"What? Engineering?! Grr..." Ray immediately pressed the internal communication button. "All non-essential engineering crews, evacuate the section immediately! I want four squads of marines and sentries in there, and searching every single corner of it, now! Once non-essential personnel have been evacuated, seal off the sections!"

"But... With all due respect, Sir, isn't that a little extreme?" asked Chekov, his left eyebrow raised.

"Nothing is too extreme now. We've come too far with the Kirov... We can't lose it, no matter what. It's our home."

"Agreed, Sir."

Marines and sentries rushed to group together, and quickly marched down to the Engineering section, where several worried fellows were still working.

"Everything all right here?" asked Dawson, the lead marine of Squad One.

"Everything is fine from what I can see," replied one engineer. "However, there is a report about some biomass in the secondary service tubes... I'd leave, but I'd be endangering the entire ship."

"Yes. It is unsafe, so - speak of the devil..." replied Dawson as the huge sealing doors made of lead fell from their places in the walls, sealing both sides of the sliding doors. "The section has been sealed off."

"Good thing that tube doesn't down the ship. It's isolated to this section."

"Indeed... All right, squad! Move! You take care of yourself. You know how to reach us if you need help."

The engineer nodded, and the squad was on its way.

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

"Motion sensors are showing slight response," muttered the point man of the sentry group. He gripped the handle of his GALT-57 sub-machinegun rather nervously as he looked at the motion sensor mounted on his wrist. He tugged at his shirt, feeling the heat that came with the poorly ventilated engineering section.

The sentries wore no suits like the marines; they were dressed in uniforms similar to that of the old days, centuries ago. Long trousers, a buttoned long-sleeved shirt and belt, and armed with a sub-machinegun, they looked nothing like the battle-hardened marines. However, they were not a group to be frowned upon. They were the elite guard of this ship, and had fought just as well as the marines. They specialised in defence, whereas the marines were made to be versatile.

"Let's move it. We don't want anything down here and destroying the whole damned ship."

"Yeah... We've worked too hard to let it be destroyed now," replied the sentry behind him. "Where's that life-form again?"

"They said it was in the secondary service tubes... But what the hell could've gotten through our rigid scanning just like that?!"

"I don't know, but I don't like it..."

Ruby nodded, speechless along with the other officers. She hadn't known Leon exceptionally well, but he had still been a fellow crew-member. And now he was dead. Savaged by the same thing that had put the Cruisader out of comission. Whatever had done it was obviously still here, and that made her all the more nervous as she gazed at the hands in the walls, frozen as if someone had pressed 'pause'.

"I'll...I'll go first, captain." Ruby volunteered. She wasn't very eager to go back the way she came, but it seemed better she do it than risk Slayde being caught.

Slayde nodded, "Be careful Ruby. Be ready to double back on the slightest notice. I'll be right behind you."

Returning the gesture, she began to take a few tentative steps forward toward crowded corridor. Her skin crawled as she stared at the still forms that were frozen in place. Any moment, she told herself, and they would grab her just like they had with Officer Moore! This time though, Ruby doubted she'd be able to escape if she was nabbed.

As she inched closer to the hole, Ruby heard Slayde say from behind her, "Alright, stop there Ruby. I don't want to go any further in case these things start grabbing."

"Couldn't make me take another step for a million bucks," Ruby muttered so quietly the captain couldn't hear.

"Now...what do you see? See them?" He asked.

Ruby knelt down cautiously, spotting Officers Robie and Mahainey drawing their blasters again out of the corner of her eye. She then focused on peering over the lip of the hole.......

OOC: I was going to edit it, but I went to bed before I could read the reply. Now that things have moved on, I'll leave it be. I'll try to do things with my other characters more frequently.

IC:

While Amber was dragging Ivalice, he was running a self-diagnostic. Still unable to move, it was all he could do. Just before his connection to his arms gave out, he gave them a continuous order to 'Protect Captain Slayde and Protect Ruby'. If they weren't in the same location, the arms would split up.

Suddenly, Ivalice became aware that the anomaly had stopped interfering with his systems. Upon completion of his diagnostic, he found that there was no way to recover without completely rebooting. Thus, he deactivated himself, and began to repair his systems from the inside. How long the process would take, he did not know...

Major Main looked at the controls for the bay doors. "Fascinating...I'm always amazed at the differences when I am awakened..."

Beige walked from a console to stand next to him. "I've finished downloading technology specs. We will now be able to fight on equal terms with any other fighter."

Main smiled at her. "Good. Then we shall wait until we recieve further orders. Wanna play...frisbee(TM)?"

Badguy and Madame O were near the airlock. Badguy sighed. "Why did that stupid robot wake me if there's no one he wants me to kill?"

Madame O was linked with a nearby computer console. "From what I have learned about the situation...there are a lot of unknowns here. Your talents may be necessary."

Ivalice2 spoke through directly to them via a special comm link. "Madame O, you're still on standby. You are to move into position near the Bridge. Badguy, you are to go through the airlock into the Crusader, and then make your way to the Kirov. Further orders will be given when you get there."

Madame O gave a curt nod to Badguy. "Action, as you desired. Good luck."

As Madame O dashed off, Badguy scoffed. "'Good luck'? Only my enemies will need that, for the lucky are those that die instantly..."

Team 2 Marines were still on guard. As per Ivalice3's orders, they accessed the controls of the Crusader, and Ivalice3 was busy remotely hacking absolute control of the entire ship. Ivalice3 himself was still in the Quasar engineering section, but with his current computer connection, he was able to reach the Crusader computer.

Though older, the system's defenses were top-of-the-line, and they were effectively resisting Ivalice3's attempts to control it. To the comm of the Marines, he spoke, "I need access to the Computer Core to complete this task. Pick four of you to go and connect me there as well, by finishing what Leon started."

The Ivalician Marines looked at each other. All of them had heard the majority of the events that had taken place, and none were thrilled about going. The shortest one among them sighed, and he pulled a special case from his belt. "We draw straws, then."

(OOC: Just a small note Way, the Computer Core isn't actually in the engineering section. It's in the main body of the ship^^)

IC:

It could feal the fear on board the other ship. Yes...yes...perfect...

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

Slayde was trying to keep his eyes on Ruby, the arms in the wall, and the faces all at once. His eyes kept scanning across the motionless shapes, watching for any sign of movement.

Suddenly it struck him! He looked across at the face he had noticed before. Yes, yes it was!

"I've just realised...that face over there...it's the Captain of the Cruisader! I saw his face in an uncorrupted section of the logs. Captain Ramierez."

Moore, stood a little way behind Slayde, took a deep breath. "You mean his ghost is trying to get us off the ship?"

Ruby shghed slightly. "Moore, shut up."

"It's the only locical explanation!" exclaimed Moore, a little panicky. "It's their spirits here to haunt us!"

"I never believed in the supernatural." muttered Slayde, trying to calm the officer down with his level tone. "Any sign Ruby?"

"It's a big drop." she replied, looking down into the darkness. "I think they punched through into a service tunnel. it's too dark to see anything down there."

"Okay, pull back." Ruby began to slide backwards, thankful to get away from the abominations in the wall ahead. Slayde moved back too, and stood up, thinking. "We'll need to find a way down there." he muttered. "Let's look for a service hatch in one of these sections, but stick together."

He hadn't even noticed the robot arm quietly following him around as he turned and moved off down the corridor...

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

By now Zoran and the Marines had found a hatch leading down into the cargo bays. The Marines had decended first, securing the area.

The cargo bay was a massive room, about the size of a football pitch, piled high with boxes and barrels of various shapes and sizes. It was also dimly lit, making for a semi-shadowed twiglight that was barely bright enough to work in. The ship's designers had apparently favoured economy over ease of use.

"This place is much bigger than I thought, man." muttered Malinsky to Zoran over his shoulder. "After that find in the crew quaters I think we'd better go back."

"We must see if she is okay." muttered Zoran in response. He had his gun out again, and slowly he stepped towards the rows of massive containers. "Break up. We can cover the area much quicker if we devide."

"Yeah, but we also leave ourselves more vunerable!"

"We will always be close."

Malinsky reluctantly agreed and the Marines devided into teams of two, Malinsky partnering with Zoran. Slowly the two figures stepped out into the sea of crates...

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

(OOC: ok I'm gonna intro the Med bay scene myself. No offence Silv, and no worries. It's just a good time for it to come in. You're still free to interact in it^^)

IC:

The Medical bay was another large room, though not as big as the cargo bay. A row of beds lined one wall, and more beds, removable ones, had been set up around the room in rows. Many of the beds already bore bodies, covered over by translucent plastic sheets.

While they had been waiting Eternity and Zaeda had been exploring the annexes of the Med bay, and, not without some revulsion, had descovered the ship's Morgue.

There had been large holes in the walls, stasis tubes, to store the bodies, but what had worried her was the fact that every single tube was full...not just with one body, but two, three, and even four! Just what had happened here???

She had pulled a number of them out and laid them on the tables, not too many...they would need tables free for any other bodies the others would bring in.

Now she was examining them one at a time. There seemed to be three main forms of death, just like they had noticed earlier. The Gutting, the Eyeless and the ones attacked by Human weapons. The third was by far the most prevelant, and the Eyeless was extremely rare. Still though she couldn't figure out just what had happened to their eyes...

"Eternity, there is someone coming." called Zaeda, reading the scaners that they had set up. A moment later the door hissed open and A appeared, followed by the rest of the bugs. They were pushing along several D-Holds, each containing a body. Apparently some bodies had survived the gravity restoration...

Ruby just followed silently, casting a look toward the slightly panicked Officer Moore. Instantly he shut his mouth on any further remarks about the spirits and anomalies and he took a few breaths to calm himself. As they started down the corridor, Officer Mahainey put his hand on his friend's shoulder, causing Moore to jump a little.

"Hey, dude, you alright?" Trip asked quietly so as not to alert the others.

"Yeah...yeah, I guess so. I just have this weird feeling that something is trying to get us off this ship. Like it doesn't want us to find out what happened here!" Derek whispered back.

Mahainey raised an eyebrow at this. "Man, you just gotta calm down, OK? I'm thinking those hands did more to you than just make you sore."

"It has nothing to do with the hands!" Moore hissed, glancing at the said anomalies frozen in place.

"Whatever. Just relax...it's not like you'll be dead by the end of the hour."

Rolling his eyes, Officer Moore looked away muttering, "How would you know?"

Meanwhile, Ruby was walking right behind Slayde, hoping that Amber and Ivalice would be alright. However, Moore's words about the captain of the Cruisader and spirits and such came back to her, making her supress a shiver. What if the officer was right? It seemed logical, but the only reason Ruby had told him to shut up was because she hadn't wanted to think about that in the midst of the supernatural-like beings. Now, though, it made her think.

The Grotesnian picked up her pace a little and soon came to walk right beside the captain. Quietly she murmured, "Captain Slayde...do you really believe what Moore said? I mean, all the strange things that have been seen and that have happened...well, would you be surprised if it really was linked with the supernatural forces?"

Slayde narrowed his eyes as he walked, not bothering to turn around. "Some strange things are happening, and I can't explain them, I'll grant you that, but I don't believe in the supernatural. Whatever's going on here, we'll find out what it is, and I'm sure it will turn out to be really simple."

He wished he believed that himself! The truth was, he was beginning to wonder. Just what in space was going on here???

It was a Captain's duty to be objective, to inspire his crew with confidence and to never show his emotions. He was calm, collected, logical.

Inside, he was scared witless! What if what Ruby was sugesting was true...?

He turned and gave her a reassuring smile, a smile that he didn't feel himself. "We're gonna get through this...don't worry."

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

Zoran and Malinsky were still wondering the dark corridors of the cargo bay. Shadow carressed every surface like a blanket, shifting and moving, creating false patterns that often made them quickly turn and bring their weapons to bear!

Suddenly the Marine's com bleeped for attention. Malinsky pressed a button. "Malinsky."

"Sir...I can feel something..." came Julia's voice over the com. "There's something...in here..with us!"

Malinsky stiffened. "Where? What is it?"

"I...I don't...know..." Her voice sounded laboured, as though she was under a lot of stress. "It...feels...scary...mal...malevo..."

"Zoran?"

Both men spun round , raising their weapons symultaniously, then Zoran sighed and lowered his gun as the light from their torches picked out the figure ahead. "Felicia. Thank goodness you are okay."

The woman was stood leaning on one of the storage crates, as though she had just stepped out from behind it. She was regarding the men wide-eyed.

"You shouldn't be here..."

Malinsky pressed a small button on his com, and a homing signal went out to the other Marines in the area, telling them to rendevous at his position.

"We were worried for your safety. We have descovered one of our crew member's dead. We were worried you would be in danger."

"No, I'm okay..." Felicia eyed Malinsky uncertainly. "Couldn't you have...come alone?"

Zoran glanced at the Marine, then back at the woman. "He is a friend, he is safe. We thought it best not to move alone, in case of the danger."

Malinsky stepped forward, offering his hand. "Ma'am. Zoran's right. it's too dangerous to be wondering around alone."

Felicia recoiled from his hand, slipping back behind the crates slightly. "I...don't like him."

By now Zoran was puzzled. "Felicia, it is okay, we are here to rescue you. He is not going to hurt you."

"It's you I want..."

At this point the rest of the Marines began to arrive, appearing from behind the crates and barrels and stepping up to the group. As each one appeared Felicia looked more and more apprehensive.

Zoran stepped forward, offering her his hand. "Felicia, I understand you have been through a terrible experience, but it is over now. Come with us. We will keep you safe."

"I want you and you alone...!"

Suddenly the atmosphere in the room went cold! Zoran looked around as his breath began to form steam before him! "What...?

The Marines around them were stood still...unnaturally still! Slowly, in perfect unison, theyreached up and removed their helmets, dropping them to the floor carelessly. Their faces were blank, and their eyes staring straight ahead!

Even Malinsky seemed affected! Zoran looked round the group, thn back at Felicia, confused.

She was smiling! Her face wore a grin as she watched the Marines move in unison!

Suddenly, Zoran felt a chill run up his spine! "You...know...something...!"

"It's okay..." she whispered, looking up at him coyly. "I'll protect you. I need you!" She reached up and cupped his head in her hands. "You will get them to release me!"

Suddenly they were gone, dissapeared in a flash of yellow light...

The Marines, still stood in the cargo bay, suddenly started moving. They began to scream, raising their weapons and shooting each other like madmen! In each other's eyes, all the rest were faceless, formless monsters, intent on killing them!

Suddenly a siren echoed round the huge room, and the massive outer door of the cargo bay slid open, exposing empty space beond! Immeadeately heavy blast doors closed over all the cargo bay exits, sealing the room off. The air began to rush out, along with the crates and barrels, and the remaining Marines, still shooting at each other in delerium! Without their helmets, the vaccum of space began to take it's toll...

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

On the Kirov, the scanner officer watched in horror as the debris flew out of the cargo bay, along with several figures! He turned away as they began to swell...

He switched the screen off. He didn't want to see it. It would have to be reported to the Captain though.

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

Slayde and the others felt the tremmor rumble through the ship at the decompression. He blinked and looked around. "What was that?"

The others just shook their heads, unsure.

Slayde hit his communicator. "Slayde to Kirov, Ray, did anything major just happen to the ship?"

"Captain..." began Chekov. "Malinsky... His team... They... Oh, god..." His assistant held him and brought him away, and Ray immediately knew what had happened. His fists clenched, he punched his left hand with his right fist.

"NO! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! NOT ANOTHER DAMNED GROUP! ARGH!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He unleashed a string of vulgarities, cursing and swearing at whatever had caused them to start shooting each other, and causing what had happened. He growled, now a seething cauldron.

"Captain Halter? What's going on?"

"Grr... The men... Damn it, the men! MY men! ARGH!!"

"Calm down! Tell me what happened!"

"That's easy for you to say, damn it! Grr... They shot each other to pieces while the cargo bay doors opened and the blast doors shut themselves! Argh... Damn it all!"

"I see..."

"Captain Halter, I am temporarily relieving you of command as per the Protocol," said the first officer. Ray nodded, then stepped away from his chair and went to get a drink of water.

"Blast it all... How many more good men must die before this stops?!"

OOC: Erm, sorry about that. Gah, I hate School. >_<

I'll post later, because my mind is blank now though. ._.;;;

(OOC: Not a problem Silv...welcome back^^)

OOC: Gosh I've missed a bit.

IC:
Eternity nodded her head at A,
"Good work, just put them over there, I'll just finish up here and I'll be right on them.
She finished dictating her findings to Zaeda and carefully moved the body back into the morgue.
"Oh yeah, A, have you heard from the others? I haven't exactly got much in the way of communication here."

IC:
Amber panted wearily as she continued to drag Ivalice forward after what seemed an age after several minutes of hauling, terror and increasing worry she had to rest, Ivalice was heavy and her arms were aching. Her eyes cat like she fearfully scanned the metal around her and by luck alone saw above her a hatch.
"Oh please not be stuck." She whispered, reaching up cautiously to fiddle with the latch, ears flicking back and forth aware of her heavy breathing and the silence of Ivalice, the opressive silence...
click
Shaking slightly Amber pushed at the door and held her breathe as it eased open outwards with a low creaky groan. She peered outside, there was light here and her eyes flickered for a moment, adjusting to the light. There didn't seem to be anything out here to try and kill her, but who knew.
Sighing with relief for a few blessings she grabbed Ivalice and started pushing him out into the hallway, wondering how far she'd over shot the others, and wether of not they were even alive.
Ivalice was heavy but eventually she managed to shunt him out and scrambled up herself, closing the hatchway behind her. She stood up and looked around but saw no indication of where she was, still jumpy with adrenaline and paranoia she brought out and activated her comm link.
"Captain Slayde? This is Amber, anyone hear me? Over."

OOC: Yeah, Wraith, that's right. I tossed out the first phrase that made sense to me. I edited it to be correct.

IC:

Ivalice2 and Ivalice3 were communicating rapidly.

I-3: Our connection to Ivalice has been broken for too long. We must assume he has been...terminated.

I-3: Abberant unit Ivalice2, I am terminating my link to you.

Ivalice2 was alone. No more flowing data streams, no connection to his fellow units. There was an unimaginably human gap in his 'soul', a vacuum where his brothers had been. "...Ivalice3 is lost to us. I must stop him, and protect the crews of both the Quasar and the Kirov! Team 1, I need you..."

OOC: This is in preparation for my next post, which will be a big one!

"Captain Slayde? This is Amber, anyone hear me? Over."

It's attention turned as it detected the disturbance. A possibillity...an opening...

...an extra facet to it's plan.

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

"Captain Slayde? This is Amber, anyone hear me? Over."

Amber turned the communicator over in her hands, and with dismay spotted the large gash in the side. Examining it closer, she realised that the inner circitry had been damaged, probably in the fall. The comm was now useless.

The corridor she was in was more spacious than the service tube, but still not a normal corridor. Thye floor was a metal mesh, with power lines and conduits visable underneath. Computer displays and circitry littered the walls, and every few feet along the corridor was a massive support frame, reaching up on either side of the corridor and joining above. The lights in the corridor were an orange-yellow color, and small vents of steam hissed from large coolent systems at various points along the wall. She was out of the deep bowels of the ship, but was still within the inner workings.

She shivered. The atmosphere was damp and warm thanks to the steam, but it didn't LOOK appealing...it seemed a little sinister. Still, maybe her imagination was playing with her...

"Amber?"

She jumped, staring down the corridor wide-eyed. There was a figure stood some way down the corridor, staring at her! The steam obscured his face, but his voice and his clothes were recognisable...!

"It's you! Oh thank goodness you're okay!" He stepped forward through the steam, his face becoming clear...

Surely it wasn't possible...yet, here he was, in front of her...!

She caught her breath, staring at him in shock, as she murmured quietly: "Leon?"

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

"Captain Slayde, I'm afraid Captain Halter has been temporarely relieved of command. I'm afraid there has been an incident, yes. One of the Cruisader's cargo bays decompressed with one of our teams inside."

Slayde's eyes widened. "Zoran..." he muttered. "That's terrible!" he exlaimed, speaking into the communicator again. "Have you descovered the cause of the disaster yet?"

"Negative. We're working on it now."

Slayde took a deep breath. "I wonder if you detected a body with the Marines...one of my crew...?"

"No sir, it was just the Marines."

"I see." muttered Slayde. "I'm sorry."

"Thankyou Captain, but right now we're just hard at work figuring out the cause so it doesn't happen again. Kirov out."

Slayde quickly flicked the comm onto another channel. "Slayde to Zoran, please respond."

...

"Slayde to Zoran, can you hear me?"

...

He wiped a hand across his face. This was getting silly!

Ruby had been silently listening to the conversation, and now she stepped forward. "I'm sure he's okay." she murmured. "Maybe his communicator is just damaged. We'll see him again soon."

"We need some sanity here..." muttered Slayde quietly. "We're losing control...let's find Amber and Ivallice and have everyone meet up together. If we're all spread out alone, it can pick us off far too easily!"

IC:
Amber's eyes widened in shock at the sight of Leon, was it possible? Or was it just another anomaly the ship was throwing at her?
Feeling a deep pain in her chest she slowly lifted her rifle to point at Leon's chest.
"I'm sorry Leon, but I have to do this, I don't know if I can trust you."
"Hey Amber, its just me, don't let the ship get to you."
She stared hard at the person who looked like Leon, sounded like Leon...
"I'm sorry..."
There was a flash as she fired...he didn't smell like Leon...

Foolish creature...!

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

His body desolved into a fine yellow mist as the bullets hit him, and the metal passed through him harmlessly! She heard his voice, but distorted, unnatural:

"You cannot escape!"

The voice was a visious hiss, like a cross between a Human and a snake!

"Release me, or you will die!"

The mist was coming together! Slowly the particles collected in the middle of the room, forming a shape that glowed with bright yellow light, brighter and brighter as more of the particles joined!

Amber stood, staring in fear, as the form manifested itself!

It had a body, a thick, wide chest, looking very strong! Two long arms attached at either side, thin and skeletal, with very little skin on them. They teminated in vicious, sickle shaped claws, each almost two feet long! A long neck reached upward, again skeletal, to a large grotesque head, with a long snout and thick horns splaying backwards from the base of the neck. The face was a skull, not a Human skull, lipless and eyeless, it's teeth sharp and pointed. From below the chest the body just stopped, replaced with a long tail of yellow light, that flicked from side to side excitedly. It was floating in the air, not actually touching the ground! The whole creature glowed, the shape of the body picked out, not by something dark and solid, but by brilliant light, gleaming white against the yellow aura!

The creature's mouth opened wide, and the corridor filled with a hidious, inhuman screech, echoing around the area and causing her to cover her ears!

The beast lunged forward...

IC:
Amber was shocked momentarily by the appearance of the creature, releived that she hadn't really shot Leon, and now alive with fear from whatever was infront of her.
She dived to the side, avoiding the blow.
"Keep away from me!" She yelled firing more shots randomly, hoping someone else would hear, hoping it would miss enough times for her to live, maybe kill it.
"Ivalice if you want to wake up now would be a very good time!" She shouted dodginfg another attack,
"Thank goodness I'm flexable." she thought as she started to back off down the corridor...

Ray sighed as he downed a glass of cold water. He could not understand how so many marines could die, especially Malinsky. He was one of the best squad leaders he knew, and that man had gone to waste just like that. "Damn..."

He walked over to his quarters, which was situated quite near the bridge, and accessed his personal computer, where all messages from the United Earth Navy Headquarters were stored automatically.

"Let's see what they said about this mission..." he muttered to himself as he sat at his desk and accessed the message storage folder. "New assignment, new source of income, new body count. Grr..." He gritted his teeth and scrolled further down the message.

The body of Ivalice moved a little. "DEFENSE MODE ENGAGED."

A force field was generated from his body, putting itself between the anomaly and Amber.

Ivalice's consciousness was still inside his system, repairing the extensive damage. Only basic automatic functioning had been restored, so Ivalice's body was still incapable of movement. In fact, it was only capable of scanning its surroundings and defending itself!

Swoosh! The frisbee went flying through the air, and Beige made a running leap to catch it! Beige was about to throw it back Main's way, when she saw he had activated his comm. Ivalice3 ordered, "The two of you are to depart the ship, and retrieve the remains of Malinsky's Team. I still need the Kirov to think we are allies."

Main closed off the comm with a "Yes, sir."

They approached the bay doors. "Are you ready, Main?"

"Yes."

Beige transformed almost instantly into a 2000's model aircraft! Main hopped into the cockpit, and Beige remotely accessed and opened the bay doors. They launched out, the bay doors closing behind them. Main set to the task of activating Beige's nets, and capturing the remains of the marines. As she was scanning the area, Beige, commented, "Horschfield, and a wing of Kirov fighters, as well as an unidentified craft. I'm sure we've been noticed by now."

Main opened a line to the Kirov. "Kirov, this is Major Main of the Quasar. I realize this is a difficult time, and I mourn your loss, but I need a question answered. Shall I cremate the remains of Malinsky's Team out here, do you want them thrown into a black hole, or shall I deliver them to you to be properly disposed of?"

Badguy was stopped by two of the marines who were guarding the area. "Hold on there, you don't have clearance to go through here."

Badguy carelessly swung his sword over his shoulder. "I need to speak with your captain." Ivalice3 hissed something in his ear. "Heh, I hear you've got a 'ghost' problem in your engineering section. Just so happens I've killed a ghost or two in my day. Lemme speak with your captain, and I'll help you out."

The four marines of Team 2 that had been assigned to this mission had arrived, and two of them began to work with the controls, while the other two kept watch, patrolling the immediate area, and keeping within sight of each other.

Ivalice3 activated his control bugs. Now, anything that anyone would do throughout the ship would have to be approved by him before it could happen. For now, he was being lenient, allowing the crew to perform their duties normally while his attention was focused on the Crusader. He was now totally aware of everything happening inside the ship, and could at any time take complete control of everything.

The doors slid open, and Madame O stepped into the room. Calling out in a commanding voice, she ordered, "everyone, this ship is now under my command! From this moment on, you will do nothing without my permission, and you will not inform Slayde of the change. For the time being, I want you to continue to monitor the situation on the Crusader, and otherwise do what you were doing."

Ivalice2 was ready. "Calling the Defenders of Nexus City! There is a situation of the utmost importance that requires you!"

The five Defenders of Nexus City entered their command station, and Judge stepped up to the computer, opening a visual screen of the communication. The face of Slayde appeared before them, and Ivalice2 (disguised as Slayde) stepped back away from the camera. The defenders were shocked. "Slayde!?"

Ivalice2's face was serious. "Yes, it is I, Slayde, your enemy. Normally, I'd treat you to a riddle and a fight, but this time the situation at hand is so dangerous, we must work together."

TT slammed her fists together. "You fell on your head or something? We're enemies! You're the only reason there are any threats to Nexus City!"

Morpheus nodded, hands on hips. "Yeah! There's nothing here more evil than you!"

Ivalice2 had a sly smirk. "Perhaps. This has all been an amusing game to me, but now the game ends, and the true battle begins. You see, there is no Nexus City. I am not your enemy, but I have been using the illusion of Nexus City to train you."

Stoic crossed all four of his arms. "You expect us to believe you?"

Judge said, "Slayde, if what you're saying is true, then what isn't an illusion?"

The room faded around them, and the defenders were suddenly surrounded by an empty cargo room! Standing on the other side of the room was Ivalice2, no longer disguised as Slayde, but there was no way they could mistake him. "This is the reality."

Nova Star gasped, backing away as she looked around. "What happened? What is this?! I do not understand!"

"The truth is that I am a robot, designated Ivalice2. I was posing as Slayde, in order to get you to one day kill the real Slayde. But circumstances have changed, and I need Slayde's help again. My brother, Ivalice, is dead, and my other brother, Ivalice3, is bent on killing all of us." A holographic map of the region surrounded by black holes, including the ships, was displayed between them. "We are on board Captain Slayde's ship, the Quasar. We are investigating the Crusader, a legendary human ship. Ivalice3 and his minions are scattered throughout both of those ships, and one of them is heading for the third ship, the Kirov. This is a complicated situation, but I ask that you hear me out."

Judge pondered for a moment, and his team looked at him expectantly. "...will you allow us to go back to our homes if we help you?"

"Yes. I will never be able to apologize enough to you or your families for kidnapping you, but the least I can do is allow you to go, once this is all over."

"Then, we'll help you."

(OOC: Okay all, just for the record...this RP is awesome!!! Everyone's doing a great job and it's going far better than I could have imagined! Keep it up!

And now...to work! Long post ahead!)

IC:

As Ray sat staring at the message before him, he noticed the copy of the origional distress call that the monitering station had picked up from the Dead Zone...he paused, thinking. Captain Slayde had been trying to clean up the audio and video on that recording, to see if he could make any sence of what it said...but Slayde had now been called away on other things.

He pressed the buttons on his console, linking with the Cruisader's computer. Maybe he could continue Slayde's work...maybe the message would provide some clues...

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

Ivallice's shields lept up just as the creature dived down for another attack. The creature impacted on them with a crackle of electricity, letting out a loud screech, not of pain, but of anger...!

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

Slayde and Ruby's team were moving down the corridors when they heard it, the inhuman, enraged screech. Ruby's eyes widened. "Wha...?"

"That doesn't sound good!" exclaimed one of the officers behind them.

Slayde gritted his teeth. "No, it doesn't, butI have a feeling it has something to do with Amber...she's around here somewhere!"

He turned to Ruby. "Your hearing is better than mine...can you track down the source of that sound?"

"You want to go TOWARDS the thing???" exclaimed Moore, shocked.

"If it means saving Amber, yes." retorted Slayde firmly. "Lead the way Ruby."

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

The creature retreated, staring down at Ivallice and Amber through it's empty sockets. It roared again, preparing to attack...

and stopped suddenly as...

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

...it's controller detected intrusion.

Something on the third ship...something linking to everything...trying to control things...

As yet it was uniportant...the system was inactive. Should it become active, it would be delt with...

Now there were more important things at hand. The leader was coming. It was time the message was delivered, punched home by the deaths of his comrades.

And the others...they needed some incentive too...

And it was almost time to activate the messinger...

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

The beast in the service corridor resumed it's attacks, but they didn't seem as co-ordinated or forceful as before...it was as though the creature was biding it's time...waiting for something...

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

In one of the maintanence tunnels on board the Kirov, a yellow mist floated in the air, gently undulating as it wafted down the tube.

As it passed a power conduit, an unseen force reached out, rupturing the thich power line in a shower of sparks.

Suddenly the whole engineering section of the Kirov was plunged into complete darkness, and all the systems located there shut down.

The Marines and the crew that were left in the area stopped, shocked, before turning on their lights and continuing their search. One of these teams was at the end of the service tube as the yellow mist approached...

Screaming filled the rodio waves, coupled with a hail of gunfire. It was over in seconds.

The yellow mist, almost invisable to the eye, slowly drifted off down the corridor, leaving behind it the bodies of a team of Marines, who had apparently gone insane and shot each other...

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

Chekov, who had now recovered from his fright at the scanner, was once again sat at his station. He listened in horror to the noise over the reciver.

"Bridge to team 17...team 17, this is Bridge, respond!"

"What's going on?" asked the first officer, stepping up behind him. Chekov turned his chair to face the commander, his face a mask of fear.

"Sir..." he muttered, "..it lookes like whatever was aboard the Cruisader...is now over here too!"

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

Down in the Med bay Eternity was still working checking the bodies. It was a rather greusome task, considering some of the mutilations. The ones that had killed each other were the worst...some of them had quite litteraly been hacked to pieces!

A was still in the room, assisting where he could, and Zaeda was filing the reports Eternity gave him.

"When this is over I'll never want to see another body again." she muttered as she replaced the plastic sheet over the face of a young looking man with a bullethole in his temples.

I agree. replied A quietly. I've never seen anything like this!

Eternity pointed to a trolley over by the wall. "Could you pass me one of those scanners over there? This one's starting to give out..needs re-charging."

A quickly scuttles across the floor to collect the equipment as Eternity turned towards another body. She reached out towards the plastic sheet over it.

Crackle

She spun round suddenly, staring across the roomfull of bodies wide eyed. "Did you hear that???"

A looked round as he picked up the scanner. Hear what?

"A rustling of plastic...almost like something moved under one of the sheets!"

A looked across the room too. I heard nothing...

"Something like that would be quite impossible Eternity...all the bodies are confirmed dead." replied Zaeda from across the room.

A scuttled back up to Eternity and handed her the scanner. She took one last look around and sighed uneasily. "Yeah...maybe my imagination's playing up..."

She turned back to the body she was stood next to and pulled back the sheet. This body was a young woman with her throat slit from ear to ear. Eternity grimaced in disgust. "See I just don't get it...why would they kill each other? Aliens killing them I get, but this...?"

"Group hysteria and insanity?" suggested Zaeda, interfacing with the computer console.

Eternity just shuck her head slowly.

Crackle

Both Eternity and A spun round this time. I heard that one! exclaimed the bug hoarsely.

"There was deffinitely an auditory event." reported Zaeda. "Low probbabillity it was a malfunction in the air circulation system that caused movement."

Eternity slowly stepped forward, moving between the rows of bodies on the tables. "Okay...this is really starting to freak m..."

She didn't finish her sentance as suddenly a hand from one of the bodies flashed out, grabbing her leg as she stepped past...

Amber stopped jumping now that the shield was up, but she couldn't help flinching from the attacks, and wdering how long the shield would last.
She took this time to check over her rifle and reload it, then she watched it, aiming at it but not firing, she then called out an inquiry to Ivalice, in case he could respond.
"Hey, Ivalice, can I shoot through this shield?"

The clockwork titan lay there, unmoving and silent, except for the light whirr as a dim light in its head moved, scanning.

IC:
Crying out in surprise Eternity jrked her leg away, the hand lost its grip on the cold metal and she hurriedly moved to the otherside of the room.
"Zaeda, are you still reporting no other signs of life save for us?" She gestured with a shaky hand to the rest of the 'known' living occupants of the med lab.
"I'm approximating that you will not like my findings."
"Who cares, spill it."
"As you wish..."

"Negative. There are no other life forms present, however I am detecting some large energy readings of unknown configuration and unknown source."

Suddenly, in unison, all the bodies in the room sat up, their features still covered by the translucent plastic sheets. Stiffly, as though unable to bend joints properly, they turned and dropped to the floor, all moving in perfect syncronisation. The plastic sheets dropped away, revealing the dead, featureless faces, the multitude of fatal injuries, the mutilation...

The bodies began to step forward across the room, moving towards the three...

Ruby nodded to Slayde, then looked at Moore. The officer saw his own aprehension and fear mirrored in the Grotesnian's silver eyes. After a moment of silence, he inclined his head a little, and Ruby gave him a reassuring smile.

"Alright..now, I need total silence, so please...." The others murmured words of acknowledgement.

Straining her large fox ears, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the commotion caused by the owner of the unidentified creature. Ruby began to pick up the sounds of footsteps and realized that she had begun walking toward a specific direction. She swiveled her ears around and the others watched as the large 'listening devices' twitched visibly.

"Ruby..?" Slayde said quietly, uncertainly, so as not to disturb her. The vixen-like alien nodded and kept walking.

Once again everyone was silent. This time, however, the human part of the group were beginning to catch faint crashing sounds. To Ruby they were much louder...

"Sorry. No can do. Captain's orders. Nobody is allowed on the ship without the Captain's expressed permission," the marine stated simply. The marines were ready to take Badguy down, just in case he decided to attack them. They were, after all, no pushovers. Well versed in ancient martial arts and even the Close-Quarters Combat developed by the UEN Marine Academy's head instructors, they could easily take care of opponents bigger and stronger than themselves.

The other marine's finger tightened on the assault rifle's trigger as they looked at Badguy. The ship's sentries in the corridor also stopped and raised their sub-machineguns as a precaution.

Badguy moved his sword to his side, the blade pointing away from the marines. Complaining out loud through the comm, he said, "Ivalice3, they don't think I'm a VIP."

Ivalice3 whispered to him, "they are of little consequence. Still, try the ghost hunter bit one more time."

Badguy's finger had been on his sword activation button, but he shrugged and moved it aside. "Fine, fine...look, kiddies, I'd love to play with you, but I am a skilled hunter, and I can handle ghosts. If you won't let me speak to your captain, then what do I need to do to get permission? Do you want me to get the Quasar's captain to get permission for me?"

(OOCC: Oh, Victor, if you'll look over my most recent posts, Major Main is asking the Kirov a question. Just making sure you knew.)

Team 1, the Defenders of the fake Nexus City, were reviewing the information they had been given, and their feelings about it. Judge and Stoic were going over a battle plan with Ivalice2.

Over in a corner sat Nova Star, holding her shoulders and looking glumly at the wall. After a moment, TT (reminder for self: Tinker Toy) walked over to her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Star, what's wrong?"

Nova closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly. "...over the past year or so, I have grown to hate Slayde. But now I find out that this robot, Ivalice2, is the one to blame for all our pain, and the pain of those fake people of that fake city. And we are supposed to help the Slayde we were taught to hate! I...am confused. Our leader is over there, talking with our greatest enemy like one of the team!"

TT shook her head. "Yeah, I know, it's crazy! But the situation's bad, Star, and people are in need. When this is all over, if you still feel like it, we'll take down Ivalice2 together."

Nova looked up at her friend. "Really?"

TT winked, resting a hand reassuringly on Nova's shoulder. "I promise."

IC:
Amber sighed at the sounds of the clicking and wirring and glared in frustration at the robot.
She then turned to the 'thing' in front of her, maybe she could yell at it instead.
"What are you! What did you do to Leon!!!" She yelled, sparking into anger again at the memory of her friend.
She fired some more shots at the walls, "Will anyone hear me? Or is 'it' going to kill me, just like Leon..."

The creature actually did reply, it's voice now nothing like the Human's that it had mimmiked. The hissing, screaching reply echoed round the small confines of the corridor. "Release me!"

There was suddenly a loud hiss further down the corridor, behind Amber, and looking over her shoulder she saw white light overlaying the yellow of the service corridor's lights! There was a dorr down there...a door opening into the rest of the ship!

"Amber?" called a voice she knew well. "Amber you there?"

"Release me!" Suddenly the creature let out a loud screech and charged over Amber's head, racing down the corridor towards the door! Amber watched it in horror.

"Captain look out!"

Slayde, peering through the hissing steam vents, was trying to see down the length of the corridor, looking for any sign of life. Ruby was stood slightly behind him, and it was her that saw the apperition flashing towards them! Acting on instinct, she pushed Slayde hard to the side of the corridor, then dived to the floor herself!

The yellow blur flashed over their heads, claws outstreached. Unfortunately for the group behind Slayde and Ruby, their reactions weren't quick enough!

The beast's form suddenly desolved into a mist as it hit the crew, the yellow light rushing across them like a wave on a sea! All of them began to cry out in pain as their skin began to bubble and melt, as though doused in acid!

In an instant, it was over. With a last, haunting screech, the apperition vanished, and a cry of "release me..." echoed down the hall, slowly dying away down the dark passeges of the ship.

The bodies of Moore, Mahainey and the others, now not much more than blackened husks, dropped to the floor with a clatter of bones, the black, now leathery skin melted onto the bones like tar.

Slayde spun round, staring at the bodies in complete shock. He was shaking visably, all sign of his level-headed, brave demeinour dissapeared! "Wha...what was...oh good grief!"

The first officer opened a line to the captain's room. "Sir, they ask whether we want the remains of Malinsky's team back, or throw them in a black hole or cremate them."

"The answer is none of the above," replied Ray. "Leave them where they are. We do not have time for burials. We will pray for their souls, but time is a luxury we cannot afford."

"But... Sir? Is it not improper?"

"Just do as I say, damn it! I'm busy here! Don't bother me about anything!" came the angry response as Ray blocked the transmission. He was almost done with cleaning up the audio file, and he would be done soon. He had done away with most of the static, and soon, they would be able to listen to the entire message that they had received. "Hmm...

"Major Main? The answer is no. Leave the bodies where they are."

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

"Sorry, but no. The First Officer just told us that the captain refuses to speak with anyone," replied one marine who was speaking over the in-ship communications channel before. "As it is, he is in no condition to command, and the First Officer does not have authority over anywhere else other than the bridge if the captain is still alive." And don't even THINK about killing the captain! You're going to wish you were never born...

Major Main was a bit surprised at the reply. "Yes, sir."

Closing off the comm, Beige asked, "shall I prepare a storage device?"

Main nodded. "Yeah. Let's leave it so that it won't drift off. They can deal with it later, as they choose."

Beige nodded, putting a portion of her body into generating a cylindrical container. Then, she opened a comm to Ivalice3. "Sir, what shall we do out here?"

"Continue patrol. If Horschfield or the Kirov fighters interfere with us, stop them. Otherwise, standby."

Badguy had an evil grin as he flicked the switch on his sword. Steam began to rise from the superheated metal. "Okay. Then I get to do things my way. Let's cut all the dramatic talking garbage and get right to the point."

Badguy expected to get hurt. He laughed as the weaponsfire dug into his flesh, and reveled in the pain he caused as his blade cut the first marine in two. The battle was on, and it would prove to be a short one...

Madame O was surprised at how easy it was to maintain control over the bridge. Of course, the key personnel were on the Crusader now, and so a rapid demonstration of force against the first wise guy was enough to get them to listen. She proved that any one of them really was no threat to her. She was still worried about other crew, and what if they tried to overpower her? She didn't want to be the scapegoat and sacrifice to whatever Ivalice3 was planning, especially if she didn't know what it was, but as things stood, she couldn't disobey him.

Morpheus had been sent to spy on the situation on the bridge, and now, in the form of a rat, he was in a vent near the bridge's door. Upon seeing Madame O there, he backed off and activated his comm. "Ivalice2, here's the scoop on the bridge..."

OOC: Way, you seem to be killing my marines too easily. Oh, well...

IC:
"There's a what?!" exclaimed Ray, stepping away from his computer.

"Yes, Sir! It's true! The airlock sentries report that there is a battle going on!" exclaimed the First Officer.

"Tom, you know what to do."

"What...? Sir, you don't mean-"

"Yes... Do it," he replied, a slight hesitation in his voice. This had to be done. He returned to his seat, and finished cleaning up the last bits of the original message.

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

"Don't waste your ammo, idiots! The bullets aren't doing anything to him!" exclaimed one marine as he rolled away from the airlock, dodging Badguy's blade. He dropped his assault rifle and stood ready for battle as he charged.

As the blade came upon him, he stepped forward, turned around seized Badguy's wrist, following the momentum, and pushed downwards. As the blade hit the ground, Badguy was thrown into the air by his own strength as the marine removed the blade.

"Let's see how he does without his weapon!" Just as the marine was about to go forward and thrust his foot into Badguy's face, slow, steady footfalls approached from down the hall. "Who's that?"

"It's... it's him! Run!" exclaimed one of the sentries, making mad dash down the corridor. Could it be him, after so long?

"Yes... It's me, fellows," the dark exclaimed, a sinister tone present in his voice. He wore a thick collar around his neck that carried both a bomb and a homing signal, which had a range that was extremely difficult to actually calculate. Also within him was a particular device, the functions of which only Ray knew and could control.

"So it is you... Bezarin."

"Speak my name if you wish to die. Now, go! I will deal with him... Hehehehehahahaha!" exclaimed Bezarin as he made his way towards Badguy. Seizing the opportunity, Badguy grabbed the marine and threw him to the ground while snatching his blade from his hands. He drove the blade into the marine's heart and removed it, then turned to face Bezarin.

"Don't... You'll never... beat him..." the marine said, almost a whisper as his body gave out.

"We'll see about that."

"Hahahahaha! Another fool wishes to challenge me? Hah! I'll have you know, I destroyed an entire army of Adnihilo with my bare hands!" At this reminder, the remaining sentries and marines fled further down the corridor. "You can never kill me! I am invincible..."

Really? thought Badguy in a sarcastic manner. He sliced diagonally downwards through Bezarin, liberating insane amounts of blood. Heh, that wasn't so hard.

"Oooh, fascinating! Hahahaha! Pain! WHOOHOO! I LIKE IT!" his grin turned into a malicious smile as the blood ceased and his flesh seemingly magically reconnected! (Think Albedo, Xenosaga.)

"What the...?" muttered Badguy as a mighty foot slammed straight into his face. Indeed, this would not be easy.

Ruby slowly got up, scanning the area in case the apparition was rushing at them again. One look at the remains of the four officers made her wish she hadn't. Her stomach constricted and did a series of bellyflops, making her turn her head away from the horrid sight.

"Wha...what was...oh good grief!" She heard Slayde say.

Ruby put a hand to her mouth and risked another glance. This time her eyes were glued to the pile of bones that had been her fellow officers.

"No..that's...no.....the officers...they didn't have a chance!" She stuttered through her hand.

Her ears went flat again, and a violent shiver shook her body. Like her captain, what little control she had had over her fear was gone just like that, dissolving away much like her friends had.

"Ruby..there's...there's nothing we can do now. We'd better keep going. Get away from here." Slayde came up beside her, and Ruby saw his hands shakiing at his sides.

Nodding she remembered, "We must find Amber first...I heard her answer your call...."

Slayde nodded, swallowing hard. "This is too much Ruby..." he muttered. "It's too much...I'm pulling the plug. Let's get everyone together and back aboard the Quasar! We're leaving!"

Ruby fixed her eyes on him. "And the mystery...?"

"Let it rot here!" retorted Slayde. "Whatever it is, it's too dangerous!" He turned and stepped into the service corridor. "Amber? Ivallice?"

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

Ray was still hard at work on the Cruisader's last transmission. There was just a few more pieces still too blurred to make out...

He stared at the screen in front of him, thinking. Maybe something to do with the Quantum Variance from the Quantum Drive was causing the problem. If the varience was out of sync...

He tapped a few buttons, and suddenly the picture refined itself and the sound crackled into audabillity!

Ray's face became a mask of horror as he watched the message through, finally free of the interference. He felt like throwing up on the spot!

Captain Slayde would have to see this too...

Ruby almost sighed in relief when the words 'we're leaving' were spoken. The very first time she had gazed at the Cruisader, drifting aimlessly through space, she had felt a feeling of aprehension. Something hadn't felt right. Now, after being witness to several strange anomalies and disgusting sights, she was more than willing to high-tail it out of here!

"Amber! Amber, where are you?" She called out, joining Captain Slayde in the service corridor.

"Ivalice! Amber, Ivalice!"

IC:
"I'm here! Ivalice is with me!" She leant against the wall to support her, the adrenaline rush having left her feeling shaky and highly strung. She jerked clumsily away from it as she remembered the hand like 'things' coming out of the wall only a few moments ago.
Her sudden movement brought her to the side and from that angle she saw to her delight, Slayde and Ruby, and to her horror, what was apparently left of the rest of Ruby's team.
Tired but still filled with a sense of paranoia, she qickly sniffed the air, they were fine, apart from the corpses.
"Ivalice is still...whatevering, I think he's fixing himself but I can't be sure. But he can hear you, apparently, some part anyway."
She turned to the others, afraid to move incase it was a trap and her sense had failed her.
"It killed Leon...didn't it." She whispered quetly, feeling an alarming sense of loss again, but her ears kept twitching back and forth, searching for the signs of this seemingly invincible creature...

IC:
"Zaeda. Come over here."
"What are you going to do?" He floated over to her side, his blue 'eye' on the animated corpses infront of them.
"I'm just going to...fiddle."
She grabbed him roughly from the air, hurriedly opening a compartment in his side and undoing a cap.
"Here we go then." She muttered as Zaeda sputtered in surprise as he was used as a primitive laser gun.
The half humanoid tiger, half machine aimed at the corpses legs in a wide arc.
"Might slow them down," she muttered to A...

Ray cursed and swore at the sight he beheld as he turned his head away. Behind him, the sounds and voices continued, and he could only imagine the horror they had been through. Oh, dear God, the poor souls.

"Captain Slayde has to watch this..." his said to himself. "Yes..."

He left the room and made for the bridge, having passed the half-hour quarantine requirement for officers deemed momentarily unfit for command.

"Captain, welcome back."

Ray nodded, and reclaimed his seat.

"Captain Slayde!" he called out over the open broadcast channel.

"Yes?" came the reply with the slightest hint of panic. "We're pulling out of here. We're aborting the mission!"

"I've cleaned up all the interference and static from the last transmission from the Crusader. It's not pretty..."

His finger hovered above the broadcast button as he pondered about the consequences of letting every single person watch the transmission.

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

"What's the matter? Not so fearsome now, are you?" taunted Bezarin with more than a hint of insanity in his voice. The sadomasochist wanted more than what Badguy was giving him. He wanted a challenge! He was more likely toying with Badguy than actually fighting him!

"Grrah!" exclaimed a disgruntled Badguy as he punched Bezarin, after which he spun and slashed Bezarin's head. But nearly as quickly as he cut into the flesh, it regenerated! "Damn you! How is this possible?!"

"Very easy! Hahahaha! My body continuously produces telomerase due to an accident in an experiment they carried out on war criminals... Namely those like myself! Hahahaha!"

"Telomerase? What the-" Yet another fist was flew into his face, which he just barely avoided and elbowed Bezarin.

"Hahaha! The Adnihilo were far stronger opponents than you! Well, if you really want to know... Telomerase is what regenerates lost parts of the human body! Given the amount of it in myself, I might as well have an infinite amount of it!" answered Bezarin. He laughed like a maniac - no, he was one! "Now, where were we? Ahh, yes!"

Bezarin turned and slammed his elbow into Badguy's chest, followed by a back-fist to the face and a downward chop to his lower region all in one swift move, after which he backhanded the fellow, causing him to slide back a few feet.

Impressive indeed. Bezarin was stronger than any he had encountered, but invincibility was cheating. It would be time-consuming to fend off the attacks, and he didn't have the time to play with this fellow; he had a job to do!

(OOC: Just catching this early to be on the safe side...this could develop into powerplaying guys, so be careful. I'll assume you have a plan Vic, for Bezarin, and Way, for Badguy. Just pointing it out so you can both be aware.)

IC:

"Not now Captain." replied Slayde quickly. "Transfer it to the database in Medlab. We're going there to pick up the rest of our crew. I'll see it there."

He turned back to the othrs. "It's good to see you're okay, you two." He placed a hand on Amber's shoulder, nodding slowly. "Yeah, it did, along with Moore and the others, and Zoran..." The list was long already, with the Marines too...

"Come on, let's move quick." He looked at the still form of Ivallice. "Carrying him is going to be tough..."

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

The first wave of corpses were cut own by the lazer, but the ones behind kept advancing, stepping over the bodies of their comrades! With every one their eye sockets glowed with a bright yellow light; those that still had eyes rapidly lost them as their eyeballs liquefied from the heat and dripped like tears down their faces!

The number of bosides had been halved, but what was left was still getting closer!

OOC: Hehe. Indeed we do. We contacted each other via PM, actually. Don't worry - Bezarin's not going to be TEH UBERPOWERPLAYAH. Remember, there's still a device in him that only Ray knows about and controls. ^^

IC:

"Roger. Still... It's not going to be pretty," replied Ray, changing the command lines on his console. Once it was ready, the data burst began, and the now cleaned up transmission was uploaded to the Medlab's database.

Meanwhile, he turned to his first officer.

"How's Bezarin holding up?"

"As usual... He just won't die. And he likes the pain, too."

"Crazy little bugger... Hmph. We'll see how it goes. If whomever he's fighting doesn't figure that Bezarin simply won't die, then he's in for one hell of a lot of pain."

The first officer could only nod, and steal a quick glance at the little remote control that Ray was rolling between his fingers like a coin. What was it for? He always carried it around, but he never saw a purpose for it. He shrugged, and continued watching on his own display the battle between Badguy and Bezarin, two titans locked in battle. The former was gargantuan, and held a powerful blade, whereas the other was smaller-built and more agile, but had plenty of internal strength to compensate for that. He watched intently, wondering how the battle would turn out.

Ruby paused, putting a shaky finger to her chin in thought. Slayde did have a point; it would be no picnic having to haul Ivalice around the hallways. The Grotesnian woman wondered, as she looked at Amber, how the other woman officer had managed to drag Ivalice this far. He sure looked heavy! Suddenly there was a series of rapid bleeping and whirring.

Ruby, Amber, and Slayde whirled around, muscles tense, ready to duck or bolt or dive to safety! Instead, the relaxed when they saw it was only Ivalice's arms coming back into contact with their main unit, Ivalice himself. The metal limbs were working to rewire themselves back into their proper places of use, like trying to stitch someone's arm back into its socket.

"Where did those come from?" Amber asked. "They weren't there before!"

All of sudden Ruby remembered, "Oh! When we..." A glance at the remains of the officers. "When we were attacked by those hands, Ivalice disconnected his arms and used them to transport us to safety."

Slayde nodded, as if remembering too. "Yes. They also opened that door for Amber and I."

"But where did they come from just now?" Amber blinked, looking from Ivalice to Slayde to Ruby.

"I don't know. I guess we didn't notice where they went in the excitement of things."

Silence, save for the occasional beeping or clicking as the mechanical arms managed to connect themselves further. Ruby began to feel the need to be on the move and moving away from this place...she certainly didn't want to be in the same room as the late Officers Moore, Mahainey, Robie, and McGrey.

"Captain...?" Ruby turned to look at Slayde.

"Don't worry Ruby...we're leaving right now. We can all take turns carrying Ivalice." Slayde paused, then added, "I'll take first turn."

(OOC: Yeah, taking measures to prevent Badguy from getting out of control.

Oh, and, pity I haven't gotten that far in Xenosaga yet.

Sorry I didn't post for a while; having trouble sleeping for the past coupla days, almost impossible to concentrate.)

Badguy took a step back, holding his sword in front of him defensively. His initial frustration had been caused by expecting only an army of pathetic humans to get in his way, and then meeting something...more. Now that we was over thinking this was just another human, he decided to actually put forth real effort. With a snigger, he turned off the sword, dropped it, and jumped back into the fray, faster than before! The force of Badguy's first punch sent Bezarin a good deal down the hall, but he kept his feet, and came back just as fast! Apparently, he had been holding back, too...

As they fought back and forth, the pace of battle kept increasing. Ivalice3's voice hissed, "what are you doing?! You should've been at the computer by now!"

Badguy shouted, annoyed at the interruption, "shut up, machinehead! I'm fighting a real fight here, and I intend on using my full power!"

Ivalice3 shouted in alarm, "WHAT?! No, you idiot, don't do that, you'll blow a hole in the ship!!"

"SO???"

"I need the ship intact, and I still need the crew! Remember your mission! You can fight him later!"

"Grrr..."

Bezarin was in his way, and it appeared that even Badguy's impressive speed wouldn't let him get past to the computer. That's all Ivalice3 needed him to do, was to put a remote control onto the computer console, and then Ivalice3 could begin his takeover of the Kirov.

Once the arms finished reattaching themselves to Ivalice, he picked himself off the floor. In a blank monotone, he stated, "MOTARY FUNCTION RESTORED, ENGAGING DEFENSE PROTOCOL ,'FOLLOW AND PROTECT CREW'."

It seemed Ivalice hadn't yet become conscious again, but his body was now as efficient as any guard robot...

Judge was racing down the hall, to the last known location of Badguy. Ivalice2 said through the comm, "Now, you know what you need to do, right?"

"Yeah...he's the most dangerous of all of Ivalice's Teams, so only my powers can neutralize him..."

"That's right. He's faster than he looks. Don't let him get anywhere near you, and be careful. You will have to use more power than you have ever done before...I just hope my training was enough."

"Only one way to find out." Judge took a minor detour, to grab an extra space suit. If things went well, he'd need it.

**

TT and Stoic were heading up to the bridge. Ivalice2's voice rang in their ears, "Do not underestimate Madame O. Her speed is faster than normal eyes can track."

TT laughed a little. "That's why you sent us, isn't it?"

"Yes. Also, Ivalice3 can manipulate machines on a direct level, so sending you down to face him would be suicide. Good luck, and watch out for the energy cannon."

**

Ivalice2, Morpheus, and Nova Star were all heading to the engineering section of the Quasar. Morpheus sounded a little shaken. "So, we're going to fight somebody in the engineering room of a spaceship, who can manipulate machines like putty?!"

Ivalice2 confirmed his fears. "Yes. I have defensive protocols, and I can hack him directly as well. Mostly, I just need you to fend of his attacks while I try to shut him down."

Nova Star began to gather energy, glowing green around her hands. "I have always fought against evil, and I will do everything in my power to stop him! We shall not fail!"

Ivalice3 spoke to Major Main and Beige. "Change in plans. It doesn't look like Badguy will be able to reach the Kirov computer in time. I'll need you to board it and get your way to the computer as quickly as possible."

"Roger that. Beige, look for a way into the Kirov."

Ivalice3 spoke to his Team 2 marines. "The four of you at the Computer Core, stay there and guard it. Five of you at the bridge, stay there and guard it, and the other four of you, head down to the Quasar airlock. Slayde is going to make his way back to the Quasar soon, and I want you to prevent him from doing so. Keep him and his crew alive, if possible."

"Ooooh, a challenge! And the pain, too! I love it!" exclaimed Bezarin as he duelled with Badguy. The sheer number of martial arts he had mastered was absolutely astounding! It was as if he had been born with at least half of them in his genes! However, this resulted in his insanity, given how much he knew - too much! It had driven him over the edge, and he spiraled uncontrollably into a the bottomless pit that was insanity.

Crazy... He's nuts, but he's good. Hahaha! thought Badguy as he dealt another blow to Bezarin, who just barely managed to avoid the full force of the blow. He did like the pain, but it was instinct as a human being, and training in various martial that now caused him to react to attacks as soon as they occured, like conditioned reflexes.

"Finally! After seven years of imprisonment, a good fight! How I have longed for such a battle!" Unleashing his full power, Badguy thrusted one mighty kick right into Bezarin's solar plexus, which would surely have killed any human! "GOOD! AHAHAHAHA!" The hall was filled with Bezarin's manical laughter as the duel continued, and two others in space searched around the Kirov for an entry point.

They have a lot of guns... thought Major Main as he surveyed the length of the mighty Kirov. Apart from the main batteries, there were gun, laser, tachyon pulse, plasma and missile turrets dotting its otherwise plain surface! How were they going to find any entry points at all? Wait, what's that?

It was an open cargo bay! Why would they have forgotten to close it? No matter... It was an opportunity to be seized! Immediately, they sped into it!

"Did you just see something?" asked one of the fighters' pilots. "I thought I saw something enter the Kirov."

"You sure about that? Hmm..."

"Wait, we passed by here on our previous round on patrol," added another pilot. "Where's that strange craft we saw?"

"Yeah, where is it? Hmm... Better get the Kirov alerted," the leader said, paging the Kirov. "Captain? I think we-"

Ray nodded, saying, "Yes, we know. And we're prepared. Thank you."

"Err... Okay, Sir. Resuming patrol," the befuddled leader replied. Exactly what did he mean? Did they really know what he was going to say? Hmm...

Slayde blinked in supprise, looking at Ivalice curiously.

"Well, that's sorted that problem!" he muttered. "Come on, let's get to the Med bay." He looked at Ivallice another moment, then stated clearly: "Ivallice, follow us closely!"

He didn't know wether this mode required orders or not, but it was better safe than sorry. He turned to Amber and Ruby, beconing them to follow, then as he set off down the corridor, he reached for his communicator.

"Slayde to Eternity, come in please. Eternity do you read?"

IC:
Eternity noted the cause of the melted eyes "At least we know the cause of that." She thought, cursing as the laser battery died, it wasnt meant for so many enemies.
"It appears we have a problem." Chimed Zaeda six, bobbing out of Eternity's grip.
"I would advise evasive manouvers."
"Duh." Eternity muttered, taking several cautious steps backwards from the shuffling horde.
Suddenly the com link went off, the com link which happened to be on the other side of the room.
"Slayde to Eternity, come in please. Eternity do you read."
Came the voice of Captain Slayde.
"Zaeda! Get to it, now!!!"
"Complying."
He zoomed across the room and interfaced with the computer system, activating the reply button.
"Do you have any weapons?" She yelled across the room, hoping the machine would pick it up.
"'Cause we have a lot of dead bodies that aren't playing fair right now. As in, walking around with glowing yellow eyes. Personally I think we could use some back up." Eternity picked up a chair and started swinging it at the head of the approaching yellow eyed mob...

Slayde blinked in shock at the reply, looking up at the others, his eyes wide. "Let's move...now!" He spun round and set off down the corridor at top speed, gritting his teeth as he ran. If it wasn't one thing it was another! This ship wasn't playing fair!

He called into the comm as he ran: "Eternity we're coming! Just hold out a few minutes!!!"

A chirrered to others in his group. they gathered on the walls and ceilings, and moved so that they formed a continuous line running from the floor to the ceiling, to the opposite wall, and back to the floor. They activated the sheild. That should stall them. If wors comes to worst, we can always attempt to ram them too., A called back. One of the corpses hit the sheild, and recoiled in anger from the jolt it received. Go, We'll retreat once you're out.

IC:
"Easy enough for you to say!" She yelled looking with mild surprise at A and the bug shield but frankly with what was happening, Santa claus suddenly appearing to produce a shotgun for christmas early wouldn't have surprised her.
"Good idea, but we're not leaving without you, besides, the com link is in here, and so is Zaeda, if I go outside, what proff is there that some corpse down the corridor won't suddenly hop up and try to throttle me. I might as well stay here and try and think of a way to stop these guys."
Eternity started looking around for the basic chemicals,
"Come on, where do you keep the cold stuff..." She muttered looking around on her side of the room she groaned when she realised it WOULD be where all the confounded undead beings were thrashing about.
"Zaeda? When you were catalogging the supplies, were there any interesting chemicals you noticed, say higly flammable or extremely cold?"
"Hmm, let me check my data..."

IC:
Amber still felt a bit shaky, but dutifully took up her gun and ran with tem to med lab.
"What exactly are we going to do when we get there anyway?"
She asked Slayde...

Slayde shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine! We don't even know what to expect...all I heard Eternity say was something about dead bodies, but she sounded like she was in trouble, so we have to try to help her!"

They were on the same deck as the Med bay, and it wasn't long before they were coming up on the section that the bay was in. Slayde raised his gun as he ran down the corridor, looking for the large doorway into the bay. It had to be somewhere around here...

(OOC: SL or Ferret, if you want to do anything before we enter Med bay, go ahead, otherwise if you or Gerbil want to do the entrance to Med bay, feel free. If nobody has by my next post, I will.)

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

The corpses paused for a moment, as though uncertain of how to proceed, then, slowly, one of them reached down and started pulling one of the temporary beds to pieces. With inhuman strength, he tore one of the metal lets off the frame and held it up, the jagged teargleaming in the light. It was sharp!

Slowly the figure advanced on the shield that the bugs had errected, making for one of the creatures, the "join" in the shield. It raised the metal bar high in the air, then lunged, plunging the spear deep between the scales of the bug...

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

Inside the Kirov, another team of Marines were guarding the engine core, still offline from the as yet unexplained power faliure. The darkness surrounding them was complete...only their torches pierced the light as they looked around the large room. Some of them patrolled the gantries up above, while most were stood guarding the massive spherical power core, usually pulsing and glowing with a bright whie light, now dark and silent.

Carmen, the leader of the group, was looking round a little nervously. She kept shining her torch up at the gantries, making sure the patrolling teams were still there. Stories had started to spread around the Kirov by now...stories that said people could simply drop dead silently beside you and you wouldn't even notice, stories about people dissapearing into thin air...

What was true and what was exageration, goodness knew, but it was enough to freak her out, dispite her years of experience!

"Carmen to gantry one team." she spoke into her radio. "Report...anything?"

"That's a negative, Carmen." came the powerful voice of Chadwick, a large man who was a veteran of many battles. "All's quiet on gantry one." As the voice replied she spotted his figure high up on the wall, turn and give her a little wave. She grinned.

"Okay, keep going. Gantry two, anything?"

"Negative here too ma'am." replied Irvine, a comparitavely young officer who, despite his youth, possesed considerable strength! It was this strength that led him to get promoted up the ranks so fast, coupled with his youthful bravado of course. "I'm kinda geting bored wondering round and round..."

"You have a job to do soldier." replied Carmen as the Marine paused. "Doesn't matter how bored you are, you do it, got that?"

"Yeah I got it." came the destracted reply. "Carmen, we may have something..."

Carmen caught her breath, looking up into the blackness of the engine core as she tried to see gantry two, way above her head. "What? What is it?"

"Probably nothing...scanners just spiked slightly...could have just been background radiation. Should we check it out?"

Carmen thought for a brief moment, then agreed. "Okay, but keep an open com channel at all times!"

Up on the gantry, Irvine and the other Marine with him nodded, an automatic reaction even though Carmen couldn't see them. "Rodger. Heading out now." They looked down one of the long service corridors that the reading had come from, shining their torches into the blackness. These service corridors ran into the very bowels of the ship, and held most of the critical systems of the Kirov. About thirty yards down the corridor there was a junction, T shape, where another corridor ran across the first one ar a right angle.

Irvine motined to the other guard. "Okay I'll go first. Keep an eye on the scanner."

Slowly the two figures stepped into the confines of the corridor...

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

Excellent...just as planned...they were gathering...

It was time...

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

Back on the Cruisader, the massive blast door sealing the engineering section from the rest of the ship rose, though not through the power of the computer systems. With a steady step, a large figure stepped out, his massive boots making a clanging noise on the metal floor.

His movements were very precise, almost robotic, as slowly he stepped forward, starting down the long corridor joining the engineering hull to the crew quaters and bridge. Behind him the heavy blast shutter slammed down again with a deep BOOM.

(OOCC: A lot happening here!)

"...what was that?"

"It sounded like a big door, almost like a blast door, or..."

"It's probably nothing that concerns us. Cut the chatter and watch your posts!"

"Roger that."

Ivalice's scanners whirred loudly for a moment. "DANGER TO CREW MEMBER DETECTED. TAKING FASTEST ROUTE TO MED BAY."

Ivalice moved past Slayde, running using his arms like an ape!

(OOCC: Brief, but he should arrive first, for when the scene is done. He will try to prevent injury to the others, even if he has to block it with his body)

Beige transformed back into her human form, and she and Main looked around. "...it's too quiet."

"...agreed."

Main moved his hand to his gun holster as he crept forward. "These guys are Earth military...I doubt the standards have lowered. I wonder if..."

Beige interrupted his thoughts. "There's the door. We should be able to reach a portion of the ship's computer in less than 3 minutes if we hurry."

"Then let's get a move on," he said, as they began jogging for the door...

Madame O heard the bridge door open behind her. As she jumped up and turned around, she was about to deck the idiot who was trying to escape, when - BLAM!

TT's sonic cannon blasted Madame O squarely in the chest, and she went flying back from the impact! As TT stepped in for a better shot, she commented, "like that?! Have some more!"

Madame O immediately shifted her body into full-combat mode, and as TT's cannon fired again, she rapidly moved to the side, dodging it! Stoic gasped and lifted his arms, making a shield to stop the shot from hitting the window to the outside! "This isn't going to work." He said, his monotone not as steady as it once was.

Seeing that she had two opponents, a parasitic tentacle pulled out of her back, transformed into a cannon, and she launched a charged blast at them! Stoic rapidly formed a barrier around it, containing the explosion safely, but at a great strain to himself. "Tinker Toy, an alternate method of combat would be prefered. These quarters are too tight."

"Roger that," muttered TT as her right arm shifted from cannon to arm.

Madame O dashed forward, and she and TT locked fists! The struggle was great; they were almost evenly matched. Out of Madame O's back, tentacles began to shoot out, trying to stab at TT, but Stoic continued to make barriers to block them.

The crew watched, both in shock and wonder.

Ivalice2, Morpheus, and Nova Star entered the large chamber. I-3 clapped his spider-like hands together. "I've been expecting you. I thought there were more of you, though...do you think the three of you can stop me?"

Ivalice2 held his hands in front of him, fists clenched. "For the sake of the crew, I will prevent you from completing your mission!"

I-3 laughed in a very evil tone. "You are an inferior, malfunctioning unit. I will tear you limb from limb and use you for spare parts!"

The two Ivalice units charged, and a brawl began!

I-3's control over the material of the engineering room was absolute. Out of the floor, walls, and ceiling, came weapons and robots and giant spikes, moving to aid their master! Nova Star flew through the room, blasting all that she could while evading attacks! Morpheus shifted his form several times, starting out as a relatively small T-Rex, and using the body's impressive strength to crush an onslaught of metal!

Over in a corner were the engineering crew. I-3 had reshaped that section to be a prison for them, for he might still have a need for them. They could do nothing but watch the fight as it unfolded.

Judge arrived, and could see down the hall Bezarin and Badguy duking it out, the fighting so intense that the walls shook! Holding his hands out in front of his and forming a symbol, he yelled out, "Both of you, stop this fighting at once!"

The two warriors cast him a sideways glance, then were almost immediately back in the fray! To them, Judge didn't appear as a threat at all. Badguy shouted back, "stop? Why? We're having so much fun! Soon I'll be pasting the walls with his innards!"

"I am here for you, Badguy! I am your opponent now!"

Badguy laughed. "You? You're just a scrawny wimp!"

Judge sighed. "You, his opponent - I don't know your name, but I ask you to stop this fight and leave him to me!"

More laughter reached his ears.

Judge decided he had no choice. "Haaaa!"

An intense energy flashed, and for a split second, all motion in the hallway stopped. Judge redirected the forces that had been in motion, and then time moved again. Bezarin went flying through the now-open airlock, and Badguy slammed against the wall! Picking himself off the ground and grabbing his sword, Badguy shouted angrily, "what the heck was that!? What are you?"

Badguy turned on his sword and threw it at Judge! Judge closed his eyes briefly. "An equalizer...Haaaa!"

The energy flashed again, and the next thing Badguy knew, his own sword was sticking in his abdomen! "Guu...ha ha! That was surprisng!"

He turned off the sword, and left it there, charging at Judge! By this time, Bezarin was also trying to get back into the fray! "Haaaa!"

Bezarin was now back in the Kirov, and the airlock door on that side slammed shut! Both Badguy and Judge were now in the airlock, and the door to the Crusader was also closed. "Why I oughta-"

"Haaaa!"

Badguy crashed through the wall of the airlock. The sudden breach of the wall automatically locked down the airlock, preventing the vacuum from entering any further than the airlock tube. Judge lifted off, and both he and Badguy floated in space, facing each other. "You...I'll kill you!"

Gathering a tremendous amount of energy, flame (OOCC: yes I'm aware it's space and there's no oxygen; nonetheless, this happens) gathering around his body! Launching like a rocket, he is just about to reach Judge, when - "HAAAA!"

Badguy flies back, very fast. The powerful gravity of a black hole catches him, and he is being pulled in. Even with another flaming charge, he can't escape it. As he is being dragged into it, his body being crushed by the force of it, he yells (OOCC: Yeah, it's space, but I'll warp the laws of physics for a moment) "No matter how long it takes, and no matter what I have to do, I will find a way out of here, and I will hunt you down and have my REVENGE!!!"

And then he is gone, vanishing into the black hole like a speck of dust in a vacuum cleaner. Judge passes out, drifting slowly in space...