of what had hit him. The dark cloud started to spread further out, quickly overtaking the horseman who suddenly found himself in complete darkness. Turning around, his sword still in front of him, Rishar tried to determine if there was any threat within the darkness, though he could not imagine how anything could find anything in such conditions.

Then there was a sound of flapping wings, causing Rishar to turn towards the direction he thought the sound was coming from. Suddenly, the horseman felt something pierce his chest as he fell backward, confusion his last thought before he knew no more.

Up upon one of the sides of the valley, another group of horseman watched the swirling dark cloud, the sounds of the dying faintly audible from the distance to the battle. Several horses fled in all directions from the darkness before everything finally fell silent. In front of the horseman was an old man dressed in ornate robes with his arms outstretched and chanting in a strange language. Suddenly, the old man stopped his chanting, gesturing momentarily with his arms before bringing his hands together.

As if on cue, the cloud of darkness collapsed in upon itself, reveling the destroyed camp. The few erected tents were in taters, and there were discarded weapons and other object strewn about, but there was no sign of any of the patrol that had been setting up the camp. The horseman on the ridge looked over the scene with a slight trace of fear as the old man turned back towards them, focusing on the one in the center.

Velores, one of Osroes I’s sons, regarded the old man with a cold stare as he spoke. “Impressive old man, but that was but a small patrol. I fail to see just how that can truly help us against the full force of Vologases III’s armies, or the Legions of Rome should their new emperor decided to retake that which he abandoned.”

The old man just gave a sinister smile as he replied. “That is but a small example of the power I can call for you great father young prince. Those that do not succumb to the destruction I can summon will surely flee in terror from the terrible power at your father’s command. No one will dare stand against Osroes I!”

The young Velores seemed not entirely convinced as the old man climbed back on his horse. “We shall see old man, we shall see.”

Doctor Gregory nodded as he reached over for one of the bone saws that was on the tray near him. “Of course Major, and please, call me Sam.” Smiling as she took the saw, Whitney replied. “Only if you call me Whitney.” Turning back to face the corpse, she was just about to start cutting when she suddenly sensed something, something distant and odd. Halting as she tried to focus on the feeling, she quickly realized it was something she was sensing with her mental abilities. It was very faint, but was defiantly somewhere on the oilrig, then just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

As she stood there, looking at nothing in particular, Doctor Gregory seemed to notice that something was amiss as he came up beside her. “Whitney? Are you alright?” Whitney hardly heard the doctor’s question as she reached out towards where she had sensed the presence with her telepathy, trying to see if she could find what she had sensed once more. All she managed to detect were some surface thoughts, confusion, pain, fear, but they were normal human brain waves, not anything like what she had sensed.

Turning slowly towards the doctor, she sat the bone saw done on the side of the table. “We’re done, something is going on and I need to find out what.” She then started to move towards the exit to the smaller chamber as she called out. “Sergeant, we need to be deconned fast, something is out there. Call you men and make sure everyone is accounted for.” As she reached the door and began opening it, she unhooked the oxygen cable from her suit as the doctor followed right after her, a very confused look on his face. “What is the matter? What is out there?”

Shutting the door behind the doctor as he followed her into the smaller chamber, Whitney closed and sealed it as she replied. “No time to explain. Start the ******.” She said to the Marine who was standing near the chamber. He nodded as the activated the high pressure hoses that were hooked up to the sprinklers that had been placed inside the chamber. As the hot water poured down on Whitney and Doctor Gregory, the young woman again tried to focus her telepathy towards what she had sensed.

On another part of the oilrig, Lieutenant Aaron Bennet, the Marine pilot of the Sea Knight that had brought Major Thomas and Sergeant Brown’s team here, looked down at the now still form of Stan Anders. Lifting his booted foot from the crewman’s neck, Lieutenant Bennet turned and looked down the hallway to insure no one had heard the brief scuffle that had taken place. This new vessel would serve well, the human had the knowledge to operate the vehicle that would allow it to leave this structure. There was also information regarding the female, who was even now reaching out with her telepathic abilities.

It was quite probable that she had sensed when it had switched vessels. She had made a quick scan of the area right after that, likely detecting the confusion that had come over the former vessel as its presence had left the human’s mind. This Major Thomas was likely starting to make her way here now, likely bringing more of these “Marines” with her. It would be long gone before she arrived, and hopefully to its means of escape.

Whitney frowned as her mental scan now found nothing, the feelings of confusion and fear she had sensed were gone as well. The water stopped flowing as one of the Marines opened the door out of the small chamber. Whitney moved quickly out of the chamber, unhooking the helmet from her suit and setting it on a nearby table as she started to quickly remove the protective suit. Sergeant Brown and Peter moved over towards her, Sergeant Brown looking very concerned. “What is the matter ma’am? All units have reported in, nothing out of the ordinary.” Peter also looked somewhat concerned, but also had a curious look as well.

Whiney stepped out of the environmental suit as she looked at the Marine Sergeant. “There is something happening about two levels below us Sergeant, I don’t know exactly what it is, but I have a strong feeling that it has something to do with the arrival of the Kurrigan.” Sergeant Brown looked at her for a brief moment before he lifted his radio up to his mouth. “Davies, get your team too sub-level 4 in the rig, begin sweeping inward from the Southwestern stairwell, I am coming down the Northeastern well with Major Thomas and we will meet you in the middle.” As the faint sound of Corporal Davies responding could be heard over the radio, Sergeant Brown turned back to look at the two other Marines in the room. “You heard the Major, lets move out. Vincent, you take point.”

Private First Class Malcolm Vincent nodded as he unslung his M-16 and moved over towards the doorway. The other Marine in the room had just finished helping Doctor Gregory remove his suit’s helmet. Setting it down on a nearby table, he looked at the doctor as he asked. “You going to be okay sir?” Doctor Gregory nodded as he started to remove his environmental suit. “Yes, you get going.” The Marine nodded as he grabbed his M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon from the table and followed after the others as they made their way into the hallway after PFC Vincent.

As Whitney moved after Sergeant Brown, Peter came up beside her. “How do you know what is going on two floors below us?” Whitney glanced over at the geologist, hesitating for a moment before she looked back forward as she answered. “I am a telepath, something happened that I was able to sense, but whatever it was I can’t sense it now.” Glancing back at Peter, Whitney noticed that if her revelation surprised him, he didn’t show it, instead, his face seemed as if he was more in thought.

Up on the main deck of the oil rig, the doorway into the main tower opened once more, Lieutenant Bennet stepping out into the heavy wind and rain, moving over towards the stairwell up to the helicopter pad. Looking from side to side, there appeared to be no one up on the deck right now, which suited it just fine. Reaching the top of the stairs, it stopped the vessel for a moment as another human came into view, walking around from the other side of the helicopter.

Delving into the memories of the vessel, it quickly identified the human as Sergeant Olson, the “crew chief” under the command of the vessel. The Sergeant noticed the Lieutenant, coming to attention as he saluted. Pulling the necessary response to this greeting from the vessel’s memories, it returned the salute. “As you were Sergeant. What are you doing out here in this?” Sergeant Olson relaxed from his position of attention as he turned back towards the helicopter, yelling back over his shoulder as he went back to work.

“Just making sure things are secure sir. Looks like the storm hasn’t completely past us by yet out here. Don’t want any avoidable damage to delay our departure once the Air Force chick is done with what ever brought us all out here in such wonderful weather.” Moving up behind the human as he spoke, it drew the weapon that the vessel had at its side, aiming the pistol at the back of the Sergeant’s head.

The sound of the gunshot was lost in the heavy wind, the human falling to the ground as blood began to pool around its head. Returning the weapon to its holster, it moved into the back of the helicopter, passing through the cargo area and into the cockpit. Taking one of the seats, it activated the memory of the vessel regarding the piloting of the aircraft, using the vessel to activate the start up sequence for the helicopter.

Up in the main tower of the oilrig, PFC Danny Yates was sitting at one of the chairs, somewhat bored out of his mind. It sounded like something was going on down below, but his fire team was stuck up here, keeping tabs on what was going on with the rig and the area around them. Glancing out the window, he suddenly stood up, turning back towards where the other three Marines were seated. “Corporal, you need to come see this!”

Corporal Walter Osterman stood up as he moved over towards PFC Yates was standing near the windows of the tower that looked out over the rest of the rig. “What is it…” His started, his voice trailing off as he saw the rotors of the Sea Knight starting to turn and what looked like a body lying beside the helicopter. Lifting his radio up to his mouth, he keyed it as he watched the scene below him in a state of almost disbelief. “Sergeant Brown, this is Osterman, something is going on up here! Someone is starting up the helo and looks like they might have injured the crew chief.”

Down inside the oil rig, Sergeant Brown came to a halt in the stairwell as they were just about down at the level Whitney had sensed the presence from. Listening to the message from his team leader, the Sergeant turned back to look at Whitney. “Corporal Osterman says someone is starting up the Sea Knight.” Pausing for a brief moment, Whitney shook her head in frustration. “We need to get up there Sergeant, have Corporal Davies continue his sweep of this floor!”

Sergeant Brown nodded as he relayed the change in orders as the group turned back and started back up the stairs towards the upper deck of the rig. Whitney couldn’t help but feel what had happened down here had some connection to what was going on up on the helicopter pad of the rig. Glancing over at her and noticing the focused look on her face, Peter smiled slightly as he asked. “So, are things usually this eventful in your investigations Major?” Smiling despite herself, Whitney glanced back at him as she replied. “Seem to be a good bit of the time Doctor Atkins.”

Reaching the main level, the group ran over to the hatch that lead to the outer deck of the rig, PFC Vincent pushing the door open as he lead the group out into the heavy wind and rain. Whitney’s long brown hair whipped around her as she stepped out into the wind, a cold chill running through her as the scrubs did little against the wind. As her and Peter stepped out beside Sergeant Brown, the Sea Knight was lifting into the air, the twin rotors moving at full speed as it began to pull away from the helicopter pad.

Sprinting towards the stairs up the pad, Whitney quickly ran up the stairs, Sergeant Brown, Peter and the other two Marines following right behind her. Reaching the two, Whitney saw the body of one of the Marines, the helicopter’s crew chief she recalled. Between the blood pool around his head and the total lack of brainwave activity, Whitney knew he was dead. Looking back up at the Sea Knight as it started away from the oilrig, Whitney closed her eyes as she reached out with her mental abilities, scanning the helicopter for whomever was responsible for this. To her surprise, she could not detect any mind at all.

Opening her eyes once more, Whitney glanced over at Sergeant Brown who was standing beside her with a look of shock on his face. “Sergeant, we have to stop that helicopter! Shoot it down!” She yelled over the heavy winds. Sergeant Brown turned back towards her, blinking as if he didn’t believe what he had just heard. “Now Sergeant!” Snapping out of his shock, Sergeant Brown lifted his M-16 to his shoulder as he stepped forward towards the middle of the pad. “You heard the Major! Bring it down!”

Antonius Justus continued to bet against the emperor as the races continued, the amounts slowly becoming larger and larger. But neither really made much headway against the other as various teams won different races. Finally, the showcase race of the day arrived, the eighth race, featuring one of the current stars of the Circus Maximus, Antilius Cornutus. For this one the emperor looked at Antonius Justus with a slight smile. “You might not want to reconsider supporting your usual team for this race; the outcome is all but decided.”

The governor just gave a slight smile at the suggestion. “Though it might be what wisdom would dictate, there is also such a thing as loyalty, which I am sure guides your support of the green team Caesar. I am willing to bet in support of the blue team against Antilius Cornutus. Would one hundred and fifty thousand sesterii seem an appropriate sum for such an important race to you?”

Emperor Hadrian smiled, obviously not worried about losing the bet, but also seemingly pleased that someone would stand firm in opposition to him. Lucilla watched the interaction with some interest, knowing that such a characteristic could easily be taken too far which could quickly lead someone into disfavor with a Caesar. But her father was smart enough to know where such a line was, and this was defiantly not such a case. “You are indeed loyal Antonius Justus, even when your team is fielding a woman. But if you are intent on this folly, how about we make it more interesting, say two hundred and fifty thousand sestertii?”

Lucilla’s father didn’t hesitate to nod in agreement, looking back out at the track as the chariots took their starting positions. “Very well Caesar, two hundred and fifty thousand sesterii on the blue team against your green team.” Those nearby the two had fallen silent as the wagering had begun, many amazed at the amount of the bet. As the two men both focused back on the lined up chariots, those around them did as well, a few making some last minute bets, though much smaller than the one just made.

Lucilla looked back at the chariots as well, particularly focusing on the woman in the blue team chariot, slightly amazed that her father had allowed the wager to reach such a high mark. Berit leaned in near the raven haired woman as she whispered. “Your father is sure willing to lose a lot of money in support of his team. They say this Atilius Cornutus is unbeatable.” Lucilla just smiled as she whispered back. “No one is unbeatable in the Circus Maximus, anything can happen, so it’s a little early to say he has lost.”

Berit didn’t reply as she sat back in her chair and the chariots were off. The initial surge at the start was always a potentially riveting part of the race, with crashes very possible as all four chariots tried to vie for the inner track. As the racers struggled for the early lead, the crowd watched with excited anticipation, cheers and boos following even the slightest change in positions.

As the racers went around the first turn, much of the crowd gasped slightly as the green and white racers’ chariots bumped into each other. But Lucilla was more intent on the narrow avoidance by the blue racer at keeping her horses from being hit by the red chariot. Though she was relived the racer had avoid the mishap, it did place her in last.

Lucilla watched with a slight feeling of worry until Atilius force the white racer into a marking pillar on the third lap, the cheers of most of the crowd drowning out the groans of the white team supporters. Lucilla felt a twinge of pity as the man was trampled to death and Atilius took the lead.

The female driver for the blue team and the red team’s driver fought over second place for a time, the contest almost distracting from Atilius lead, especially when the red driver started trying to use his whip on the woman. Lucilla found the ploy rather disgusting, but of course, it was by no means cheating in a race, as anything was allowed during the race. It turned out the blue team driver was quick enough to avoid most of the attacks, catching the whip and then getting it wrapped up in the red driver’s own chariot wheel, depriving him of a means from spurring on his team effectively and essentially eliminating him from the race.

This caused Lucilla’s spirits to rise as the woman began to surge forward to challenge Antilius’ lead. It took until the final lap for her and the green driver to be fighting for the lead. The crowd was riveted on the contest, the two constantly struggling for the win, the two chariots colliding several times. Finally, as the rounded the last turn, the woman blue driver moved her left wheel between the body and right wheel of Antilius’ chariot, managing to break off the wheel of the green driver’s chariot and allowing her to continue on to the win.

As she crossed the finish, there was thunderous applause in the stands as Antonius Justus stood up, clapping as well. The emperor seemed a little shocked for a moment, but then clapped as well. “Well, that one goes to you Antonius Justus. I will see to it that your winnings are delivered later today.” The governor looked back at the emperor as he replied. “Thank you Caesar, it is as you know, anything is possible in a race. It would seem that this Asha is indeed favored by the gods as some say.”

Emperor Hadrian nodded as well as he replied. “That she may be.” Antonius Justus however was watching the young woman riding the chariot as she finished wheeling around in her victory and started off the track. An idea had begun forming as he had watched the race, and now he was sure it could be an excellent idea.

As Sergeant Brown turned and left the room to carry out Whitney’s orders, Doctor Gregory looked over at her with a puzzled look. “Why do you feel that we should be in such a protected environment for this autopsy?” Peter was also looking at her, his expression somewhere between surprise from all she seemed to know about this extraterrestrial to approval as to how well she seemed to handle everything.

Whitney focused on Doctor Gregory as she replied. “There are numerous reasons I feel these precautions are necessary, not the least of which is the fact that the Kurrigan’s native atmosphere is filled with toxic gases, which is why it needed a breath mask to function in our atmosphere. As we start to cut into the Kurrigan, there could be pockets of these gasses trapped inside that could be released. I much prefer to be overly cautious than sorry.”

Turning away from Doctor Gregory, Whitney faced Chris Hanson, who seemed less and less pleased with how things were going. “I need a place to change, is there some place that I can use?” Snapping out of whatever inner thoughts he was having, Chris looked up at Whitney as he quickly replied. “Yes, of course, there are some available rooms that are currently unoccupied. I will show you the way.”

“Thank you Mr. Hanson.” She replied as she looked back over at Doctor Gregory and Peter. “I will see you two in a bit once the Marines have gotten our autopsy location prepared.” She then turned and followed Chris back out of the room and through the infirmary back into the hallway. As she went, Peter couldn’t help but watch her for a moment before looking back over at Doctor Gregory who was looking at him with a smile.

“That’s quite an interesting young woman there Peter.” The older man said as he moved back over to the stretcher the Kurrigan was lying on and started to push it towards the door. Peter came over to help him as he replied. “Yes she is, but I wonder what she isn’t telling us. I don’t think I have a very good feeling about all this.”

The metal door creaked slightly as Chris opened it, reaching over to switch on the light to reveal an empty room, a small bed in one corner and a table with a thin layer of dust covering it in another. Stepping back to let Whitney enter, the Parcon executive glanced about as he spoke. “It hasn’t been used in a few months, sorry about the dust. You are more than welcome to use it as long as you need to, which I hope won’t be any longer than necessary.” Whitney dropped her suitcase onto the unmade bed, the sheets and blankets neatly folded and beside the pillow. Turning back towards the executive, her eyes met his with an intense gaze as she walked back over towards doorway.

“Believe me Mr. Hanson, I have quite a number of other things I would rather be doing than being aboard an oilrig with some three dozen men, many of whom seem to have been out here a bit too long. I am going to do my job, but as I deem is necessary to ensure that we do not have a possible threat. So, you just worry about the bottom line of your business, I will handle my investigation.” With that, she closed the door, locking it before turning away, taking off the jacket of her uniform, grateful for a chance to get out of her heels and pantyhose.

Down in the infirmary, Doctor Gregory had left with the dead Kurrigan, leaving the two injured crewmembers alone for the moment. Once it was sure that the doctor was not coming back, it had the crewman with the broken arm climb out of his bed. The other injured crewman, with the fractures to his skull from the Kurrigan, looked over as it had the man make his way towards the doorway. “Where you going Stan?” The other man asked weakly as Stan opened the door into the hallway. “I am just going to get something to eat.” It replied through Stan’s lips, drawing from the human’s memories as it did so. “You want anything?”

The Marines had set up the inflatable environmental chamber inside an empty storeroom near the cafeteria, Peter watching them as they went to work. He and Doctor Gregory had brought the Kurrigan’s corpse into the room, the stretcher having been moved into the chamber as the Marines were setting up another smaller chamber attached to the entrance to the first one. Doctor Gregory was being helped into one of the environmental suits by one of the Marines as Peter came up beside Sergeant Brown. “Your men seem to have a lot more advanced training for a typical line infantryman.”

The Sergeant looked over at Peter with a slight smile as he replied. “Very observant of you Doctor Atkins, we are part of a Chemical Biological and Nuclear Response Team, so we have received quite a bit of training in assisting the Army doctors or CDIC personnel for any situation we might be called into.” Looking back over at his men as they continued with their tasks, he continued. “This is the first time I have worked with Major Thomas, but she certainly seems to know her stuff.”

Peter was about to comment when he noticed Whitney enter into the room, now dressed in dark green scrubs and tennis shoes, her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. “Well Major Thomas, I will say this for you, you sure don’t mess around. This is quite an impressive little portable biohazard containment facility. You all ways travel this prepared?” Whitney smiled slightly as she came up beside the geologist. “Not all the time, only when then situations possibly warrant it.” Moving over towards Doctor Gregory, she picked up the other environmental suit as she looked over at the older man. “Ready to learn the biology of a new species Doctor?”

Doctor Gregory had just finished getting the suit’s helmet attached to the suit, one of the Marines helping locking it in place. “Not sure how much I will really learn, but ready to do what I can to help.” Whitney smiled warmly as she put her suit on with practiced ease. Once her helmet was locked in place, she looked over towards the doctor as she said. “Well, lets get this started.” The two doctors made their way over towards the smaller chamber that had been set up, entering through the doorway into the small enclosure, shutting the door behind them as one of the Marines sealed the door.

Opening the doorway connecting to the larger chamber, the two walked into the next room, Doctor Gregory moving slowly as he tried to adjust to moving in the environmental suit. Once inside, Whitney grabbed one of the connection hoses that hung from the roof of the chamber, hooking it to her suit to allow for oxygen to flow from the outside to save her suit’s supply. She handed the doctor the other, helping him connect it up as she moved over to the metal table the Kurrgian had been put on. “Please begin recording of autopsy of Kurrgian that crashed on Parcon Corp oil rig R-71, Major Whitney Thomas, United States Air Force overseeing the procedure, I am assisted by Doctor Samuel Gregory, the medical officer for R-71.” Outside the chamber, one of the Marines had started recording the audio commentary and started a video camera that was aimed in too the chamber though one of the large clear walls as Sergeant Brown, Peter and Chris moved a bit closer to watch.

“Subject is a male Kurrigan, approximately six feet four inches in height and two hundred and sixty pounds in weight. The believed cause of death is asphyxiation caused by exposure to our atmosphere, but there are two large lacerations in the subject’s back caused by fire axes.” She continued as she looked over the corpse laid out before her. “We will begin with a study of the subject’s chest cavity. Doctor Gregory, if you will please hand me the surgical scalpel.” Whitney said as she held out her hand to the doctor who removed the scalpel from the metal tray near him lined with several scalpels and bone saws.

Outside the chamber, the others watched on as the autopsy began. It wasn’t very long into it before Chris Hanson turned away from they chamber, his face somewhat pale. “I am going to go see how things are going with the repairs and give the execs back in Austin a call.” He then moved somewhat quickly from the room, Sergeant Brown watching him with a slight grin before looking back at the autopsy taking place just beyond the plastic bubble in front of him.

Elsewhere on the oil rig, Stan Anders was making his way up the stairwell towards the upper level of the rig. His broken arm resting against his side as he made way along. Several of the other crewmen had greeted him, saying how glad they were to see him on his feet. He had just nodded and continued on, making his way towards the outside of the rig, the rain still falling down as heavy wind blew outside the rig. Standing in the entryway, shielded from the wind and rain, the crewman gazed out at the stormy sea, as the entity within tried to search the man’s memories for a means of getting off this structure.

Moving to the edge of the doorway, it noticed the large vehicle that was sitting up on top of part of the structure. Quickly reviewing the human’s memories, it determined that it was a vehicle referred to as a “helicopter”, though this human did not have any knowledge of how to operate it. There was likely someone on the structure that had the required knowledge, it just had to locate that human so it could make its escape. Turning away from the rain and wind, it made the human return into the structure to begin its search for another vessel that could pilot the “helicopter”.

“Subjects lungs show characteristics of damage from asphyxiation, so cause of death has been confirmed. The two lacerations caused by the two axe wounds were relatively minor, missing any major organs or arteries.” Whitney announced as she examined the Kurrgian’s internal organs through the opening she had made in it’s chest cavity. Doctor Gregory was standing beside her, looking at the organs, though still not exactly sure what all he was looking at. “You seem very comfortable with this Major, I would guess this isn’t your first autopsy, alien or otherwise. Your accent sounds East Coast, where did you go to med school?”

Whitney smiled inside the environmental suit’s helmet as she began moving the organs back into place as she replied. “I have done a few autopsies in my time Doctor, you think this is tough, you should see what a mess Ebola Zaire makes inside a person. And yes, I am from a small town in Maine, did my undergrad at Boston College and obtained my MD from Johns Hopkins.”

“Very impressive schools Major, if you don’t mind my saying so, you seem a bit young to have done all that and also have obtained the rank you hold, least from what I remember of promotions in the military.” Doctor Gregory said as he helped her close back up the opening they had made in the chest cavity. “Well, I finished my MD at twenty-two doctor, I was move ahead a few times in school and was able to complete my undergrad work in under four years. I am going to want to examine the cranial cavity and the Kurrgian’s brain now, so far there is nothing other than what one would expect to find, least that I can tell.”

Doctor Atkins lead Whitney and Sergeant Brown out of the cafeteria and towards were the spacecraft had crashed into the oilrig. As they left the cafeteria, Chris Hanson was waiting outside the cafeteria door, quickly following after them and coming up beside Whitney. “Major Thomas, I trust that you have learned all that you need to on this matter? We are very anxious to get to repairing the damage and get operating once more.”

“I am sorry Mr. Hanson, but my interviews have only raised more questions for me. I plan to examine both the spacecraft and the body to see if I can find the answers I need before I declare this matter done. Your crewmembers can begin working on repairing what they can while waiting for this investigation to be wrapped up.” Whitney replied as she followed Peter down the stairs, noting the damage from the fire that had broken out after the spacecraft had smashed into the side of the oilrig.

The Parcon executive didn’t seem very happy with her response as he followed along, the small group soon reaching the two Marines that were standing near the torn walls of the rig. Whitney could feel the wind blowing in from the hole torn in the side of the rig by the spacecraft. Stepping into the open area beyond the two Marines, Whitney stepped carefully over charred debris that littered the floor. She really needed to get out of these heels and the skirt. Looking over towards the center of the rig, she saw the spacecraft smashed between metal bulkheads that were twisted out of shape around it.

Walking closer, Whitney recognized the craft, despite the damage caused by the crash. It was a Kurrigan Loran Class Scoutship. Whitney walked over towards the open door that lead into the ship, it looked like it had been forced open due to damage to the mechanisms, something she didn’t find to surprising as the average Kurrigan was at least four times as strong as the average human. “We took a look inside, but couldn’t figure anything out.” Peter said as he came up beside her, looking inside the craft as he smiled slightly.

Whitney stepped into the craft, lights automatically coming on, the power still apparently very much online. Just beyond the hatch was the cockpit, with enough space for her to walk around the but truly not much bigger than a small room, probably very cramped for a Kurrigan. Most of the systems seemed to have power, but she couldn’t make out any of the controls. Where is Cerberus when I need him? She thought, wondering how hard it would be for her to create some form of uplink to the Eye of Argus and the Gatekeepers’ resident technology expert so the database could be reviewed for any possible clues as to what she Kurriganian scout was doing here.

Peter Atkins followed her inside, looking around at the strange controls again as Sergeant Brown followed after him. “So, see anything that is going to be of help to you?” He asked as he came over to stand on the other side of what was likely a navigation station from Whitney. She looked up at him as she replied. “Somewhat. I am not enough of a technology person to know how to access any information from here. But this has confirmed my suspicions as to what sort of extraterrestrial we are dealing with.”

The look of surprise on Peter’s face was obvious as Whitney turned looked over at Sergeant Brown. “Sergeant, do you have someone that is good with communications gear?” The Sergeant turned away from the control panel he was looking at to regard Whitney. “Yes ma’am. Corporal Davies is pretty good with comm.” “Get him down here to start setting up the comm equipment we brought along, I am going to need to contact someone about this spacecraft.” As Sergeant Brown left to get Corporal Davies started on his task, Whitney turned back toward Peter and Chris, who had apprehensively entered the spacecraft. “Now I want to see the extraterrestrial’s corpse.”

“Okay, we’ll head down to the infirmary then.” Peter replied as he made his way back out of the spacecraft, Whitney and Chris following after him. The three started off away from the crash site, Sergeant Brown catching up with them as they went back upstairs to the level with the cafeteria and down another hallway before they came to the rig’s infirmary. Inside was a small area with four beds, two of which were currently occupied. One had a man who’s head was bandaged, an IV in his arm, the other had a man who’s arm was in a cast, resting on a rest to keep it elevated. Sitting behind a desk in the back near a door that lead back to another small room was an older man with glasses that sat just at the edge of his nose.

The older man stood up as the small group entered the room, Chris stepping forward slightly as the turned towards Whitney. “Major Thomas, may I introduce Doctor Samuel Gregory, our resident physician. Sam, this is Major Whitney Thomas who has been sent here to investigate our little incident.” Doctor Gregory smiled as he came over to meet them halfway, shaking Whitney’s hand as he spoke with a heavy Texan accent. “Ah pleasure ta meet ya Major. I take it ya are interested in seein’ the bodies?”

Whitney smiled as she shook the doctor’s hand, nodding as she replied. “Pleased to meet you as well doctor. And I am indeed interested in seeing the bodies.” Doctor Gregory lead the group through the infirmary, the two injured crewmen watching them with interest, and back into the other room beyond. Whitney saw that the room was set up for some basic surgery, a small metal table in the center of the room underneath an operating light. Along the wall of the room were three stretchers with forms lying on them under white sheets.

“I would guess you will want ta see the critter’s corpse first?” Doctor Gregory asked as he turned back towards Whitney. “Yes please.” She replied as she followed after Doctor Gregory. The two went over towards one of the stretchers, the form under the white sheet being the larger of the three. As he grabbed the top of the sheet, Doctor Gregory looked over at Whitney. “It’s appearance is somewhat startlin’ so just want ta give you a bit of warnin’.” Whitney nodded as she calmly replied. “Thank you doctor, I have seen my share of corpses.”

Nodding, Doctor Gregory lifted up the sheet to reveal the wolflike head of the Kurrigan, its night black skin having pale splotches that Whitney assumed were the result of blood settling after death. The blue hair, which would run down to the Kurrigan’s back was matted with blood, some of it obviously from the human’s it had fought with, the rest likely it’s own. There was no longer any doubt for her as to what sort of extraterrestrial had crashed here, but it still didn’t explain why it had crashed, or why it had attacked the rig’s crewmen once they had put out the fires that had been around its spacecraft.

Pulling back the rest of the sheet, she saw it was still in its flight suit, its equipment still on as well, including its breathing apparatus. Doctor Gregory was watching her as she looked over the body, a slight puzzled look on his face before Chris interrupted the quite in the room. “Well, I trust this will answer your questions and you will get both this thing and the craft it came in off my rig.” Whitney stood up and turned back to look at the oil company executive, her face calm, but serious. “I have confirmed what I expected to find, but I still do not have the answers I require to be able to declare this incident truly over.”

Turning back towards Doctor Gregory, she asked. “Would you be able to assist with an autopsy?” The shock on Doctor Gregory’s face was very apparent as he looked at her for a moment before replying. “An autopsy on this? How will we be able to determine anything from that?” Whitney looked back down at the Kurrigan’s corpse as she replied. “I have enough familiarity with their anatomy that I should be able to determine if there is something drastic amiss here.”

Whitney didn’t have to be a telepath to know the shock that everyone in the room felt as she made her statement. Peter was the first one to recover, moving up near her as he said. “Wait a minute, you know about these things? What are they? Why would they attack us?” Turning towards the geologist, Whitney was still calm as she replied. “Yes, I know what this is, it’s a Kurrigan, a race of explorers. They are not particularly violent in nature, so the reaction of this Kurrigan to you and the other crewmembers when it first met you is puzzling to me.”

A frown crossed Peter’s face, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Are you saying we have all been lying to you about what happened?” Whitney had been expecting this reaction, her expression not changing at all. “No, I know full well that none of you are lying Doctor Atkins. There is something else going on here, and I am going to find out what.” Turning back towards Doctor Gregory, Whitney gave him a questioning look. “Well Doctor?”

Doctor Gregory focused back on Whitney as he nodded. “Yeah, sure, I can assist. Goin’ ta be pretty useless I’d think.” Smiling back slightly, Whitney turned towards Sergeant Brown. “Sergeant, I will need some of your men to set up the environmental tent in what ever space Mr. Hanson can provide. We will also need two of the environmental suits as well.”

Back in the main room of the infirmary, the crewmember with the broken arm was looking over at the doorway the Doctor had lead the visitors too. There was another using the man’s eyes to observe the events that were taking place. It had entered this vessel after the other “humans” had destroyed the vessel it had been inhabiting when it had arrived on this planet. The vessel had been injured in the struggle with the Kurrigan, and sent to a medical area recover, giving the it a chance to observe these “humans” and time to determine which one might be a more suitable vessel to find a means of repairing the spacecraft that had been damaged in it’s arrival.

But the female that had been lead back to where it’s previous vessel’s body was being kept, it had been able to sense her presence when she had arrived on this structure. Her mental capacities were evolved far beyond what these other “humans” were capable of, so far it did not seem she was able to sense it’s presence within this vessel, but it could be only a matter of time. In addition, she seemed to be familiar with the Kurrigan’s something that would also make it dangerous for it to remain here. The time had come to try to find a means off this structure and away from this potential threat.

The next morning, the worst of the storm had passed, the sea the deep dark blue that usually followed a heavy storm, rough winds still causing considerable waves as light rain continued to come down on the Parcon Corp oilrig. Peter Atkins was standing out on the outer walkway of one of the towers of the rig with Chris Hanson as they both peered out towards the rain filled sky. Both men were wearing heavy raincoats, as were the other rig workers who were down on the main level. Turning towards Chris, Peter shrugged as he yelled over the high winds. “Maybe they decided the weather is too severe to come out right now and turned back.”

Chris shook his head as he listened to the geologist for the rig and yelled back. “No, from what the execs back in Texas said, there would be someone here today, even if they had to swim out here.” Lifting up a pair of binoculars, the Parcon executive looked back over the horizon, the rain and grey clouds limiting the visibility. Scanning across the open ocean, Chris halted as he said. “Well, looks like their here now.” Lowering his binoculars, the executive pointed off towards the horizon. Peter lifted his binoculars up to see the faint form of a twin rotor military helicopter that was heading straight towards the rig. “Well, lets head over to the pad to greet them.” Chris said as Peter lowered his binoculars, the two turned towards the stairwell down to the main level.

By the time they reached the stairs leading up to the helicopter pad, the Marine Corps CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter was turning into the wind to land. The two men stopped at the top of the stairs, ducking down slightly as the helicopter came down the steady rain blowing wildly around them from the wash of the helicopter’s rotors. Once the helicopter was down, the two stood back up, climbing to the top of the stairs just on the pad as the back ramp of the helicopter came down and a squad of armed Marines came out, moving away from the back of the helicopter as they spread out around the pad.

Peter leaned over too Chris as he spoke somewhat loudly to be heard over the helicopter and the wind. “So what do you know about whoever they sent out here?” The executive shrugged his shoulders as he replied. “Not much, some sort of specialist, a Major Thomas.” Peter frowned slightly, not liking what was going on very much as he stood back up. “Wonder what he is like.”

The Sea Knight pilot shut off the helicopter’s engines, the rotors starting to slow as another figure stepped into view on the ramp, her heels and smooth legs looking very out of place. Dressed in a dark blue US Air Force uniform with a long skirt that went down to her knees, the attractive woman in her late twenties moved down the ramp and over towards the Sergeant leading the Marine squad. The two Parcon Corp representatives looked at each other, both a bit surprised by the appearance of a woman.

Looking over at the two oil company representatives standing near the stairs down from the helicopter pad, Major Whitney Thomas came up alongside Sergeant Brown, the squad leader for the Marines that had been assigned to assist her. The heavy winds whipped her long brown hair around as she spoke. “Sergeant, have a couple of your men unload the equipment and get it inside somewhere, I want to get right to finding out what happened here.” The Sergeant stood at attention and saluted. “Yes ma’am.” Turning back towards some of his men, his manor became much more commanding. “Reynolds, High, get the gear out of the helo and inside somewhere out of the rain.” The two Marines shouldered their M-16s and headed back towards the helicopter as the rotors had almost come to a complete halt. Whitney turned back to face the two oil company representatives, her eyes glancing over the obvious damage to the rig, before she started towards them, Sergeant Brown following just behind her.

As she neared the two men, one of them, one that seemed to Whitney to be some sort of corporate executive, stepped forward. He was wearing a heavy rain coat, but underneath Whitney could see an expensive sweater. His khaki pants and dress shoes also indicated that he wasn’t likely to be putting in any hard work on this rig. “Welcome to Parcon Corporation rig R-71, you must be Major Thomas? I am Chris Hanson, the Vice President in charge of R-71.” He said as he held out his hand to her. Smiling slightly, Whitney shook his hand as she replied. “Nice to meet you Mr. Hanson. Major Whitney Thomas from the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center.”

“Medical Intelligence Center? What interest would you have in this?” Asked the man beside him. Glancing over at the other man, Whitney saw he was very different than Mr. Hanson. Dressed in jeans, a plaid cotton shirt under his rain coat and outdoors shoes, he seemed much more a hands-on-type. But Whitney could also see something in his eyes, a perceptive and inquisitive look that lead her to believe there was much more to him than first met the eye. “Major Thomas, may I introduce Doctor Peter Atkins, our resident geologist.”

Doctor Atkins held out his hand, which Whitney took as she replied. “A pleasure Doctor Atkins, and you would be amazed what the AFMIC is interested in.” Turning slightly back towards Sergeant Brown who was standing just behind her stoically, Whitney quickly went on. “This is Sergeant Brown, first squad leader in second platoon Alpha Company.” Sergeant Brown nodded towards the two men as he remained in his place. Turning back towards the two men, Whitney grinned slightly as she went on. “If you don’t mind, I would like to get ourselves indoors, this weather isn’t very conducive to wearing a skirt. Unfortunately I wasn’t given much of a chance to change when I flew down from DC.”

Both men inadvertently looked down at her shapely legs before quickly looking back at her as Mr. Hanson quickly gestured towards the stairs. “Yes of course, terribly sorry, just this way.” Leading the way, the two men lead Whitney and the rest of Sergeant Brown’s squad down to the main level of the rig, the few crew members that were out working on some of the damage caused by the storm and the crash giving the procession interested looks. As they made their way into the rig’s main tower, Hanson glanced back towards Whitney. “I trust you will want to look at the spacecraft, or what ever it is first to start figuring out how to get it off my rig so we can start repair work and get back to normal operations.”

Whitney shook her head slightly as she replied. “Actually, I would like to start by getting a space where I can interview each of the men that were involved in the encounter with the extra-terrestrial individually. I would prefer to hear accounts of what took place before I begin to look at physical evidence and start making my own assumptions.” Mr. Hanson stopped as they walked into the hallway inside the tower, turning to face Whitney. “I though you were here to remove these things so we could get back to drilling?”

Whitney remained perfectly calm as she replied. “No, I am here to investigate what has taken place here and determine if there are any dangers present before I declare the situation under control.” Doctor Atkins came up beside her as he gave her a strange look. “What possible dangers are there? The whatever-it-is is dead.” Whitney turned to look at him as she replied. “I would think you could appreciate that there are many other potential dangers, and I will be doing my best to explore them all.”

Mr. Hanson didn’t seem very please with her answer, but lead her deeper into the rig, Sergeant Brown sending a pair of Marines to keep an eye on the spacecraft and another two to guard the body of the alien. It wasn’t long before Whitney was in the rig’s cafeteria, Sergeant Brown and another Marine in the room with her as she met with each of the rig workers to get their versions of what had taken place the night before. As was to be expected in a case where multiple witnesses observed the same event there were some deviations in the recounting of events, but not so drastically that Whitney felt very concerned. If things seemed way off she had a means of finding out exactly what each man had witnessed, but she didn’t feel the need to violate anyone’s mind to access their visual memory just yet. During the interviews she used her telepathy to just monitor some surface level thoughts, to help her in guiding her questions. From what she had heard, she already had a good idea what she was dealing with, but there were many things that didn’t make sense, those answers could hopefully be answered when she looked at the crashed ship and the alien’s body.

As the last worker left the room, the last direct witness who was not in the rig’s infirmary entered the cafeteria. Whitney had saved Doctor Atkins as the last interviewee because she was guessing he might have one of the more detailed versions of what had taken place and wanted to see if his version of events would allow for the others she had already obtained to more clearly fall in place. Looking up at him with a smile, she gestured towards the seat across the table from her. “Please have a seat Doctor Atkins, I have heard some different versions of what happened last night and was hoping to hear what you saw.”

Doctor Atkins grinned slightly as he stepped up to the chair, turning it around backwards as he sat down and crossed his arms in front of him. “Sure thing Major. Tell me, how did an attractive young woman such as yourself wind up hunting around for green aliens?” Whitney couldn’t help but smile as she replied. “Well, from what I have heard this particular alien doesn’t have green skin. As for how I got into this line of work, I am a medical doctor and have some…skills that are beneficial in these types of investigations. Shall we start to discuss your recollections of what happened last night?”

Doctor Atkins looked at her for a few moments before he responded. “Okay sure. Well, as I am sure you have been told, it started in the middle of the storm while most of us were here…” As Doctor Atkins recounted what he had seen last night, Whitney listened carefully. As she had thought, his scientific training made him a very careful observer, and his version did help to tie all the other versions together. But there was still much that didn’t quite make sense to her.

According to everyone, the alien had attacked first, which puzzled Whitney. There was not chance that they were all recounting a practiced story, for she couldn’t detect any sense of deceit in their surface thoughts. There was fear, anger, hesitation, even some lewd thoughts about her in most of the men’s minds when she interviewed them, but nothing to point towards deceit. No, she knew that there were some serious questions that she would have to find another way to answer. “Well, thank you very much for your cooperation, if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to see the spacecraft now.”

(Ooc Now is a new story, one using a character I made for a group that only existed on the old roleplaying servers, the Gatekeepers. I borrowed the title of a very old Star Wars novel for this (one written before Empire Strikes Back in fact).)

Splinter in the Mind's Eye

Rain poured down over the Gulf of Mexico, the dark clouds making the stormy night nearly pitch black. Occasional flashes of lighting illuminated the area, revealing the stark structure of an oilrig out among the rough waters. A few lights were visible inside the rig, most of the power being conserved in case the generator went out and they had to run on the batteries. Operations on the rig had come to a halt, the crew safely inside the metal structure, waiting for the storm to pass.

Most of the crew was gathered down in the rig’s cafeteria, several sitting around one of the tables in a corner playing a game of cards, others were sitting at some of the other tables reading. Doctor Peter Atkins was one of the ones seated around the table for the card game with several of the operators of the rig’s drilling equipment. Doctor Atkins was a geologist in the employee of Parcon Corporation and had been spent a good deal of his last seven years with the company out at sea involved in exploratory drilling. In his work, Peter had to make many educated guesses when it came to identifying an area to drill in, right now, he was holding a terrible hand and was sure that if he stayed in this round, he was in trouble.

As it came back around to him, Peter folded his cards and tossed them into the middle of the table. “I’m out.” The dealer grinned as he looked over at the geologist. “Don’t worry Doc, I am sure your luck will turn at some point.” Several of the other players smiled at the jest, the workers on the rig liked having Peter around, for a PhD, he was rather down to Earth and much more approachable than the Parcon Corp executive that was in charge of the rig. Peter just returned the smile as he replied. “Doesn’t mater that much, as long as my luck holds when it comes to starting new drilling.”

Out in the heavy storm clouds hammering rain down on the ocean and rig bellow, a sudden torrent of lightning lanced across the dark sky, the thunder accompanying them roaring above the heavy winds. The lighting continued to play across the dark clouds as a small object broke through the storm, lightning playing across the metal hull of the object. Continuing to drop in altitude, the object streaked over the stormy ocean, heading directly towards the Parcon Corp oilrig, the lightning along the hull dissipating now that it was through the turbulent skies. Just as the oilrig’s crew inside the structure were reacting to the massive thunderclap caused by the massive discharge of lightning, the object slammed into the side of the oilrig, the entire structure shaking from the impact.

Inside the cafeteria, the lights went out as everyone was thrown to the ground, tables tipping over and the chips and cards from the poker game scattering off into the darkness. Emergency lights activated, faintly illuminating the room as men began to push themselves back up to their feet. “What the hell was that?” One of the crewmen asked as he got to his feet, something Peter was just wondering himself as he made his way over towards the phone hanging on the wall near the door to the hallway. Off in another corner, Chris Hanson, the Parcon Corp executive overseeing operations on the rig was getting back up to his feet, a look of fear on his face that was only amplified as the fire alarm sounded.

Picking up the phone, Peter was glad to hear the tone as he dialed the extension for the rig’s monitoring station up in the main tower above. The line was immediately picked up by the crewman on duty at the moment. “Frank, what is going on? Where is the fire?” “I have no idea what happened Doc, but the fire is a level below you, near the North storage tank, better get some guys down there fast to contain it.” A frown forming on his face, Peter quickly replied before hanging up the phone. “We’re on our way.” Turning back to the workers who were now all up and making their way towards the door, Peter quickly yelled out over the loud siren. “We have a fire one level down near the North storage tank, we need to get down there now!”

The men all nodded as they rushed out of the cafeteria after Peter, several stopping at a storage locker in the hallway to grab fire-fighting gear that was stored on various levels of the rig. Peter took a oxygen tank as one of crewmen handed it to him, quickly putting it over his shoulders as he then attached the clear mask over his face, the smell of smoke already strong in the air as they started down the stairs to the next level. Reaching the door at the next level, Peter gently put his hand to the door, checking to see if it was hot. Feeling only cold metal, he nodded to the crewmen following him as he opened the door, smoking billowing into the stairwell as the men started into the hallway.

Heat washed over Peter as he entered the hallway, the North end a blazing inferno as the crewmen broke out a fire-hose, several moving towards the blaze as the water was turned on. Several more men took the second hose, taking it down another hallway to come around towards the fire from a different direction. Peter and several others took fire extinguishers, following after the hoses as they doused the fires, putting out the smaller blazes that remained as the hoses advanced. For what seemed an eternity, they continued forward, finally bringing the fired under control as they reached damaged bulkheads, the metal bent far out of shape. “What the hell could have done this?” One of the crewman asked as they made their way through the damage area of the rig. Peter was looking at the damage, a few ideas as to what could have caused this coming to him.

The heavy winds from outside could be felt from ahead of them as one of the crewmen rounded the corner of a damaged wall, shining his flashlight towards the damage section of the rig, as he came to a sudden halt. “What the f**k?” Peter and the others came over to join the first crewman, turning the corner to look at what had so stunned him. Jammed into the twisted metal of the rig was what appeared to be some sort of aircraft, but nothing like anything Peter had ever seen before. It looked more like something out of a science fiction movie, though now it appeared severally damage from the impact with the rig.

Shaking his head in amazement, Peter started forward some as several of the crewmembers approached the aircraft as well. “Be careful, it could be extremely hot still.” Peter said as two of the crewmen neared the unusual vehicle. “What is this thing, and who would be crazy enough to fly in a storm like this?” One of the crewmen asked as he leaned near the vehicle, making his way around the side to the left. “I have no idea, never seen anything like this.” Peter replied as he neared the craft, the metal not like anything he had ever seen before.

Suddenly there was a roar to the left, followed by a cry of fright before the crewmember who had been walking that way flew back in the air, landing more than ten feet behind where he had just been. Peter and the other crewmen all turned towards the commotion, flashlights shinning into the dark shadows around the twisted metal bulkheads. Peter felt his blood freeze as he saw the shape revealed by the light, a tall figure that stood like a wolf on its hind legs, its night black skin reflecting the light as red eyes peered forward.

“Holy sh..” One of the crewman managed to get out before the wolfish creature rushed forward, one of its large arms smashing into the man and sending him flying backward to land next to Peter. Another crewmember rushed towards the thing, yelling out as he swung the fireaxe he was carrying. The wolf thing blocked the attack with its left arm, hitting the axe handle and knocking the axe back, causing the man to stumble off balance as it closed with him. Peter watched in horror as its right hand shot out to grab the man by the neck, lifting his feet off the ground before there was a faint cracking sound and he went limp.

Tossing the dead man aside, the wolf thing turned towards the next crewmember as Peter noticed it was wearing some form of clothing and a mask over its wolfish face. “Its got some kind of mask, might need it to breath!” Peter called out as a crewman managed to hit the creature in the back with an axe. The creature roared in pain as it spun, tearing the axe from the man’s grasp as it swung an arm at him. The crewman managed to dodge the attack, tripping over some debris as he tried to back away.

Another crewman rushed forward, wrapping his large arms around the monster. The monster seemed to easily twist free from the large man’s grasp, both its hands reaching forward to grab the sides of his head as the hands began to squeeze, the man crying out in pain as he tried to grab at its wrists to pull its hands from his head. Peter suddenly found himself rushing forward, reaching up to grab the tube that lead up to the mask on the creature’s snout. Pulling as hard as he could, he pulled the mask from the creature, which cried out, it’s grip on the large crewman releasing him as he fell to the ground.

The creature spun toward Peter, its left arm swinging towards him as Peter felt someone hit him from is left side, knocking him over as the creatures hand passed harmlessly over Peter and the crewman who had tackled him. The creature began to grab at its mask, when another crew member came up behind it, hitting it square in the back with an axe. Roaring in pain, the wolf thing stumbled forward as it fell to its knees, its hands trying to get the mask in place before it fell forward to the ground.

Peter had rolled over, moving away from the creature across the ground as he tried to slow his breathing. The creature let out a few strange sounds, almost like gurgling before it went still. The crewman who had knocked him over pushed himself up to his knees as he looked at Peter. “You okay Doc?” Peter nodded quickly as he climbed back up to his feet. “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks Hector.” Looking down at the creature for a moment, his gaze shifted over towards several of the other crewmen who had been attacked by it, most of them moaning in pain as others tried to help them. Some didn’t move at all, lying still with their eyes wide open gazing ahead of them towards whatever might be awaiting them in the next life.

Several more crewman arrived, along with Chris Hanson who looked around at the scene before him, fear and shock apparent on his face. “What the hell is this thing? What happened?” Taking a deep breath, Peter made his way over towards the executive as he replied. “I have no idea what it is, but it sure as hell put up a fight. I suggest we try to get on the phone back to the mainland and let someone know what is going on out here. This is way bigger than us.”