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Shades of Life
Topic Started: Oct 1 2013, 11:53 PM (13 Views)
Sonic
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Played by Fallyn
Posted by: Shade Nocturnus May 25 2011, 04:22 AM
Shade sat with her legs crossed in front of her, like every other student in the room. Instructor Sharku prattled on about the structured hierarchy of a Kron colony. As he gestured to a series of diagrams and other images up on the vid-screen the girl looked upon him with undivided attention. At least, with her eyes she did. Her mind though this lesson day wandered. She had dreamed again the night before. In her dream, she saw her mother but she could never quite make out what the woman was trying to say. At least, Shade assumed the woman was her mother, the ghostly echidna’s face was very much like her own.

The girl had long since lost the short, blunt features common to echidna children. Her muzzle had lengthened, her body grown tall and lean. Today as she did on most days, she wore her spines pulled back in a loose braid, save for one; the one fitted with a gold ring. There was a time she had been very proud to own it, and to some degree she still was. But these days the trinket was worn more as a piece of defiant decoration than as an heirloom that had any true meaning for her. Mostly, it was to dare the others into teasing her about it, for usually the insulter would end up on the floor with a tooth or two missing. Regardless of her reflection and the reasons behind it, Shade found the dream she had to be unimportant.

Instructor Sharku asked his students a question about the date of a particular Kron mining expedition that went awry and demanded to also know the cause of its downfall. No one answered, and the old echidna glared at them all. Apparently, Shade wasn’t the only one not paying attention. She tuned back in just as Sharku locked his eyes onto hers.

“Well?” the old male snapped

Shade suddenly felt other pairs of eyes alighting on her, and she glanced around hoping he’d move on to someone else. He wouldn’t of course, and the girl had to replay in her mind those things she tuned out. With some difficulty, she managed to get the date correct as she recited the answer, however the second part of the question she failed and was awarded extra studies accordingly. Shade snorted under her breath and turned her head slightly to glare at another child who was trying hard not to laugh two rows behind her.

Aoki, that’s what the girls in her dorm called him… mostly with expressions of longing on their faces, to which Shade would only wrinkle her muzzle in disgust. Aoki was born to parents of higher rank than most of them. And she felt he flaunted this worth like a stale musk… what rankled the most, was this display was virtually dismissed by both Instructors… especially Instructor Sharku. Shade briefly wondered what the other girls would think of him if Aoki came back from mid-break with a crooked neck. With a silent groan of resignation the girl turned her full attention back to Instructor Sharku…


(( ooc: Sorry to make everyone wait 2 months for such a short ’n crappy post. I keep trying and I keep failing. Some one else please take the reins of Instructor Sharku and this whole expedition… I’ll just keep following… infydead.gif ))

Posted by: Imperator Ix May 25 2011, 07:24 PM
//Okies, I take the reins then, Lunas can come in after this post and we continue with him in here too for some time. They make such an excellent pair...during the exercise of course : D\\

"I will ask you this question again tomorrow, Shade, so make sure you have studied about it. And now then to continue about the expedition..."

Sharku always enjoyed the rare moments when he could catch the young girl off-guard with a sudden question or test. Shade was better than her peers in almost any subject, and the old instructor always tried to remind his students that unlike some of them might think, they did not know everything there was worth to know. Not that the old male liked Shade very much anyway. He still remembered the first day when the young girl had come to class with that golden ring, that had changed everything. Sharku himself was from a highly-valued family, and even though he had always fared worst of all his siblings and was stuck in this instruction duty because of it, he still took pride in his heritage, like many echidnas did. Shade, who had suddenly managed to find that ring somewhere, had during one night turned from a common orphan into a girl with noble heritage.

Sharku had first thought that the girl had stolen it from somewhere, and had asked the Head Instructor to read the ancient signs on the ring, to make sure it was hers. Sharku still remembered how the ancient echidna had turned pale once he had read the runic letters, and said that there was no question about that the ring was Shade's. Sharku had tried to ask exactly to which family Shade belonged to, but Head Instructor had only shook his head and said that there was no need to ponder about that, and never mentioned the subject again. Remembering the event still made Sharku feel annoyed.

In theory, all students were equal in the schooling system Nocturnus had, but since the system had been going for so long, it's original meaning had become bit muddled. Some students were from very important families, and instructors who were harsh to them, could suddenly find a lot of things being harder to do if right echidnas were angry at them. Because of this, some of the children were allowed to get away with some minor things. However, Shade had no parents who could cause trouble for the old instructor, so Sharku was free to discipline her every time she made a mistake.

The old echidna continued lecturing about the history, having kept this exact lesson hour for so many times already, that he more or less remembered what he was supposed to say from word to word. Suddenly, the monitor on his desk flashed, a sign that a new message had came. The instructor blinked in surprise, but still ended his sentence like nothing special had happened, and then paused for a moment, opening the message. Sharku read it, then thought again what he had just read, and did it again just to make certain. He had read it right on the first time. There was a sudden change in the schedule. Luckily this was the first lesson of the day, still early in the morning. Well, he was not about to let these children see just how puzzled he was by these orders...

"And speaking of expeditions, our class will be making a small trip to the Kron colony today, where we will make a small field exercise. We will leave in three hours."

These kinds of field trips were not uncommon, but usually it was only made with classes year or two older than these children were. But it probably did not matter, maybe there had just been some diplomatic games again, and this field trips was some sort of gesture of good will or something. But Sharku was not going to let them off the hook this easily. The old instructor looked around the class, trying to look for someone who was dazing off and would be a good target for a sudden question. Shade had already been questioned, and Aoki sadly was actually paying attention today to him, most unusual behavior from the young echidna, so he would not do either...

The sharp gaze ended to a student sitting on the back row, who had again been late from the class today. Sharku had actually forgotten the strangely colored boy during his lesson, well, he would have to do in a lack of a better target...

"And to end our lesson hour so you can prepare, there will be an one last question. Who can tell how many years we have been at peace with Kron? Lunas, do you know the answer? It should be easy, it was almost the first thing I mentioned at the start of this lesson hour."

The joke being in that since Lunas had not been in class right in the beginning, he had not heard it. And Sharku was reasonable sure that no student in this room was so inspired by history that would know answer to that question. The again, Lunas was a very strange case.

Posted by: Lunas May 28 2011, 08:13 PM
Lunas sighed when the teacher picked him out of the group, he should of known he would get picked on for being late again just like last time. If anyone ever personified “The Odd One Out” that would be Lunas in a nutshell for many reasons, but the most obvious one is his blue fur; normally Echidnas ranged from red, to orange, and browns, and albinos were not unheard of, but blue? That was an oddity, one which the other children immediately jumped on and teased him about it. But rather than get mad, or upset about it, Lunas just flips it around and say that it made him unique and special in its own way.

But what separates him from the crowd in the teacher’s eyes was his constant tardiness to classes, Lunas always arrive late due to either unavoidable circumstances or him losing track of time, but after a while everyone just assumes he was making excuses. Today the reason he was late was because he stopped to help an elder lady find her grandchildren, he remembered having to sneak back into class and sat at the back row hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice, unfortunately he did.

"And to end our lesson hour so you can prepare, there will be an one last question. Who can tell how many years we have been at peace with Kron? Lunas, do you know the answer? It should be easy, it was almost the first thing I mentioned at the start of this lesson hour."

Lunas looked around at the other children as he stood up to answer, some were staring at him wondering if he knew, others were smirking at him being picked on, and some were just not interested. He looked the teacher in the eyes and said “Sir we’ve been at peace with the Krons for Ten Years last week, ever since Imperator Ix arranged the treaty at their colony world with their leader Foreman Krag”.

Yes Lunas was always late to class, but what is strange to the others is that it hasn’t ruined his studies in any way. His grades have always been up to par with some of the better students, this is because Lunas loves to read on Culture History, both echidna and alien and reads his text book every night like a child reading a story book. Which is why he knew that his answer was not only correct, but accurate.

(OOC: Hey guys I'm finally putting Lunas into the story)

Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Jun 19 2011, 06:01 PM
As the Instructor continued in his lecture, Shade’s mind began to wander again. It was a dumb thing to do, especially since she’d been reprimanded for it already. Instead it was the answers to an exam she’d taken the previous afternoon. Instructor Nor-Lien’s tests were usually easy, at least Shade thought they were. Maybe it was because the subjects that the old female taught she found to be more interesting than history. She was certain that she had one of the answers wrong, and if she did, she’d have to make a mental note to add extra study of that to Sharku’s extra studies of the Kron people. Nor-Lien didn’t often require it of her students, but Shade thought it best to learn from mistakes. It bothered her that she wouldn’t be able to find out for another three hours.

The drawling drone of Sharku’s voice paused, and Shade quickly refocused her attention once again to the present. She couldn’t help but smirk at the old male in front of the room as his own attention was drawn to the screen on his desk. The girl found it somewhat of a double standard that Instructor Sharku couldn’t keep his own focus on the lesson at hand and not face any consequences, and yet she and the rest of the class could not. Perhaps someone should question him and see how he’d squirm under pressure! Then again, by the expression on his face, maybe there wasn’t. Sharku covered the emotions on his face with the same bored mask he wore before wandering over to the vid-screen and returned to the front of the class.

“…speaking of expeditions, our class will be making a small trip to the Kron colony today…”

No one dared to speak or vocalize any sort of surprise at this sudden news. But there was an collective intake of breath from around the room. Even Shade sat up a little straighter. They were all going to be leaving the ship? Why?!

“…where we will make a small field exercise.”

Shade creased her brow at this next bit of information. Whispers of surprise and delight started two rows from her left. Though training for field expeditions had begun, none in their year level were yet cleared to attend one.

“We will leave in three hours.”

She didn’t fully hear this last instruction, as the whispers had spread to her own row. The excitement of her peers was infections, and Shade too couldn’t wait to see what it was like beyond the Nocturnus. For her, it wasn’t just the idea of getting away from the Nocturnus it was getting away from the nursery deck! The same boring corridors all leading to the same boring rooms to see all the same boring echidnas…these she’d had endure for as long as Shade could remember. Another girl, Su-Meng, leaned over, whispered something about getting out of science studies that afternoon, and giggled about talking to rocks. Shade grinned back, and almost replied about how little the difference was between talking to rocks and talking to her own peers. But she was cut short by a warning growl from Instructor Sharku.

The whole class immediately ceased talking and all eyes refocused to the front of the room. In his own way, the old echidna reminded them all that the Kron were not enemies of the Nocturnus and asked how long it had been so between their peoples. Not unrepentantly, he looked to the rear of the room. Shade didn’t have to turn her head to see whom his stern gaze had fallen upon.

“Sir we’ve been at peace with the Krons for Ten Years last week,” the familiar voice called out. “…ever since Imperator Ix arranged the treaty at their colony world with their leader, Foreman Krag”.

Shade smirked as a scowl crossed Instructor Sharku’s features as the boy recited his answer. It was rather silly that the blue never seemed to arrive at the appropriate time. Given that, she could understand how Sharku would be disappointed about not being able to deliver punishment. She often wondered just where the boy wandered off to that got him into so much trouble. At the same time however, it was equally amusing to see the Instructor be put in his place by one of her own.

When having much else to say, Instructor Sharku drew their attention to their data pads. With a flick of a button on his own screen, a list of supplies and instructions of where on the ship to get them appeared in their hands. Shade couldn’t believe what was on the list. They were going to be away from the ship for at least several days! After a last reminder of which shuttle bay to meet at, Sharku dismissed the children on their way.

Posted by: Imperator Ix Jun 20 2011, 12:58 PM
Sharku was a bit annoyed by the fact that Lunas knew the answer, but he was a teacher, and it would really have been silly for an Instructor to be mad at a student because he had answered correctly to the question asked. So the old echidna just sighed and the did the necessary instructions so the children would know what to take with them to this sudden trip, and after that, ended the class. After they had all left, Sharku still stared at the new order for a some time, before finally shrugging and starting to walk into his quarters too, closing the door of class room behind him. This was strange, but in Nocturnus, you did not question your orders.

Three hours later, Sharku stood in the main hangar, a large transport shuttle with it's entrance ramp open, looking at the rows of students in front of him. The old echidna started saying names from the list aloud, and the students walked in when their names were mentioned. Sharku had already read their schedule, and knew what they would do during this trip. They would land to a secluded part of Kron Colony, in one of their crystal forests. Fortunately, Kron Colony was more or less devoid of all animal life, and as such, there were really no real dangers for the youg echidnas. Not that it would be an excuse to lax about security. On each seat of the shuttle, there was a small bracelet, that each student would put around around his arm, that had in-built tracking devices and alarm sensors in them. To the society of Nocturnus, children were very important, which is why their safety outside the ship was always taken very seriously. Also, Kron had a few sacred places in their colony, and if one of the children would happen to wander in them and nocturnian echidnas would try to follow, the result would be a diplomatic incident, something that no one wanted.

After everyone were aboard the ship, Sharku stepped in, and closed the entrance hatch behind him. The old echidna could feel the exitement of the young echidnas, and could understand it perfectly. One reason why soldiering was such popular profession on the ship, was that only military personnel usually got to missions that required them to leave the ship. These kinds of trips to the outside world were rare and far between.

The old instructor sat on his chair, and then looked around him. There were eighteen children with him, and only adults who would be coming were the two pilots of the transport, a kron guide waiting at them in the camp area, and an one fully trained soldier to act as a security, who sat just besides Sharku, already wearing his full battle-gear. The old instructor had no doubt that a fully armed nocturnian soldier with his combat suit on and active would be quite a sight to the children here. The soldier was probably perfectly aware of it too, because he had activated his arm blade, and was polishing it with a small energy knife. Sharku almost regretted that he had not asked the the soldier escort's name in advance, even though this did not seem to be a talkative type. The old instructor gestured to the pilots, who nodded and then started the engine. Accompanied by a trembling and a loud sound of gravity engine activating, the transport rose up in the air and started flying towards the airlock. Sharku had no doubt, that this trip would be very exciting, one way or another.

Posted by: Lunas Jun 26 2011, 12:35 PM
The Instructors reaction to Lunas’ answer was a mix of disappointment and embarrassment, all trying to conceal itself, but Lunas was very good at reading facial expressions, even very subtle one. Lunas sat back down in his place thinking maybe Instructor Sharku doesn’t like teaching at all and just wants to make things difficult for the students. Apparently some of the other students thought this since after Lunas stumped the Instructor a few of them silently giggled and a few more gave the blue echidna some congratulatory gestures when Skarku wasn’t looking and Lunas himself couldn’t resist a small smile of pride.

Three hors later and Lunas was in the hangar bay with the rest of the class, waiting to be let on board the shuttle craft that will take them on their trip to the Kron Colony, and Lunas couldn’t be anymore excited. He dreamed of visiting the other colonies and their people, to get away from the sterile environment that is the Nocturnus Ship and explore. For once Lunas wasn’t late, no elders to assist or lost children to help today, and this was one class he wouldn’t want to miss out on. As instructed he brought everything Instructor Sharku told them to bring on this exercise that they may need, but Lunas also brought his Text Book on the Kron Civilisation which he carried under his arm, if he was going to explore their Colony he wanted to learn everything he can and be prepared for whatever they may encounter.

When his name was called by the Instructor, the boy made his way onboard the shuttle, he gazed around the passenger section with some awe like most of the other children who had never been on a space craft before. Everyone was taking their seats and Lunas was looking for an empty one, preferably one with a window; he eventually found one next to fellow classmate Shade “Uhm, hi Shade, can I sit next to you?” he asked a little shyly.

Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Jul 17 2011, 06:45 AM
Instructor Sharku dismissed his class, and the children began filing out the doorway accompanied by the excited murmur of adventure-hungry children. Shade laughed right along with the rest of them and followed the other girls to her end of the nursery wing. Upon entering her room the door hissed shut behind her; effectively drowning out the noise. After tossing her belongings onto the worn carpeting of the floor, she sat on her bed with her data pad to review the list of things to collect before reconvening with the rest of her peers in the shuttle bay. So used to the monotony of Nocturnus rules, Shade couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t quite right about this assignment. With one last shrug, she hopped to her feet to cross the room and peer into her closet. Standing on her toes, the echidna reached up to the topmost shelf to feel around for the standard issue carry-bag that had sat folded up and unused since the day she’d been assigned to the room. Opening one of the drawers inside the tiny closet she wondered just what the environment was like on Kron. Was it cold… was it hot… was it wet? Instructor Sharku hadn’t yet gone over such information with them. It occurred to Shade, that she could of course just read up on the information herself, but that would take time. She could read about that on the shuttle.

Remembering the shuttle trip had her filling the bag with a renewed sense of urgency. Remembering that she needed to leave room for the other supplies on Sharku’s list, Shade put in one last pair of socks, fastened the top, and laced up her boots. Walking through the corridors of the ship, Shade couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous under scowls and bemused expressions of other adult echidnas as she collected her gear. Eventually she found herself nearly treading on the heels of Aoki and some other boy whose name Shade couldn’t recall. The nameless one snickered and whispered to the other who looked up with a predatory smirk on his face; but it was lost on Shade as she simply continued to gape in awe at her new surroundings. The Nocturnus was so much, bigger beyond the walls of the youth quarters. She decided at the point that she wanted very much so to be part of it… to get out of the cramped way of living she’d known for so long. When she could see the runes overhead marking the location of the correct shuttle bay, the adrenaline of the excitement of actually leaving the ship peaked. She could hear the voices of other excited children.

As she crossed the threshold, her left toe suddenly caught on the strap of a discarded duffle sack. Shade fell forward to sprawl on the cold, hard metal of the floor. Not giving the bruise on her jaw time to throb, the girl rolled to her buttocks to up and glare at the echidna who owned the offending bag.

“Oops~” Aoki shrugged and picked up his belongings to walk towards the waiting shuttle, while his friend laughed.

Shade growled and jumped to her feet. Before she could follow the jump with rushing right cross, Instuctor Sharku entered the hanger followed by another echidna dressed in full battle armor. There was a collective intake of air by those whom had not yet had the privilege of seeing a full fledged soldier. From his scent, the echidna was definitely a male… Perhaps it was the way the armor gleamed underneath the artificial lighting that fascinated her, or maybe it was the way in which he carried himself with echidna pride. Either way, Shade simply stood slack-jawed, and watched him go by. She decided she wanted to know more about his station… she wanted to earn the honor of wearing battle gear such as his. Ignoring the continuing snickers of the two boys, Shade reshouldered her bag and followed the two adults closer to the shuttle.

While Instuctor Sharku began role call, Shade took time to examine the craft that would soon be carrying them all away. Twin vertical stabilizers on the aft end of the craft sloped down in one continuous line over the main fuselage to the nose of the shuttle. Like wise, the wings sloped away from the nose and out to the sides, giving the entire ship the appearance of a black moth— if Shade would have ever seen one. In the sharp angles between the wings and the top stabilizers tiny windows glowed from the inside along the fuselage. The engines were situated in the very back and just under the wings, and Shade wondered what it must be like to actually be able to fly the thing. Daydreaming about such an adventure, she almost missed Instructor Sharku’s second calling of her name. The girl climbed up the boarding ramp, and took a moment to gap around on the inside. One of the pilots was directing the children where to store their gear, while the other up front was busy going through preflight procedures.

After stowing her bag where instructed, Shade moved forward into the craft to find herself a seat. The armored soldier sat calmly up towards the front; idly polishing one of the weapons housed inside his battle gear. Though the other children whispered and pointed at him with unhidden curiosity, none were bold enough to sit within two seats of the male… not even Aoki. The girl smirked at that, and did the unthinkable… she waltzed right down the aisle and plopped herself in the seat directly behind him. He wasn’t so intimidating up close, at least not from behind. Maybe he would share with her how to earn such fine armor as his. As Shade fumbled with how to secure her seatbelt a dark shadow appeared on her left.

Thinking the figure to be that of the helpful pilot, and thoroughly frustrated with the fastener, Shade looked up with an agitated hiss, “Stupid thing! I don’t understand how it…” She stopped mid-sentence as the face that appeared was not that of the ruddy-furred pilot, but the cool blue of a boy. Lunas… it took her a moment to remember his name.

“Uhm, hi Shade, can I sit next to you?”

For another moment, the young echidna was dumbfounded. No one ever voluntarily joined her for anything! She felt eyes turn their way, and she turned to look back down the aisle to see Instructor Sharku boarding the shuttle and sealing the door.

Looking back up at Lunas, Shade shrugged, “If you want to, I guess I don’t mind.” The girl dropped the offending seatbelt to scoot over onto the window side seat so the boy could sit down. As she watched him sit she noticed the book in his lap. “Where did you get that?” She pointed to the tome and asked with genuine curiosity. All of the texts and reading material she’d ever looked at or received came on data pads and vid-screens. She of course knew what a book was, but not many children in the nursery dorms, especially the orphaned ones ever had the chance to hold a book. "May I see it?"





Posted by: Lunas Jul 23 2011, 03:45 PM
When Lunas sat down next to Shade he noticed she was interested in his book and asked where he got it. It was a understandable question since most texts onboard the ship was in digital format but that doesn’t mean there weren’t books available for those who prefer the feel of a book in their hands or the scent of the pages as they are opened, an old fashioned sentiment but it survives even to this day.

“Uhm there is this library in the main social sector, they translate a lot of information found on the computers into written form for those who prefer books over data pads” he told Shade “I go there very often, it’s a very nice place” he smiled a little.

When Shade asked if she could see his book Lunas felt a little protective over it and hesitated; Last year one of the other children that once picked on him stole his book and tore a page out of it upsetting Lunas greatly. Fortunately one of the female instructors was passing by and punished the bully, more for destroying property than picking on Lunas but she comforted him nonetheless.

But Lunas knows that Shade herself gets picked on so maybe she wouldn’t do anything bad “Uhm okay, it’s a book on the Krons, I thought it might be useful on this trip” he handed the book over to her. On its hard back cover was an artistic representation of a Kron, a large rock like creature with a boulder within its belly, standing amongst what looked like a wasteland of rock and sand.

“Are you looking forward to seeing them?” he asked her curiously.

(OOC: Ix said to skip him for a bit while Lunas and Shade have a chat)

Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Sep 21 2011, 04:30 PM
Shade frowned when the boy hesitated with his book. What did he think she would do with it? Use it for target practice or for some quiet time in the lavatory? While Lunas thought it over, she used the time figure out how her seatbelt worked.

“Uhm… okay,” he agreed just as the buckle clicked into place.

Both pleased with herself, and pleased with his willingness to share; Shade took the book into her hands. Immediately she began to analyze it’s physical properties. She hefted it a few times in the air, feeling out its weight. Then she gave it a curious sniff, wondering where its maker found the materials for its construction. Vegetable matter for parchment and ink was somewhat of a rarity on the Nocturne. Which meant, someone had to trade with one the other species of creatures within the cage to acquire them.

Turning the book back to it’s front cover, Shade traced the drawing on the front with a finger. Art wasn’t often encouraged in their lessons and from the elders who cared for her. She was often told it was a waste of time. “It’s very nice, Lucas…” She complimented as she finally opened it up to view the pages inside. “…and very resourceful.”

Without warning there was a loud thump and a hissing sound. Shade looked up in alarm, only to see it was just the shuttle bay doors opening. She turned her attention back to Lunas when the boy asked if she was looking forward to seeing the Kron.

Was she?

“I’m not sure.” She decided to answer truthfully. “Part of me is excited to see something other than this ship for once in my life, but another part is… uneasy about what is waiting for us.”

The shuttle disengaged its landing struts, and drifted effortlessly through gapping maw of the hanger doors. They were off now… Truly leaving the ship! And there was no backing out now. Shade turned to watch out the window. On one side of her field of vision, the Nocturne filled the entirety of it. The ship’s massive hull stretched wider and loomed taller than she could have possibly imagined. One the other side, a vast open nebula… punctuated here and there by dark objects and pinpricks of light.

Her breath caught in her throat. How could she be unsure of this adventure?! To have her class be allowed to see such wonders at an earlier age than their peers. Surely this was a treat for something. Doubt fled her mind and she turned to Lucas with an excited grin. "Are you looking forward to seeing them?"

Posted by: Lunas Oct 1 2011, 06:46 PM
The whole shuttle was filled with the low sounds of the pupils astonishment and excitement as the shuttle slowly drifted out of the launch bay and into the void outside, even Shade stared out the window in amazement. From the windows they could all see the Nocturne’s vast form on one side and a beautiful cluster of stars and colours on the other.

Lunas smiled as he watched the Nocturne drift further and further away, then Shade sat back down and asked if he was looking forward to the trip. “Uhm well…yes I am. I’m curious to see the other colonies and their people” he shyly admitted “We hear all about what’s outside the Nocturne and I want to see it for myself” he looked at his book, particularly the picture on the cover “I just hope they’re friendly” he added.

(OOC: Sorry if the post is short)

Posted by: Imperator Ix Oct 28 2011, 12:39 PM

The relatively small shuttle, at least when compared to it's mothership, kept flying through the void of space, towards the Kron colony. Nocturne was passing the planet during it's slow crawl through the Twilight Cage, and in a few days would again go past it, farther than the small shuttle could travel. This is why Nocturne's politic and diplomatic relations were seasonal, as the gigantic ship's orbit made it spend even intervals every month around each and every colony. The ship was right now so close to the planet, that it was actually visible from the surface during the night.

Finally, after only a hour of flight, the shuttle arrived to Kron. As it entered to the atmosphere, the shuttle flew past old cities and abandoned factories of the planet. Kron were most warmongering race in the dimension, and after Nocturne had defeated them, their economy and infrastructure had been devastated. Although in all honesty, it was likely that if the war would not had ended when it did, Kron would have depleted their supplies and their population itself to the state of extinction. However, as a result, many factories on the planet were still abandoned, Kron simply not needing them now when they did not anymore pour all their resources into making engines of war. Now all that they did was gather dust, of which there was plenty on the rocky, brown colored wastelands and deserts of the planet.

The shuttle made it's to one such wasteland, into a range of huge mountains. In them, there was a certain abandoned factory city built inside them, which had been chosen for this exercise, and it had been used by other classes as well. Some Kron still were bitter to the small and physically less imposing echidnas who had defeated them, and as such, diplomats on both sides had decided that these offers of hospitality should be done in controlled environment. The factory would also work as a shield against the harsh winds and sandstorms of the planet. The plain wastelands were not very good placed to live, but surrounded by the mountains and factory buildings, harshest edge of the wind would be taken away.

The shuttle landed on the courtyard of the factory, which was really a size of small city, it's network of tunnels going for miles inside the mountains. However, most routes had been sealed shut, and since the students were not given warp belts, they would find it most difficult to get lost, and there was no fear of someone disappearing to the tunnels. The open area of factory and it's parts were only a "few" miles in diameter, going inside and on the mountains.

After the shuttle had landed and the pilots had done the landing procedures, the landing ramp opened again, and Sharku gestured for the children to unseat their belts. The warrior in his armor was the first one to step outside, and Sharku herded the children to follow him outside.

First thing when stepping outside you felt was the wind, and the light of the indigo sun of the Cage. The courtyard itself was surrounded by tall walls made of steel, on the other end being a huge gate that lead to the mountain paths and then to the wastelands, and on the other side being a gate of equally intimidating proportions, that lead to the factory itself. The soldier was some distance away, talking to a yellow and orange giant, composed of rock and other minerals. You could read from books how large and imposing Kron were, but seeing one, with their fists that weighted more than a normal mobian, was an another thing entirely. The soldier was rather calmly speaking to a being more than twice of his size, and most likely over ten times his weight, clearly negotiating about something. However, the wind took away the words going between the two residents of the Cage.

Sharku, who only curled deeper to his robes, next ordered the children to uncamp tents they had with them. The two pilots had just finished carrying them from the shuttle, nine small boxes, one for two students, that would open to tents. Readying them was certainly faster and less difficult than normal tents, but they still needed some measuring where to put the spikes which could compose the tent and connect the fabric between them, and other small details. If you messed up in the placement, your tent would look very strange indeed, or then the roof of the tent would be ten inches from the ground. All students had been taught how to use these tents, and most had actually even built at least one, but that had been a long time ago, and Sharku was curious to see, how many would actually remember what they had been taught.
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Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Nov 5 2011, 04:30 PM
The conversation with Lunas gradually drifted into respectful silence of shared study. The boy’s book was far more interesting than the information on her data pad; the personality of the book’s author shone through with every word written on a page. The data pad was more of a recitation of facts that were to be committed to memory which left little room for change or opinions. When the two had their fill of the book, Shade looked around to be certain none were watching. With a grin, she silently reprogrammed her datapad to play a word game. It was a simple game, the pad would present a blank word, and the echidnas’ goal was to guess what it was, letter by letter. If they lost or guessed incorrectly, an image of an echidna (that strangely looked very much like Aoki ) was gradually dismembered. Sometimes Shade would purposely guess the wrong letters just to watch the digital echidna loose his head in the end.

After awhile, the collective murmuring of the shuttle crescendoed, and Shade looked up from their thirtieth or so game to see the tawny marble of the Kron world filling the horizon. One of the pilots got up from his seat in the front to recheck storage compartments above the childrens’ seats. Shade was quick to power down her datapad to hide the game, and slid the unit under her jacket. When the pilot returned to the front, the shuttle eased its way into world’s atmosphere… its decent hardly noticeable to those onboard.

“Look at that…” Shade whispered to Lunas as she pointed to their rapidly approaching destination.

The shuttle swung around and landed. The mountains around them encircled the craft like the teeth of some monstrous beast. Lights twinkled in and out around the ‘gumline’ like little gems. Shade expected there to be more light than that, but it was almost darker here than it was aboard the Nocturnus.

Master Sharku stood and began shouting instructions. As Shade unbuckled her belt, the echidna in full battle gear strode past her and Lunas’ seats. For reasons she could not explain, she sucked in her breath and froze. It wasn’t until the other children were standing and leaving their seats, that Shade realized her stupor.

“Master Sharku,” she asked as he approached her, “Won’t we need environmental suits?”

His only response was to tell her to hurry. Shade grabbed her pack and quickly scrambled to be down the ramp. The wind was the first to hit her full in the face; her dreadlock-styled spines whipped around her muzzle, their sharp tips nicking her on the face. She hardly felt the sting, gapping around at the Kron city as she was. The main gate was huge, and to Shade, it seemed to almost stretch was high as the mountains themselves. Then she seen it… the Kron alien. It stepped forward and met their armored guard as he approached the gate. Shade was sure she felt the vibrations of seismic impact under her feet, even from this distance. The Kron lifted a hand, and for a fearful moment she though it was going crush the echidna into meat pudding.

Master Sharku voice carried on the wind, drawing her attention away from the exchange between the alien and the Nocturne. The pilots had unloaded the heavier pieces of camping gear, and her classmates were rushing to claim their favorites. Shade spotted Lunas as she made her way to join them. “I guess the last one’s for us,” she noted as grasped one of the handles on the box.

She waited until Lunas had hold of the opposite end before heaving the weighty contraption as high as her knees. She looked around at the other students to see where they were setting up their gear. To her amusement, most confined themselves to a small area around the shuttle. The braver ones set up closer to the gate. “Let’s go over there!” Shade pointed to two large boulders, well away from everyone else. Its seclusion wasn’t her goal. When the two echidnas had walked around them it was to find that the huge rocks significantly cut back the bite of the wind.

“This should be no problem,” she grinned at Lunas, dropping her end of the box. When they opened the lid, the first thing Shade pulled out was the tent. It was a rather drab looking thing, the canvas covering was almost the same color as the dirt. But it was simple! One tent, one element repeller, five poles, two pole connectors, two pole extensions for the element repeller, and lots of heavy metal stakes. She glanced around the boulders at other students who putzed with scanners and datapads only to snort with disgust. With a snap, Shade unrolled the tent while leaving the task of fitting the poles together to Lunas.

“Lunas get the hammer and come hold this,” she said as she slipped a stake through the ring on one corner. She took the hammer when he came back and whacked at the stack head with every ounce of strength she had, but the ground was just too hard. The stake only made it in a couple of inches. “We need something heavier…” Shade growled as she stood up and stomped on the stake in vain with her boot. “Oh! I know!” She dropped the hammer and rummaged around in their box for their water supply. When she returned, she poured a little of it out around the stake. The ground was so dry, the water simply sat on top of the dirt for a few moments, but it eventually soaked in. Shade motioned for Lunas to give the stake another go with the hammer. This time it was a success, whether it was the softened soil or a different set of muscles behind the hammer it didn’t matter. Shade couldn’t help but let out a cheer when the stake was secure. Soon all four corners were staked, with four left in the pocket of her jacket.

“We have to get the main part up first,” she suggested as she grabbed the elastic loop on one of the tent’s peaks. “Hold that side…” Shade stretched the elastic ring up over the joint where three poles connected. Then she held her end so Lunas could do the same on his. “Now we just…” she bent one of the poles slightly as she knelt to jam the pin on the corner ring that was already secure up inside. Likewise, Shade did to the other corner.

Standing back she observed their handiwork. The tent sagged a bit in the middle, and truthfully, looked horrible. “Oh yeah…” Shade gathered up the element repeller and the two pole extensions. Now that it was on, and they had things snapped and buckled in their appropriate places, it made more sense when they stretched out the repeller and staked it to the ground.

“Tah-dah!” Shade sang out as she presented the finished A-frame to Lunas with out-stretched arms.




Posted by: Lunas Dec 2 2011, 09:14 PM
It was pleasing to see someone else his age appreciate a good book thought Lunas, all too often he was teased about carrying around old texts when it would be easier to carry datapads, but he always believed nothing can beat the feel of a book in your hands. Shade certainly seemed to enjoy reading it with him as they spent most of the shuttle trip studying its pages quietly.

After they finished the book for what would be Lunas’ 56th time but Shade’s first, the female pulled out her datapad and started playing a word puzzle game on it. Lunas was surprised and impressed by how she was able to reprogram it to play games, she must have been a good study of Programming Languages. She invited the boy to join in and he happily nodded and they took turns in figuring out the answers.

A little while later Lunas’ attention was diverted to the port view next to their seat when Shade whispered “Look at that…” and looked outside at the approaching world. He like the others awed at the wonder of a new place to walk upon and new people to meet.

Once they landed in the quarry their instructor gave the orders to disembark the shuttle, Lunas quickly gathered his only carryon his book under his arm and went to follow Shade but his new friend was quicker than him to leave and he lost sight of her in the crowd of young echidnas.

After some impatient urgings from Master Sharku, Lunas followed the crowd outside, the harsh winds made his dreads blow around his head “Master Sharku, is it always this windy here?” the boy asked his teacher curiously but Sharku was more interested in hugging his cloak shut against the winds than listening to one of his students.

The rest of the class was standing in a crowd and were staring in awe at the massive gates in the distance, as well as the alien being that stood before them, talking to their assigned Warrior. Lunas couldn’t get a good view due to being at the back of the crowd but by the time he managed to find a good place to view the Kron, Sharku ordered everyone to unpack their camping equipment.

There was much pushing and shoving as the class all crowded to get at their desired gear, Lunas thought there was little point since all the equipment is the same, just some were older than others. Rather than get involved, the boy patiently waited until the mob had dispersed before going to get his camping gear, and as luck would have it, Shade did the same rejoining him “Shade, looks like we’re camping partners” Lunas smiled.

“I guess the last one’s for us” she pointed out the only remaining gear left and the two grabbed both handles, helping each other carry the rather heavy equipment. “So where should we set it up?” asked Lunas, noting how the rest of the class was already picking out spots around the shuttle.

“Let’s go over there!” Shade pointed at two large boulders far from the other campers. Lunas wasn’t sure about this, he would of preferred to stay near the shuttle just in case of trouble. But he had no time to disagree with the female as she immediately pulled the gear along with him to her chosen spot.

It took some time to set the tent up, but Lunas rather enjoyed it as well as Shade by the way she kept smiling during the whole process. Soon the tent was finished and Shade grinned at Lunas, impressed with their handiwork, and Lunas couldn’t help but grin back.

“Nice work Shade, have you ever done this before? Camping I mean” he asked her.

Their pleasant conversation however was interrupted by the arrival of some of the other students, obviously taking advantage of their teacher being distracted with talking with the Warrior and Kron. Lunas noted that one of them was Aoki and quickly slipped his book into the tent just in case.

(OOC: Sorry if it seemed rushed, just thought it would be redundant for me to repeat what Shade has already said)

Posted by: Imperator Ix Dec 19 2011, 07:09 PM

Sharku noted to his dismay, that most of the children did admirably in placing their tents, but then the instructor noticed how the two trouble-makers of his class had placed their tent between two large boulders, away from others. Thought they were too good for he company of others, eh? He should really do something to those two, or all discipline would be gone soon. Sharku had been in a bad mood already because of this blasted wind, and unfortunately the two students had just volunteered to be something he could scold at least a little.

However, before the Instructor could start walking towards them, the soldier escort, whose name Sharku still did not know, stepped right next to him, having finished his discussion with the representative of Kron.

"Everything is in order. the factory is closed off and other entrances sealed. They were also kind enough to search the area for any predators. Everything is ready for the exercise."

Sharku just nodded, and followed with his eyes how the Kron represantive walked away, the earth trembling a bit with each step as moving half ton rock made it's way inside the factory.

"It is best to wait for a hour or two before we start the exercice, so the students can get at least a bit more used to this rocky wasteland. In the meantime we can give them all the tracking bracelets, and you can prepare the mark points."

The soldier escort just nodded and then warped away, doing his appointed task. Sharku turned to look at the pack of tents that had rosen up relatively quickly, and only now remembered, that his tent was still packed tightly in the shuttle. Oh well, those lazy pilots needed something to do anyway...

_________________

A few hours later, after they had eaten quick lunch and all students had been given small bracelets to wear on their wrist, Sharku called them all together, so he could explain the rules of this first test, as more complicated ones would follow in day after this one.

"The large factory besides us will be our training ground, although only a small part of it has been opened. You have all been given your bracelets, they will act as maps and also tracking devices. Your task is simple. You go in pairs, and have to navigate your way through the factory to certain signal markers that have been planted all over the place, and find them one by one. Each pair's order of markers is random, so following others will not do you any good."

Sharku pointed at the soldier escort, who had returned just moments ago, and who was standing a few feet away, but did not say a word.

"The point of this exercise it to teach you to adapt and operate in foreign terrain, and also teach you some teamwork, as part of the markers have been placed in locations that are very difficult to get without someone helping you. Your location and process is constantly monitored by us, and if there happens an accident of some kind..."

Like one of your co-students hitting your bracelet with a rock to stop your from participating anymore, Sharku mused in his mind:

"Just activate the bracelet, and we know that something is wrong. However, in doing that you will also quit from the exercise, which means more work later. We will start in just a few minutes, and started spending pairs inside between every few minutes."

It did not take long for them to start, and Sharku followed how the pairs started disappearing to the old factory, and looked at the soldier, who he knew was following the students on his helmet's map display. He would constantly monitor their process. That added to the fact that the factory was devoid of any animals larger than echidna's palm, and the whole thing was carved to a mountain, there was barely any danger. What could possibly go wrong?

________________________

The echidna in ragged nocturnian warsuit closed his wrist projector, that he had used to follow the advance of the students coming deeper to the mountain. They had been holed up in this sorry cavern for days, it was finally time to act. Their client had been very specific in what they had to do, and this task he had given to them seemed to be very easy money.

"Saddle up boys, time to go and do what we have been paid to do. This will be easy pickings, but that is no reason to be lazy about it."

His companions, half dozen other echidnas in just as ragged clothing as he was, just grinned and started activating their weapons and preparing their gear. He did not know why their client had hired all six of them to kidnap a single girl. Even despite who she was, she was still just a child. Not that his co-workers needed to know that, to them this was just a easy job. Void Pirates were not very known to refuse when they were offered money, after all.


Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Jan 24 2012, 07:17 PM
Shade looked at the small bracelet in her hand after it was given to her. As Instructor Sharku spoke on about their assignment, she leaned over Lunas’ arm to look at his. To her relief, his bracelet was the same color and it was etched with the same glyphs as hers; she would not be paired with an echidna who couldn’t be worked with!

Even though they’d all stared at the factory over the last couple of hours, it wasn’t become any less awe-inspiring or intimidating. The Kron factory was huge! Maybe even bigger than the Nocturnus itself! Shade couldn’t help but wonder, if they had to go inside that thing, however were they going to keep from getting lost?

When Sharku mentioned that their bracelets contained maps Shade gave the bulky bezel-like part of her own bracelet a quick study. She discovered that beneath the glyph, the bezel turned and came apart. She blinked curiously at the key-like chip in her hand and quickly deduced that it was made to fit into the up-link slot on her data-pad. She smiled in delight at her own genius, but the smiled faded when the display on her pad became just as intimidating to look at as the Kron factory itself. The girl clamped her tongue between her teeth inside her, and looked around at her classmates; wondering if their tasks would be as complexly marked as hers. To her disappointment however, most of the other students were still gawking at their bracelets as though concept of wearing one was as alien to them as the Kronos world itself.

Shade sighed and tapped Lunas on the shoulder to show him what was going on. “We have to collect all these blinking things…” she said to him. It was more to paraphrase the instructions aloud to herself to make sure she understood them, than to explain to him what he probably already figured out. “…like a treasure hunt.”

The girl passed her pad off into her friend’s hand for him to study and she stepped away to recheck their gear; making sure nothing was misplaced or damaged during the flight. She had even saved a bit of her lunch just in case it took them hours to locate all the beckons! When she was ready, she took back her data pad and waited with the others for their turn to be given permission to proceed.

Aoki and his partner snickered somewhere off to the side about who in their class would be the first to get lost inside the factory. The arrogant male made his glance back at her and the blue echidna beside her quite obvious as to whom he was placing his bets on. She had no doubt that they were suspecting Lunas with his natural curiosity about things, but it was stupid in her opinion. She wouldn’t let him get lost. Besides, they hadn’t even yet figured out how their bracelets worked. Instructor Sharku walked over to Aoki and his friend to show them how to use their tech, and Aoki caught her eye as he turned his attention back to the elder echidna. Shade simple graced that look with a venomous smile of her own.


____________________________________________________________________

After the fifth or sixth pair to be allowed into the factory, it was hers and Lunas’ turn; at least their team hadn’t been chosen to go in last. Shade shouldered on her pack and waited for Lunas to do the same. As they walked up the steps that lead into the gates she couldn’t help but crane her neck back to look up at the massive trusses and hinges that supported the arching frame work of stone that was the entryway. It was a far cry from the elegance that could be found on the Nocturnus, but like the great ship it was obvious that its solid design stood time-tested and ageless.

If Shade had been older, and a little more educated at the time, the idea of crawling into a factory that was built beneath billions upon trillions of tons of rock and mountain above her head, it may have been even more than intimidating. But, she wasn’t bothered by that fact much. Instead like any other child, she simply stood there gawking at the interior until the arrival of the next team of students prodded her to move on and remember this was a school lesson not a sight-seeing vacation.

Following the instructions on her pad, Shade quickly determined which direction to go that would take them to the nearest marker on their map. As they walked, the tunnel they were in sloped downward; taking the two echidnas even further under the mountain. The girl couldn’t help but notice that as the path beneath them descended, the stony ceiling vaulted away above them until finally its highest reaches were concealed in darkness and shadow. This was nothing though when one discovered ‘why.’ The path opened wide to reveal a sprawling area before them that was large enough to accommodate a small city.

In fact, the way the various rock formations below were structured on their varying levels, could’ve only been homes or some other form of habitat. It was a city! Manufactured and natural chimneys alike rose from these structures, puffing steady columns of vapor into the air. And all around them was the continuous din of industry. On the opposite side of the city, something long and curving reflected the darkness of the ceiling above. If the stone bridges spanning its width weren’t enough to reveal it as a water source, then the dam that controlled the rapids did. Not that the two young echidnas could tell for sure that that was exactly what it was from this vantage point. It did though seemed odd to Shade that according to her guide that she and Lunas were expected to collect two markers at had had been placed somewhere on the other side of that particular obstacle. Surely Instructor Sharku didn’t want his students to wander that far into the Kron factory did he?

The moment of concern was lost on her as another pair of students ran past them on a path beneath their current walkway. One of them carried a flashing baton-like object in their hand, and the sight spurred Shade’s competitive streak into action. The girl took of in a sprint, laughing at the sounds of Lunas’ footsteps scrambling to recover the sudden distance between them. She cleared the bottom of a section of stairs and turned a corner only to skid to a stop; her laughter catching in her throat. A boulder blocked the path and Shade quickly realized it wasn’t a rock, but instead it was one of the Kron creatures! She supposed, it was to be expected to see them… this was their home. But Shade didn’t expect to encounter one this close.

“Lunas…” she asked in a quiet voice as she gawked at the hulking alien, “…where’s its face? How do we make it move?”

Posted by: Lunas Jan 29 2012, 12:49 PM
“A treasure hunt? I doubt it’ll be that fun” Lunas said to Shade as she explained what their assignment was, not that he didn’t understand what the instructor was talking about, but he appreciated Shade showing enough concern for him that she would make sure he understood. Lunas looked over the map being displayed on Shade’s data pad, once again showing how smart she was in figuring out how their bracelets work. The interior of the factory looked very similar to one of the pictures in his book on Kron Culture which he has studied many times so its confusing layout wasn’t as intimidating to him as it was for his friend.


Once it was his and Shade’s turn to enter the factory, the two walked down a steep slope as most of the interior was underground, the large complex that they saw outside was only the tip of the mountain as it is said. While Shade was staring around in awe at the sheer size of the place, Lunas was also admiring how everything was carved out of natural rock like the whole place was a giant stone statue, nearly every wall, floor and ceiling was a single solid piece. As they ventured deeper following Shade’s map they soon found themselves in a large cavern populated by many homes and a structure containing a water source, Lunas recognised it as one of the chambers that the Kron use as residences, their homes for family.

“Isn’t this impressive Shade? There is a whole community of Kron all living here just like we do in our quarters but not as isolating” the boy said to his friend but soon realised she had already ran ahead, no doubt eager to get to the first beacon “Shade wait up!” Lunas scrambled after her as she laughed at him. He finally caught up to here when she stopped before a Kron blocking the path.

“Lunas…” she asked in a quiet voice as she gawked at the hulking alien, “…where’s its face? How do we make it move?”

Lunas looked at the Kron, he has never been this close to one before, not even his book could describe the mixture of excitement and nervousness one feels when meeting one of this hulks. “Its face? It’s the smaller stone on top” he whispered to her, fortunately for them this Kron has its large back to them so it didn’t see them yet. “Let me ask first” he told her before slowly stepping towards the giant “Uhm excuse me…” he tapped the Kron’s stoney body.

Almost instantly the Kron stirred and with the sound of grinding stone it made a movement to turn around to look down at the two children, it also made a sound that almost sounded like a grumble like someone who just woke up. “Can we please go pass? We’re trying to get to the other side of the cavern” Lunas said to the Kron politely like he was addressing an officer or instructor back on the Nocturnus. It was difficult for Lunas to make out what expression the Kron was making with its face, whether it was glaring at them or confused, but after another rock grinding grumble the Kron heaved its heavy body out of the way and set back down off the pathway, making a loud thud. Lunas smiled and bowed his head “Thank you” he then looked at Shade with a grin.

When they rechecked the map to see where the first beacon for them was Lunas pointed something out “Looks like the beacon is on the far side of that water dam, next to the distribution station” he explained “In my book it says that’s where everyone goes to get their water rations. The fastest way would be to take the over pass arching over the city and take the stairs down to it” he suggested dragging his finger over the bridge like structure displayed on the map and pointing at the real thing going across the cavern.

Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Feb 6 2012, 09:37 AM
It’s face? Lunas asked as he finally stepped up beside her.

Shade quickly yanked the boy in front of her, and peeked over his shoulder at the giant as he briefly described sketchy details of its anatomy. What small rock? She didn’t see any small rocks for a head! It sat or stood quietly, Shade wasn’t really sure which, as though the thing had grown right up from the stone of the cavern floor itself.

Maybe part of the exercise was to battle the behemoth for a right of passage? That couldn’t be right. The Kron alien could and would easily squash to two of them like a couple of bugs! Instructor Sharku didn’t say a word about fighting Kron aliens… Now that she thought on it, he hadn’t said anything about coming into contact with one, period. In fact, wasn’t the training area supposed to be cleared and sealed off? Why was there a Kron here other than the fact that it lived this city-sized cave? Before Shade could give the matter anymore thought, Lunas walked away from her and actually touched the strange monster!

“Uhm excuse me… …can we please go pass…? ”

She took an involuntary step backward at the heavy sound of stone scraping against stone as the thing moved its bulk to turn towards the two young echidnas. Lunas kept on talking to the thing as though it were another echidna. Would it even understand him? Where were its ears?! Its eyes? Anyway facial features at all? What if that smaller rock on top of the bigger rock wasn’t its ‘face’ or head at all and something more unpleasant instead?

Shade wanted to point out this possibility to Lunas, but instead she grimaced and ground her teeth at the scrunching sound of the smaller stone on its front sliding against the boulder that made up the bulk of its form. The expressionless head angled down to peer at the little blue echidna with eyes that the salmon-hued one simply could not find or see. And then, just like that, the rock creature scraped up back to its original height, and stepped away from the opening that they needed to take to complete their assignment. The ground quivered under her feet as it moved.

Lunas thanked the creature and looked at Shade with a self-satisfied grin, but the girl grabbed the boy by his elbow and yanked him away from the Kron as fast as she could at a dignified walk. When she felt there was enough distance between herself and the alien, she slowed down and pulled up the map display on her pad. As the boy explained what she was looking at, Shade followed along and gazed up at the stone bridge that arched over the bulk of the Kron city.

“Alright. But this doesn’t make any sense,” she countered, not to argue but to simply state her opinion about the task. “How are we supposed to get to it? The overpass is accessible only from this route…” Shade traced her finger across the pad to highlight their path. “It takes us through more of the Kron city to find it’s access point on this side. We’d have to cut across this corner of it to get there.” The echidna glanced up from her map to peer around at all the buildings. “It all looks so… the same.”

Movement on a higher level above their position caught her eye, and Shade quickly learned that it was another pair of students with another glowing baton in their hands.

“Well we’re falling behind at any rate. Let’s go get that stupid thing so we can get back over here to find the rest.”

It turned out, the alien blocking the path wasn’t the only Kron they were going to encounter along the way. Some of them weren’t as lenient towards them as the first about granting them access to certain areas. When faced with these obstacles the two were required to backtrack, reroute, and even sneak through the inside or over the various cave-like dwellings. The closer they came to the access ramp to the overpass, the louder and heavier the sounds and sights of factory production became. Now the boulder-like Kron they were beginning to see, were busy pushing carts filled with more rocks and bits of metal. It was beginning to be come clear to Shade, from some the pauses and the gravelly growls amongst one another, the aliens were not used to seeing two echidna youth scrambling around among them. Some even gestured with bulky fingers back towards the entrance they came from.

Finally, they reached the overpass… the sound of rushing water pushing through turbines underneath it nearly drowned out the cacophony of industry. Now that Shade was close to it, the water didn’t sparkle as much as the recycled water aboard the Nocturnus. The river was dark and smelled heavily of sulfurous materials. What Shade hadn’t yet been schooled on, was that mining minerals required the use of water… or perhaps they were, but maybe the tidbit of information regarding how processing ore ruined water-sources was purposely omitted from the textfiles of echidna education. Either way, the little echidna was not prepared to experience the grisly sight.

“Lunas,” Shade began as she peered over the guard railing of the bridge at the churning murk below. “Didn’t you say, this is where they all come for their water rations?”


Posted by: Lunas Feb 18 2012, 04:01 PM
“Lunas,” Shade began as she peered over the guard railing of the bridge at the churning murk below. “Didn’t you say, this is where they all come for their water rations?”

Lunas also peeked over the railings, down at the murky and strong smelling substance that was suppose to be water. “Yeah, but they don’t drink it” he told her “They use it as coolant for their mining equipment and sometimes to wash away the sand and dirt that builds up in places” he stepped away from the railings as the smell of sulphur was making his eyes water.

He rubbed his eyes before continuing “I know it looks disgusting but the distribution centre filters out most of the gunk before they use it. There is barely any natural water on this world so they have to recycle and reuse every drop of water they have. There is no such thing as waste to the Kron” he finished.

The blue echidna was aware that the Nocturnus have a similar attitude to their water supply, but their recycling methods are much more stricter to make sure the water was perfectly filtered and free of contaminants. But the Kron don’t have the same level of technology as the echidnas so they have to make do with the methods they have.

The pair carried on down the bridge until they reached the other side, stopping to check the map on their data pads “Okay the beacon should be right below us” Lunas pointed out to Shade before peeking over the railings. Down below was the distribution centre where primitive machines, covered in dirt and grime worked to filter the water in the dam while a group of Kron pushing mining carts waited for their rations. “I can’t see any sign of the beacon” Lunas told Shade as he kept trying to get a better look but he couldn’t see anything that looked like a light beacon.

He rechecked the map, the location of the beacon stated it was right below them “Wait a minute…” Lunas said coming onto an idea, he moved the map into a Three Dimensional view and zoomed into where he and Shade were. “It is below us, attached to the underside of the overpass!” he explained to Shade with both amazement and confusion.

Lunas looked around and spotted what looked like an emergency ladder nearby; it was very large and made from very sturdy metals, designed for a Kron of course. He climbed down the ladder with some difficulty because of his small size, it was like climbing down a set of pull up bars back in the training facility if they were stacked up on top of each other.

He only had to climb down a few steps to get a look at the underside of the bridge “There it is!” he called up to Shade. The beacon was attached to the underside, held by what looked like adhesive gel, strong enough to keep it in place but can be easily removed if needed. “Its too far for me to reach, we need to poke it with something to get it loose” he told his friend “One of us should go to the bottom ready to catch it when it falls”.

(OOC: Yeah I can see that blue is harder to read here. Could you tell me what color Shade's text is in?)

Posted by: Shade Nocturnus Apr 13 2012, 08:01 AM
Lunas could say what he wanted about how the Kron treated their water supply, but Shade had a feeling she knew better. She took one look at the gunk, and figured if she fell in, she'd emerge with a third arm growing out of her forehead. All living things required water to stay alive, or so it had been taught. The Kron may look like rocks, but underneath their bulky armor of shale was a lifeform that was just as frail as everything else that lived. The fact that these aliens had reduced their limited source of water to this gurgling toxic sludge was... wrong somehow.

The girl tuned her attention back to her friend, and followed in his wake as he closed in on the homing signal on their data pad. "Okay, the beacon should be right below us..."

Shade peered over the railing, and looked down below. Surely the beacon wasn't weighted down in the river?! She didn't pack any gear for something like that! She was relieved when the boy switched the map's display from a flat image to one that was three dimensional, and they discovered the beacon wasn't in the water. But it's actual location wasn't any less intimidating.

Lunas pocketed the pad, and climbed down a service ladder meant to give Kron hard to reach access to the overpass. Shade followed down after him a few steps, but the boy was taller than she was and he had an easier time finding secure foot-holds on the ladder. Eventually Shade's sense of self preservation suggested strongly that she just stay where she was for a moment. Lunas cried out with excitement and she looked to where he pointed.

How the heck did they place the beacon way over there? Fly?!

While friend plotted out his suggestion for retrieval, Shade knew it would be impossible to do it that way. Poke it down? With what exactly? A tent pole? Not to mention, who was going to catch it? From what she could see, the beacon was positioned to drop right into the river. The young echidna took a moment to look around and think.

There was another option...

"I have an idea."

Shade climbed back up to the service ladder, and unshouldered her pack. She pulled out a length of rope along with various clips and a harness. After a few buckles, a snap, and a click the harness was on. Shade wrapped the opposite end of the rope around the bridge railing, and gave it a few ubrupt tugs to make sure the knot she'd made around the grappling hook was secure. Satisfied that it would hold, the echidna climbed up onto the railing and dropped the excess length of rope over the side.

Maybe she shouldn't have looked down first, but she did. Shade's stomach did a quick somersault before dropping to the bottom of her gut. But the simple fact that there just was no other way forced the girl to steel her nerves, and swallow the funny taste that was beginning to form in her mouth. With a final deep breath, the echidna climbed over the side and carefully began to lower herself beneath the overpass.

Shade was eye-level with the beacon now when realized there was a little hitch in her plan. She still needed that long stick that Lunas suggested earlier; the beacon was still a good thirty feet away! Maybe... Maybe she could swing to it?

The echidna loosened her grip on the rope to slide down another few feet and give herself some more line. It didn't take much to force the rope into motion, and first Shade seriously wondered about the wisdom of her decision. But what was terrifying and quickly became a thrill ride. It took more then a few tries to perfect the angle of her swing, but she didn't care. At one point she came within inches of touching the elusive beacon, but her arm just wasn't long enough to grab it. At least not while her other hand was still clinging to her rope. As the rope swung back the opposite way, Shade decided to trust her harness would hold her and she let go and leaned forward with both arms out-stretched as the beacon loomed once again. She knew she would catch it this time! Her triumph grew as the rope sped her closer.

Then she heard it... It seemed to echo through out the entire cavern.

At first it sounded like a crack, but the sound was more ragged than that, more akin to a rip... but it was too short to be a rip. In almost the same moment of that awful sound, Shade knew what it was like to truly fly. Suddenly she was beyond the beacon, and her flight continued in a swiftly plummeting arc towards the abused river below. She could do nothing but scream as her brain finally pieced together what happened in those few heartbeats.

As soon as it left her throat, the echidna's scream was silenced by a tremendous SPLASH!

Posted by: Lunas May 4 2012, 03:43 PM
As Shade lowered herself to hang below the bridge, with just a harness and rope to keep her from falling all the way down, Lunas couldn’t help but voice his objections “Shade I don’t think this is a good idea, come back up and we’ll think of another way, or maybe look for another beacon” but his worries were ignored by the determined girl as she started to swing back an forth trying to reach the beacon.

All Lunas could do was watch and hope nothing goes wrong, then he heard some beginning to tear. He turned to look at the rope Shade tied to the railing and for a second he froze with shock as the rope was coming apart, the next second he tried to reach out and grab it but it slipped through his fingers before he could get a grip “SHADE!” he yelled reaching down to the girl as she plummeted into the murky waters below.

The young male started to panic , trying to think what to do “Oh no, oh no, what do I do?” he then remembered his wrist device and that it can send out a signal for help from the Nocturnus warrior escorting their group that day. Warriors were equipped with warp tech that can teleport them anywhere in the blink of an eye, Lunas didn’t hesitate to press the button a few times in his panic.

He looked over the rails hoping that Shade would come to the surface for some air, but he saw nothing but air bubbles coming up “Ooohh what is taking that warrior so long?” he fidgeted. It then hit him that something was wrong, it shouldn’t be taking this long for the warrior to respond and warp to the rescue, was the signal being blocked?

Whatever the reason, Shade was still not coming up, she might of gotten tangled in her rope and harness and could be drowning right now, Lunas had to act now. The nervous but determined boy climbed over the bridge railings and gazed down at the liquid surface down below, it was so dark he couldn’t see anything that could be below.

Closing his eyes and with a deep breath the young echidna jumped off the bridge, tucking his legs close to his torso and holding them in place with his arms as he dropped like a stone into the water, making a splash.

After he was sure he was submerged, Lunas slowly opened his eyes, they stung a little, no doubt from the impurities still in the water but he could still see a few feet in front of him. He swam around heading for the bottom searching for any sign of Shade hoping she didn’t go too deep. Lunas then stopped when he spotted movement in the murky depths, a lot of movement, too much to come from one young echidna, it would seem that he and Shade were not alone in the depths.
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