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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2016 10:38:22 GMT
Somewhere, Colonial Military Ship Hindenburg
A certain purple eyed Hegemon was sitting in the command center of the C.M.S. Hindenburg, the temporary flagship of the Colonial Fleet while the C.M.S. Terra Nova was recovering from the destructive damage it had received during the First Battle of Tau Volantis. The Hindenburg wasn't the newest or the most powerful ship of the Colonies, but it had been the Flagship of the Fleet a few times before, once in a similar situation, after the Terra Nova had been damaged in the battle with the same name. So, it was good for propaganda reasons.
The Hegemon himself was looking... pretty bad. His black hair was pretty messy. The black with gold uniform, so characteristic of him, was incomplete, as he was now wearing a dark blue coat instead of his usual black one. Beneath the coat, it was clear that his right hand and arm were mostly covered by bandages, even if he was trying to hide that. He was clearly tired, pale, and despite his efforts to mask it, his right hand was also lightly shaking. Well, after leading the entire galactic war effort of the Colonies and being wounded, there was no wonder that it was in such a state. With the war coming to some sort of a silence, at least for now, the Zentraloberkommando had decided to relieve him from his military operational duties at least for a while. Under normal circumstances, he would have simply rested or something. But there was something he had to try. And for that, he needed the help of the Drathians, no matter how much he disliked the idea.
"Contact the Drathians. Tell them I want to speak with the Fylkja.", the Hegemon ordered, and the Hindenburg attempted to make contact with the nearest Drathian unit or planet.
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Post by Drakorphobia on Jan 24, 2016 18:01:59 GMT
The Citadel, Drathia
As always, the skies were covered in deep black clouds on Drathia, with the occasional streak of red lightning shedding its light across the dark forests of the planet. However, among the black wood was the telltale sign of intelligent life, the glow radiated by large cities. It was the largest of these cities that the Citadel, the grand fortress that acted as the Drathian capitol building, lay. Inside the throne room of the grand structure, was the leader of the Drathian people, Fylkja Zlasa 'God-Seer', she who united the Drathian people and brought them from the stone age to a galactic empire spanning over twenty different systems.
"My Fylkja." A courier said as he bowed before the throne of Fylkja Zlasa God-Seer. "I apologize for disturbing you so soon after you have returned from the Keltalen territories, but we have contact from a Colonial Ship. It's the hegemon, and he is asking specifically for a council with you."
Zlasa sighed softly, standing from her throne. Even at her full height, the leader could hardly be considered tall. A meager 5'5, she was no intimidating sight to behold. She wore a dress black as the skies outside, with a V-neck so low it nearly reached her belly button, as well as a half skirt that covered only her right leg. Her bare left leg was instead adorned by a golden circlet around her thigh. Her neck, and wrists sported similar garments. In stark contrast to her gothicly elegant attire, Zlasa had bright red skin, with short cut hair (about three centimeters below her chin) to match.
"Very well. Let them land, I'm sure that if the Colonials will be going out of there way to see us of all people, then it must surely be an insult, or something actually important." She smirked, sitting in her throne again and crossing one leg over the other. "Needless to say, I want him to say either to my face, where I can be in slapping distance if needed."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2016 19:07:57 GMT
Following the response message of the Drathians, the C.M.S. Hindenburg sent out a small transport ship that landed on Drathia, the people on board heading then for the throne room.
If the Fylkja had managed to do something by forcing the Hegemon to come in front of her to say his request, it was that she made the purple eyed boy really, really angry. The Hegemon had never been known for his calm. Even if he usually tried to be calm, in certain situations it was well known that he could get very angry. And this was one of them. Forcing him, the Hegemon of the Colonies, to land, come to her, and then probably tell his request in front of others.. now it would be hard to say why exactly was the Hegemon slightly trembling. From the lack of sleep or from the anger? Probably from both.
Compared to how he looked like back on the ship, the Hegemon right now was looking slightly better, even having found a matching black coat to match the rest of the uniform. Still, for someone like him, who was well known to take care of how he was looking, it was clear that many things had happened ever since that intergalactic conference in the Colonial Parliament. Pale and tired, not many people would have connected him to the once proud leader of the Colonies, one of the reasons for why he had been trying to avoid public appearances. He was followed by four soldiers, all wearing the dark blue uniforms of the Colonies, most of them looking similarly tired. Of course, none of them liked being on Drathia. The battle that had been fought for this planet.. even if technically it had ended in a victory for the Colonies and their allies, it was still regarded as their biggest defeat. Strangely enough, two of the four soldiers, a little older than the other two, were wearing the medals that commemorated the battle of Drathia, a pretty controversial military decoration in the Colonies.
Entering the throne room, the Hegemon, well covered by his coat, seemed more frail than ever. With this whole Intergalactic Wars going on, it was sometimes hard to remember for many people that he was just a young boy that wasn't even eighteen years old yet. Of course, especially in the last months, anyone trying to remember him of his age would usually be met with angry reactions by the Hegemon. It took the entire Zentraloberkommando two weeks to convince him to temporarily give operational control to them, and that only after he had to be hospitalized. He was also quite stubborn.
There was also something pretty strange about him right now. While it clearly wasn't seen by the humans, the Drathians, and especially Zlasa, could see that there was someone walking right next to the Hegemon. A strange, black haired, and red eyed girl, wearing a black, long dress that was strongly contrasting with her pale skin. The strangest thing about her though was the handcuff like thing on her left arm, directly connected through a chain to the sword the Hegemon was wearing in his sheathe. Quite strange.
Stopping somewhere in front of the throne, the Hegemon made a vague attempt at saluting in the Colonial way, a thing which only made it even more painfully clear that his right hand was trembling, the bandages being slightly visible beneath the sleeve. Putting his hands behind his back, the purple eyed boy tried to control his right hand with the left.
"Greetings, Fylkja.", the Hegemon said, clearly avoiding to look directly her. "I must apologize for the sudden intrusion but...". The black haired boy then stopped for a moment, as the clearly the next few words required quite some willpower from him, having to step over his pride. "I..I. want to request your help."
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Post by Drakorphobia on Jan 26, 2016 3:41:07 GMT
"Okay." Zlasa said simply, shrugging with a pursed lip. It was that simple. She didn't even ask any questions, save: "What would you like help with?" Zlasa stood, striding over to Julius and offering to stand beside him, and wrap her arm around his shoulder before turning the both of them towards a door set in the right side of the hall. Even at twenty eight years old, Zlasa still looked like she had just turned twenty, she could even pass off as a nineteen year old, given the slowed rate at which Drathians aged in comparison to humans. Thanks to genetic research, this lifetime had been expanded by an additional fifty years. By Drathian standards, she was a youngling.
"You know you don't need to be so dramatic when you ask me for help, Julius." She said, even daring to use the Hegemon's first name. "You're always welcome here." Even as she continued talking, Julius may be able to smell the scent of roses on her. Despite some controversy about their involvement in the Keltaken invasion of Drathia, there was no doubt that the Colonies had a gigantic impact on Drathian culture. As a result, perfumes of earth flowers were not uncommon. In fact, earth slang, names, and certain expressions, all took a firm hold in Drathian society. "In all honesty, I regard you as a friend, even if we have had our differences. Don't you think that we are above such petty quarrels though? After all, as world, nay, galactic leaders, we should be setting an example for our people. Teaching them to put behind grudges of the past." Her speech paused for a second. "Except when it comes to the Abyssals."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2016 7:53:57 GMT
Julius was really surprised by Zlasa's reaction. Just saying okay like that? No trying to force him to give something in exchange? No trying to humiliate him in any way? No trying to do anything bad? Of course, it was true that in the last time, the Hegemon had become increasingly paranoid. He had nothing directly against the Drathians, but he had come to didn't trust them as much anymore ever since they joined the Keltakens like that.
"Thanks..", the purple eyed boy said as the Fylkja wrapped her arm around his shoulder. He didn't exactly mind being called on his first name. Hegemon or not, he respected and admired her for the way she led her nation from such a backward state to a galactic power. Even if much of that had been done with the help of the Colonies."You're..right."
The Colonial soldiers stayed behind, the only person following the Hegemon being the strange black haired girl, probably because of the fact that she seemed to be bound to the sword by the chain like thing. Once again, the humans simply didn't seem to see her.
"How should I say it.. there was a certain someone from my officers, you might have noticed her. Albedo, she was the first Genome user created by the Science Division.. She was killed.. back on Tau Volantis.", the Hegemon said. Julius was also vaguely surprised to sense a scent of roses on the Fylkja. He had no idea that the Drathians used perfumes of flowers from Earth, or perfumes in general. And it smelled radically different from the chemical smell of the Colonial ships and the strange smell of Opilium of the polluted Xalion. The Hegemon himself had no time to use any perfumes. He only a vague scent of clean, new uniforms.
"Since she was the very first Genome users, we might be able to recreate her, but the Science Division is too busy to do it on their own. The only others good at genetics and bio-engineering are the Keltakens and the Drathians. And since the Keltakens are obviously out of question..I came here."
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Post by Drakorphobia on Jan 29, 2016 1:25:44 GMT
"You should know, Julius, that by coming to us, you are still coming to the Keltakens." She chuckled softly, leading the Hegemon down a hallway filled with wooden doors, likely quarters for servants and officials or meeting rooms. "They are, after all, vassals of the Fylkirate. Even if you and your high ranking officials like to pretend that our current state of affairs is some sort of alliance rather than my people taking revenge for what the Keltakens did to us and our planet." They took another right, revealing a door much different than the rest. This one was a dull grey metal, with seemingly no hinge. That's why, when Zlasa pushed an orange button embedded within the doorframe, it slid into the wall to reveal a small platform surrounded by stone, smoothly cut into a vertical square tunnel. An elevator. "Follow me, and do try not to touch the walls, unless you enjoy scraping yourself." Said Zlasa as she stepped inside. Assuming that Julius and his odd companion joined him, the doors would close, and the platform would begin to descend downwards. A minute passed, and by that time it was clear that the three were far below the ground levels of the building. This was further proven by the occasional window embedded into the otherwise smooth stone wall, revealing natural chambers filled with glowing blue crystals. They were the only natural wonder of Drathia not plundered or destroyed by the Keltakens. A silent sentiment to the original state of the planet. About three minutes of awkward silence passed before the platform came to a stop. They were set in front of a metal door similar to that at the top of the tunnel. After a few seconds, there was a beep, and the door opened to reveal a laboratory inside, bustling with scientists, consoles, and large tanks filled with fluid and what looked to be blobs of organic matter. "Here we are." Said Zlasa. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2016 21:17:38 GMT
"Well, the last time I talked to her, the Empress said something about violently murdering me the next time we'll meet. So, going to her wasn't exactly an option...", the Hegemon said as he followed Zlasa."And no matter what you say, what you're doing isn't revenge. You should.. you should make them pay for what they did... for everything.". The purple eyed boy then remained quiet for a while. Even if he didn't had anything direcly against the Empress, the Keltakens... he just hated them so much. So much. They where... they where the only damned reason for why his sisters had to die. For why they had to be turned into Invaders. Even if he didn't say anything, the Colonial boy was carefully observing his surroundings, especially the blue crystals. Still, he didn't exactly feel comfortable here though. Maybe it was because of all the humans that had died on this planet and in its orbit, including his grandfather. Or maybe it was just because he had contradictory feelings about the Drathians in general. They were supposed to hate the Keltakens too. Zlasa especially. But still, vassals or not, that wasn't the way they should have acted towards the demons.
Finally though, they reached the laboratory, and the Hegemon had to admit that he was impressed. The Science Division in general was better at altering genetics, their bio-engineering efforts having been slowed down after the fourth type of Genome that was designed to be directly injected into a human instead of creating and growing a Genome user, and of course, Project Centoria.
"It would be incredible if one or two of my scientists could work with your people at that...", the Hegemon said. "I could have asked the Science Division but... having the Hegemon of the Colonies use the state's resources to resurrect his dead officers would have made up and incredible scandal. Unlike you and the Empress, I also have to deal with an extremely annoying press."
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Post by Drakorphobia on Feb 2, 2016 23:15:05 GMT
"Make them pay for what they did? Do you mean kill them as they killed us? That would make us no better than them, Julius." She said, walking through the laboratory. Most of the scientists seemed to bow at their passing, if they were not currently preoccupied with some sort of work. Notably, though, some of the scientists tended to shoot a mistrusting glare towards the Hegemon. Many resented the blatant xenophobia he had displayed before the Invaders had struck the Milky Way. Only now that the Colonies were in need of aid did he reach out to those who offered him help before. It seemed greedy to them, ungrateful. "Besides, the guilt of living with your mistakes, and the humiliation of those mistakes coming back to bite you is far more rewarding to watch than simple genocide." She cast a glance to the Hegemon. "Brutal as they are, the Keltakens have a collection of great minds that contribute to the sciences in arts in ways we Drathians would not have thought possible. It is their input that allows us to grow as both a people and a race. Killing them all over a grudge would not only be completely unethical and against everything we stand for, but it would also be a huge waste of intellect."
Coming to a stop at one of the previously mentioned tubes, this one empty save for a gelatinous green fluid, Zlasa snapped her fingers at a nearby pair of scientists. One of them was noticably, Keltaken. The two walked over, the Drathian of the pair being the scientist who had gone to research Phi, Avik 'Three-Eyes'. "My Fylkir? What may I do for you?" He asked. Meanwhile, the Keltaken, comically dressed in a labcoat that was far too small for his hulking figure, stared at the Hegemon. He gave nay but a snort of acknowledgement.
"Julius here would like revive one of his favourite officers. Do you think you'll be able to complete the task?" Her only response from the two was a rather cocky laugh.
"Of course! Such a task is child's play. It's no different than cloning." Said the Keltaken, turning his reptilian head towards Julius. "However, we will need a DNA sample to do it. Do you have one? Or, at the very least, a gene map of the deceased?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 16:17:00 GMT
Julius knew that what the Fylkja was saying was right, but still, he surely wasn't going to admit it. The humans were really good at hating to the point of irrationality, and of course, the purple eyed boy wasn't different with anything. The Keltakens and their creations were the ones who had brutally murdered his family, causing his sister's turn into High Invaders. The Keltakens were guilty for countless war crimes against the Colonies, Mankind, and the Milky Way. And for that, they deserved to die. In the mind of the Hegemon, they deserved to be treated in the same exact way. The only one who had almost managed to convince him of the opposite was the Keltaken Empress, but that was long ago. Before so many things had happened.
"I know, but even so... even so, they deserve it. Feeling guilty? I don't think that a Keltaken is able to feel anything like this. They have to be punished and they will eventually be punished for their crimes.", the Hegemon said in a low voice, a little angrily. He then remained quiet for a while, unwilling to say anything else. Then they stopped near one of those tubes, and the Fylkja called some scientists, one of them being clearly a Keltaken. Seeing the Keltaken, Julius seemed to be scared for a short moment, before that fear turned to the usual hate. But even so, the strange black haired girl, who had been following them in silence, leaned to them and whispered something in the Hegemon's ear, calming him down.
"I have everything that can be needed.", Julius said once again in a lower voice, taking out a small stick like thingy, used for storing digital information and data. While taking it out from his pocket, his right hand once again lightly started to shake, despite the black haired boy's best attempts at hiding it. "A genetic map, a DNA sample, and anything else that could be used to revive her."
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Post by Drakorphobia on Feb 6, 2016 2:41:56 GMT
"That seems sentimental." Said the Keltaken as he took the stick, and examined it before walking away. Likely to input the sample into a terminal for reproduction. Instead, the Drathian scientist, Avik, stepped forward. He had his hands folded before his waist, eyes hidden behind a pair of large goggles with opaque blue lenses. The lenses seemed to turn as he looked at Julius, on the inside, the view had actually zoomed in to examine the boys features a bit more closely. Of course, the Hegemon wouldn't have any way to know this, save the occasional tilt of Avik's head.
It seemed like almost a minute of compete silence had passed by before Avik finally spoke. "I do hope, Hegemon Julius, that because we can reconstruct Albedo from her DNA, that memories do not follow through with a clone. She will have no memory of you, her former position, or even of herself. She will not know how to speak, read, write, or do anything save eat and sleep. It will be as if she is a newborn child with an adult's body. Are you aware of the responsibilities you will have to take in order to ensure that she is once again able to be a functional member of society?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2016 20:31:51 GMT
The Hegemon didn't like this Drathian... the strange way he looked at him.... and the silence.... but yeah, scientists were usually a little strange. Julius had all his experiences with the scientists of the Science Division to prove that. And the way that Drathian spoke... it was a little creepy.
"I know that this will be just a clone, and that she won't have her memories.", the black haired boy said, after a few moments of silence. "There is a small chance that the Colonial scientists may be able to restore her memories if the clone is created, but even so... I know that she may never recover them.". The Hegemon then looked at the Drathian with his uncovered purple eye. "Even so... even so... it's my fault that she died. She died protecting me. At least... at least I have to try to.. bring her back, wherever she has her memories or not. She didn't deserve... to die like that."
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Post by Drakorphobia on Feb 10, 2016 22:09:28 GMT
"Very well." Said Avik after a moment of obsevation. "It will be done." He turned to the console, and began typing. It seemed as though the scientist had nothing else to say to Julius. He had quite the amount of work to do.
Instead, the Fylkja placed her hand on the Hegemon's shoulder with a soft smile. While she was supposed to act rather prim and proper as the Fylkja of the Drathians, Zlasa couldn't help but see Julius as kin, and thus, she treated him as such. With a tilt of her head, she spoke. "Would you like to wait out the process in one of the lounges? Assuming, of course, you aren't needed elsewhere. If that's the case, I would happily deliver Albedo to the Colonies once she has been regenerated."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2016 11:47:08 GMT
The purple eyed boy startled a little when Zlasa placed her hand on his shoulder, taken a little by surprise. Even if Zlasa was one of the few persons that really acted nice to him, he really wasn't used with it.
Well, considering his past, it wasn't that strange.
"Well, no, right now, I'm not needed anywhere else. The Central High Command... they convinced me to take a break, saying that I was too exhausted to keep de facto command over the front. The front is fairly stable now, soi they won't need me, but when I get back.. those morons don't realize that the situation doesn't allow me to take breaks. I'll convince them that I can still carry on, and that they need me to command."
While saying that, Julius looked at his right hand, which was once again lightly shaking. Being pierced so often by the thorns of the sword, and added to his general exhaustion, there was no wonder that the boy had.. difficulties in keeping it still.
"Yeah I'll wait in one of the lounges if possible. Preferably somewhere where I can sit down. I'll have to feed Astarael, and I don't want to fall on the floor or anything".
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Post by Drakorphobia on Feb 13, 2016 5:14:40 GMT
"Alright. Come with me?" She asks with a soft smile. Despite her deadly sharp teeth, Zlasa was one of the few Drathians who managed to make the gesture seem genuine to those outside of her race. She had plenty of practice, after all. "I have a luxury suite waiting for you. Part of the reason why I wanted you to come to the surface was so that you'd be able to enjoy the comfort of our facilities rather than stay cooped up in your ship." She patted Julius' shoulder before turning to the elevator, and walking to the door.
She waited at the elevator, giving Julius time to either chat with a scientist or explore the lab just a little bit longer.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 11:59:09 GMT
Julius sighed. Under normal circumstances, he would have probably tried to explore the lab a little bit longer, or talk with some of the scientists, after all, he couldn't get into a Drathian laboratory every day. But he simply.. he simply was in no mood for it. Even if he kept saying that he was okay, and that he wanted to continue to lead the war, truth to be said, he was completely exhausted. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Why were they fighting again? For what? Defeating the Invaders was clearly impossible. It would have been better for all of them to simply die already, so that everything could end.
It was so long ever since he last time had a break. Who would have imagined, back then, that he was going to become the Hegemon of the Colonies... even if his father was a Hegemon, the chances that both a father and a son would become Hegemons was really, really small. Back then, before the Keltaken attack... life was much better. Even if it was war.. both his sisters were still alive. He could still remember... all those times when they were talking about what planets they were going to visit after the war wound end. Yeah... how would they know that... they would never get to visit Earth together. That night.. when the Keltakens came, everything was over. He was too late... too late to save her. That monster... he had already done everything he pleased with her before he killed her, and attacked him, taking out his eye. Albedo was the one who saved him out of that hellhole. And then, he was late again. After they had taken his younger sister, he even started a rebellion against the military junta, but he reached the scientific base too late. She was already in a coma, after everything that they had done to her. And then, for the third time, he was too late. He went to that meeting with the other leaders.. and she was dead when he got back to Xalion. Even now, all of his failures were weighing heavily on him. And now... he couldn't even recognize them. He knew that.. the ones the military called Omega and Sigma were his sisters but... they had changed so much.. he... he was afraid of them.
Suddenly though, the black haired girl next to him leaned to him, and whispered something in his ear. The Hegemon seemed to calm down a little, sighing again. Looking just as sad as always, the purple eyed boy joined the Fylkja in the elevator.
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