Renos Posted November 15, 2016 Posted November 15, 2016 ((OOC: The location of this one was intentionally withheld to keep the mystery for the crew)) Dalor: oO My father served in the great Telaxian war. He was a soldier, one of the few survivors of the battle of Stinnett IV. He was not like me. Me? No, I am not a brave man, not like he was, not by any stretch of the imagination. When he passed several years ago rather than joining the military I came to the mines to find work. There wasn't much else for someone like me. But in the dark times like these, when things were really bad, I can still remember something my father used to tell me. Oo Dalor: oO “Fear had a smell, it has an odor all its own.” He told me. He said that it was not something you could describe exactly, but you would know it when you smelled it. Oo Dalor oO I was so young then, I didn't understand. Oo Dalor: oO I do now. Oo ::Fear poured out of Dalor, it came up of his pores leaving great big dark patches under his arms, around his neck, across his back and in other less mentionable places. He could also smell it on his breath and in his nose, breathing it in as he did in great big heaving gasps as he scrabbled his way through an air duct, his nose wrinkled in distaste as the odor hit him in the confined space.:: ::But at least he was still free!:: ::All he knew was that a short while ago he was in the mines, working on the next load. He had just come to the surface to prepare for the next one when every nerve on his skin felt . . . weird. Like his whole body hummed and then shimmered and then the world he knew vanished!:: ::Then his world had rebuilt itself piece by piece and he was in some other place. . . And he was not alone.:: ::Around Delor were several other miners who like him were Telaxians, and they all looked as confused and as scared as he did. Well most of them did. And then a door opened and people stood there transfixed!:: Dalor: oO Humans? Oo ::He had heard about them but had not had a chance to meet them, not that he really cared to. Now he was here staring at them as they held guns on them.:: Benidell: What are we doing here? ::That was one of the other Telaxians of course, one of the larger ones, one of the braver ones.:: Dalor: oO Stupidly brave. Me? I'm smaller and smarter. So as the humans were turning to engage him I bolted through the door as it slid closed. Oo ::For a moment Dalor felt like laughing and would have if the situation were not so dire! Even as it was he couldn’t help but stop and look back at the doorway that he had just so narrowly escaped through. He could hear the confusion on the other side of it. It was as if they had not anticipated his flight.:: Dalor: oO The severely underestimate this Telxanian! Oo ::Then he heard the door slide open.:: Dalor: oO Run you fool! Oo ::Twitching his whiskers in nervousness Dalor sped down the corridor just as fast as his legs could carry him! At the same time people came boiling out after him and shouting! He rounded a corner and kept running, knowing that he didn’t keep moving he would be right back in there . . or worse!:: ::So Dalor went faster!:: Dalor: oO They underestimated me before and they would do it again! Maybe I can get back to the mine and maybe warn the others! How far could they have taken me? Oo ::But here the walls and halls were strange. Not only in color but texture. It was not the comforting rock of the mines, no was it the familiar metallic grey walls from the upper areas of the colony. No this was different.:: ::As Dalor sprinted from one hall to the next the corridors seemed to curve strangely and came to unexpected dead ends. He could only conclude that he had no idea where he was.:: :: If the mines were anywhere, he could not find his way to them.:: ::It was only as he was leaning against a wall trying to catch his breath that Dalor heard it. Heard is probably not the right word. He could feel it at the edge of his whiskers, it was like something in the air that was not quite sound or scent but it was there.:: ::Something was tracking him!:: ::Scrambling down the hall, one to the left and another to the right he slid to a stop barely gripping onto the corner of a wall at the last moment as he saw a patrol! They were looking for him too! They started coming in his direction and he took off running again the muscles in his legs starting to burn!:: ::He could still feel it behind him, a looming presence, and it was not the humans that were chasing him, it was something else. Sometimes he would look back behind him and see a moving shadow, but it would disappear.:: ::He kept pushing on, even as his legs and feet were starting to get heavy.:: Dalor oO Another patrol! Oo ::With the pain in his feet and legs and the growing stitch in his side Dalor stopped to pull open a grating in the wall. Tucking himself inside he just closed it behind him when he heard voices.:: Patrol: Where is it? Patro: I don’t know, he’s here. Keep moving! ::Dalor sighed as heard the men move on and lay on his back, breathing in deep gasping breaths of air. He was not used to running so hard and so fast. He could smell the fear in air as he prayed that somehow he would find his way out of this.:: ::But at least he was still free!:: ::That’s when Dalor felt them. Large fingers wrapping around his ankle and what felt like claws cutting through his pants and biting into his skin and tearing as he was pulled violently out of the duct!:: Dalor: ::scrabbling desperately to hold himself inside fingers scraping the smooth surface of the floors and walls:: NOOOOOOooo!!!! ::It was an unabashed scream, one torn from Dalor’s chest without thought!:: ::Lifted high into the air and dangling from his ankle, it was only now with his arms flailing, his other leg kicking futilely that Dalor finally got a chance to see what it was that had caught him and the knowledge paralyzed him!::. Manyx: I have you now Telaxian vermin! ::Dalor could only describe it as a large jungle predator given the shape of a man. Although it was dressed like the other soldiers, it had jet black fur and gold slitted eyes. Even its speech sounded more like a feral growl than real words!:: ::With his snout pulling back into a tooth filled grin of satisfaction Manyx spun Delor around obviously looking him over and then tossed the Telaxian across his back and began to walk back in the direction they had just came, still holding his prisoner by his ankle like a sack of potatoes.:: Dalor: What are you . . . who are you? ::It was hard to speak bouncing on this creature’s back. He wished he had some sort of weapon that he could stab with. But he could feel the power of this creature and he wondered if could find anything hard enough to kill it.:: Manyx: Manyx Dalor: ::Even from his upside down position on Manyx’s back Dalor was still confused.:: oO Was that a name or a species? Oo ::He tried again with a different set of questions.:: Dalor: Why have you done this, where are you taking me? Manyx: Enough Questions! ::All too soon they rounded a corner, the same corner that Dalor had just fled from. Inside the room he could see the other Telxians on the far end and even courageous Benidell was inside cowering as they appraoched. There was a wall of haziness between, like the sun on the hot deserts of Hiraba.:: Manyx: Drop the field. ::Dalor didn’t know who this creature was talking to but the haziness vanished.:: Manyx: Now this time don’t run, or when I catch you this time I may not be so kind! ::Shaking his head back and forth Dalor found it hard to breath and the blood was rushing to his head, probably from flopping upside down on the creature’s back.:: ::As the Manyx creature unslung Dalor from his back he looked at Dalor in the eye and the Telaxian wilted. The creature smiled, or at least Dalor thought it did. It was more like the creature’s lips curling back to reveal fangs.:: Dalor: I . . I won’t Manyx: Good! There was a swing through the air, then there was a sensation of free floating as Dalor traversed the distance between the front and the back of the room, the sound of wind and movement filling his ears as he spun, cartwheeled and flipped!:: ::Then Dalor's shoulder hit the wall, then his back and pain radiated across his body in such powerful waves that as he slid to the floor in a heap. As he was pulled him into the sweetness and restful bliss of unconsciousness there was a last fleeting thought.:: oO My father didn’t tell me tell whole story. He didn’t tell me fear had a taste. It tastes something like salt but still bitter. Oo -------------------------------------- MSNPC: Dalor - Captured Slave @ CSS Vanquish MSNPC: Manyx - Hunter/Soldier @ CSS Vanquish (Played by) LT MERRICK R'VEN - Science/Cybernetics Officer USS Darwin-A ID: A239210MR0
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