Genesis Crisis: Resurgence IC

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Ehlana eyed Lisa suspiciously. She didn’t like this one bit. Not only did it put her in a vulnerable position, but what if they eventually decided to get rid of her to increase their survival chances and she had just spent all her energy treading water?

Unfortunately, Ehlana knew at the moment there was no other option.

“Shit.” It sounded resigned.

The idea that they would be out here for a lengthier period of time was unnerving. Wasn’t there some kind of fail-safe in place when one of these ships crashed?

“We should’ve gotten rid of the lot of you,” Ehlana grumbled audibly.

Slowly she went into the water, shuddering. Once used to it, the temperature wasn’t too bad. It was definitely better than baking in the sun on the raft. She kept one hand on the raft to conserve some energy while she tread water.

Her eyes squinted and looked over the blinding surface of the water, expecting Jax to reappear.

Peterny - Prison
Nadenka Orlov

"Alexei Stanislav," Nadenka repeated after Alexei had said his name, she smiled innocently. "Well, your name sounds really interesting, does it mean anything?"
She asked, her eyes beaming with interest.


________________________________________________________________


Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

Luke watched James' progress, and then Luke smiled faintly as he had remembered his own training with dual swords; Luke also remembered why he himself decided not to pick up weapons. Luke bite his lips, remembering that he had killed people with his own hands....

Luke quickly shook his head lightly, putting such thought aside. Luke looked at James who was continuously practicing what he asked him to do. It looked like James was getting better at it. But, with such pace, Luke could see that it was going to take awhile.

"James, block!"

Said Luke as he rushed in with one Bukken, Luke's attack was aiming for James' right; if James able to change his grip, it shouldn't be hard for him to block. If James fails, Luke should do his best to stop the blade before it hits James' side.

_____________________________________________________________________

Peterny
Belobog "Belo" Volkov

Belobog was in his uniform; he was ready to be deployed whenever and wherever he needs to be. After several failures, Belobog had been sparring, reading and edited the old log to remind himself what to remember about his foes.

For instance, he noted that one members from Aegis did not transformed; Belobog was able to make an educated guess, through the information  he got by reading Nadenka's files, that one probably have had 'silenced' his strain.

In other words, he probably is now the most easiest target to kill. Belobog bite his lips, he was not so sure if that man was valuable or not, but he hoped killing him would even out what this 'Aegis' had made him go through.

The second target was the guy who transformed into something inhuman; that being said, Belobog was definitely going to shoot the redcape bullet at him so that he would cause harm to his own allies.

Belobog sighed, all this would only be possible if he had the right positioning and the right opportunity. With that said, when will he even get the chance to get even with them?

Belobog clenched his fist, "I will definitely take one with me." He muttered.

Ergo Research Facility
- Rise -

Rise narrowed her eyes as Marcus managed to defend against her Maragi spell with a quick Rakukaja.

"Not bad," she murmured. But then, he immediately cast Sukukaja and sprang into the offensive. Marcus launched upwards, flipping backwards and kicking off from one of the beams on the ceiling. Twisting his upper body, Marcus shot through the air like directly toward her.

Rise swore and dived forward beneath his flying body. As she pulled up from the dive, she was already moving her fan into position to cast.

"Agilao!" she called, send a wave of fire surging along the floor at Marcus.

----------------------------------------------------

Ocean
- Jax -

Jax burst above the surface of the waves, gasping and panting as his lungs sucked in as much air as possible. He motioned Ehlana over and handed her the case in his hands.

"Found... rations..." he panted, indicating the emergency rations kit. It certainly looked banged up, but still intact. That should give them some food and limited medical supplies, at least in the short run.

Taking in a few more breaths, Jax dived once more, propelling himself through the murky water. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, and he wasn't likely to find much else, but he had to give it at least one more go.

----------------------------------------------------

Council Chambers
- Raidon -

Serena nodded at Alina's order, and she and Lecarde disabled their coms. Once their holographs had vanished, the others seemed to take that as a sign of dismissal and began to stand up and talk on their own.

As they did, a palace aide appeared at the doorway and seemed to waver as he looked at Alina.

"High General," he said, "if you have a moment."

----------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Prison
- Alexei -

Did his name mean anything? What kind of question was that? Alexei shrugged.

"Never found out," he said. "Never really cared. A name is just an identifier."

She was a strange woman, to be sure, helping her enemies and caring about such frivolous things.

"Does Nadenka mean something?" he asked.

----------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Old Guard HQ
- Maxim -

Maxim was surprised by Kurik's request, but he nodded.

"Yes, I suppose I have time while they prep for the flight," he said. "Lead the way."

He followed Kurik down the hallway, thinking of the underground halls of Arusia and how they used to walk together like this after their checkups. It was nice, a simpler time before he had to plan and reformulate all his complex machinations and could just satisfy the curiosity of learning about Kurik.

But this was very much concerned with Kurik as well. He had to remind himself of that.

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Jax suddenly burst through the surface of the water, panting heavily. Ehlana swam over to him and took the case while Jax was preparing to dive down again. That was insane.

When he disappeared from the surface again, Ehlana swam back to the raft and pulled herself up, lifting the rations kit over the edge.

She stayed near the raft again, watching the waves in anticipation of Jax’s return.

------------------------------
Ergo Research -Gym
- James -

James had continued to work hard. Especially training his right hand was a frustrating process and more than once he had considered just giving up.

Slowly though, he could feel the movement become more natural and he managed to do more and more repetitions without dropping the bokken.

The concentration clearly showed on his face.

Suddenly Luke’s voice cut through to him and he looked up, bewildered. James changed the grip on his wooden blade successfully, but his reaction was too slow. Luke’s blade hit his side lightly and with much less force than he had anticipated, obviously the young man had stopped his momentum somewhat.

“Well, at least it wasn’t a total failure,” James said. “I didn’t drop the blade.”

He was surprised that he had managed to make some progress. It hadn’t really felt that way.

“If you’re so good with these,” he asked after a while. “How come you didn’t use any blades when we battled the Redcape?”

------------------------------
- Lenka -

It looked like she wasn’t at all fazed with his irritated attitude.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been using my head,” she said cheerfully without interrupting her work on the punching bag. “After all, you’re the one with all the strategy and combat experience, right? What’s wrong with me taking advantage of all the knowledge by asking a boatload of questions?”

“Knowledge is power,” she said with a wink. “The things you say don’t just go in one ear and out the other.”

For a while she was busy just breathing and punching away on the bag. When Keynes emphasised how she was included, her face brightened up.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” she replied with a grin when he basically told her that even passing out didn’t count as an excuse, “I’m just telling you how it is.”

Lenka continued her exercise and as time went on, she began switching it up from the monotone one two method of striking left and right. She would include double taps and uppercuts, making it more interesting for her to think of new combinations.

------------------------------
Peterney - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

Kurik lead the way back to the cafeteria where everyone received their meals, except Lady Adalia of course. It was still early, so the room was mostly empty. He wasn’t really hungry, it was more an excuse to talk in a more private setting.

After they settled down on a table with their meals, Kurik cast a look around, but no one was close by.

“Well, I still don’t understand what you want me to do here,” he finally said. “I mean yes, I can check out and upgrade the security of that facility and I can make sure the soldiers are up to par.”

Kurik paused, looking at Maxim. “But I get the feeling that wasn’t really your intention when you asked for me to be assigned here. So what is it?”

Peterny - Prison
Nadenka Orlov

"Aw, really? You never cared why your parents gave you that name? Well, Kaddath is mixture of lots of culture of old world, so I could not help myself, but be interested with my name..." She sounded little disappointed with Alexei's answer, but keep up the good mood at the end.

However, when Alexei asked if she knew what her name was, she grinned. "Haven't you figured out? You are looking at the person who wishes to know lots of things! Of course, I asked them."

Then she brought her hands to her lips quickly. As she uncovered her lips, she smiled at Alexei playfully. "I will tell you if you find out what your name means." She added cheerful manner, "Besides, if I tell you everything now, you might get bored of me really quick."

____________________________________________________________-

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

Luke smiled and nodded at James, "Yup, I think that's a quite a feat. I am sure you will be able to block with ease as you get used to it." Luke complemented James achievement with a smile, but he bite his lips as James asked the question of why Luke insisted using fists.

"Ummmm..." Instead of directly answering to James' question, Luke walked over to the training weapons stock, "Well, my family martial arts trains all kinds of weapons..." Said Luke picking up a whip, "Even if I was given a weapon what other may believe pose little threat," Luke showed a whip to James, then he quickly unleashed it to grab the bokken that was on the ground with ease; then the grabbed bokken slashed upwards, and quickly, the whip pulled the bokken into Luke's another free hand. It looked like that was done in one motion "I was trained to use it effectively." Luke let out heavy breath,"So, in other words, every weapons could take lives away, if you know how to use it." He paused, looking at his hands, "... I decide to go with fists because I thought fists would not take away lives as easy as tools... Of course, in the end, weapons are weapons... it will take away lives..." Luke cleared throat, "But, you know, I think I made the right choice to stick with the fists" Said Luke, erasing all the gloominess in his face, "It's because it really depends on yourself to make its most uses. Not on weapons' design, not on weapons type, but purely on yourself." Luke grinned, "Also, it doesn't allow you to slack off training.

Ergo Research - Gym
- James -

James followed Luke and picked up a bottle of water. He watched as Luke skilfully picked up the bokken with a whip. It was hard not to be impressed.

After drinking a sip of water, he thoughtfully spun the bokken in his hand. “I don’t think it’s the weapons that take away a life,” James said. He could tell there was something on Luke’s mind, but he didn’t know what it was. “It’s a conscious decision so it has to come from a person. Even if sometimes you don’t feel you have that choice, because it will be either you or the other person that walks away alive.”

His thoughts wandered back for a moment, remembering what happened two years ago and the choices they had to make to survive.

“Most people go through life and never have to make that choice to take away a life, but in times of crisis, we are sometimes pushed beyond our limits and comfort zone,” he said, preventing the dark tone that threatened to colour his voice. “I hope you never have to make that choice,” he added more lightly and looked at Luke, wondering what he went through back then.

James found Luke was much more mature than he had originally thought.

He smiled at the young man. “Well, I think Jax would certainly appreciate your sentiment about using your fists and your body,” he said. “I’ve never seen anyone work so hard to stay in shape.”

James took another sip of water.

“Okay, I’m ready for another round,” he said, sounding more motivated than he actually felt. He knew he needed to do this.

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

Luke smiled weakly and nodded slowly; Luke agreed, it was like what James said. Luke had made the choice to stay alive even if he had to cross the line of killing someone...

When James had said he wished Luke had not to make such choices, Luke bite his lips, and refrained from replying that he already had done so, and that he had made such choice several times..

Luke's smile was back on his face as James mentioned about Jax, "Really? He likes to use fists, too? Interesting, when he comes back, I should ask him to get some pointers." Luke grinned, pumped up by the idea of a new training partner.

When James were about to go another round, Luke signaled James with his two hands, a sign of stop. "Good to know that you are willing to go again, but what we just did, probably, have put some pressure on your right hand. For now, have yourself rested a bit and do some stretching for your hands. Said Luke, "I am really impress, if you keep this up, you should be able to match other weapons' flexibility and speed."

Aegis

- Keynes -

Keynes barked out a laugh at Lenka's response before shaking his head in mock annoyance. "Maybe you've got a handle on this after all."


"How are your muscles?" He asked as she switched up her motions. "Are you feeling the burn in your core yet?" She had to be, judging from the way her motions had changed. They were sharper now, more efficient.

-------------------------------------------------------

- Marcus -

As his shoulder impacted the ground, Marcus rolled to his feet, turning into the wave of flames licking along the ground. Just as he prepared to dive over them, his legs decided to wobble though, pitching him headfirst into the fire.

Cursing under his breath, Marcus rolled head over heels, pulling his limbs in close to protect them from the fire as much as he could. Heat raced across his back, and the smell of singed clothing lingered in the air around him as Marcus staggered back to his feet, coughing and sputtering. He probably wouldn't be earning any bonus points for this one. Not to mention his arms felt like he'd pressed them to a stove top.

Ergo Research

- Rise -

Rise's eyes widened, and her hands went to her mouth as Marcus took a hit from her spell, coming away scorched and looking the worse for wear.

"Sorry!" she said, bringing up her hands as though in prayer. "Diarama!"

Healing light enveloped Marcus, healing his wounds and refresh his body.

"Guess you weren't quite on your game after all," she said, frowning. "Maybe we should take a break."

Just then, Kokonoe entered the gym, looking grim.

"There you all are," she said, hands on her hips. "I've got some news, and it's not good."

Rise approached Kokonoe, frowning.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Kokonoe sighed and motioned for them to follow. There was a small lounge just down the hall from the gym, and in it was a tv monitor.

"Watch this," she said as Ariana Adalia's speech began to play.

-------------------------------------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Jax moved through the sinking wreckage, trying to see if there was anything else he could salvage. It wasn't looking good, and his lungs were aching for air.

There, what was that?

Jax dived inside the hull and pulled it loose. No time to study it. He kicked his legs ferociously and burst through the surface several seconds later, gasping. His lungs burned as he sucked in oxygen hungrily and weakly propelled himself over to Ehlana.

"Here," he said, handing it off to her. "Go ahead back in. I'll be right there."

It was a black box-shaped electronic device, currently off. It was probably damaged from the wreck and water-logged, but it might be fixable.

Jax heaved himself up onto the box a few seconds later and leaned against the side, trying to get his energy back.

-------------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Old Guard HQ
- Maxim -

Maxim contemplated Kurik for a few moments, letting his question hang in the air. Then he looked away, regarding the other people milling around the cafeteria.

"I'm a foreigner, Kurik," he said, finally returning his gaze to Kurik. "So are Alexei and Belo. We will never be fully accepted or trusted by the Old Guard. But you are a Kaddathian. You've lived in this country, served in the Army like the rest of them, and know their country. You can connect with them in a way we Arusians can't."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"You can also connect with them in a way their superiors can't either. You're one of them, not an officer who's never seen a day of combat, but a fellow soldier of Kaddath."

He put a hand on Kurik's arm and smiled.

"Get to know them. Earn their trust. You are the bridge between our worlds."

------------------------------

Peterny - Prison
- Alexei -

Alexei pursed his lips at Nadenka's silly game.

"Fine," he said, shrugging. "Keep your secret meanings then."

He turned and walked away from the cell. There was really no point to it at all, but he supposed he could find a data terminal somewhere to find name origins and meanings. It couldn't hurt...

Ergo Research - Gym
- Lenka -

“If by core, you mean my entire body…,” Lenka replied. “Then the answer is yes.”

Though she kept going, she could feel the tiredness creeping up her arms. Holding up the heavy gloves and moving around was slowly beginning to tire her out.

However, she wasn’t going to ask for a break just yet. It still felt like she could keep going for a bit.

Thankfully, before she had to make that decision, Kokonoe came in and called them over. With an exhausted sigh and a glance over to Keynes, Lenka took the gloves off and walked over to the others.

Lenka listened quietly to the speech, surprise showing on her face.

“Oh,” was all she said, her mind still working through the possibilities of what this could mean.

---------------------------

- James -

"I’m sure he would love that,” James said and smiled in return. Yes, he was sure Jax would appreciate this, as it was he probably hung out too much at the capital in meetings anyways.

James sighed internally, feeling relieved that he was getting a small break. Willing he nodded and began stretching.

Just then Kokonoe appeared, announcing that she had bad news. As soon as Adalia’s speech began playing on the monitor, he realised what she had meant.

“Do you know if Alina going to meet with her?” he asked quietly.

---------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Ehlana took the black box and handed it off to Lisa before climbing back into the raft.

She retreated back to the far corner of the raft. It was still too bright out here for her taste and she felt exposed. Her eyes kept returning to the black box, wondering if it was still functional. If yes, then whoever was missing the aircraft would know where to search, right?

“They know the aircraft went down, right?” Ehlana finally mustered up the courage to ask. “They are searching for you, aren’t they?”

---------------------------

Peterney - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

Kurik was quiet for a long time when Maxim stopped speaking.

“I suppose that’s true,” he finally admitted. He knew it was true. However, he also knew that over the past couple years he had purposefully given up some things that made him Kaddathian. It would mean bringing his former self back.

He gave Maxim a crooked grin. “Let’s just hope my time in Arusia hasn’t changed me beyond recognition for them.”

“I’ll try my best though,” Kurik finally said with a more serious expression. When he said it, he realised how important this task was. Arusia would emerge to the surface and when it did, they needed to know both Arusian and Kaddathians could work together, could live together. They needed to find a common ground eventually.

“You just make sure you’re safe out there and that you come back.” He looked at Maxim, true concern speaking from his eyes.

After a pause, he asked, “What do you want Alexei to do?”

Aegis

- Marcus -

"It's fine." Marcus coughed out as he pushed himself to his feet. "I shouldn't have accepted when I was already so worn out." He reached up to scratch his head, and the ends of his hairs broke away, falling apart before they even hit the floor.

Lesson learned.

Rise was no pushover.

----------------------------------------------------------

- Keynes -

Keynes let out a low whistle as the video came to an end. "That girl has some serious cojones."

"The new administration is definitely struggling, but even if she's telling the truth, her father was by far the most tyrannical High General this country had seen in decades. There are a lot of people that would kill to keep any child of his out of the government, and for good reason."

He turned his gaze to Kokonoe, studying her expression. "I'm assuming the administration responded swiftly?"

----------------------------------------------------------

Ocean

- Lisa -

"I doubt they're looking for us yet." Lisa responded as she slid herself across the raft to inspect the box. "We weren't due to arrive in the Capitol for another two hours. So, I suspect they won't miss us until at least an hour past that."

She turned the box over, dumping as much sea water as she could out of it. What in the world was this thing anyway? Why had Jax bothered to fish it out? Lisa pressed a catch on the front, and the box swung open, revealing a panel of dials encased inside a plastic case. It looked similar to the transmitter that Arya had been working on at Ergo. Actually, the contents looked almost exactly the same...

"You know what this is, don't you?" Lisa asked Ehlana, gesturing to the box. "Do you know how it works?"

----------------------------------------------------------

Capitol

"Of course." Alina offered Raidon a weak smile as the others filtered out of the room.

"I assume, given how my day is going, you have more bad news to share with me?"

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

Luke bite his lips and stared at the screen; everyone was making comment about and asked about how the current government was going to react.

To Luke, however, he could feel his own stomach being twisted as he remember clearly how Legion had influenced the weak minded men and women to join their cause.

"Any idea of public's reaction?" Luke asked, even though he knew he won't get a clear answer.

Luke could not help himself, but feel that the seeds were sown. It was matter of time, some may rally the public to misguided ideology.

_______________________________________________________

Peterny - Prison
Nadenka Orlov

Nadenka smiled playfully, giggled. "Come back soon~" said Nadenka as Alexei walked away.

Nadenka sighed as Alexei disappeared from her sight, now she was again stuck with guards who rarely talked with her. Her lips were curled, it seems she was having too much fun.

What if such interaction with others make her less willing to die? She thought, however, she quickly shook her head.

"I have lived lone enough." Nadenka whispered to herself.

Ergo Research - Gym
- Kokonoe -

Kokonoe sucked on a fluorescent blue lollipop, sighing deeply through her nose. It didn't have the same calming effect as a cigarette, but it had to do now.

"Yeah, they responded faster than I expected," she said, playing Alina's response to the message. Once it had finished, she looked over at James.

"I don't know if she will or not. One of the two will have to make the first move," she said.

Kokonoe studied the shining blue surface of her lollipop and narrowed her eyes.

"A lot of people wouldn't want anything to do with Adalia anymore," she murmured. "But not everyone. Some people liked Arzei Adalia. Some people liked the old way. And almost all of them are at the capital."

She looked up and locked eyes with Keynes. She didn't have faith in a lot of people, but she did have faith in Alina Grey. Hopefully, she had enough sense to realize she was sitting in a den of vipers.

----------------------------------------------------------

Capitol

The man licked his lips nervously before meeting Alina's eyes.

"The transport carrying Chief Mathis and the prisoner has disappeared. The ship's signal cut out over the ocean, and we've received no responses from the vessel."

He hesitated, then went on.

"It may just be a glitch with their equipment. But we believed it was best you were notified... in case."

----------------------------------------------------------

Ocean
- Jax -

Jax slid along the raft to sit near Ehlana and motioned to the box with his chin.

"I was hoping between you and Lisa, you might be able to figure out if we can send a signal with that," he said to her, then smiled at Lisa. "Hopefully, your sister taught you a thing or two."

It was a bit of a long shot, but they didn't have anything else. Lisa might be able to steer the boat, but without any sense of direction, they could end up more lost.

----------------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Old Guard HQ
- Maxim -

Kurik gave Maxim a crooked grin. “Let’s just hope my time in Arusia hasn’t changed me beyond recognition for them.”

"You're a soldier, deep down," Maxim replied. "It's part of you. They'll recognize that. Leaders can change, governments and empires can rise and fall, but the camaraderie between soldiers does not. You'll succeed. Of that, I'm sure."

He smiled, and nodded as Kurik expressed his concern.

"I'll be safe. Alina Grey is honorable, and that means she's predictable. She won't do anything to hurt us," he said. "Still, only a fool takes unnecessary risk. I'll have Belo with me for any unforeseen circumstances."

He stroked his chin thoughtfully, thinking of their other agent. He could bring Alexei as well, but that might draw unnecessary attention. For now, the focus of Alina Grey and Kaddath needed to be on Adalia and the Old Guard, not him.

"I want him to speak with the prisoner," he said. "Discreetly. Find out what she knows, and how useful she can be."

Ergo Research
- James & Lenka -

James nodded in agreement to Kokonoe’s assessment.

Alina’s quick response wasn’t a surprise. Two years wasn’t enough to rebuild an entire country, there was just too much unrest still. And she couldn’t keep silent, as Kokonoe mentioned, some people were still in favour of Adalia and the old ways.

The meeting - it was tricky. Not simply answered with a yes or no. Many more things would need to be considered. And it would be dangerous.

Lenka stepped up to James and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

“That girl is barely a teenager,” she said quietly. “Even if her claim was valid, would she really have a right to rule the country?” she asked him.

James shook his head. “I don’t think so. There might be other legal claims she can make, but Alina is the rightful leader of the country at the moment. And she won’t step aside quietly.”

Lenka still looked thoughtful. “And who is this Old Guard group?” she continued to ask, raising her voice a little so everybody could hear. “And why have we never heard of it? Couldn’t that group pose a real danger to her, especially if there are people in favour of it? Did the government know about them?” her eyes drifted to Keynes and Kokonoe.

James shrugged helplessly. He hadn’t heard of them either before today.

----------------------------

Peterney - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

Kurik nodded.

“Thank you.”

He stood up as they finished their meal.

“Good luck to you, my friend,” he said. “Try and keep me updated if you can.”

----------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Ehlana glanced disinterested at the black box and shrugged. She wasn’t really sure why Lisa assumed she would know anything about it.

“Your aircraft, your tech,” she said, implying that she thought she didn’t know anything about it. Apparently, she was done being helpful.

She cringed slightly when Jax moved closer to her, but stayed where she was.

Ehlana pulled her sleeves down, feeling the sun burn down on her sensitive skin. Could this day really get any worse? Sure the prospect of sending a signal to get help was tempting, but was that really what she wanted? If help did arrive, she would just end up in chains again, probably rotting away in some cell.

It was also surprising to her that they didn’t know how to navigate without technology. The sun followed a predictable pattern, right? And they certainly had known their position before the crash. Also there would be stars at night. From what she learned, they also followed a predictable pattern. All of that seemed to her very helpful when trying to find your way.

In Arusia, you didn’t have any of that. Sure there were some signs made from fluorescent minerals in areas with frequent power outages. However if you go lost in the outskirts and didn’t know which way to the centre of the city, you could wander around in abandoned tunnels for an eternity.

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

"It's not new... they are people who still favors the old way." Luke commented, his face was thoughtful and dark; some of his scars were from those kind of people, those who wanted to put him behind the bar because he was running from the duty to 'protect' his country.

Luke ran away from those people when their intentions were clear; however, he had realized it little too late, so he had to fight against the police officers... It almost cost his life, but he survived. No one died, but he had to break a lot of bones that day...

"From the response of current government, I don't think they knew about them." Said Luke, and he added "Besides, I don't think she actually knows old kaddath well... She looks too young to know anything about how old kaddath ran things..." Luke crossed his arms, he did not like this a bit.

"I hope this doesn't start another conflict between the people....."

Aegis

- Keynes -

"This is my first time hearing about the Old Guard." Keynes responded, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "It doesn't surprise me that some of the old nobles are discontent with the current administration though. When Alina came into power, she essentially stripped away all the power the noble houses had over the general population. Quite a few of them lost a lot of assets."


"Even so, she's made more friends than she has enemies, and while the remaining discontents may be knowledgeable about how the government works, they can't compete with the sheer size of the masses." He shrugged, turning back towards the gym.

"Alina will handle this just like any other threat to her country. With finesse. She's surprisingly cunning, and anyone that thinks otherwise is in for a deadly surprise."

Clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention, Keynes waved back towards the equipment. "What are you lot standing around for? Get back to it!"

------------------------------------------------

Ocean

- Lisa -

"Actually, I'm fairly certain that it's not our tech." Lisa muttered as she inspected the device's construction. "Not that I'd know how to use it if it were."

Chancing a glance at the waves around them, Lisa pried open the casing, using streams of wind around her fingertips to keep any remaining moisture from getting inside. "It's definitely some kind of transmitter." She commented, running her fingers over the dials. It was also way over her head.

"I don't think I'll be able to get any use out of it though. Memorizing frequency signals is Arya's thing, not mine. Even if I knew how to adjust the settings on it, I have no idea what channel it needs to be on."

------------------------------------------------

Capitol

- Alina -

"I see..." Alina somehow managed to maintain her composure. Of all the things to go wrong...

"How many people were registered as being aboard the aircraft at takeoff?" Jax was still alive. Her heart couldn't believe anything else. Besides, the man was too much of a pain in the ass to go down that easily. Assuming the transport had gone down, their only source of information about the Ergo attack was probably to blame in some way. Either someone was making a play to rescue her, or they were trying to remove her from the equation before she could talk.

The question was, which one?

Ergo Research
- Kokonoe -

The rest of the group filed back to the gym, but Kokonoe remained behind, rewinding the footage to watch Adalia's speech again.

Keynes seemed so quick to dismiss Ariana Adalia and the Old Guard, but Kokonoe wasn't so sure. Something didn't feel right. Was it just a coincidence that the Redcapes and these strange agents appeared right around the same time that this group emerged?

Alina Grey was the most capable woman she knew... other than herself, anyway. But this was a different game and a different set of rules from the last time. And if they didn't adapt their tactics and play smart, they just might lose.

------------------------------------------------

Capitol

- Alina -

The man consulted his data pad at Alina's request and nodded.

"It was a small-class transport," he said. "Only Chief Mathis and the prisoner were supposed to be aboard. There did seem to be a last-minute addition - a Lisa Tarsos."

------------------------------------------------

Ocean
- Jax -

Jax sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair as Lisa an Ehlana argued over the black box. He was finally getting a few moments to think over things, and he didn't like what he was coming up with.

"We were sabotaged," he muttered. He was certain of that. But it left three questions - why, when, and how?

The 'why' he was also confident on. "Someone wanted to keep us from getting our prisoner to the capital," Jax mused. "Keep her from talking."

The 'when' was trickier. Had the transport been sabotaged at Ergo or at the capital? Either way, there had to be a mole somewhere to pull it off.

And, finally, the 'how'...

Jax glanced over at the black box Lisa had and frowned. "You sure that's not-"

He trailed off as something clicked.

"Your people had some device that jammed all our signals back at Ergo," he said to Ehlana. "Do they also have one that can scramble them?"

------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Old Guard HQ
- Maxim -

Maxim smiled at Kurik and nodded before leaving the cafeteria. High Lady Adalia, Lord Commander Farrington, and a personal guard were already standing by to board their transport.

"Belo," Maxim said, reaching the agent with his communicator. "Meet me in the hangar."

Farrington approached him and nodded curtly.

"We'll be boarding for the capital," he said. "Alina Grey will get her choice of location, but I intend to use it to our full advantage."

"I would expect nothing less," Maxim replied as they headed toward the ship.

Ergo Research - Gym
- Lenka -

Lenka listened to the discussion. Despite the threat that the Old Guard and that young girl could pose, she found the whole situation fascinating.

It startled her when Keynes clapped his hands and ushered the back to the gym. She walked back to the punching back and picked up the gloves, waiting for Keynes. With their weight, she would wait to put them on until the last second.

--------------------------------

- James -

Keynes was right, Alina would surely be able to handle this. And she wasn’t alone, no she had friends she could rely on.

Back in the gym, he picked up his training katanas again. He weighed them in his hand thoughtfully and then put them back down. It was probably best to stretch his wrists as Luke had suggested. After such a long break from training properly, he didn’t want to risk an injury.

“That was some surprising news, hm?” he asked when Luke arrived.

--------------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Ehlana listened to the discussion between Lisa and Jax while her eyes wandered over the waves. If you could get past the glaring light of the sun, the ocean was kind of beautiful. The water extended all the way to the horizon until you couldn’t distinguish between water and sky anymore.

Jax’ question pulled her thoughts back into the raft.

“Don’t act like your military doesn’t have that kind of technology available to them and you're surprised by its existence,” she said and looked at him through her wet bangs.

“Also, a scrambler is used to make signals unreadable and encrypt them. Maybe if your airship had used one to begin with this would not have happened,” Ehlana snapped, unintentionally revealing that she probably knew more about this than she had let on.

This was probably the most words she had said since they captured her.

However, they seemed to be hung up on the idea of sabotage, but Ehlana still wasn’t sure what to believe.

--------------------------------

Peterney - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

Kurik watched as Maxim left.

He only lingered around for a few seconds longer before heading back to their quarters.

It seemed Belo had already left to head to the capital with Maxim and he didn’t know where Alexei had wandered off to.

Kurik sat down and placed his feet on the table. Then he pulled small piece of wood from his pocket and began carving on it.

Peterny
Belobog "Belo" Volkov

"Roger." Belobog replied, with all of his gear ready and with extra tools to give him advantage, he left to hanger.

Belobog mind had no space for unnecessary questions nor had space for his curiosity of what's capital of Kaddath would be like; the amusement of going outside was no longer lived inside him.  That amusement died when he had lost his comrade, and the failures definitely made him take everything much more seriously.

He was not going to let this old guards be the boss around and look down at Arusia, and most importantly, he was definitely going to kill those who stands his nation's future.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

With Keynes calling them back to the training, Luke looked at Kokonoe, then moved his thoughtful step to the direction where James went.

As James asked the question, Luke could not help himself but bringing up what he felt bothered by it. "You know, James... Doesn't this remind you of what had happened in last conflict?" Luke asked. "Even if the child may not be capable of running the country, being able to use that broadcasting channel... I just can't help myself, but feel troubled... Something is amiss..."

Then Luke sighed, smiling faintly. "I might be thinking too much about it..." Said Luke giving awkward laugh, "After some rest, get back to what you were doing, alright?" said Luke, grinning, then he got himself into the wide area and ready his stance. Luke started to move with hands and legs as if he was fighting invisible opponent.

Each movement carried weight, yet light and fast. Every attack carried power and looked efficient.

It was to clear up his own thoughts and mind, but Luke definitely was zoned as he practiced his own arts while James was stretching his wrist to get ready for next training.

____________________________________________________________________________

Peterny - Hanger
Belobog "Belo" Volkov

Belobog arrived to the hanger in timely manner. He was fully equipped and ready to fight in any situation he would be put into. To many old guards soldiers, he would have looked like he would be slow down by his equipment, but, no, Belobog was not slow. Even with all equipment he had, his pace was fast and stealthy.

Unlike these old guards, the Arusian soldiers, Alexei, Ehlana and Belobog had been trained in much tougher and harder training regime and how to be efficient alone was always had been key focused in Belobog's part.

It was not because he did not believe in his comrades, but more like he wanted to pull his weight for his team. What haunted him in his thought, back of his head, was that he failed to do that in crucial moment.

He was not going to make that mistake twice.

"Reporting in for duty, sir." Said Belobog as he saw Maxim making his way to the hanger for the ride of the capital.

Aegis

- Keynes -

As he stepped over to Lenka, Keynes continued to ponder the situation at the Capitol. Tensions were definitely running high, and he felt bad that Alina was dealing with it alone. At least Jax would be there soon to keep her from stressing too much.

Taking a deep breath, he put a grin back on his face and regarded Lenka's stance, which seemed more relaxed now. Of course, that probably had a lot to do with how tired her muscles were.

"You can drop the gloves." He said, motioning for her to follow him. "I think we've accomplished what we set out to do with this exercise."

A moment later, he pulled a stand from amidst the clutter against the wall and sat it up in an open spot. It resembled a metal plate on top of a lampstand. Without commenting on it, he pulled something from his pocket and held it out to Lenka. Closer inspection would reveal that it was a wooden toy. A top with a rip-cord winding around its center.

"Now we get to the fun part." Keynes pointed to a line on the floor, roughly ten meters away from the stand.

"I want you to throw that." He motioned to the top. "And have it land on that." Keynes motioned to the stand.

"When you can land it on the stand five times in a row, we'll move on to the next exercise." Assuming the throwing and rewinding of the rip-cord didn't completely wear out her arms...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Marcus -

"Another round?" Marcus asked Rise as the rest of the group spread out. "Maybe without throwing flames all over the place this time?" He joked.

After the healing magic, he could walk properly again. Although his muscles were still tired, it wasn't all he could do to remain standing now.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ocean

- Lisa -

Lisa raised an eyebrow at Ehlana's words. "You seem to know an awful lot about these scrambler things." She twisted, depositing the black box in the center of the raft.

"Look." She let out a sigh before continuing. "I know you're not thrilled with this situation. To be honest, neither am I. In fact, if I weren't such a nice person, I could have let you die from the impact after we bailed from the airship. It would have been nothing more than an accident."


"Now, we find ourselves in a situation where if we don't cooperate. News flash. We'll probably all die of dehydration out here, and that includes you. So, if you know something, you better start talking." Lisa gestured to the box, expectantly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capitol

- Alina -

Alina let out a sigh of relief at that name. If anyone she knew was equipped to deal with an out of control airship, it was Lisa. Of course, that wouldn't mean much if they'd been captured, but at least there were alternatives.

"Inform everyone that's already aware of this situation that they're restricted to radio silence. I want all of them moved into barracks 14. Tell them to track down the last known location of the airship and cross-check the transponder data with Jax's anticipated course."

She waved for the man to leave before stepping out of the council chamber, where unsurprisingly, Raidon was waiting. "I'd hoped you were still around." Alina said, motioning for Raidon to follow her towards her office. "How quickly can you get me a covert ops pilot? No one in the general service. I need someone off-grid."

Ergo Research
- James -

“Mh…maybe,” James replied, thinking about what Luke had pointed out. “Yes, some things are similar. Like the supposed monsters showing up. Majin back then, Redcapes now. And yes, the broadcasting channel…” James chuckled. “It certainly needs better protection. It’s just too easy to hack.”

His expression turned serious again. “Let’s hope, if it is similar to what happen two years ago, that it doesn’t escalate into another catastrophe.”

James continued stretching his wrists and arms while his eyes watched Luke and he couldn’t help but be impressed by his movements.

-------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

“I know in principle how they work. I’m not a scientist or developer,” she finally admitted after Lisa’s rant was over. Thankfully Lisa had no idea how glad Ehlana was to have survived her fall.

There was an internal struggle. She didn’t want to help them. Not. One. Bit. But…she also didn’t want to die out here. Finally, rationale won out.

“Fine, but I still don’t think this is the cause for our crash,” Ehlana said, still sounding flippant. As if to prove them wrong, she snatched up the black box.

“If you wanted to sabotage the signal, you would need to intercept it and then transmit a different sign—,” she froze when her eyes fell on the dials and the wiring inside the box.

Shock. Fear. Hopelessness.

Ehlana paled, if that was even possible with her already light skin tone, and her hands trembled. Her mind refused to acknowledge what her eyes were already seeing. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She felt as if all strength drained from her. The device fell through her trembling fingers to the floor.

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

Luke let out long breath, and he was back in his original stance. Luke stretched his arms and legs once more, and turned his attention to James.

"I think your wrist had a good rest now." Said Luke grinning, "Time to give another fifty with same rules" Luke walked to the training weapon stash and passed two bokkens to James and got himself one.

Luke grinned faintly, a smile indicating many meanings. Perhaps, Luke might interrupt James unexpectedly?

Whatever the case, Luke started to take a stance with one bokken as well and started to slice and dice the air. Similar to previous one, he looked like he was fighting invisible opponent again.

The strike was effective; most of the form of attack was slashing, and time to time, Luke performed piercing attack. The attack was fast, and sharp.

"When I think you are ready, I will show you how to effectively utilize your advantage." Luke added while slashing the mid air in shift manner.

Ergo Research

- Marcus -

Rise put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"Are our enemies not going to use magic out of courtesy?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "You have to be prepared to fight all kinds of attacks. Besides, magic is my advantage. Why should I play to your strengths?"

She lifted her fans and conjured.

"Agilao!" she called, sending a wave of fire surging at Marcus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capitol

- Raidon -

Raidon frowned at Alina. He wasn't sure what this pertained to, but it sounded like the High General needed results and quickly.

"If you want one right away," he said. "Then here I stand."

Piloting wasn't his specialty, but he had been trained well enough during his days as chief of police.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ocean

- Jax -

Jax watched the sudden change in expression on Ehlana's face, emotions so strong and unexpected she couldn't have veiled them if she tried. The black box fell to the floor of the inflatable raft, and Jax sighed.

'I thought as much," he murmured.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peterny - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

A knock came on Kurik's door.

"Hello in there," came a voice with a slightly lilt to it. "Kurik, yes?"

The door opened, revealing a man with short ginger hair and beard in the sharp officer's uniform of the Old Guard.

"Name's Garett," he said, inclining his head. "Been asked by Lord Commander Farrington to give you a tour of the facilities."

He smiled, looking far too warm and cheerful to have anything to do with Farrington.

Ergo Research - Gym
- James -

“Sounds good,” James replied and caught the two wooden swords.

He sighed internally and took his stance, preparing himself mentally for the movement.

The break had done him good and the first set of fifty went by quickly without a mistake. James was surprised how much easier the movement seemed for his right hand.

Then he went on to do the next set of fifty, but as time went passed, the bokken clattered to the ground twice. That left him to do another two sets.

Slowly he could feel his arm tire of the movement, but that was probably a good sign, right? So he kept his focus and continued.

-----------------------------

- Lenka -

Lenka dropped the gloves and followed Keynes over to the open space. Curious, she watched as he rummaged around and set up some kind of exercise.

When he handed her the toy, she looked at him confused for a few seconds.

“What is that going to achieve?” she asked and eyed the metal plate. The distance wasn’t the problem, it would be accuracy.

She weighed the toy in her hand and let out a little bit of cord to see how fast it unwound.

In an elegant motion, she rose to her tiptoes and threw the toy from below towards the metal plate. There was an audible ‘clunk’ when it hit the rim of the plate and then dropped to the ground.

Lenka looked quite disappointed and walked over there to retrieve the toy. She began to rewind the cord and headed back the line. “So close,” she muttered sounding disappointed as well.

Once again she stepped up to the line and tried her luck again, using the same motion as before just with a little more forward momentum. This time she actually managed to land it on the metal plate. The wooden toy wobbled, without steadying itself, for a few seconds and then dropped to the ground.

“Does that count?” she asked before heading over there to retrieve the toy.

-----------------------------

Ocean
- Ehlana -

Her thoughts turned around in circles and soon she had forgotten that Lisa and Jax were even there.

What was she supposed to do now? There was no protocol for this. If you get captured, you keep your mouth shut and wait for an opportunity to escape. There were no rules about what you’re supposed to do when your own team tries to kill you and miraculously you survive.

She wanted to deny it, but the evidence was right in front of her. That interceptor was made from an Arusian concept, no doubt. So they had to have been involved, either directly or indirectly.

The thought that Maxim and the others had tried to kill her hurt. She felt so… betrayed. Sure, on some level Ehlana knew they wouldn’t come to rescue her, but this? Suddenly she realised that even if she survived this, she would never be able to return home. No, she would be stuck here in Kaddath. Surprisingly, that thought made her sad.

It felt like an eternity until the shock wore off and her thoughts slowly returned to the life raft.

-----------------------------

Peterney - Old Guard HQ
- Kurik -

Kurik looked up when the door opened.

He was more surprised by the fact that Farrington had given the order than the person who came to deliver them. Garett’s demeanor seemed far too cheerful to fit in with what he had seen of the Old Guard.

“Yes, it’s Kurik,” he said and swung his feet off the table. “Let’s get going.”

He stood up and gestured towards the door, allowing Garett to lead the way.

“So, Garett,” he began. “Who is your commanding officer?” He hadn’t paid too much attention to the rank insignias on his uniform, but he doubted Garett would work directly under Farrington. If he did, then how the hell did he stay so cheerful?

Ergo Research
Luke Jaron

As James were keep on practicing, Luke's bokken suddenly turned its blade to James and Luke rushed in. Luke's single bokken swiftly slashed diagonally in downward fashion; as the bokken was slashed with two hands, it was heavy slash that carried weight.

This was to test if James knew his weapon's limitation in blocking; Luke hoped he knew as a single bokken with single hand would not effectively block heavy slash that performed by Luke.