Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

The Seventh Star is Eden (Skeith Takahata II & MessedUpRp)

Hearing Ariel speak made Ceres pause. "What a damn waste. Alright, so we'll save the untouched prisoners, kill the surgeon, and blow the base." As soon as the docking bay coordinates came in second began double checking her uniform. "Go ahead and start bringing us in."

She approached the rear hatch before thinking a moment longer. "Is it possible for you to forge orders from Eden Command for total prisoner transfer? Perhaps the base has been compromised requiring an immediate removal of assets until a proper investigation can be completed. That would give us mostly unlimited access and possibly even make them complete one of our tasks for us."
 
Ariel thought for a second and before responding. "Yes. You eil find them on your holopad," a pad similar to an electronic clipboard flashes to life by her on the wall of the cargo bay. "They may not take the bate so I made a backup plan, if that doesn't work, then just say you have two objectives... Say you need to check maintenance for the issues at hand alright?"
 
To say that Ceres was nervous about this mission would be an understatement. Still, she felt better about it with Ariel close and a better plan in play. She waited for the door to begin opening, taking the clipboard that Ariel had provided. "Here goes nothing." As the door opened completely, she stepped out to greet their welcoming party. "My name is Captain Victoria. Eden Command has scent me here on a very sensitive mission." Discerning the officer in charge she approached him.

"It is our understanding that the base has been potentially compromised. We need an immediate and total transfer of all non-enhanced assets. My other objective is a total maintenance sweep to determine the source of the concern." She handed the clipboard to the officer, holding her hands behind her back. "I trust you will find all you need here."
 
Each guard was very odd looking. All Eden people but completely bald. Gas masks seemingly surgically attached to their faces and soulless black eyes. The commander had a result armbadge with an eden ensignia on it. He read over the chart and nodded slowly to himself. "What kind of maintenance... I wasn't allerted there as a compromise in the system, who ordered this." His voice was gravely and ear-grating.
 
She folded her arms as the commander spoke to her. "Don't be naive, Commander. You weren't alerted because there's no telling who or how many people might be involved if there is a problem. So far as maintenance, if sabotage is at play, I need to investigate the reactor area to make sure it hasn't been tampered with. The assets need to be moved before potential soldiers are destroyed. Beyond this, I am not obligated to tell you anything. The only person I'm obligated to speak to is Dr. Derevov." She spoke sternly, as if her authority was not to be questioned. "But if you must know..."

She tapped the glove she wore as if to summon Ariel, despite her being plenty conscious of the transpiring events. "Perhaps, my assistant might be able to sate your curiosity." She knew that Ariel would be able to search the Eden database quickly and hopefully present an actual ranking member of Eden command.
 
Ariel quickly crafted a fake ID profile, calling Ceres an experienced commander of the engineer core. Granting access to the core reactors and the prisoners being kept in the compound.

The commander looked at it and nodded. "Very well then. You'll have a security detail at all times while you're here then. No objections." He added as she began to rotest the security. "Of course... If you are who you say you are, you wouldn't mind a security detail would you?" He The as obviously trying to psych her out to either prove of disprove his own theory.
 
She stood confident as the commander agreed. "Of course, it's only protocol. I trust that the assets will be prepared for transfer in the mean time. If Dr. Derevov takes issue with that, tell him that I would be happy to explain the specifics of my mission to him. Thank you for your cooperation, Commander." She walked passed him, assuming that some of the guards would be following her.

She hoped that this would not only prepare the prisoners for easy rescue, but possibly lure Dr. Derevov into a vulnerable situation. Remembering the map she began making her trip to the actual reactor. She turned to face the Security detail. "Gentlemen. Shall we begin the inspection?" She asked, motioning further in. She knew she would have to kill the officers once alone, otherwise she would never finish her mission.
 
Standing where the officers would have been was the commander and one giant figure. It stood about seven feet tall, covered in metal body armor with no face to speak of. It was on of the supermutants. In it's hands it was carrying a gsttling gun. The gun was surrounded by s small ballistic shield. The officer chuckled in his raspy voice. "Sorry... The reactor is very fragile, and such a high tanking officer needs a good security detail doesn't she?" He chuckled again

Ariel was worries by the behavior. She knew that this officer was planning something she quickly relayed a message to the glove, something so that only Ceres could see. "I have a feeling about that officer. If things go bsd, I will handle mutant." She quickly crafted a Trojan horse virus, letting it's digital pixels curl and slither around it's mother's digital form. She sent it off towards the mutant's suit mainframe.
 
Ceres was a little surprised to find the commander and a mutant soldier standing there. Seeing Ariel's note put her mind at ease. She could kill one normal soldier no problem. She smiled a little, nodding to the commander. "Your concern is appreciated, Commander. Perhaps you would like to lead the way?" She kept her hands clasped together behind her back as they continued.

"I trust Dr. Derevov has already been alerted to my arrival and that the assets are prepared to move. Eden Command will not be happy if my stay is prolonged beyond what is necessary." She knew that she couldn't shoot him near the reactor, it was much too dangerous, but her gifts as the daughter of a Spellva Void Sage would certainly be enough to kill one target.
 
The commander nodded. "Yes, I alerted him that you had arrived and he stated that he would make a transmission to the compound" the intercom sparked to life, crackling for a second before the doctor's reedy voice cut through the static. "Attention all staff... It seems we have been honored by a young woman claiming to be an Eden maintenance worker. She is quite obviously a list and a spy and she should be dealt with lethal force. Please do try to keep the body intact, she will reap well when we harvest her body."

As the transmission fizzled out the commander held you in an arm barx one arm.around your neck. "Shoot her!" H shouted at the mutant. It obediently raised it's gun, the barrels beginning to rotate before they stopped and it stood up a bit for a second. Then got back into it's slight crouch and fired, not hitting Ceres but hiting the officer in the face. As he fell the mutsnt slung the gun up into his grasp and Ariel's voice emenated from the glove. "His body is a bit bulky but it should be of use for me."
 
"Shit." Ceres managed to mutter before being grappled. She stared at the mutant ready for the worst. Her eyes clenched shut as it pulled the trigger. She waited for a second before hearing a body slump to the ground. She looked back at the commander before sighing in relief. She looked down at her glove, nodding softly. "Thanks, Ariel. That mutant should still be able to blend. Maybe you can use it to get to the prisoners." She began jogging towards the reactor, pulling some small charges from her belt. One hand held her pistol ready as she ran through the compound. "Ariel, can you hack the security system? If you turn any automated defenses against them we can cull their numbers and make this easier. Get me a count of the active soldiers if you can."

She stopped, quickly opening a door to access the reactor room. "Continue monitoring Derevov's location. We can't let him escape." She entered the chamber, looking up at the massive center of power for the base. She breathed out a sigh as she began planting the charges around the base. As she was finishing planting charges, she heard the door to the chamber open. Even the soldiers were smart enough not to fire guns inside the room with the reactor. She stashed her pistol, closing her eyes as she ducked around cover. When her eyes opened again, they had flooded black, her skin paling. Tendrils of black energy snaked from her body as she came back out from around cover. As the soldiers charged her, she lashed out at them with the tendrils. The empty void like appendages slicing through soldiers like they were lasers, but freezing the wounds rather than cartelizing them.
 
Ariel tried to stop the defenses but it was no use. They had a proxy virus made in place of a firewall. If she so much as thought about getting through to the defenses she would be infected and destroyed. "I can't get the defenses no. I also think the doctor's activated a firewall around the other super-mutants. I can't get control on the others."

As the grunt soldiers entered, so did another super mutant. He looked similar to the one Ariel now used but his armor was accented with blue instead of green and his was not s machine gun but appeared to be some sort of grenade launcher. He let out a screech and charged at Ceres. Soon fading out of existence. Only to reappear on the other side of the room, aiming the launcher at her, "I believe this one must have some sort of teleportation device built in. There are another two hundred fifty five mutant soldiers, one hundred twenty super-mutants"
 
"Don't worry about it." Ceres hissed when she spoke about not being able to hack the security. Her tendrils continued to lash out violently, striking at the common soldiers. As the large super-mutant entered the room, she braced as he charged but was startled when he vanished. As she was warned about teleportation, she whirled around seeing him raising his grenade launcher. "Is he daft? Don't any of these people know what will happen if they fire near a reactor?"

"We can't possibly fight this many on our own." She growled lowly. She cursed the Rebellion for not sending her with backup. Even with the information Ariel had provided her prior to the mission, Ceres was still only one person. The law of numbers still applied. "Can you get that mutant you're using to the prisoners? I can handle this one and then move on the surgeon." She quickly moved to cover, ducking away from the reactor to keep his fire concentrated away from so vulnerable a device.

She closed her eyes remembering her mother's instruction. Spellva void power was strongest in dim to no light and near zero-point energy ley-lines. This system was already a hotbed for ley-line activity. Now if she could only reduce the compound to emergency running lights. She looked around for a way to kill the power. She was not full-blooded Spellva. She needed every advantage she could get.
 
Ariel responded. "Forget this mutant. Take one of their automatic guns and go find the prisoners. I can handle this one." Her mutant dropped his gun and charged the other mutant. As it began to teleport Ariel tackled him, teleporting with him, they grappled as they disseapeared and reappeared around the room. "Ceres go! This room is too volatile. The charges are set. Find the prisoners and get out of here!"
 
Ceres was hesitant to leave the fight, momentarily forgetting that Ariel was factually inside her glove and not actually the mutant. She nodded in agreement. She collected one of the dead soldier's rifles and began running back through the door she had used before. She double checked her map as she ran, verifying the location of the prisoners. Hearing feet hitting the ground, she slid to a stop, bracing up against the corner in the hall. She peaked around the corner, seeing the deploying soldiers. She flipped around the strafing the crowd. The rifle being held in one hand. Her other hand flew out forward, tendrils of icy cold dark energy snaking out at the soldiers, lashing against them like whips.

"Do we still know where Derevov is? I'm almost to the prisoners, but we need to make sure that he doesn't escape." As the last of the soldiers in the hall fell, she continued running. She rounded another corner running towards the cells, sliding to a stop at the sight of a couple guards posted. "Gentlemen!" She greeted, hurling a grenade between them. She dove behind cover as it detonated, killing each of them. She popped up right, smirking. She settled her adrenaline, the dark energies fading away. She stood up approaching the cell block. "If we can't get into the system, I guess I'll just have to open each one individually." She said, more to herself than to Ariel. She began unlocking the first of the cells, looking in at the people being stored. "My name is Ceres Karn. I'm here with the Rebellion." As the door slid open, she stepped back. "There's an Imperial Freighter just back that way, the way is clear. Get on board and wait for me. I'm getting you out of here."
 
The crowd was speechless for a second before they all sprinted past her, running for the freighter. On one of the monitors a picture flickered to life, a man in a bloodstsined lab coat with black lenses for eyes, Derevov. He spoke with an icy German accent, "aah... Ceres Karn... That is the name of the woman the rebels sent. The woman who broke into my home, killed by children and now plans to assassinate me, all in the name of your rebellion. But Joe much do you know about them miss Karn? They sent you here alone, no help to storm a mining colony of mutants. They don't seem to care for your life... I can offer you so much more miss Karn... I can offer immortality, a place here. In my family as one of my children... A Spelva would make a wonderful addition. You would be the first of a new breed, you would lead them to victory... Forever... You would be a god."
 
Ceres continued moving from cell to cell, stopping when she heard Derevov's voice. "Already trying to bargain with me?" She asked lowly. "Sounds like you're scared. Good." She growled lowly, looking up at the monitor. "I grew up in Eden's work camps. My mother died there. My father is locked away or worse. The rebels gave me my life back. Risking it for them is fine by me. I refuse to be one of your brainwashed puppets." Her eyes flooded black again as color washed away from her skin. She raised her hand pointing at his image. "I am the daughter of Imperial Sargent Edward Karn and Spellva Void Sage Corta Mal'Keth. I am the ghost of their vengeance. Tell your friends in Eden Command that I'm coming for them next."

She continued opening cells until they were finally all open. "I'm going after Derevov. He dies by my hand." She hissed walking deeper into the facility. "Ariel, as soon as that freighter is loaded with the prisoners get it out of here. I'll steal an Eden fighter after Derevov is dead."
 
Derevov continued to speak, "i'm not trying to bargain. I'm only trying to save you... Do you know what your father did for the rebellion? Don't you wonder how you were found? Do you even know the one to betray you two. Now here you are, doing their dirty work... The work of your betrayers. Aren't you curious why they sent you alone? They wanted to kill you. They want you dead without a hitch."
 
"You would say anything you slime." She hissed as she continued her way through the facility. "Eden attacked us. Eden enslaved my Mother and I. So far as I'm concerned you and your friends killed her." She wrapped her hands tighter around her rifle as she worked her way up, gunning down guards as they deployed. She was sure if there was even an ounce of validity to his nonsense Ariel could dig it up, in the mean time. She had to save the innocent prisoners.

She entered an elevator, commanding it to move up to the level of Derevov's lab. She closed her eyes bitterly, trying to keep her temper under control. Still, tendrils of dark power snaked from her body, her skin pale, and her eyes like voids. Without her mother's instruction, she could only control her gifts so well.
 
As the doors opened she was treated to a blank room with a puppet like thing facing a camera. It was the upper half of dereviv she had been seeing, his body attached to hydraulics that caused it to move. From the shadows she heard a voice, "hello Ceres..." From the shadows a soft electric ehir sounded. A wheelchair rolled.our, carrying a frail old man, a mask over his mouth attached to a tube and oxygen tanks on the back of his chair. His hands were wrinkled and arthritic, his eyes were cold and near death. He was henched over to one side. "I am Doctor Derevov..."

He pressed the but on and rolled a bit closer. "I am the vicious doctor you were sent to kill correct? The man who was experimenting on innocent lifeforms right? I can tell you young Ceres... I have never done such things... I was framed by the empire... Made into a figurehead of pain and their own form of science... My wife was the first test subject they used. She was the first godless creation they made... The first they made in my name... Believe me or not Ceres Karn, I do not care... I am dying child. But before I die... I have one request... I want you to take the information on my computer... It is the truth of these experiments... And something else you should see Ceres Karn... Please... Do this... Do this as the last wish of an old dying man... Then kill me quickly... End my suffering, and the suffering of others." He turned his wheelchair away from her, waiting for her to do it.
 
Ceres entered the room, her weapon raised. Seeing the puppet she lowered her rifle. At first she thought that she might have been tricked and he might have escaped. Hearing his voice, and the whirring of his chair, she turned to face him. Her eyes narrowed as he spoke. She felt her rage die away as he spoke. Seeing him so frail in his chair, on the brink of death, she felt like maybe she could believe him. She took of the imperial hat she was wearing as she sighed. Her skin and eyes returning to normal.

"Ariel..." She said softly. "Download what information you can from that terminal." She spoke gently, looking down at the glove. "Then, please. Just give me a moment with the Doctor."

She approached his chair, kneeling down beside him. "You spoke before of my father." She said, eager to hear more.
 
Ariel turned off her voice sensor as she downloaded the information, letting them talk in peace. The doctor smiled and with a shaky hand he pointed to the desk, taped to a monitor was an old photo, a younger doctor Derevov was standing with a laptop, next to her father. "Your father and I were friends... I was the first to realize he was apart of the rebellion... Protocol told me to alert the higher ups. To show them my proof, the messages between them. I deleted them from the mainframe. I told him in private that I had learned his secret and that it was safe. A few years later. His wife and child were interned in work camps... He was execute publicly only a few days later. I ws caught soon after. All because I had refused to reveal my own son as a rebel." He smiled softly and nodded, "Yes Ceres... I'm glad, in my final few moments I can be with my granddaughter. I can see that you've grown into a fine freedom fighter, but I think we were both decieved. Your friend Ariel will be able to find out what you want... But it seems no matter what, they want to stop the truth from being heard... Please Ceres... Ceres Derevov Karn... Let me die somewhere else besides this god-forsaken compound."
 
Ceres walked over to the photograph, looking down at the image of Derevov with her father. She turned to face him as he continued to speak. When he mentioned her father being publically executed she closed her eyes, grimacing. She knew he was dead, at least on some level, but she had hoped against hope that maybe he was just imprisoned and she could save him. At least have her father. Then came the next revelation. Immediately after discovering she was truly an orphan, she was face to face with her grandfather, and he was dying. "G-grandfather?"

She looked down at the glove to check Ariel's progress. As soon as she was finished downloading the data, she moved over to Derevov's wheelchair. She took the handles in her hands and began leading him back to the elevator. "You're coming with us. I'm not losing you too." She was in denial, she should have known there was no saving her grandfather, but she was emotional and desperate. She got him back into the Elevator. While waiting for the door to open, she pulled her rifle back up into her hands waiting for the doors to open. As they finally slid open she stepped out, pointing it down the hall in case more guards were coming.

When she was convinced they were clear, she began pushing him down the hall towards where the freighter was waiting. She could see the vessel in the distance, prisoners loaded inside. The sky above was dark, the sun not in view. "Hang in there, grandfather. I'm going to save you. I have to." She pushed him up the ramp, tapping the glove after closing the door. "Ariel, get us in the air. Back to head quarters." She went back to her grandfather, kneeling beside him. She placed a hand on his knee as she looked up at him. "Stay with me. Please." She looked up at him desperately, tears threatening to spill over. "I don't want to keep losing people."
 
Ariel took the ship into the air, flying away. She remotely detonated it and the compound erupted into flames behind them. She silently combed the files. Finding two that made her stop for a second, the first she set aside to show Ceres. The other she hid away... She couldn't tell Ceres.

Derevov smiled softly and out his hsnds over Ceres' "my dear... I will not leave after just meeting you... We will get back to your safehouse and I will get help..." He forced.himself to keep breathing, talking to Ceres about anything that came to mind.

Soon they landed back on their base, the prisoners walked out, awe struck and Ariel apparated herself by Ceres. "Ceres... After we get your grandfather to the medical bay... I... I have something to show you..." She seemed distressed, afraid even. Something was bothering her.
 
Ceres enjoyed visiting with her Grandfather on the flight, even if she continued to fawn over him to make sure he survived the trip. After landing, she took the handles of his chair, pushing it along towards the medical bay. "Don't worry, Grandfather. The rebellion may not have the resources of the Empire, but they do have state of the art medical technology. They'll be able to take care of you." She could only dream that one day they would be able to restore his ability to walk, but all in good time. For now, she was only grateful to have family again.

Then Ariel appeared, speaking of something serious. She looked over at her, seeing the grave look on her face. "Oh... Okay. Sure. Just let me get him settled in, alright?" She worried about what would solicit such a serious expression from her friend, but they could figure it out soon enough.

She rolled her Grandfather into the medical bay, stopping to speak with the head doctor. "My name is Ceres Karn. A new recruit to the Rebellion. This is my Grandfather. I just rescued him from an Eden stronghold. Please, do what you can for him. He knows more of his condition than I do." The doctor nodded, prompting Ceres to turn to face her Grandfather. "I have to leave for now. But, I'll be back to visit you as soon as I can. For now, duty calls." She placed her hand on top of his, patting it gently. "I'll see you soon." She stood, walking back out from the medical bay and back towards her living quarters. "So, what's got you vexed, Ariel?" She asked as they walked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom