***WoD Outpost - Imminent Arrival***
A single, squeaky twist of the faucet was followed by a sharp inhale as cold water splashed over Wex's body. The captain wouldn't exactly proclaim to be a fan of them, but starting the morning with a near frosty shower was an effective way to jumpstart the day. He braced his hands against the tiled wall, letting the frigid water run down his body and over his tail.
Feels like a god-damn ghost running its hands down my back.
A chittering chuckle escaped his lips. Wex was feeling uncharacteristically anxious. He grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the basket nearby and squeezed out a healthy dollop, before vigorously lathering it into his hair. Soap and bubbles collected at the drain, swirling around in the far corner. He wasn't sure what it was but he didn't like standing over drains, and had specifically built his personal washroom so that the sinkhole was as far away from him as possible.
Pervy ghost, trying to take a shower here!
With a final rinse of his hair and body, he twisted the tap off and quickly exited the cubical, snatching a pair of warm towels from the rack. Before long he'd pulled his drying hair back into its trademark ponytail, and was flicking his fingers through his wardrobe. He wasn't sure who exactly he was about to meet, so wasn't really sure how best to present himself. From the little he knew about the Warlocks of Detromus, he wasn't even sure that a nomad pirate crew walking into their midst would be all that welcomed.
Warlocks of Detromus, jeez… What exactly did you get up to after the Ditch, Diego? How much have I missed - have we missed?
Diego was still the same person he had been back when he was sixteen; he was unmistakable… but Diego had also grown and changed so much, and all without him. Wex had resented Diego's psyonics and gifts so much when they were kids. Now, his absence stung sharply with sorrow, and guilt. Would it be awkward to apologise at this point? 'Sorry I was a shitty little brother five hundred years ago when we were kids.' It didn't seem right. That's the point of being a kid, isn't it? To learn and grow? But even now, he still couldn't help but feel a little… insecure. Not to any damaging point, Wex was proud of all he'd done and accomplished, but having his brother turn up with a literal harem of girls - okay, maybe two isn't a harem but they're easily four or five times the size of him sooo - and casually mention that he was once involved with the Warlocks made the pirate conflicts seem… quaint in comparison.
Finally settling on his 'Captain's Best,' Wex draped his clothes of choice over the edge of his bed and started to get dressed.
But then again, Diego hadn't shied away from showing Wex his vulnerabilities either. He hadn't boasted or belittled him even in the slightest. If anything, Diego had shown great pride and gratitude towards him, directly and honestly.
He pulled his boots on, then fastened his gun belt with a firm click as the buckle snapped closed.
It was all him again, wasn't it? He couldn't help but feel small around Diego, despite his brother only looking to lift him up. He felt a hot growl ball up at the back of his throat. Frustration aimed squarely at himself.
I should be better than this.
Finally, he pulled on his armoured overcoat. He cast a quick glance at himself in the mirror. Armed, armoured, a li'l bit sexy - but not threatening.
Was this all just for show? Did it really mean anything?
He paused just in front of his door, his fingers hovering over the controls.
No. I am better than this.
And with that, the growl scratching at his throat subsided. He pressed his fingers to the controls and the door whizzed open, revealing the dim light of The Fang's dawn lighting mode in operation. It was still fairly early to be up, although it was always difficult to keep a rhythm when travelling space for long periods. Their tempo was more based around what The Fang required and when, rather than the actual allocated regional time.
Some of his crew were up and about already, but most were scrounging up as much sleep as they could. It was pretty common practice to wake up at the latest time possible, with time to get dressed and have a quick bite before arming up and leaving the ship. Nonetheless, his stroll through the ship often acted like an alarm, with the bunks stirring as he walked by - not purposely, Wex wasn't heavy footed, but if the unmistakable clacking of the captain's cavalier boots was present, it was time to get up.
He made his way through the ship until he reached the bridge where Hammond was sitting in the captain's chair, swinging his legs and idly minding himself, but immediately moved upon noticing Wex and dashed out of the bridge entirely. Little shit. Wex grinned to himself, parking himself on the now slightly warm, plush leather.
He flicked at the controls and opened a comms line to the Minitaur, his gaze focused on the streaking stars that stretched past the ship. But as they slowed, the local system came into focus with a splash of distant colour through the thick glass.
"Morning Wex." Seeth's voice came through crackly on the comms. "All prepped?"
"Hey, Seeth! For sure. My crew is pulling together, I'm all ready to go. Excited?"
"Yeah. For sure. We're just -"
Her voice dropped off suddenly, like someone snatched the words right off her tongue.
"Seeth? Everything okay?" The distant splash of colour approached quickly, revealing its details to the captain. "Oh no… No… That is… Fuck." Wex pressed his fingers against his temple as he surveyed the region from the command deck, his voice heavy with concern. "Seeth, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah… Diego is… also worried. Sending you the co-ordinates, my sensors are picking up buildings on the moon, past the wreckage. That's where we're landing."
"Does he know what happened?"
"No. We're gearing up, just in case."
"Noted. I'll do the same. We'll stay on comms but nothing further to note right now. Other than the obvious."
"Roger that. ETA to landing, ten minutes."
Wex sagged back against the back of his chair. Fucking hell… what happened here?!
Stretched out before TheFang were the remnants of unbridled, colossal destruction. What was once a serene planet with a single dusty moon, caught in the orbit of a traditional orange star, had been utterly and irreversibly devastated. The planet had been cracked wide open, splinters of tectonic crust drifted through the wreckage-strewn space, immense shrapnel from a world-breaking assault. The planet's core was still glowing with a faint warmth, but the magma that had bled from its once fresh wounds had long since cooled into a grey slag, forming great planetary scabs on the celestial body.
Scattered too around the planet were numerous starship wreckages of various sizes, ranging from clusters of small fighter vessels, to enormous battleships and carriers. Peppered between the derelict ships were smaller… specks, drying in the solar radiation.
The system's star flickered and waned. Its integrity was compromised, and soon enough, it would also die. It bled waves of radiation and solar flares like the dying wanes of a wounded animal, its final calls bathing both ships in a white-blue caustic glow.
The moon had been left relatively unscathed, aside from wreckage littering its surface and various old craters, and a massive crashed battleship. Framing the entire visage was the protruding ribcage of the fallen cruiser, driven into the lunar dust. Spokes of its internal structure jutted out of the ground and curled the rock, almost like a titanic skeletal hand, trying to drag itself out from the earth, dripping wounded blue starlight from its fingers.
After ducking and diving through the maze of wrecked metal, the ships descended to the moon's surface and landed just outside the outpost's perimeter. The Fang landed first, and within moments, Wex and his crew were walking the moon's dusty surface.
It was like nothing Wex had ever seen before. The outpost had been established inside one of the moon's larger craters, and a section had been cut from the lip of the crater wall to make room for a pair of defensive gates. Constructed of thick, heavy wood, the gate featured two large, red brass handles on the front and had been left slightly ajar. Additionally, the wall was lined with defensive battlements like a mediaeval castle's, constructed of the same wood with over-sized, red brass kite shields mounted to the walls. As Wex stared out over the construction, he noticed faint green glimmers within the body of the wood itself, making the already odd aesthetic shine even more. Stretching high above the battlements was the outpost's central tower, identical in aesthetics save the addition of grey lunar stone, which had been used in its construction. Finally, spanning from the apex of the central tower were four, enormous black banners that fell upon the four cardinal directions. These banners somehow stretched and curved the length of the entire outpost, as if they were laying over a dome, meeting the battlement perimeter and held in place by several large red brass rings.
When the Minitaur finished landing and the roars of its engine waned, the crews were met with nought but deathly silence. No-one came to greet them. There was no-one patrolling the battlements. There was nothing, save the thin, whistling wind. The crews gathered together before the main gate, all equipped with env-shields to protect them from both the thin, barely breathable atmosphere and the cosmic radiation that was bleaching the system dry with every passing minute, in addition to their usual combat gear. Concern swept over both parties. Initially, Seeth's lot had all planned to come together, but the state of area had prompted at least Geralt and Tivy (who was tightly holding her pre-made offerings of home-cooked soup and sweet treats that she'd spent all night preparing for their new Warlock friends) to hover at the Minitaur's landing ramp. Wex had fielded his standard fire team of fifteen, including Hammond, Diesel and Ceri, all ready to move at his word.
Diego, Wex and Seeth met at the head of the group. Seeth and Wex were both equipped with their usual weapons, with Seeth also now toting her recently refurbished knuckle dusters, strapped to her hips. Diego was wearing a one-shoulder tactical harness, along with a tight black top and combats, equipped with an aggressive, arrow-shaped buckler strapped to one hand, and a body-length riot baton, held tightly in the other.
"Diego… Forgive my bluntness but, it looks like this place has been destroyed. Is this even worth prodding at?" Wex asked. He was getting a really bad feeling from this place; anywhere a planet had nearly been nearly split in half was probably not somewhere a nomad space pirate should be. "If there's nothing to gain, we might be better off just leaving."
"We should go inside." Diego replied quietly, edging forwards. "There's a chance the gateway is still functional in the tower, which would allow me to summon aid even if this outpost is deserted." The way he spoke was with such authority, so matter of fact, that even though no-one else present had a clue what he was talking about, no-one questioned further. Something told them that he wouldn't have explained it to them anyway.
"...Alright. Right beside you, bro." Wex nodded, waving for his crew to follow. Seeth did the same. Wex, Diego and Seeth reached the gate together, watching closely as Diego pulled on the handles with a shuddering creeeeak, unveiling the state of the outpost within.
What was once a thriving town had been reduced to nought but ash and rubble, with the vague outline of the buildings preserved by the outline of the occasional wall or foundation, somehow still standing.
As the three of them stepped across the threshold, a deep rumble emanated from the central tower and suddenly, a great, cloudy dome enveloped the entire outpost. Wex and Seeth both instantly drew their weapons and glanced around nervously, but Diego waved them down. "It's just the shroud." He said dismissively.
Before Seeth or Wex could ask, Diesel's voice came through on Wex's comms. "Captain, we're blocked out! There's some sort of… storm dome! We can't pass through!"
"What do you mean? Just walk through it!" Diego huffed, swinging back round. "It just conceals the outpost!"
Seeth took a step towards the swirling cloud and pressed her hand to it. The shroud seemed to push back on her, like forcing two magnets together. The harder she pushed, the more it fought back.
"He's right, hun." She replied softly, feeling Diego's temper rising behind her.
"Ugh! It must be malfunctioning." Diego grit his teeth in frustration. "I'll need to switch the whole thing off. But it's only a defensive incarnation, it shouldn't hurt you if you don't force yourself through it."
"So… it's not going to just kill us?" Wex asked, only half-joking.
"No. I should be able to turn it off from the central tower. Let's… Let's get moving."
Diego, Seeth and Wex made their way down the cobblestone path, straight to the tower. There were a few junctions and crossroads, but it was otherwise just a straight shot through the rubble to the oversized wooden doors of the tower, similar to that of the gate they passed through.
Wex shot an anxious glance behind him at the gate concealed in the swirling wall of stormcloud, sealing him off from their back-up, before slowly replacing his pistols back in their holsters and trudging down the road with Seeth and Diego. The unease only continued to build in his stomach as he laid eyes upon the ruins ahead of them. The wind seemed to have picked up since the shroud went up, strong gusts whistled through the bricks and wood of the many half-walls that now made this ruined place.
The road was thick with ash, clumping under their feet with every step and now blowing left and right under the shroud. Neither Seeth nor Wex could find the words for Diego as he outpaced them both, his body language unreadable as he headed towards the tower. So they hung back, and talked amongst themselves instead.
"Has he told you anything about this place? Or what he used to get up to?" Wex asked with a single raised eyebrow as he surveyed the ruins.
"Nothing. He's kept it pretty close to his chest. Then again though, we've only been together… about three or four weeks at most, technically. We haven't really had the chance to ask that sorta stuff."
"Oh? You two seem super close. I'd swear you'd known each-other for years."
"Yeah… Life keeps getting in the way. I spent the last six months terrified he was dead."
"...I don't mean to brag or anything, but I thought he was dead for five hundred years." Wex chuckled darkly. "So, you know. Step up."
"Wex!" His comment caught the Controller off-guard, and briefly she choked on her own snicker.
"Sorry." The captain grinned, clearly not sorry. "You have to laugh at these things, or they'll eat you up. At least it's not just me who's had that experience."
"Apparantly your brother is making it a bit of a habit. He better quit it though, those six months without him were hell. I could barely -"
Suddenly, hair, fur and scales all stood to attention to the stab of a rumbling, bassy cello, one long, angry note that vibrated deep into everyone's bodies. Wex and Seeth stopped in their tracks as the groaning strings rang out, ominously, Wex's heart rattling in his chest. It was Diego who had the strongest reaction to the unsettling noise though. His tail flicked anxiously from side to side, his grip tightening on the baton as he felt his muscles tense from head to toe. He couldn't place it, but he knew it. And he knew it wasn't good.
Diego carried on wordlessly as the sound faded, trudging through the ashes with a determined grimace heavy on his face, and after a silent glance to one another, Wex and Seeth hurried to catch up.
What in the hells was that?!
The rolling ashes that thickly clogged the road would sometimes reveal small parts of the stonework, and what looked like the shadows of limbs, eternally burnt into the stone before being hidden away once more. Dark hands clawed at the path, as though still trying to escape whatever annihilated them.
Wex followed a little closer to Seeth. Diego had paced ahead considerably at this point, coming close to one of the few buildings still standing, close to the tower. It looked like a church, with the gutted ruins of a presumed steeple protruding from the roof.
"You ever seen weapons that could burn someone's shadow into stone?" Wex asked Seeth, more quietly this time.
"Nukes and plasma, mostly." Seeth replied, her focus sweeping across the ruins for danger. "Not that I've seen it in person, but I know of it. Our sensors didn't detect any fallout though, so I doubt it's nukes. And as for plasma, I'd expect the ground to show melt damage, but -"
Seeth suddenly jerked to stop then, rapidly readying the SAFU as her eyes landed on Diego. Wex quickly followed suit and turned towards his brother, only to see the lizard frozen in fear in front of the open church doors, his scales running pale as he stared at… something.
He was locked in place, his fingers squeezing around the handle of the baton, seemingly unable to pull himself away from whatever had caught his attention. He cautiously took a step back, his hair and scales visibly bristling as he moved. He kept his eyes locked on whatever had startled him, but as his foot hit the ground, he seemed to relax, if only a little bit, and continued to back away from the church.
He waved Seeth and Wex over, only after putting his finger to his lips and miming a low 'shhh,' before wiping his brow and taking a moment to catch his breath. The two padded over cautiously, weapons drawn and pointed towards the church door as they approached, when she came into view.
A towering, womanly figure, cloaked from head to toe in a ghostly green-white dress and flowing veil, stood stone still within the church, facing towards the doorway. She stood easily twelve feet tall, and was almost completely concealed by her old-world attire. Her 'dress' billowed out towards the ground like a wedding dress, but she was otherwise completely concealed by the motionless fabric, standing elegantly with her hands clasped in front of her 'navel'. The only thing that was missing was a bouquet of flowers…
There was something more than unusual about the fabric she was cloaked in. Despite the ash blowing about, she remained completely undisturbed. The veil had a subtle, unsettling glow to it, intensifying the longer it was looked at whilst desaturating the rest of the colours around it. All in all, within the ruins of the church she looked rather regal, if not deeply intimidating.
"We need to get to the tower. Now." Diego whispered, grabbing Wex and Seeth by their hands. His eyes remained locked to the motionless figure as he backpedalled down the road, his heart pounding in his chest. Step by step, the church receded from view until they could only see a peek of her head through the rubble, and their feet landed on the stonework outside of the tower entrance.
The handle creaked loudly as the wood groaned and Diego pulled it open. The three of them nipped inside as soon as the gap was wide enough, with Seeth forcing herself in uncomfortably and helping to close it behind her. As the stormlight from outside was shut away, Diego seemed to relax a little. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath.
A brief silence fell upon them as Wex and Seeth took a moment to survey the interior of the tower. They found themselves inside a large, semi-circular hall, featuring several closed doors that presumably lead elsewhere, and two curving staircases against the flat wall ahead of them that disappeared into the gloom of the next floor. However, the room they were in seemed to be the same size as the tower itself, begging the question as to where the other doors went, as they hadn't noticed any adjoining structures, nor any other additional doorways to the base of the tower.
Placed in the very centre of the room was a damaged stone archway, its scattered stones etched with flickering orange runes, being the only other source of light aside from the crystalline torches that dotted the walls. The glittering stonework was oddly angular, with the bricks once fitting together at neat angles.
"So…" Wex started softly; his voice seemed to carry rather far through the tower's lofty interior. "Dare I ask what the hell that was? At this point I'd speculate an ex of yours?"
"Not this time." A small smile tried to break through Diego's anxious expression. "That thing is… dangerous. We cannot break the shroud whilst she's still potentially functional. Anyone caught out in the open is dead, and she'll annihilate the ships too."
"What is it?" Seeth asked, feeling her stomach tighten.
"A battlesuit. I believe the official name is a carriage. A Carthonex carriage."
The colour drained from Wex's face as Seeth frowned in concerned confusion, gripping the handle of the SAFU tightly.
"Holy SHIT, Diego. You've tangled with Carthonex?! Like, the Carthonex? That explains the cracked planet…"
Carthonex as a faction is revered by many across the universe for their unbridled destructive capacity. Primarily, Carthonex resides underground in vast fortress factories, waiting. Each fortress remains hidden and isolated from its cousins throughout the universe, but all of them stockpile weapons and carriages for the day when they're either discovered, or when their yet undiscovered coreworlds broadcast the signal for all out war. Upon discovery, the fortress stirs into an unquenchable frenzy, ramping up its production, breaking through its planet's crust and sending its forces to attack everything. Deeply paranoid, extremely dangerous and completely unreasonable, they are feared for their sheer destructive potential, as well as their highly advanced occult technology. Carthonex fortresses often take multiple factions to combine arms to successfully contain and eventually destroy, with smaller groups only being able to steer clear of their monstrous warpath.
It is well-known that Carthonex forces utilise psyonics, as well as more… otherworldly armaments.
"I have." Diego confirmed slowly. "I know how dangerous they are. But we need to stay focused, we can talk about that later. For now, we need to deal with the Bride."
"Okay." Seeth stretched her neck to the side, sizing up the Bride in her head. Seeing Diego's discomfort around her made her chest swell with a defensive urge. "What's her deal?"
"She's impossible to damage whilst her veil is up. She'll lower it to attack you, and that's the only time she's vulnerable."
"What's she armed with?" Wex rubbed his brow, keeping his other hand firmly at his halter.
"Static cannons. On her arms." Diego twitched as he spoke. "Funtionally, they're like flamethrowers. But they'll chew through almost anything, including ship hulls and shields."
"And the rest of the town, I bet." Seeth sighed. "So, I would be right in thinking she'll get close whilst she's untouchable and then let the cannons do the talking?"
"Exactly. She isn't too durable once the veil is down, catching her off-guard is the issue. The second you point a gun at her, she'll put her defences up."
"Whats the range on the cannons?"
"A few hundred meters."
"Is melee viable against the veil?" Seeth asked.
"No. Do not touch the veil..." Diego flinched, more visibly this time. "If she corners you and you won't drop your weapon, she'll just… glide into you. And you don't want that."
"Don't get cornered, got it. Is she fast?"
"Not particularly, but she has hover capabilities, so she can get anywhere she wants."
"If we lift our ships off the ground, we could use the weapon batteries to rain fire on her once the shroud is down. You said she isn't that fast? Keeping the ships out of her effective range would be easy enough. I say we lift the ships off, disable the shroud and rain fire on her." Wex paced to the side of Diego as he spoke and pressed his hands against the stone wall, feeling a surprising warmth coming from within them, despite them initially cold to the touch. "I'm gathering that this tower has some type of runic, psyonic.. erm… stuff going on that makes it resistant to the Bride's weaponry, then?"
"Yeah, that sums it up."
"Then we'll be safe in here until either we've baited her away, or we take her out. Either way, it seems like the best solution."
"Okay then. Let's get this done, before it gets any worse." Diego nodded, his eyes landing on the stone arch in the middle of the room. "To be expected I guess, but the gateway is destroyed too and I don't know how to repair it. This was a colossal waste of time. I'm sorry. I've put us all in danger for nothing."
"Hey, this isn't your fault, hun." Seeth reassured him softly, squeezing his shoulder gently. "You couldn't have predicted, nor prevented this."
"Predict, no… But prevent? You don't understand. I… I should be more than I am. I could have made the difference." Diego shook his head, his shoulders sinking as he spoke. "I -"
His sentence was cut short by another rumbling thrum of the cello, emanating from directly above them. The sheer volume made the dust coating the stonework rise and dance for just a brief moment. It almost sounded like something breathing…
"Fucking hell." Wex cleared his throat and brushed himself down, shaking his arms out. "I'm guessing that's no friend either."
"I doubt it. But it's between us and the shroud controls. We should check it out." Seeth hissed quietly, returning back to her colder persona and heading towards the stairs. "Can you tell the crew to get the ships airborne, Wex? We'll want them safe and ready to fire. Oxyi knows how to lift off."
"Roger that. You guys lead the way, I'll keep the rear covered."