~ Fila Ramaya ~

The Ilargia lands gently in the makeshift encampment, quite a contrast to the still-smoldering wreck of the Aquila V in the distance. As I make my way toward the door, I come across Fior and Tiffan, and we end up walking together for the rest of the way. I study them silently as we walk. I've never met a Nurooliem before, and if these two are anything to judge by, they don't seem to be the nicest species ever.

When we step off the ship, I see that the crowd who was here before has dispersed. Kairo and a few others have headed off in what's clearly the wrong direction — we have an encampment, it's certainly not there, and even if they'd planned on setting up camp somewhere else, it's not like those buildings are going to offer much shelter. In the other direction, Rlang and Seólta are emerging from a much more structurally sound building, brandishing a shiny object.

"Should we go see what's going on over there?" I suggest. Yang, Fior, Tiffan, and that pilot whose name I can't pronounce all nod, some more enthusiastically than others (*ahem* Tiffan), so we head toward Rlang and Seólta.

As we get closer, I see that the shiny object is a helmet, presumably a significant one, judging by the expressions on their faces. "What is that?" calls Yang.

—

I don't know if anyone remembers, but some time ago I made a post from the POV of Jaxi Varu, who's a Pasu on one of the Vojnovy ships, and I said that the ship was going to come land on Philia. I'm switching Jaxi over to be in the SUNRISE/Vojnovy RP, so you can just ignore that post. 🙂

Sorry about my lack of posting. Schoolwork has been keeping me busy!

Rlang–

"The Vojnovy were definitely here," Seó muttered. Rlang heard the words as though they were coated in Philian ice.

"What makes you say that?" Her tone was cool, neutral. As unconcerned as she could force it to be.

"There's one of their helmets here," he explained. "Can't be a good sign." Now that Seó pointed it out, Rlang could sense something round and metallic tucked behind a ruined shelf.

She fought fiercely to keep from panicking. "So the Vojnovy were obviously involved. But why? And how could they have destroyed a whole species?"

"Several possibilities, actually." Seó's tone was annoyingly superior, like always. "Ray cannons tend to do this type of damage, as do neutrino incendiaries. However, on this scale, the Vojnovy must have built quite a lot of them."

"I know about ray and neutrino weapons." Rlang gritted her teeth. "I trained with them, for Ndrin's sake. But some fraction of the Philians had to be off-planet at the time. How were they killed as well?" He shrugged.

"The Vojnovy are a large and capable species. Obviously, they've built enough of these weapons that such a deed is possible, if not trivial."

"I'll bet. But this is the strangest case of Vojnovy crime I've ever seen." A swift echoing glance at her surroundings made her bite her lip with fear. "Wait, Seó-"

"Moreover, they wanted us to know they were here. The helmet's more than trash — it's a calling card. I don't understand why they left it, though."

A shadowy figure seemed to coalesce behind them. Rlang fingered the blaster at her belt. "Seó, I think there might–" 

"A message! Of course!" he interrupted her. "They wanted the galactic government to know they were here, as a sign that they were growing stronger. Or something along those lines." Seó turned to Rlang, smirking proudly, only to see her jaw set grimly and her blaster in hand.

"Excellent deduction," purred a cool voice from behind them. "Now throw down your weapons and raise your hands. You are surrounded."

—

Just a little conflict. 🙂 

I left just as this started! Well, time to finally write a POV! Also, I'm putting Ji on the opposite side, just to spice things up a little 😉

—

Ji

—

"Do we have to help them?" Ji complained, propping his feet up on the dashboard of the spaceship.

"Stop talking like I'm not right here," Iris, the pilot of the Fire 894 said, gritting her fanged teeth.

"I mean," Ji snickered, his eyes half-opened in lazy slits, "Are the Vojnovy really so desperate for more fighters? I thought you were all powerful!"

Iris slammed her fist down on the table so hard Ji's dangly earrings jumped up.

"Get. Your. Feet. Off. The. Dashboard," Iris growled.

"Fine, fine!" Ji said, settling down in his seat normally.

His crewmate, Moxy, laughed from beside him.

Two weeks ago, Roxy, Moxy's older sister as well as the captain of the Fourteenth Moon had told them that they were helping the Vojnovy blockade Philia P73. Granted, it was for a lot of money, like, a lot, but Ji still didn't really like doing it.

They'd had to dock the ship over at one of the nearby stations, board the Fire 894, and wear uniforms. And the Vojnovy were just all so uptight.

Ji stuck out his tongue at Iris (who was the bane of his life, he absolutely hated her), and stared out the window. They were landing at a hurriedly constructed dock on Philia P73, specially designed for Vojnovy military ships.

They were circling the planet, having made it into the atmosphere. Philia P73 looked so weird. A patchwork of city buildings and jungles, with a ring of mountains surrounding it.

"Buckle up," Iris snapped, "We're landing."

Ji sighed, and strapped on the seat buckle. He sat forward, ready to do some co-piloting in case Iris fainted while they were trying to land.

With a screech and a puff of smoke, the Fire 894 landed neatly on the dock. A whirr, a squeal, and the landing was complete.

— 

"I hope to god I never see you again," Iris said, slamming the door shut as soon as she was out of her seat.

"haHA!" Ji laughed, unbuckling and jumping up, "Come on, let's go, I want food!"

Moxy laughed as well. "Not yet dude, we have to go do our jobs, remember?"

"Oh yea," Ji said sourly.

They had just been notified that Volva and them had a day or so to rest, and then they had to fly a ship back to Vojnovy's base with prisoners of war.

Prisoners of war? Already? was what Ji had thought, but hey, it meant he got to leave the company of all the Vojnovy, he would gladly take it!

"So, what're we doing again?" Ji said.

Moxy tapped his tablet. "We're going to put the prisoners in their rooms on the ships first, and then dinner. Departing next morning," he said.

Ji nodded. "Aight. Waste of my talent though," he smirked.

Moxy rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said.

—

"Only two?" Ji asked, looking over the prisoners.

One was an Okrenti, a boy with curly ginger hair. The other, a large tortoise girl. Wait no, she looked way older than Ji.

"Yep," Moxy said, busy with something on his tablet.

"We can't have only two prisoners, 5 people on a ship is bad luck!" Ji exclaimed.

"Bad luck or not, we're doing it," Moxy said.

Ji sighed.

"Alright, we're doing this!" he exclaimed.

—

Hey, haven't posted in like forever! Maybe they like, get a little bit away, and then some of the others catch up to them and rescue them, Ji, Moxy, and Volva have a change of heart or something? idk, all up to you guys! 

Whoops it's been a while!

Aigith~

Rolling my eyes, I follow Light as he walks away from the group. I love the guy, but he's going in what's most definitely the wrong direction.

"Well hello, Aigith," he says when I catch up. "I'm glad someone has some common sense."

"Yeah, and that someone isn't you," I shoot back. "Do you have any idea where you're going? The answer is no," I cut him off as he opens his mouth to speak.

"Neither do they!" He gestures back to the group behind us. I glance over my shoulder to see Seó and Rlang walking off towards a frozen lake. Beyond it, I see the remains of another village.

"Look, there are buildings over there. Buildings could mean actual supplies. What do you see in front of us?"

Light looks ahead obligingly. "Snow?"

I nod. "Yeah, snow. And we're looking for food, shelter, and most importantly, a jacket! No one told me Philia would be this cold!" I tug on his arm. "Come on, let's go back and follow those two."

He makes a face. "Follow Rlang? Seó I can deal with, but are we overlooking the fact that Rlang just tried to destroy me?"

I shrug. "Who knows, maybe she'll try again? I'll probably be warmer if I'm laughing."

Light glares at me, then gives in with a long-suffering sigh. "Fiiiine. Let's go follow them."

We turn around and walk back the way we came. When we get back to the spot where Kettu left us, we find Aya there waiting nervously.

She looks relieved when we show up. "Oh, good, Aigith managed to talk some sense into you."

I nod. "Sure did. We saw Rlang and Seó going that way, and we thought we'd follow them. Care to join?"

She brightens considerably. "Great idea! It seemed like they knew what they were doing, but I didn't want to leave you guys. Let's go!"

I can no longer see the two figures, but we know where they were going, and their footprints are still visible in the snow. As we near the damaged village, I see several people exit one of the buildings. I squint to make out who it is, and my heart jumps into my throat.

"Get down!" I say, pulling Light and Aya behind a snow bank.

"What is is?" Aya whispers. I peer over the top of the snow and point at the people.

There are two figures who look like they have weapons, and both are wearing what I'm pretty sure are Vojnovy helmets. The other two are Seó and Rlang.

"We have to rescue them!" Light says impulsively, jumping up.

Aya pulls him back down. "With what? You have a water gun."

"I know where we can get weapons," I say quietly. "My ship isn't far from here- and I've got half a shipment of illegal blasters onboard."

Seó~

Before there was any time for Seó and Rlang to react, Vojnovy soldiers had them surrounded. It seemed to Seó they'd been hiding, waiting for someone to leave the group. Seó wondered how many other Vojnovy were on the planet with them.

As the soldiers shoved Seó and Rlang forwards, Seó tried to think of some sort of plan. He'd been in many situations like this before–but when it had been with Vojnovy, he'd had his vessel.

And also a decent weapon, not a flimsy Starstrike laser pistol.

The Vojnovy led Seó and Rlang further and further away from the camp. Once, Seó swore he saw Aya's turquoise hair, but he assumed it must have been nothing more than wishful thinking. Wishful thinking about wanting to have a savior, of course. Certainly not just that he'd be glad to see her.

After a few more stressful moments of being led across snow, the group approached a large ship. It didn't look like much more than a merchant's ship, but Seó assumed that it was a Vojnovy ship with a clever disguise. One of the Vojnovy guards waved towards the ship. "Ey, Levánta! Open the ship!"

A few moments later, the ship's ramp slowly rolled down, landing with a solid thud in the snow.  It revealed the figure of a male Vojnovy, with dark blue scaly skin, four powerful arms, and a long lashing tail. Metallic armor covered almost all of his body, save for his head, hands, feet, and tail. 

"Hurry up," he growled. "The transfer ship's waiting in orbit."

The two soldiers pushed Seó and Rlang roughly onto the ship, after binding their hands. After locking the pair in a cell, the Vojnovy headed towards the cockpit. A few moments later, the ship was already in the air, and Seó and Rlang's chances of being rescued had dramatically decreased.

—

There was a sudden clank, and the entire ship rocked to one side. Unable to use his hands, Seó used his feet to brace himself, Rlang doing something similar. 

"Seó," she said. "What just happened?"

Seó looked out one of the windows. "We've docked with a ship."

"Well, I can see that with my light-implants. What's its name?"

Seó squinted. "The Fortieth Moon, or something."

Rlang growled. "Must be the 'Fourteenth Moon'. It's piloted by fellow space pirates, most notably Roxy and Ji. They haven't stolen any bounties from me, but they're still rivals."

Footsteps approached the cell. A few figures came to stand in front– a space elf, the Vojnovy from earlier, and another alien tapping away on a tablet. The space elf said something about having bad luck because of only two prisoners, while the tablet-carrying alien muttered a response.

The Vojnovy unlocked the cell, and soon, Seó was being carried off to the new ship. The new ship seemed much more…'cozy' than the Vojnovy's. There was only one Vojnovy onboard, along with the space elf and other alien.

As Rlang and Seó were seperated, Seó began to formulate a plan. He didn't have a high-quality weapon, but he did have a weapon–and besides, he was an ex-soldier and an excellent mercenary. Fighting his way out wouldn't be hard.

As long as Rlang didn't get in his way, of course.

~~~ 

Hopefully, I'll be able to showcase Seó's actually-pretty-good fighting skills soon. 

Ji

—

"You're related to that-"

Volva stuck out her tongue at Ji. "Yes, I'm related to Iris. That's why Roxy agreed to help, because otherwise she would've been short of a pilot."

"Yea, and she turned out short of fifteen pilots," Ji laughed.

Ji would've loved to be back on the Fourteenth Moon, but there was no way they could pilot it with a crew of three. He sighed, and stood up. "I'm going to go see if the turtle and the redhead want to play poker, seeya," Ji said.

Volva nodded. Moxy was in the back, doing checks on all the parts of the spaceship. 

Ji took his pack of cards, and knocked on the door of the room where the prisoners were.

"What do you want?!" the turtle growled.

"S'up, you wanna play poker?" Ji asked, taking a seat on the floor beneath the two bunk beds.

"Totally," the redhead said sarcastically, sitting down next to him.

—

"So like, you're on Philia to help people?" Ji asked.

"Yes!" Rlang snapped.

"Mmk, but what do you get out of it?"

"What do you mean?" Seolta said.

"Are they like, paying you?"

"No, we're helping them just to help them you moron," Rlang snarled.

Ji grinned cheekily.

The conversation had been going in similar circles for quite a while now, and Seolta had been winning all the card games.

"Why are you working for the Vojnovy?" Seolta asked,  turning the question on Ji.

"For money, duh!" Ji exclaimed, "And also because Roxy kind of told me to."

"You'd work for the bad guys just for money?" Rlang asked.

"Uh, I'm a proud pirate and so are you, so, I wouldn't say anything about bad guys," Ji shrugged.

"Whatever," Rlang muttered, "We're breaking this place soon enough."

Ji raised an eyebrow. "Really?! Do tell!" he exclaimed, "Is it gonna be dRaMaTiC?"

Seolta and Rlang glanced at each other with furtive looks.

Seolta seemed to see an oppurtunity, and jumped in. "We're going to get rescued. If you don't want to be left with the Vojnovy, you could join us, you know, the better people," he said.

"What's in it for me?" Ji asked, shuffling the cards dramatically.

"You don't have to work for the Vojnovy like a servant," Rlang scoffed.

"And you get an adventure," Seolta said.

An adventure?! And I get to leave the Vojnovy?! Uh, I'm in!

"I'm in!" Ji exclaimed.

"Just like that?" Rlang asked, looking rather suspicious.

"Mhmm! I'll ask Moxy and Volva, see you guys later!" Ji said, packing up the cards quickly, and promptly leaving.

—

"So, Volva, what would you think about deserting and joining the Philians?" Ji suggested.

Volva spit out her rice juice. "I'm sorry what?!"

"Exactly what I said," Ji said.

"Uh, no," Volva said.

"Whatever, Moxy said yes so, your loss I guess," Ji shrugged.

Volva glared at him. Ji was about to glare right back, when suddenly, his attention was diverted to the large screens on the dashboard.

"There's another craft approaching from behind," Ji said.

"It's the Philians," Volva said grimly, "Prepare for battle."

— 

Rlang– 

As the guard left the room, Seó stood from the cramped bunk bed in the corner. "That was easy."

Rlang frowned. "I'm not so sure. It's strange that he'd agree so quickly. Do you think it's a trap?"

He snorted. "Of course not. The Vojnovy are horrible creatures. It's no surprise one of their little friends would want to turn traitor."

"Fine. But don't blame me if you end up dead because you trusted Ji — who's little more than a random guard — with our plans." Rlang yawned. "When will they come? We've been waiting forever. Are you sure you actually saw Aya and the rest back there?"

"I'm positive," Seó protested. "They should be here any moment." He frowned. "Speaking of which, what's that noise?" Rlang fell silent, put out a hand as a signal for him to pause.

"Lasers," she muttered after a moment. "Lots of them. They're here." She shot a look at the locked door. "Are you going to pick the lock yet or what?"

The tone of Seó's voice suggested he was grinning. "Don't need to. The star elf left it unlocked for us." Sure enough, the door swung open on contact. Rlang lunged through the opening and beat her tail on the floor urgently, seeking order in the chaos of battle.

And it was chaos. Various storage containers had been overturned, and figures were firing bright beams at each other that erupted in flares like dust storms. She heard the telltale humming of Seó's small pistol as it fired beams into the fray without hesitation, always hitting. Grinning fiendishly, Rlang launched herself toward the figures. 

A few hits of her tail told her that the cluster of people hiding behind one of the tipped-over bins were Ji and Roxy, still wearing a pilot's helmet. A couple shots in the area burned a smoking hole in the metallic alloy of the bins. A call in Seó's direction alerted them of their presence. With a nod, he snapped off a shot in their direction, and Rlang nodded. Inwardly, she wished she had her ship. The Arxnidl had always warned her of enemies, but alone she was as vulnerable as a campfire on the icy Philian landscape. She instinctively backed against a wall and surveyed the scene.

From what she could tell, the Philian crew had overwhelming numbers, but less combat skill than their adversaries. She grudgingly had to admit that Light was a good fighter, as well as Seó and Aigith, but the rest barely seemed to know one end of a blaster from the other. For some reason, Aya seemed to be hanging back from the battle entirely. Rlang snorted in disgust. Could the team still win? She didn't know. All she knew was that they had to defeat the crew of the Fourteenth Moon and get back to Philia.

Yeah, that just got a bit awkward, and now nobody's posting. (Can't say I blame them. They're probably confused with where I left the story off at.) So, how about this: I'll redo my post to make it more sensical and correct (and maybe change a few plot points), and then hopefully more people will post! Because we don't want this thread to die! Right?

Anyway, here goes nothing.

Rlang–

As Ji left the room, Seó stood from the cramped bunk bed in the corner. "That was easy."

Rlang frowned. "I'm not so sure. It's strange that he'd agree so quickly. Do you think it's a trap?"

He snorted. "Of course not. The Vojnovy are horrible creatures. It's no surprise one of their little friends would want to turn traitor."

"Fine. But don't blame me if you end up dead because you trusted Ji — who's little more than a random guard — with our plans." Rlang yawned. "When will our friends come? We've been waiting forever. Are you sure you actually saw Aya and the rest back there?"

"I'm positive," Seó protested. "But never mind that. We can break out now, if we want to." She turned his way.

"What, are you going to pick the lock or something?" 

The tone of Seó's voice suggested he was grinning. "Don't need to. Ji left it unlocked for us." Sure enough, the door swung open on contact. Whistling drifted in through the corridor. A few tail hits told Rlang that it was Ji coming down the hall. Who knew what purpose he had in mind.

"What — you're out!" he sputtered, whistling keening to a stop. Then he seemed to regain his composure. "Just figured I'd tell you that Moxy said yeah to your deal. Volva's a no, but we'll probably be able to convince her sooner or later."

Rlang sighed through her teeth. "Fine. Do you know anything about a Philian ship following us?" Ji took a startled step back.

"Yeah, actually. They were forty klicks back, last I checked. By now they should be…"

A hiss interrupted him. The sound of an airlock opening. Then footsteps.

"It's the others," Rlang hissed to Seó. He nodded.

"I figured. Now, are you going to tell that guy they're here or should I?"

"Leave it to me." She turned to Ji, who was standing uneasily with his hands in the pockets of his Vojnovy uniform. "You might as well know that those are our allies, and they're here to take the ship. I suggest you surrender or come to our side, else you risk being fried." Her tone was cold and frank. "If you decide to join us, you should know that we won't treat traitors kindly." Ji barely had time to nod before the figures rounded the corner. Rlang drew in a deep breath.

"Hold your fire! It's us!"

—

Yeah, okay, so that kind of veered off of what I wrote before. Sorry if I just confused you more with this. Just to be clear, this was the final version of what I intended to write. Hope that's okay!

I think I'll stop rambling now. 🙂