Nox Home World

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Talok had barely finished his report, the gate shutting down when their peaceful little moment ended.

A slight rustling of leaves in the foilage was about the only sign something was closing in, moments before Lyra stepped out into view. She smiled directly at Thanus, perhaps sensing somehow that even here, natural ingrained instinct was impossible to completely suppress. After a moment, she turned to the others, nodding to them before stepping past Talok and dialing the gate.

"We are ready to go. May we all find the answers we seek."


At that, the wormhole established with a rush, and they were on their way.

((Putting up the new planet shortly))

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

The stargate opened, a single puddle jumper carrying Siphon and his crew cruising out. Fortunately, there was enough room in the clearing by the gate for them to land, and in short order he had set them down, the doors opening. Unbuckling himself, he stood.

"The other Nox should be here in a few moments, they can't have missed our arrival. In the meantime we should get as close to them as we can."

Gently he walked over and started to lift Lyra, but as he bent down, she began moving, letting loose a slight moan even as her eyelids fluttered. She wasn't awake, but something was going on.

"OK, that's ... new."

He turned to Aya, who shook her head.


"New to me too, then again I've never seen one of them out cold or even asleep so maybe she's having a bad dream? If they even dream. That was one thing they never talked about with us."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Nox Home World

Stepping out of the Puddle Jumper with the rest, Ellisia surveys their surroundings as always. It was good to at least be in vaguely familiar territory again. Even if merely to the point that they actually knew where they were now. "Very well then. Though will they not just appear to greet us here again like Lyra did before?"

Watching Lyra, Ayla comments softly, "If needed, I could try to communicate with her to learn more. But considering how she came to be this way, it is probably ill advised without specific reason."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Siphon nodded.

"Most likely, but we'll still have to take her to their village. The Nox's healing abilities are more powerful the more of them there are focusing on it, and I like her chances better with as many helping as she can get."

He paused for a moment as he considered Ayla's words.

"Without knowing exactly why she's out like this, I'd say the risks to you are potentially far too great. My best guess is it's some kind of canatonic shock from severing the connection so abruptly but we can't know for certain. It's possible that Klarnell did something to her on a telepathic level, maybe even forced a 'copy' of it's own mind into hers. I've seen species capable of that, capable of being a problem even after the one responsible for the attack was killed."

 

[Copper]

Re: Nox Home World

Sho certainly seems happy to be out of the confines of the jumper. She glances back and forth between Ayla and Siphon, listening to the conversation, her brows arching slightly at Siphon's words.

"Okay, at the risk of starting an intergalactic incident, if there's even the slightest chance that might be the case, shouldn't we tie her up?" She gestures with a thumb in Lyra's direction. "Or something, in case, y'know, she's mentally fighting off Klarnell control and the last thing we need is for her to lose and wake up a hulking mental monstrosity in an itty-bitty package."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Siphon shook his head.

"No, that much I can safely say won't happen. If she were to lose Sho, she would die. What makes her a living being would be gone, and the invading force can't directly assume control in this case. Only an ascended being could actually jack control of someone on a mental or possessive level without their being some kind of physical entity such as a Gou'ald present inside the body. I think that's what is happening, she's dying. Be it from an invasive force, or the shock or severing her connection so suddenly and violently, it doesn't really matter. She's going to need the help of the other Nox, there's nothing we ourselves can do for her at this point but hope it isn't too late."

 

[Copper]

Re: Nox Home World

"Then let's up the odds for her, shall we?" Clearly getting a move on was the objective, then, at this point. "Point me in a direction and I could zip ahead, if you want me to."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Nox Home World

Ellisia's eyes widened a bit at Siphons diagnosis. "You should have said that part first. We best be off right away then." said stepping in the general direction they would need to head. "If it's safe for Sho to do so here, then that seems like a fair plan to me."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Siphon nodded.

"That way then," pointing towards what could best be described as Northeast as he spoke.

Once more gently lifting Lyra into his arms, they would start off.

((Will let you post Copper before I spice shit up ))

 

[Copper]

Re: Nox Home World

Once she has a direction to head in, Sho will nod and take off at a bit of a run. After a few feet, there's a bit of a hop in her step and it's clear she's caught the breeze, since the little leap takes her higher than it should have. She lets the angle of it take her higher, using the altitude to try and locate any sign of civilization or just the Nox in general, wanting to find them as quickly as possible. There's a bit of a hover as she scouts ahead for what she's looking for and then a swoop down and forward as she lights off in the direction indicated by Siphon.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

From her vantage point, Sho could see the simple huts the Nox used for living off in the distance, but strangely she saw none moving about outside. Pressing onward she soon came close enough to the camp to see why.

Over fifty Nox lay dead on the ground, all males from the looks of it. Their bodies had been maimed badly, and a few were missing body parts. There were no female bodies however, and there were far less bodies here than there should have been. It was possible some of them were still in their cloaked city, but the question remained, what in the hell had the power to kill the Nox like this, and in such large numbers? Before she could move though, she heard a hissing and clicking sound from off to her right side, and saw movement out of the corner of her eye.


Siphon and the others continued walking, and with each passing moment, Siphon visibly grew more worried.

"Something isn't right, the other Nox should have already come to us by now."

About then both Marik and Thanus would get the sense they were suddenly no longer alone, and that strange feeling told them that something was hunting them ....


((And now the fun begins)).

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Nox Home World

"Yes, this place feels dif..." Ayla begins in response to Siphon, but interrupted by Marik who had been frowning and sniffing at the air before suddenly taking on a deadly serious expression and declaring, "Klarnell." his intense eyes flicking across the landscape searchingly, though knowing they'd likely be using the cloaking technology the other one had attempted to. Likely the best he could do was looking for disruptions in the foliage and bark of the trees.

"More than one." Thanus adds, his aura rising up again. Ayla and Sinnve routinely drawing closer to the large man, staying between him and Ellisia.

"We need to get back to the gate. Now." Ellisia drawing her sword. Ayla nodding in agreement with very evident concern and a hint of controlled fear, but also another thing on her mind, "Sho, there are Klarnel in the trees! Don't get too close to them." she would message over to Sho via communicator.

Travelling the distance to the Nox city would almost certainly be suicide whilst being forced to escort Lyra, Sinnve and Ayla. Even then, if the city turned out to be compromised, then Lyra's only hope was likely to get her to the Al-sora back at Peltas. They also needed to decode the data module as soon as possible. If there was absolutely anything at all that could be learned about the Klarnel or how exactly they harnessed the anomalies, they needed to know it right away.

Sinnve meanwhile was busy quietly learning new words from her language adaptation anima. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck... "

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Siphon froze at Marik's mention of the Klarnell, but already a clicking sound, or hissing could be heard. Slowly he actually placed Lyra onto the ground, watching the trees carefully as she spoke.

"Those aren't Klarnell. Not with that sound. Aya are those ..."


The blonde shuddered, nodding.

"Their future predator pets. We'll never make it to the gate or jumper before they get us."


Siphon nodded grimly, speaking to Thanus without looking at him.

"Those fields of yours, can they extend to protect one other person?"

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Nox Home World

"Yes. I can project an effective field at up to two meters, spherically." Thanus replies, looking very ready to do so at the slightest notice.

"You know the sound? Please tell us anything and everything you know about them." Ellisia requests

Marik meanwhile slowly drew his long aser weapon from subspace, beginning it's charging cycle.

((Hmm. Heh. Well as long as these things have been near some Klarnel at some point, I supose I can forgive Marik for that goof/error without needing to edit. Although if they're not actually cloaked, there is a fair chance he might well see some. "Buzzard like eyesight" and all that (when he's actively maintaining it that is). Buzzards being birds that hunt by spotting for rodents hiding in the grass from a height/distance of two+ miles.))

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Siphon nodded.

"Good, one of you who has it take Lyra and Aya into it, then we at least have one person who can pilot the jumper. I doubt those things can get through it, at least easily. As for the creatures Elissa ..."

He trailed off, actually shuddering slightly, and nodding to Aya.

"As best as we could tell they hunt by sonar or something similar, and they are very quick. Lethal sharp claws and teeth, they walk on all fours but they are faster than anything I've ever seen. They're about twice the size of an average person, but still agile enough to climb trees, and pounce from a near stand still. Weapons fire is dicey at best with them, they seem to be capable of absorbing a few hits before going down, although that may have been because our weapons weren't really originally designed to kill. They're very quick learners too, and they usually hunt in packs, but are lethal on their own. And they usually aren't without a Klarnell somewhere nearby, unless the Klarnell left them to clean up any possible survivors they missed, or anyone that came looking for those they attacked. Some of them had the ability to blend in to their surroundings too, but not all of them."

As she spoke, Marik would in fact see something odd, like part of a tree was moving. It took a moment to register but suddenly it did. There was something wet sliding down the tree, and a glance up rewarded him with the sight of no fewer than a half dozen creatures matching Aya's description. They all appeared ready to pounce, and worse still, they seemed coordinated. Siphon though was eyeballing another spot, and a careful glance told Marik that the Alveran had spotted another half dozen of them to the other side. They were quite literally boxed in.

 

[Copper]

Re: Nox Home World

Sho's response to the threat is to go up. If she can get a good look at the situation while hovering, she does so, not hitting the ground. Still, as she catches sight of whatever it is moving out the corner of her eye, she shoots directly upward. If it was going to pounce or try to grab her, it'd have to change course before trying again, at the very least.

"I know." Comes back over the radio. "They took out the Nox village ahead of us and I've got company."

She'll assess her own opponent before breaking to head back to the group, unless she gets any sort of "rally" call from one of the others to come back and help with the pack.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Sho almost wasn't fast enough, the creature having impressive speed. It lunged for her, correcting course so fast it might make her breath catch for a moment. Still, she narrowly avoided it, and as it flew past her she got a good look. It was the same type of thing they'd seen on Atlantis when she'd bumped into Ariana after Siphon mentioned the systems warning about future predators. Except these ones were not only alive, but seemed to blend in with their surroundings well enough that had she not seen the movement of it's teeth earlier, it might have gotten the jump on her. Taking out something like this would be tricky, and that was assuming it was alone.

 

[Copper]

Re: Nox Home World

"Shit!" Yeah, up was definitely the way to go, the expletive quite possibly crackling over the radio as well. "We've got big, mean, and ugly here in the village. What's your status?" Hovering at a high enough point that (hopefully) the thing couldn't jump to, Sho's first instinct was to go for her zat. She couldn't remember if they'd said anything about using it on these things, but in a pinch, anything was possible. At the worst, all she'd do would be to piss it off even more. Even if that were possible.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Nox Home World

"Understood. I see them... Thanus?" Ellisia replies, aware of the ones Marik had seen, and noting the direction of Siphons attention.

"Yas maam." Thanus responds in his deep slightly husky voice, making one very careful motion towards Lyra and reaching to pick her up. The small and light Nox girl cradled quite easily in one of his arms. "Stay in front of me. Move fast but steady." He says with a brief glance to Aya, looking ready to make the break for it.

Marik's gun finally fully charged, and Ellisia poised for action. Ayla takes Sinnve's hand and holds it tight, bringing her sister to crouch down slightly. "Stay with me sister. Don't move unless I move." to which Sinnve nods. Having had weapons training, Sinnve kind of wanted an aser pistol right now, but also knew she would be just as likely to make things more difficult for the knights as actually help much.

With their foes surely about to pounce any moment, or at the first sudden movement...

<"Do it"> Ellisia commands mentally, regarding the "lines" she could see Marik had been gradually painting in his mind ever since drawing his weapon. The predators stalking and watchful nature having given him just enough time and the perfect targets.

And so the silver haired young knight fires the starting gun, so to speak. A sharp snapping bang echoing out from the end of the very long sleek silver weapon, which hadn't even been pointed upwards or towards any enemy. The sound however moved much slower than the brilliant white-blue beam, which shot off into the forest, before suddenly shooting back on itself at an acute angle and slicing a hole straight through one of the tree-borne Predators head, it continued on in the same line to bore through another's torso from armpit to armpit, before pin balling to strike another in the neck, making it's final change of direction to cut back through the one it just came through an aiming for a fourth, but only managing to graze along the flesh on it's cheek.

"Go!" Thanus would exclaim, breaking to run with Aya, as if she really needed any additional hints after the display that just left the air fizzing and a small amount of finely misted alien blood to drift on the breeze.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Nox Home World

Aya was off and running step for step with Thanus the moment he started, the Lantean woman picking her way through the growth here easily, and she probably should considering she supposedly had been here before. They soon were out of sight of the others, and as they neared the jumper, four of the predators came flying in at them. Before Thanus could think about a reaction, the air around him suddenly seemed to get very hot, and the four predators literally dropped to the ground, their bodies bursting into flame as they incinerated from the inside out. Aya staggered just a little after the show, using the side of the jumper to catch herself and steady herself for a moment. Once Thanus was inside with Lyra, she'd get in and close the door after they made absolute certain the jumper was empty, which it was.


Siphon took just enough time to whisper back to Sho on their line, "bad, two dozen or so here. We'll try to get to you when we deal with these assholes."


As the first shot fired, the predators were on the move, and while three of them were taken out, that left nine of them. Now that they were moving though, hitting them would prove difficult as they just didn't stay still. They weaved in and about, trying to pick a spot where they could slash someone. One of them managed to land in the middle of the group not far from Sinnve and Ayla, but strangely it completely ignored them, and they were ignoring Elissia up until she started attacking. Eyes narrowing, Siphon shouted to them, "They're ignoring anyone who's female with us! Son of a bitch, I bet they've been instructed to take prisoners if possible too."

A second one came flying in, but Siphon caught it in mid air, having guessed right and blasting it just below the neck with his pistol. It's body dropped to the ground with a smoking hole where it's throat used to be, and Talok ended up in close combat with the one that had landed near Alya. It managed to slash the Wraith, who let loose a loud roar, and then dashed in, meeting the predator in mid attack and slamming it into one of the trees about three feet from Ayla and Sinnve. He then slammed one of his hands down onto it's body, and the creature began to wither as he fed from it.

That left seven of the buggers to contend with, and when Talok was finished, he stood with Siphon.

"Omega six?"

Siphon nodded.

"Yep, best bet."


From that point on Siphon would take shots at the ground, pissing the predators off anytime they got near a target, and in the time it took for them to turn and start moving towards him, it's initial target would have a chance to pop it but good. Talok would have the slightly more dangerous route, actually coming up close and getting in it's line of vision to force it to change targets for something it viewed as easier. Either way, the knights suddenly found it much easier to hit the buggers when they were focusing on mostly stationary, taunting targets. It was extremely risky, but it seemed these two had done this before.


The creature began scrambling up the trees trying to get to Sho, incredibly fast. She wasn't even sure she could manage to hit it with her zat it moved so quickly. She'd have to go much higher than the tree tops to escape this thing it seemed, she might even have to actually just leave it and make a run back for the others, or the jumper ...