Emergence of a Strange Presence

"Did I not just tell you why we are here?" Leo asked, his brow furrowing in concern over the man's lack of comprehension. "I suppose I will have to speak plainly then, aliens attacked humanity, obviously, so all of the major organizations are on high alert. IMG detected some signals and interference originating from outside of the galaxy here, so we were sent to investigate. It seems it was a false alarm."

Any sense of honor the man attempted to impart upon him was lost on Leo. Even the mere concept of being buried where one requested, well that was impossible for Leo and Eris at the current moment, if they for some reason ended up dying before their goal was reached. He tried not to think about that, though, the personal responsibility was too great nor did it have anything to do with the current moment. Material gain, as well, the latter was only a means to an end. Not like the gathering of intelligence was even for personal profit, although in a way he supposed what benefited the Intergalactic Mercenary Guild was also advantageous to them both, in a myriad of ways.

Yet to think they really cared about a rogue corporation, the man seemed to believe the planet was more important than it was in reality. A conglomerate gaining influence over a state like, say, Dandelion? Yes, that would be worth proper involvement. Perhaps there was something to be gained from a purely diplomatic perspective, however. "And that would be Fiore's problem, not that of IMG," he stated, his tone suggesting little remorse for a loosely connected colony like the one they were on at the moment. "Do we like the current president?"

Eris shrugged, her voice more or less apathetic although her words spoke otherwise. "She didn't arrest us for possessing weapons at the Gala."

"Fair enough."

As they were speaking the man had decided to truly counterattack, at least he was at a range that would have made it easy to dive back under cover in case another blaze of light was fired. No such thing occurred, however, instead mangled, insectoid limbs protruded from metal, reaching up to tug upon the machine. He was a mage, then. Yet again, Leo was the single person possessing insignificant magic among the group. His rational thoughts told him there was nothing to be concerned about, that lacking was a far better alternative than what would have come naturally, but at the same time the darkness clawed at its cage, much to his own annoyance. Jealousy, what a disgusting emotion, yet he knew the black truths that laid beneath it and how horrifying they were in comparison.

With the man's salvo of attacks was the machine that had emitted the plasma beam destroyed, yet still did other mechanical beings emerge over its toppled form, their design clearly built for melee encounters and armor far heavier than the first drone to boot. After all, a laser cannon tended to serve as a good defense, so long as all targets were eliminated within the first charge. Leo gave the man a brief nod before sprinting forward, gaze catching the thick appendages of one of the drones as it whirred to meet him. Pressing the hilts of Dua and List against each other, with the toggle of a button the blades of two were intertwined as one, longsword rising up to greet the flailing steel of the automaton. As he held the lock for a brief moment Eris also stepped into the fray, hand extending as verdant tendrils shot out from her grasp, lashing onto the limb and securing it to the scorched floor. As another appendage moved toward him did they deal with it in a similar fashion, before Leo leapt onto the frame itself, one foot in front of the other as he reached the bulbous center of its electronics. With both hands upon Dualist did he plunge it downward into the wiring, swinging off of the device even as a leg thrashed to and fro, narrowing missing his abdomen.

As he moved onto the next foe to be eliminated did Eris turn toward the man, grip slacking upon her magic for a brief moment. "Of course not, but there seems to be a detail we are missing. What is your name?"

"What?"

That was all he could say at first but this time it wasn't an act. He froze for a moment, head turned towards Leo and leaning forth with his eyes squinting visibly even through his shrouded appearance.

In the time the taskforce had been scouting the edges of known human space, they hadn't heard of that. Granted their ability to listen in on human communications was limited but such a momentous occurrence should have caught their ear fast.

He'd spat the truth out loud and the shock was still setting in. He didn't know humanity as well as he could; the humanity that *he* knew would say the same.

"An alien attack... and strange signals? And you don't think that's got something to do with the satellite? I really hope you're not-"

Again he hadn't had the time to finish that line of thought. The dinosaur-like machines had decided on a far more visceral course of approach. He twisted away from one, watching from the corner of his eyes as his companion annihilated it in synchronized movements as elegant and trained as a single trained warrior's. Yet another charged past ignoring them even as multiple rounds slammed into its body. A meaty claw swung his way with six sparking machete-blade fingers going straight for the forehead.

His knees bent and he fell backwards, firing a salvo of rounds before he dropped the ground and twisted on the ground. Palms pressed against the floor and bracing the rest of his body, his legs lashed out and his boots smashed into its gut-region and staggering it a few steps back. He whipped his legs back, torso jolting forwards as he reached for something within his jacket. The machines other hand swung back with a backhand meant to shatter bones but in a flash of violent movement, its limb snapped upwards as a metallic baton crushed into its elbow joint. Armour and wires tore out of its metallic frame, forced into a crude v-shape like a ship split by a torpedo and its body jerked towards him from the brutish force.

Another baton followed, smashing through its bulb-like skull and smashing against the back of its throat-equivalent region, metal bending outwards from the violent force. He ripped out his hand and shoved it with his shoulder and it stumbled backwards. Another machine leapt over it with a spearing claw extended, tail whipping violently like a serpent in death's throes. He bent and surged forwards, past the armour-shredding claw. The whipping appendage angled itself towards him, curved like a hook but his momentum didn't stop. One arm raised and caught it against the bicep, using the sudden clash of opposing movements to stop his brief charge. He twisted around, another arm wrapping around near the head of the stinger-appendage and with a grunt jerked it back. The drone's flight stopped and it slammed heavy against the ground.

Its body jerked rightwards, prepared to twist, but a sudden metallic crunch and its arm was pinned to the ground with a large spine pinning it to the ground. It paused as if in shock before its own tail impaled itself through its iron skull, sending one violent spasm through its body. The infiltrator jerked it backwards, tearing out any potential back-up electronics.

"Jairec. I believe we know where these signals might be being held."

That... was genuine shock. Not just over their motives, no it was too extreme for that. It was almost as if it were the first time the man had heard of the events that had transpired at the Independence Gala, and for one that wielded somewhat advanced weaponry and clearly was involved in a scrape that also utilized modern technology, no, that would be impossible, wouldn't it? After all, the broadcast the benevolent Khix'eks had projected had not merely been for show. Every corner of the galaxy it had been fed to, that was the power of the President's Citadel, or at least so he had been told. Had he mistaken the sentiment, then? Leo's head tilted slightly in perplexity, before it was swept away by the roar of battle.

Again, the machines plucked the strings of annoyance, their mechanics certainly more powerful than before but still so, well, mechanical in nature. There was no innate sense of life, no rush of the unknown as they were nothing more than code strung together to emulate a true warrior's will. Ah, but at least the remaining pair seemed to understand the concept of teamwork to a degree, as he dodged one flailing limb another moved to sweep him off his feet. A slight trip and did a stinger lunge forward, ablated by the swift moment of Eris's shield, although soon after it scattered into dust. In response did he plunge Dualist into the wires of one apparatus, flipping over the blade to avoid another as it came crashing down, the two entangling each other in a mass of partitioned steel. Yanking the sword out, he then slid under the body of the closest drone, narrowing avoiding another jab as Leo instead dealt a blow to its innards, gears and fibers spilling out in a way completely unpleasant compared to what its organic counterpart would have been.

He kicked its remains away as the other swung a pincer about, grabbing its ally's cold husk by accident although after its mistake the scrap was merely thrown in Leo's direction. He leapt out of the way, popping the joint of its arm as he pried some of its plating off with his blade. It recoiled, drawing the limb back however beforehand he had stabbed downward, and with the counteracting forces he was pulled closer to the drone's center while part of it was pinned to the ground. Two paces forward up the limb, he wrenched Dualist from it and continued up the automaton, his steel finding its resting place struck through the machine's core.

"Eris. And he's Leo."

He gave a cheerful wave from atop the metal carcass, before jumping off it and strolling toward them. "Lead the way, then," Leo said with a grin, although for a brief moment he glanced back at the passage blocked by a sagging beam, vaguely recalling what Jairec's previous plan had been, unfortunately. A strange name he carried, and amidst the amounting suspicions details were beginning to to stack against him, but for the moment there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"A pleasure. Let us end this."

Firing a few more shots down the corridor to force the rest of the drones back, Jairec quickly grabbed the hanging bar, grunting as he pushed it up and braced it against his shoulder. He motioned for them to get moving as the huge hunk of metal strained against his large frame.

"It'll be quicker this way. They've no doubt started setting up defences." He would drop the hefty object once they moved under, breaking into the sprint. Slowly, he could feel a smoggy heat following them and the smell of burning chemicals and evaporating gasses. He'd set off one chain reaction earlier. Now, something even worse was slowly brooding in the crumbling heart of the vessel. "Those fumes are getting worse. I don't know what you're made of, but you should seek some medical inspection after we're done."

It would only be a short while before they neared a set of massive doors and the crumbling, pockmarked walls around them. Blast holes dotted along the length of the wide room and looking at the patterns of holes framing the surrounding rooms and walls, it looked as if they'd been forcibly blasted through. Even through the climbing heat, he could feel the ambient prickling of energy weapon discharge against his synthetic skin. Some of those holes were connected by vein-like cracks and those portions of walls looked ready to crumble.

He could see huge aisles, some toppled over, and enormous shipping containers within. He'd memorized the layout before he got on board the ship and last he checked, they had hidden the satellite inside one of the shipping containers. Red - 056 - CALVERN SHIPPING CO; that's was it. Now they just needed to get inside.

Before that though, he turned to Leo and Eris.

"It's most certainly a trap. Do you have any ideas?" He asked. He was already formulating a joint strike from multiple angles combined with a slight distraction. But he figured that they didn't like being tugged along by a stranger's lead; best to see what they had on mind.

The man certainly cut an impressive frame, but with a second glance at the beam of metal blocking the hall Leo saw that in reality it wasn't as massive nor heavy of an obstacle as he would have expected. He raised an eyebrow but muttered a vague gratitude anyway, at least Jairec was no longer ridiculing him for a base reaction that he - he hated to admit it - had little control over. Over and over, he had tried to overcome the inescapable dread that claustrophobia wrought, with barely a hint at success. All things considered, though, his mental state could be much worse. At least it was something unexpected, not a terrifying truth about existence or death or whatever humanity tended to cling to through fear and paranoia.

They showed no signs of being affected by the inhalation of the thickening fumes. As a matter of fact, there was an almost unsettling comfort about the clogged air, disturbing for he knew exactly why his subconscious mind registered it as such. An instinctual sense of familiarity, the part of his being that longed for a true place of belonging, even though he knew either world that might have once qualified as such had long ago been desiccated, by different forces but all the same. Eris looked the man up and down with skepticism. "This is nothing," she stated dryly, before turning to Leo with a grin. "Do I need medical attention, Doctor?"

He rolled his eyes, before a serious tone reset. "Jairec, unless you're wearing a respirator or similar under that disguise of yours, you might want to be more concerned about your own health. Contrary to what you may believe, we know what we're doing."

They continued to the storage room Jairec had previously mentioned, and indeed it was that, in a sense, although a far better term would have been cargo hold in his own opinion. The industrial shipping crates and splayed contents were clearly evident amidst the debris of battle, although the lack of corpses perhaps pointed to another source of the flame. Yet again, the man knew exactly where he was headed. It was starting to get quite irritating, to be honest, what with his plethora of information and his unwillingness to share it in any other way than action. If he had cared more about the corporation that had also set their eyes own the so-called satellite, Leo probably would have taken more drastic measures to ensure correct data. But that was not the case, and there they were, their destination finally within reach. "No lifeforms," he commented upon Jairec's request for input, merely a fact stated as such.

"Well that's no surprise, up until now we've only fought machines," she responded, in which he rubbed the back of his head, glancing down at the floor for a moment with a sigh. "I'll scout it out." In her grip appeared a palm frond that quickly wriggled to life, incarnated as a pale green serpent less than an inch in diameter. Setting it down, the snake began to move across the terrain, although it had some difficulties given the state of ruin the ship was practically in. If nothing else, it was quite obvious that they didn't have much time left. Around a corner of the shipping container did the sentient flora disappear, and as it did so Leo's grip on Dualist tightened, prepared for the static of a discharged weapon, the clamor of steel limbs against reinforced shielding. Yet none of his presumed commotion came to play out, instead the strip of lime returned to Eris's finger, a brief nod given before she addressed them both.

"There are two heavily armored drones keeping watch from the sides of the container. They're humanoid, but weren't set off by a small disturbance like this," she waved her hand for a moment, clearing gesturing to the now reverted palm. "A ranged assault isn't going to do much against them, not with the weapons we have at our disposal. On top of that, Jairec and I will be at a disadvantage in the dark; I would suggest drawing them out."

He gave a curt nod. "Can do." With that did he approach the cargo container, catching sight of the interior even before he set foot. A large box was present in the center of the prism, undoubtedly what they were searching for. And as he entered did the flicker and whir of mechanics play upon his ear, his reaction slamming Dualist into the denizen on the left before he retreated, two deadly automatons to follow.

"Neither of you seem like shiprat types, no offence. Too well kept." Gratitude? Even a droplet of it he imagined was a payment for him beginning to actually reveal something about himself, even if it was merely a facade.

I was a start. Would it hold however? Eris' plan was sound and it wasn't long before Leon was moving into action. A short *clank* later and he heard heavy footfalls reverberating against the floor. Two of them, bipedal, ominous yet measured in their speed. It wasn't long before they reached the door. It didn't slide open but its metal bent outwards with a loud, heavy *thunk*. The ominous sound repeated against and more bubble-like deformations appeared across its surface before a hellish clang followed, tearing them off of their sockets. The vicious attack caused some portions of the connecting walls to crumble, kicking up additional smoke.

Looming out of the dark were two drones even larger than the mites and the raptors. These ones were more humanoid but only just. Their lumbering blocky bodies and reinforced armour coupled with various gun and launcher mounts made them appear to be the equivalent of some advanced gun platform and he could see balled metal fists framed by some sort of snub-barreled likely shotgun like weaponry. Whatever particular model these were, he had a feeling they were not exactly mercenary standards.

In the smoke, he hid around a corner and watched more closely, looking for potential weaknesses. Exposed ammo belts on their left arms, cranial area seemed to be a little lighter on armour especially around their camera-eyes, a couple of areas around their joints, shoulders, and back that appeared lighter in terms of plating.

This was going to be tricky one way or the other.

"Eris, your vines, are they ready again?"

There was a glance between the two of them, and then a shrug. "We spent over a fifth of our lives on one ship. Continuously. That aside, knowing one's way around a vessel only does so much to assist in direct combat and avoiding the inhalation of noxious gases." A fifth of their lives... well, to Jairec it wouldn't equate to much time at all. How long was that, four, five years? An instant to them, but then again to others it was far from the case, he supposed. The reality was, of course, that three centuries of their existence had been wasted, although so too was the case for the rest of humanity. Then again, time was a relative, finicky thing. It gave him a migraine, sometimes, putting it all into perspective after all his sentiments were... severely warped on the subject. Even the concept of throwing away thoughts on unneeded subjects, he couldn't really comprehend it except in crisis. Elsewise, there was no definite oblivion, though they certainly faced death at every corner. But, whatever. Not like he had ever had a peaceful life anyway, there were too many people running around wanting to exterminate them for some righteous cause, others who rightfully sought to pursue them, at least the latter group had an ounce of common sense.

The size and strength of the drones didn't change the fact that he thought of them as boring. It was like a simulation, one that caused aches and pains yet still all the same, no impassioned confrontation, no stakes for the other side. In the end, though, his opinion mattered little, they still needed to be eliminated. And thus as the hulking frames emerge did he wait, one second, two, enough to truly draw them out of the shadows before he ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding the splatter of gunfire they released on his tail. A few moments as they continued forward, and then did he move back toward the cargo container, seeking out the cover of darkness as part of his motive, although his own comfort paled in comparison to the distraction it would cause. As expected of machines posted on guard duty, their attention was immediately taken off of Eris and Jairec, even as their sensors had begun to sway in their direction.

"Big, tall, bipedal thing. You want me to tie up their legs, don't you," Eris remarked at the man's query, his specific reference one she had heard far too many times before. "It will take a moment; I - for some odd reason - have a feeling these drones are more sturdy than the ones we've encountered thus far." With that being said she did not sit idle in wait even as Leo danced with lead, instead from the crate she had pinned herself to did Eris emerge, not even drawing the attention of the automatons as he began to weave through their movements. With her right hand did she bring Benediction back, the spear soon flying through the air, depositing its steel into the side of a drone's head. With that did the machine lose its balance for a moment, before turning back even as verdant life grabbed onto the shaft, returning the weapon to her hand.

One of the drones was tangled up by the woman's magic as its dark metal exterior began to be coated with a strange vegetation. The other one paused for a second, turning around and sweeping for a target. Jairec brought his rifle up to bear, aiming at its ammo belt and fired a spray of shots with a few rapid taps. The wide belt jerked and frayed, revealing another belt of rounds strapped together. A spinal round scratched against them, another few striking the same bullets.

A blast ripped through the air; not that of a conventional explosive but fragmentation shells. The huge automaton jerked away, slamming into its hefty comrade and causing both to stumble further, crushing crates and knocking over a crane with their reinforced metal legs. A crash resounded as they slammed into shipping containers, the one Jairec shot nearly tumbling over.

Jairec raised his hand immediately; Obscurity's Grasp resounded in his head as a thousand wordless echoes before surging through his veins, igniting nerves and the connection of being unto beyond. A vomit-like bolus of amorphous matter gathered before it, shooting forwards and slamming into the head of the vine-ensnared machine and erupting into a cloud of noxious fumes and obscuring smoke.

It wasn't as much as it looked. They still had a great degree of firepower to turn against them. It was however, more time at their disposal as he sprinted towards the container, grabbing at its doors and grunting as he began to open the slightly rusted metal.

"Come on, let's get what we need and get out." He'd call before moving towards the glowing, bulbous metal object inside and removing something from his pockets - a small data drive. It wasn't long before he was jamming it into a port before he jammed in another.