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Zerrex shook his head slowly as he made his way through the crowd, doing his best to ignore the people around him before sighing and shaking his head slowly. This was starting to get ridiculous, the way people were fawning over him, admiring him, still whispering about him... but he thought he might actually make the doors this time before wincing as, of all people, Hans literally ran into him and then fell over backwards.

The fellow Drakkaren stared at him from the floor, then he flushed deeply before beginning to babble almost immediately, raising his arms and flapping them wildly; it'd be comical if there were a hundred burly, staring Dragokkaren looming around the area the fact it once more centered attention on him. "Oh my Gods! Lord Zerrex, I'm so very sorry, I didn't even see you there, and, and, and I don't know how I could have missed you! I'm so sorry, please forgive me... I didn't hurt you, I mean, I know I couldn't hurt you, but you aren't bothered at all, are you? I'm sorry, I really am-"

"Uh... Hans... you're the one on the floor." Zerrex made a bit of a face, leaning down a bit and offering a hand, hoping to at least shut the babbling reptile up. Of course, Hans's face only turned a deeper red as he took Zerrex's hand before allowing himself to be hauled up to his feet, and the fellow reptile grinned like an idiot, flapping his other arm as he began to talk faster, along the same lines as... he always seemed to around the white-haired lizard.

He sighed inwardly at this, then drew back a bit as Hans began to brush him off, holding up his hands and saying firmly: "Hans, please. I'm perfectly okay. Stop worrying yourself, alright?" A pause as he gently nudged the reptile, coughing a bit and saying firmly: "Look, I have to head off and talk to Huck and Albatross, but-"

"Oh, I have to give my report! I'm so damn late, but Churchill wants me to run all over, round up all the noncombatants! It's really hard, I mean..." He paused, then leaned in and added in a conspiratory voice, not seeming to notice that everyone else around them leaned in as well and just paid closer attention to him muttering: "Everyone looks the same, from technician to soldier to commander... and since almost everyone's in plain clothes, it's going to take me weeks..."

"That uh... sucks." Zerrex said mildly, glancing around at the other Dragokkaren... many of whom seemed offended by this sentiment. He thought of mentioning the fact that it wouldn't take more than a simple announcement, and everyone would divide themselves up nice and evenly into whatever areas were designated for them and they could do a head count like that... but the Drakkaren had the idea that Churchill likely just wanted Hans out of the way or something, and for once, he couldn't blame the Dragokkaren. Hans seemed like a great guy... but also a bit of a bumbling, too-young rookie. "Well, you have fun with that, I'm off to see the Commanders. Who uh... really need me there. With them. Talking with them, I mean."

Then Hans brightened, and Zerrex felt his gut plummet as the Drakkaren said brightly: "I know, Lord Zerrex! You could do me a huge favor!" What? Take my pants off in front of you? "You could um... you could give my report for me to Commander Huckleberry and Commander Albatross! I'm sure they wouldn't mind at all, and it'd catch me right up on my duties and stuff, too-"

"Y'know, that's probably classified information, and I'm not exactly a commander of this base, I just kill things, so that sorta makes me infantry..." Zerrex said quickly, wincing and flapping his arms a bit. Once again, he was in an awkward situation, as most of the other Dragokkaren simply looked curious, and he wondered how many of the clone soldiers had ever given or received an actual status report: his guess was that Narrius just had his commanders tell him whether or not the mission was successful and any interesting pieces of information that went along with that. To him, after all, troops and resources were both all but infinite... or had been. "Look, Hans, you'll-"

"Oh, please! Just listen, it's really short, and all they had me do was count the supplies we managed to secure during the great riot in Uroboros!" Oh crap. I'm no good with numbers... Then Hans closed his eyes, and recited clearly, everyone present listening curiously as Zerrex slapped a hand over his face - This is just great. Now everyone's going to know all manner of information on our supplies... does he not realize how important this information is for the military commanders to keep secret? - "We secured ten-thousand rounds of ammunition for our heavy machine guns, and twenty-five thousand rounds for our standard weaponry, most of this for the basic S&B 4500 DE Special Forces Assault Rifle-"

"Wait, did you just say Shadowhawk and Blackhawk?" Zerrex frowned at this, reaching up to nudge Hans in order to halt his flow of babble, and the Drakkaren looked at him with surprise, tilting his head oddly.

"Yes... even though most of the weapons we use are unlabeled Type 70 imitations." Hans said slowly. "But most of the original weapons still carry the company's signature mark and the original registry code on the barrel. The Type 70 just has a longer barrel and three instead of two-shot burst fire, but it's made of cheaper materials."

Zerrex shook his head, then murmured: "Go on with your report, then, soldier. Sorry I interrupted. Just curious." He glanced down thoughtfully, crossing his arms as Hans continued to rap off all manner of statistics and information, but this time he wasn't paying as much attention. Instead, he was thinking about Shadowhawk and Blackhawk, the gun company that had also manufactured and customized the twin .52 magnum handguns he used... but he'd heard they'd gone out of business a long time ago, after the assassination of Shirley Blackhawk, one of the founders of the corporation and the first female gun expert.

He wasn't as much of a gun freak as he sometimes appeared to be, with his vast knowledge of the weapons: but hey, spend so many years in the military, and you pick up a lot of things from all the wannabe heroes who had never put their theories into practice and fellow weapons freaks you ran in to. He mused a bit as he reached instinctively for the guns that weren't at his sides anymore, looking down thoughtfully; the only extra gun trivia he'd ever known, after all, was stuff on Shadowhawk and Blackhawk... a name that was right up there with every other leading world weapons manufacturer.

He knew they'd been taken over by another company that was owned by the Irenic Military Division, which still sometimes printed the S&B logo on some of its prototypes or specialty weapons... but it was never done at the same level as when the company had originally been its own master, and there was especially no way that an Irenic Type 43 "Echo Barrel" would stand up to his original versions of the .52 magnum. His were full-metal, not plastic or synthetic... and his also worked off the famous recoil-replay system; a special counterweight built into the handle of the gun triggered a mechanism in the weapon that fed the power of the weapon's recoil back down the barrel and aided in accelerating the bullet all the faster, while reducing the reload time from clip to cradle inside the gun. Zerrex had no clue how it worked: he just knew that it made every successive shot from the magnums all the more powerful and explained why he could fire the guns so fast when he needed to.

Zerrex mused a bit to himself on this as he looked down thoughtfully. When Ire had seized control of S&B, the company's stocks had plummeted and it had gone from producing the finest-quality weapons - albeit expensive - to cheap, low-material goods. He remembered that it had even perked Narrius's attention back then, and that his father had been disgusted... and he smiled faintly to himself. The .52s had been Narrius's originally, after all... likely one of his many illegally-seized sets of weapons. The Dragokkaren had kept an enormous vault full of guns back at the Estate in a sealed underground chamber, every weapon kept on a shelf for display purposes with a clip sitting beside it, lit from behind by bright white wall reflectors that glimmered like snow in the light... but the guns had also always been loaded, and the safeties rarely on. Narrius rarely used them except when forced to, out on military duty... and even then, he almost always favored a plain handgun to anything else.

They had always just served as symbols of his power... walls and shelves and cases full of every type of gun imaginable, most of them S&B make, but a few others from out of country, including the Hez'Ranna models of weaponry like their drum assault rifle. But now it sounded like S&B had somehow been revived simply for Narrius's entertainment, and they were producing the arms for the Hez'Ranna military... which was a bad sign, to say the least, but would also explain why Narrius was favoring infantry more often over his war machines to perform his razing and raids - Shadowhawk and Blackhawk's finest achievements had always been penetration rifles fitted with long-range, thermodynamic scopes that would see through a tank's armor... and enable the user to blast round after round through even the thickest titanium and carbon steel like it was pancake batter.

The reptile glanced up idly, nodding a few times mindlessly to Hans, and forcing himself to tune in before wincing as he realized the Drakkaren hadn't breathed and was beginning to sway dizzily on his feet, as he rasped onwards: "Forty-two jeeps, including three with folding metal coverings and seventeen with clear metal windshields and medium-strength tensile armor... and... and-"

"Hans, take a breath." Zerrex said firmly, reaching out to touch the Drakkaren's shoulder. Hans stared at him for a few moments... blinked several times as he smiled dumbly... then Zerrex sighed when the Drakkaren keeled over backwards in a faint, rubbing the back of his head and looking lamely around at the other soldiers. Finally, his gaze settled on a Dragokkaren that was awkwardly half-bent, as if unsure if he was allowed to do anything, and he pointed at him. "Hey, you."

Immediately, the soldier straightened and snapped out a salute, barking: "Sorry, sir! I didn't mean to leave formation, sir!" The Dragokkaren's eyes looked glum, however, as he added in a voice that had an undercurrent of grim determination in it: "What is my punishment, sir?"

"No punishment." Zerrex blinked and shrugged, and the Dragokkaren looked confused, although still rigid, and the reptile sighed, raising his hands. "At ease, soldier. No need to be formal here, we're all off duty and equal grunts." Now the Dragokkaren was staring - along with several others around them - and the lizard rubbed the back of his head, muttering: "Drake, help me out here..."

You're on your own with this one, pal. Drake said with an internal wince, seeming to shrink back inside his head, and Zerrex rolled his eyes at this. I'm no soldier. I'm a divine nephilim... I don't understand protocols and codes. You should have figured out by now I don't exactly play by the rules.

"Yeah, real rebel you are." The reptile muttered under his breath, then he sighed a bit and made a face, pointing at the passed-out Drakkaren and saying plainly: "Think you and some others can haul him off to the infirmary or something?" A pause, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Of course, I've got no idea where it is... so you'll have to ask around. At worst, just uh... put him in a room somewhere and try to wake him up or something."

"Sir!" The Dragokkaren nodded firmly, then smiled a bit when Zerrex gave him a look. "I mean... sure, Lord Zerrex." He paused, then glanced around at another two Dragokkaren, who nodded, and the three of them hefted Hans gently up, one grasping his feet, one his shoulders, and the other leading the two as they carefully weaved through the crowd in a convoy formation, with the vanguard nudging people aside here and there. Zerrex quickly followed this, watching them moving with a feeling of both compassion and strange pain - even at ease, they were still little more than trained animals, soldiers to the core in a way that he hated to see: soldiers who had never lived a life other than serving as puppets and pawns of one general... then happily moving to become the puppets of another without even realizing it.

He felt almost like he was manipulating them, as they walked carefully down in a line formation, the front soldier asking here and there where the infirmary was... before being pointed down the ring by a local, an old dog in a plain suit, and Zerrex used this opportunity to slip out and through another door, making his way down the narrow but not-empty hall that ran between barracks and facility. As he stepped carefully over a pair of sleeping soldiers that were clutching each other childishly, he was beginning to wonder if that bastard Huck had set all this up somehow... and then he sighed as he emerged into the busy, active main facility, which was still clogged with soldiers... but most of them seemed to be pretending, at least, that they were busy with something else.

The Drakkaren made his way through the crowd here, no longer being stopped every five minutes... but just as he thought he was safe, heading for the elevator and beginning to relax, he heard a loud giggle... then felt himself attacked from the side, and turned in horror to find a group of tattooed Iuratus, who were all looking up at him wonderingly.

They were all Drakkaren... and his heart stopped for a moment as he realized they'd also all been experimented on. There were two females and three males, all of them slender, naked except for loincloths and cloth bandages, and stripped of whatever jewelry they had once worn. Surgical scars traced over their bodies here and there like the strokes of a tormented artist wielding a paintbrush of white, scars long and thick alike detailing their frames as they looked up at him happily, one of the females still clutching his arm and saying cheerfully up to him: "Lord Zerrex! It's so good to finally see you, to finally meet you! You... you are Lord Zerrex, right?" A pause, and a curious look, and the reptile sighed a bit and nodded, smiling faintly. He couldn't lie to these poor, tortured souls.

"Yes, I am." A pause as he glanced them over, looking at the white eyes of one, which had been surrounded by burns much like that which he had seen around the Unseen: another was rubbing quietly at a stub of an arm, which connected into a cruel, steel-plated prosthetic limb that had thick metal, rectangular scales that were stacked strangely, forming a cruel, odd armor almost shaped like an oriental bracer; this connected down to a flat forearm and a hand made of heavy, black-kevlar mesh and thick steel claws.

Both of the females were covered in a mapwork of surgical scars... and one, he noted, had a tight collar around her neck that was apparently melted into the scales somehow. She rubbed at this nervously, but it seemed more of a gesture of apprehension then discomfort... and that left the last, a small male. He was also covered in scars, and at first it seemed like there wasn't much else wrong with him, at least... but a moment later, Zerrex realized that one of his eyes had been replaced, and his scales had a rougher look to them than it did compared to the others.

He glanced over these five tortured Iuratus again, none of them particularly attractive, physically thin and beaten-up, most of them a bit smaller than him, all of them with their ribs visible, malnourished, obviously runts of the species and covered in experimental scars... but as Zerrex stood, he felt his heart go out to these tattooed, tortured creatures, with the barcodes on their biceps. They were all looking at him nervously now, even the lead female... and she trembled a bit before blurting: "I'm sorry, but... Lord Zerrex? Would you... you know... we just wanted to say that we're very... happy that you freed us, and if you ever need anything, we're here for you, Lord Zerrex..."

Zerrex looked at the group of slaves, then he smiled a bit and nodded to them, reaching out to squeeze the leader's shoulder as he said gently: "It wasn't just me who freed you, you know... but I am glad to see that you're free of the Patriarch's experiment labs." He paused and looked over them all, then added softly: "You aren't in too much pain, are you? Are you all okay?"

They shook their heads, looking at him respectfully, and another spoke up this time, the male with the artificial arm, murmuring gently: "No... we're fine... thank you, Lord Zerrex, we truly appreciate that... we just wanted to offer our services, and that of the other slaves freed from the genetics labs... many of them are in much greater pain than we are..."

Zerrex nodded, looking around at the five again, then he laughed quietly and tilted his head, asking curiously: "How many of you managed to escape during the riot? Just an estimate is fine, I don't need the exact number if you don't have it." The last thing the lizard wanted, after all, was a bunch of slaves attempting to run through the facility, attempting to locate each other.

"Sixty-one escapees... sixty-three if you include two babies that some of the slaves have taken in." spoke up the blind Iuratus, and he lowered his head, blushing a bit when Zerrex turned a curious look to him. "I'm sorry, Lord Zerrex, I spoke out of turn."

"Not at all." The Drakkaren said, raising his hands and smiling, and the Iuratus perked his head up a bit. "I was just wondering how you managed to get such a good count."

"Well, there were a hundred slaves in total at... any time in the genetics facility." The other female said in a voice that had a slight rasp to it, as she quietly nudged at her ingrained collar. Zerrex turned his attention to her, and she flushed a bit, but continued to speak in a low voice. "It was run by a Doctor Willowbrook... he was obsessed with the Iuratus, with trying to break us and brainwash us, and see how far we would go for our former masters, if he could crush our spirits by torturing them in front of us, making them give us up, or renounce us as useful slaves... he used constant psychological warfare on us as much as physiological...

"Willowbrook was evil... he also performed all manner of experimentations on us for the Patriarch and for Mengele, the Arctic Wind of Death." She shook her head slowly, then added quietly: "A hundred slaves at all times, though, that was his quota... and he'd kill dozens of us at a time, just to get a new shipment sent in from the secret death camps in the warehouses or the jungles..."

"Liberation... Summerland... Holy White... all places in the jungle..." murmured the blind Drakkaren, taking up the story as Zerrex turned to him with a frown. "The places they brought us after they kidnapped us and held us prisoner. They'd chopped all the trees down, or cleared the ruins out of infestations of... all manner of jungle beast with flamethrowers and grenade launchers... kept guards armed to the max in anti-ballistic armor, Enforcers of the highest rank, patrolling outside a double cordon of barbed wire and electrified razor wire, the fences thirty feet tall and tipped with barbed spikes... and the few who managed to climb that high were often left to dangle from the wooden posts by their hands, screaming, impaled on those deadly thorns...

"They kept us inside corrals, usually chained to posts, while they stayed in tents outside the perimeter, by the only gate leading in and out... and when they moved us to the genetics facility, I remember I was boxed up in crate with a single hole punched in it for air, and I was tied and bound, and they had shoved some plastic sheeting into the box with me..." he murmured, looking down quietly, blind eyes focused on the floor. "The labs seemed like a blessing at first... the cells were wonderful compared to being out in the jungle in the mud, being fed rotten food once a day... and then Willowbrook got around to experimenting on myself and my cellmate.

"I don't see anymore like normal people do... I see... but the shapes are terrible and strange." He covered his eyes, trembling a bit. "And even feeling my hands over my eyes, I cannot see them. I see through them... everything is red, and blue and black... but it did let me keep track of the others when the facility was attacked by the rioting soldiers." He swallowed and looked up, smiling faintly at Zerrex. "They spoke highly of you, Lord Zerrex... said you were causing mayhem in the city, and we should do the same... they opened all our cells, and we picked up the arms we could and the soldiers... protected us, as they fought through the city..."

The other Iuratus were nodding, and the leader took up the story again, blushing a bit as the blind slave looked at her. "Most of us managed to escape... but many had gone mad from pain and rage... and I remember that they chose to stay behind, dragging Willowbrook off to his own experiment chambers in a mob." She shook her head slowly. "At the very least, they'll make a Djantui out of him... and he'll be left to haunt those labs with the other souls he ruined..."

Zerrex nodded slowly: that was a word of Hez'Rannan he actually recognized: literally, it meant something like 'stain,' but it was also another word for an angry spirit that had died a violent death. A bad memory, basically, that took form and shape... then he shook his head and laughed quietly, murmuring softly: "Then I'm glad to hear the majority of you made it out alive..." A pause, and he crossed his arms as they nodded and half-bowed to him, clasping their hands respectfully as he softened a bit. "You're all hard workers, aren't you? We could use your strength and abilities, once you've rested up a bit, for farming out here and gathering other raw materials... we've got a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of people to take care of. I'll make sure you and the other slaves aren't forgotten or mistreated."

"Thank you, Lord Zerrex." The female smiled up at him, blushing and kneeling, bowing her head deeply as she murmured: "We truly are indebted to you and your unwavering kindness..."

"It's nothing..." Zerrex laughed a bit, shaking his head and raising a hand, before he stepped quickly towards the elevator, snagging the door as it began to close and then squeezing in with some military personnel, raising a hand to the Iuratus and saying quickly: "Come find me later, and I'll tell you what's going on."

Then the elevator door snicked shut, and the Drakkaren sighed, hitting the button for the third floor as he felt soldiers staring at his back and murmuring about him to one-another. It was slightly irritating, yes... but it wasn't all that unexpected, either, as he stood and rode the elevator down to the bottom floor - and of course, it was busy and packed, people filtering and in out around him - before it began to rise towards the top, and the reptile made a bit of a face as he crossed his arms, still standing in the rough center front of the elevator, still looking determinedly up at the ceiling, not wanting to put any more delays between himself and reaching the others.

Finally, he stepped out onto the third floor with a group of mechanics... then turned and grabbed the ladder at the side of the room, hauling himself up into the tower, which was bustling with activity and noise, all manner of beeps, clicks, and language filling the air as operators and technicians ran back and forth between computer terminals. And in the midst of it all stood Huck and Albatross, the latter leaning down and cupping one hand over a headphone as he spoke clearly into a microphone: "No, that's not worth it... just keep moving, scout ahead to the position I... yeah, that's right. Look, I have to head off, advisory meeting..." A pause, then a click as Zerrex approached them.

Huck was looking benignly around at everyone and everything, looking in his element despite the grease stains on his uniform and the toolkit hanging at his belt, a radio clipped beside this and a headset dangling around his neck, with a long, curling wire going from this to the former. He winked as Zerrex approached, the Drakkaren rubbing the back of his head lamely as someone closed the hatch behind him, and the large Dragokkaren asked teasingly: "Run into a bit of trouble on the way up? Or some tortured souls in need of your divine remedy?"

"I hate you." Zerrex said mildly, and Huck snorted laughter as the Drakkaren looked from him to Albatross sourly, the blue Dragokkaren rubbing at the scarred side of his face slowly and looking exhausted. "So what was so urgent that you needed to contact me... but not urgent enough to give me any good reason to shove my way through the crowd and ignore the child, angry farmer, and group of Iuratus I just ran into?" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, then paused and added reflectively: "That reminds me, I gotta talk to you about that..."

"All in good time." Huck said easily, raising a hand and then becoming serious, as he reached behind him and dug in a fanny pack for a moment, peering upwards before producing a small handheld television. He passed this to Zerrex - who looked at it, nonplussed - before glancing around, then snagging a headset off a technician, who gave a yelp and an offended glare to the Dragokkaren as he tossed this over to the reptile, his deft fingers plucking the cord from where it was plugged into the mechanic's radio. The fellow soldier glared at Huck... but Huck just stuck out his tongue and glared back. "Callin' rank on you, buddy, and I'm confiscating this here headset for an important military-type purpose. Now get your ass moving, I need SAT1 and SAT2 hacked, working, and set up by the end of business today, and that's some complicated shit."

Then he turned his attention back to the Drakkaren as Albatross sighed and shook his head, turning away for a moment to talk on his headset again as Huck became a bit more serious, saying slowly: "Plug in, wait about..." he paused and seemed to calculate something in his head. "Fifteen seconds, then turn the little bitch on. Don't think you'll be pleased by what you see."

Zerrex looked at him with mild confusion, then he nodded slowly, keeping time in his head as he slipped the headset on and plugged it into the handheld TV. A few moments later, he flicked it on... just in time to see the Hez'Ranna flag fade out of view, and white runes flashed across the screen. He frowned at this - he still didn't exactly have the written part of the language down - but Drake translated in his head: It says 'This is a cyclical broadcast from the Hez'Ranna Government, currently taking place on all channels, in all languages... please stay tuned for this important news bulletin.'

Roughly thirty seconds or so later, the screen flickered... then Narrius came into view, sitting at his desk in his expensive suit, and looking solemn... but his eyes flickered with red displeasure. His hands were folded on his desk, and he looked coldly into the camera for a few moments before he began to speak in a calm voice: "As I'm sure most of you are aware, recently Hez'Ranna suffered an attack from within. An attack that has left many of our soldiers wounded and damaged the morale of our country and our people, and perhaps caused many of you to question the power of the Patriarch, and the prestige of our people: of Hez'Ranna.

"Yes, it is true. A riot that began in the capital city of Uroboros spread throughout the entire island: in some cases, even to other parts of the world. However, the loyal and elite soldiers that are still working, steadfast, for the glory of Hez'Ranna and our people, has managed to contain this disturbance in a short period of time with minimal damage and casualties. I repeat, however: this disturbance has been contained, and will not occur again.

"At the center of this riot are the rebels: the scum who have infested our nation like a sickness, like a parasite, and twisted their way into its very heart." Narrius snorted in disgust at this, then he straightened and said clearly: "And I know that you are watching this broadcast, I know that you are out there, laughing to yourselves, thinking that you're safe now, with your stolen technology and army of defected soldiers. But remember this, lords of traitors, this is my country. And I know where you are." Narrius's crimson eyes glinted at this, and he grinned cruelly. "This riot, this insurgence, is far too little, far too late. For all of you out there watching this... all the world... know my power. Know that I will not stop... no matter what you do. And that any weapon you bring against me is useless, and will only be met with greater, crueler force.

"This war is already over: only a few nations remain unconquered, too stupid to put down their weapons. Therefore, I feel it is the right time to declare two things." At this, Narrius rose a hand and two fingers, glaring into the camera, and Zerrex snarled, his emerald eyes seeming to meet and lock with Narrius's ruby ones even through the walls of space and time and the television set. "One: Hez'Ranna declares global victory. The world is in our control, and therefore we will call this new, unified nation Great Hez'Ranna, with its capital state the island of Hez'Ranna, and its capital city Uroboros.

"Two: I, Patriarch of Hez'Ranna, will now assume position of High Patriarch, the world leader, and my coronation ceremony and the celebration of victory will have missiles for candles and war for entertainment; I will finish the job, conquering the last seven percent of the world for the glory of Great Hez'Ranna after I unveil the final, ultimate weapon of the great race of the Dragokkaren, when I drop the wrath of the gods and devils of Hez'Ranna upon the world that has, for so long, ostracized them and sealed them away from their so-called 'civilized' reality." Narrius's eyes flashed, and he rose his muzzle arrogantly, proclaiming coldly: "And I declare here, today, that Dragokkaren are the supreme and ultimate race, and that we shall rule and run this world as our own garden, that we shall return to paradise from chaos... and that all shall be unified under one master, one god, one reality!

"All of you will bow to me. And if you do not bow, you shall die." Narrius finished softly, then he rested his hands gently against the table, looking into the camera with a cold smile. "Prepare yourselves, rebels and pelts, scum-lizards and traitor Drakkai. Prepare yourselves, because this war will soon be over: the pretty parlor games are at an end."

Then Narrius stood, before he paused, glanced away, then added almost idly: "And by the way... I have a personal message for my son." He turned his eyes back to the camera now, and Zerrex felt a chill and tremble of rage roll through him at the same time, making a whirlwind inside his body. "Don't think I've forgotten about you and your little family. But I'm saving you for the end, traitor... I want you to watch your ideals, your world collapse around you... and I'll be waiting for you to come to me." A pause, and a ruthless smile. "Father knows best, after all; and what I know is this... you are worthless, and your campaign is useless and foolish. You cannot win.

"To the rest of you... enjoy your last few days of peaceful sleep... because this world is about to undergo the most dramatic change of all, and return to its natural state." Narrius finished coldly, and then the screen flickered before turning to political statistics, reports, and other information that had apparently been declassified to bolster support for Narrius... except, as Zerrex slid off the headphones, he thought it should now be pretty obvious to anyone with even half a brain that their beloved Patriarch wasn't exactly all he'd claimed to be at first, and nor were his ideals anything but self-serving and monstrous. The Drakkaren frowned in disgust, looking down as he held the television and headset out to Huck... and the Dragokkaren gently took it from him.

Albatross pushed down his own headset to join the conversation, saying softly: "That broadcast has been repeating every five minutes, between sets of military information they're just... giving away. Most of it statistical bullshit, of course... stuff I'm pretty sure the producers or consultants just tacked on to make him look better... but that's about it." He paused, then shook his head slowly. "But to be honest? I find it pretty damn worrisome."

"I do too." Zerrex looked down, clenching his hands into fists, then forcing his rage away, at least for the moment. He took a slow breath, then looked back up at the two Dragokkaren and shook his head slowly, crossing his arms as he felt Drake squirming in his mind a bit in apparent discomfort. "It's not like Narrius to monologue or reveal his plans... at least, not until he's ready for the final showdown. And from what he's saying, there's something big planned... something that's going to hit us pretty goddamn hard."

Huck nodded, looking at him mildly. "That's the least of our problems right now, though." He paused as the Drakkaren blinked at him, tilting his head, then he smiled a bit and approached a nearby radar terminal, hitting a few buttons and bringing up a scan of the area on a cracked monitor, which showed a large, white cluster at one end of a green grid. "See this? Those are massing soldiers... I have no idea what the hell they're up to, but somehow I'm guessing they aren't picking flowers or making get-well cards for their injured buddies."

"Possible attack?" Zerrex asked immediately, frowning and looking out one of the dirty windows... and he thought he could indeed see something in the far distance. Huck and Albatross joined him, the blue-scaled Dragokkaren unsnapping a small, personal telescope from his belt and peering through it with his one good eye.

"It looks like it." he murmured, then shook his head slowly. "And Huck... tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing."

"Already picked them up on the scanner, so unfortunately yeah, it's true." The Dragokkaren said grimly, crossing his arms and then glancing over at Zerrex. "They've got a group of those giants like the ones we ran into in Uroboros out there... the fuckin' hundred foot tall furballs, except these guys have armor... built right into their bodies, looks like. That, and some of them are even wielding big-ass clubs."

Zerrex made a face at this, shaking his head slowly, but the Dragokkaren wasn't yet done, smiling ironically as he glanced back out the window. "They also got mobile artillery, different models of Combat Armor, and even some good old fashioned tanks." He paused. "SAMD-7's. Fucking barracks on wheels... those things tote soldiers around and got a shitload of weapons and ammo."

"They aren't all SAMDs..." Albatross said mildly, looking through the scope again and muttering under his breath. "Looks like they have some other types of tank lined up and ready there, too... mobile rams and armored transports, too."

"Great." Huck muttered under his breath, shaking his head, then he glanced over at Zerrex. "So yeah, in short... I'm a bit concerned right now about our defensive status. Albatross really might have a point about this whole dome thing not being so great... and if they hit us with enough firepower, it'll eventually start damaging the shield generators, and if that goes, then we're sorta fucked."

"I figured as much." Zerrex shook his head slowly, then he sighed and rubbed at his head slowly. "War is too damn complicated for me when you throw in all this other technology and crap... what other junk do we have at our disposal, then?" A pause, and he glowered at the Dragokkaren. "Other than all the crap I heard you sent Hans after?"

Huck grinned at this, and Albatross coughed and blushed a bit, looking away. "Oh, so you ran into Hansel, did you? Perky li'l bastard, isn't he? Gotta love him, even if he is annoying as fuck more than anything else half the time." He paused, then glanced thoughtfully over at Albatross. "Speaking of which, didn't Church say he gave him some more busy work to keep him occupied and out of our way?"

Albatross nodded, looking sourly amused, before glancing over at Zerrex and smiling a bit. "I know, I know, don't look so pissed off. Hans is a great kid, but he's just not the military type. Could you really see him trying to function out on the battlefield with the rest of us?" He softened. "It's not a bad thing... he's just too... generous, I guess."

"Reminds me of Tinny." Zerrex murmured softly, smiling a bit and glancing down for a moment, then he looked back up and added gently: "Give him a chance, then. Put him on guard duty or some other less glamorous deal... once he gets out of the infirmary, anyway." He paused as the two stared at him, rubbing the back of his head and realizing what he had to say next wouldn't exactly help Hans's case. "He uh, told me to give you guys his report. He then attempted to tell me the amount of everything you'd taken in one long breath, and he ended up fainting once he was oxygen deprived for probably a few good minutes."

"Oh dear sweet fuck." Huck mumbled, rolling his eyes and sighing a bit, shaking his head slowly. "He's like a frigging team mascot more than anything else." He paused, then looked at Zerrex and asked mildly: "What were those numbers, anyway? I want to enter them into the stats register, get all that shit up to date."

"Go count for yourself." Zerrex replied mildly, and Huck glared at him before the lizard shrugged. "I'm not going to pay attention to something like that... sorta have other things on my mind, you know? Besides, last time I checked, you're the one in charge of all the mechanical crap around here, so counting stuff is your job, isn't it?"

"That doesn't mean I want to actually do it!" whined the large Dragokkaren, crossing his arms and looking at Zerrex sulkily. "You ever tried to sit for three hours in a small concrete room, counting boxes of bullets, and checking to make sure every single one of those boxes has exactly so many bullets in them? Fuckin' insane." He grumbled a bit at this, looking moodily back and forth before holding up his hands and coughing at Zerrex's glare. "Alright, alright, alright. I'll get one of my more competent lackeys to do it later... but in all seriousness, do you think we're standing okay in terms of supplies?"

The lizard mused, then glanced at Albatross, who was looking at Huck with something like disbelief. "You wanna take this one, Commander?"

"Gladly." Albatross paused, then grabbed Huck's collar and shook him a bit, making the large Dragokkaren squeak as the one-eyed reptile berated him sternly: "Use some common sense, moron! We've gone from five hundred troops to like... ten thousand... to half a frigging million or something like that, and probably half of that number has crammed itself into the base, barracks, and those tents outside in the kilometer-wide safe zone around the facility. A lot of these people brought something with them... but not a whole damn lot, and we were never exactly storing a whole lot of ammo and supplies here: I mean, rationing two clips per soldier isn't really the standard.

"Where things really start to get problematic, however, is with the food supplies. I mean, we've gone from being able to sustain ourselves indefinitely, to one month. And how long will those tents outside hold up, huh? Plus the shield generators will need to be shut down if it rains or if there's any other kind of abnormal weather." He paused, then shook Huck again, making him squawk as he grabbed at Albatross's hands. "And we barely have any medical supplies to begin with, too!"

"Okay, okay, I get it, we're screwed!" Huck groaned, rolling his eyes and shaking himself loose from the blue-scaled Dragokkaren, then he glanced back and forth morbidly. "So what are we supposed to do? Lots of suicide missions or something? Pretend we're the Patriarch and treat soldiers like pawns, or give up and hope he's nice to us? You're really cramping my exits here, Albossatross... and I sure as hell don't want to say any of that to my soldiers, and there's no way we're surrendering after all the hardships we've gone through..."

The other Dragokkaren nodded and sighed, shrugging and shaking his head a bit... and Zerrex frowned, looking down. He thought there was only one true option for them left... but he hesitated as he stared musing at the ground. It would be a hell of a gamble, after all... then he finally rose his eyes when he realized the other two were staring at him, and he said quietly: "We'll have to take Uroboros, then."

The two looked at him stupidly, then Huck blinked owlishly before asking in a gentle, careful voice: "So, uh, you been sniffing any glue lately, Lord Zerrex? Or is this code for 'lots of suicide missions?"

The one-eyed Dragokkaren however, was looking at Zerrex curiously... and then he grinned a bit and nodded slowly, which just made Huck slowly edge away from them as he paled a bit. "No, no... he's right... he's right! We've been thinking too much like we're still a guerilla army... but now we have at least half the number of soldiers on our side from that military, and all of Narrius's other supply lines will be slowed. That main line, that huge gathering has to be his last defensive line, or will serve as his last offensive push towards us, to try and scare us off... but Uroboros already has soldiers hiding out inside it, and can't be guarded by more than a skeleton crew per sector and all the military facilities probably locked down during the huge riot. If we push forwards now... we might just be able to take the capital city away from the Patriarch!"

"Dude, that's such a fuckin' long shot, I don't think even Lord Zerrex's money shot would travel that far." Huck said blatantly, then he let out a whine when Zerrex punched his arm lightly, rubbing at his wounded area and glaring at the reptile huffily. "Well, fuck you too! But god damn, I don't know..." He gritted his teeth, wincing a bit as he looked from Albatross to Zerrex, then he sighed and shook his head. "Look, let's bring it up with Churchill. I hate the douchebag, but if we beat him enough, he's sure to be serious and at least provide some other kind of take on the situation. Plus if we wanna go for it, we can get him to pull his fancy-speech shit... he can at least play the politics for us so we don't have to."

The others nodded at this, then Huck added slowly: "But even if we take Uroboros, we should use it only as a base for our soldiers... I don't want to endanger civilians at all, get it? So I say that we move whoever's willing into the outskirts and out to this base, then we extend a full magnetic dome around here. We'll keep this as our main control hub, protect it at all costs, and use the Patriarch's own artillery to guard it, and move back and forth through the tunnels as necessary."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Zerrex responded, then he paused and tilted his head. "By the way... I ran into some abandoned Iuratus on my way up here, too-"

"Sorry bunch, aren't they?" Albatross interrupted gently, and Zerrex looked over at him curiously, the blue Dragokkaren smiling a bit. "They wouldn't even talk to me when I approached them... wouldn't do more than mumble and look away. They have so many scars on them it puts you to shame." He nodded towards Zerrex's naked chest, which was riddled with its own tracework of surgical scars, and the Drakkaren blushed a bit and quietly touched his swastika, as Albatross added mildly: "And some nasty tats themselves."

The lizard nodded, then he coughed and rubbed the back of his head, looking from one to the other and saying mildly: "There's... sixty-three of them, and two of those are babies, if I remember right... maybe it was sixty-four, I don't know. But they offered to do work, wanted to be useful around here, and I don't think they want to ask for much, at least most of them being Iuratus with dead masters... so I was thinking we could set them up in the civilians area, maybe lay out some extra bunks or something..." he broke off as Huck shook his head slowly.

"I'd like to, too, but we're over capacity, like I said." His tone was apologetic, and he did look truly sorry... before he paused and grinned a bit. "But hey, tell you what. Maybe we can ship some of them into the outskirts... and at least move the ones with the kids to somewhere safe." He looked down thoughtfully, rubbing at his head slowly. "And I guess if we go through with this whole Uroboros idea, we'll move them and potentially my teams of mechanics and tech-heads into the city, won't we? Then they can work the fields there and those giant-ass greenhouse gardens."

Zerrex nodded back, feeling a bit more relaxed now, despite everything that seemed to be going on. "That'd be good, yeah... but I guess that only leaves one more matter at hand." He frowned a bit, feeling his body already give a twitch of distaste as he remembered the broadcast, the hatred already building in him... and a sudden need for a drink in his throat and his mind, making it hard to concentrate as he muttered: "Narrius..."

The others looked at him for a moment, then Huck glanced at his compatriot. "What do you think, Albossatross? What comes next on this menu of horrors? We've had giants, genetic freaks that suck out your fuckin' soul, monsters, a badass with a freaky-as-shit clone thing inside him-"

"Bite me. Drake's a nephilim, not a clone." Zerrex said drolly, but Huck pretended not to notice, instead just rolling his eyes and raising his hands as he counted things off on his fingers.

"A nuclear holocaust in Ire... I hear Narrius purposefully sunk some oil rigs over near what used to be the technological capital of the world, Lunis, too." He made a disgusted face. "Fucked them up good... shithead just seemed to be fucking with the environment and making all the greenie tree-hugging hippies cry, since all he did was sink ship after ship with his own destroyers... then he finally napalmed the oil slicks. Smart-ass bastard set up a firewall, then moved his long-range artillery ships into position... and hid submarines under those.

"When the Lunis naval forces attempted to attack... pow, they all got sunk by torpedoes, and Narrius fired all manner of crazy shit from his juggernauts. Razed the entire coastline of Lunis, turned it into a fuckin' desert. And technology or not, they couldn't do shit anymore... hell, they had no more resources on that little island country, everything was electric nights and mechanical days there: no forests, no nothing." Huck shook his head slowly, snorting. "He finished them off with a high-discharge EMP... the electromagnetic pulse wiped out the last of their technology in the major cities, complete, irreversible blackout. They say it turned into a jungle more savage than this one there... 'cause at least in this one, the trees aren't made of concrete and you don't have to rely on eating each other to survive."

Zerrex snorted, nodding slowly. It sounded like Narrius, definitely... and then he glanced up and frowned a bit. "So until the end... it was all just one big show, wasn't it? The destroyers, the flames, everything masked... his real movements..."

The Drakkaren stopped, his face slowly losing its color as he realized... yeah. That's what Narrius always does... how he always operates. The bastard is smart... not just smart, but a tactical genius, way better than me... than anyone I've ever met, much as I hate to compliment him. And even though he's an animal... he's patient until it gets to the end. Then he starts to unravel a bit... when things are vulnerable, he loses his poker face, shows his hand...

Narrius's voice echoed in his head, the broadcast he'd seen only minutes before replaying: Natural state... world returns... last days of peaceful sleep... paradise... return to paradise...

I know where you are. This war is already over. I will finish the job... the final, ultimate weapon...

Then the reptile jerked, looking up in horror at Huck as the Dragokkaren shook him lightly, and he snarled a bit, glancing out the window and cursing under his breath. "Goddammit... it's a trick! It's all been a trick!"

Narrius stood back in the main control center of his most secret project, his most secret facility, gripping the sides of the octagonal terminal as his crimson eyes flicked back and forth, over the scientists that were all currently hard at work entering verification codes and finishing the last of the rundown process for Paradise. And he was grinning coldly; sure, the loss of his child had been horrible... but not totally unexpected. As always, he was prepared... he had his backups. Six of them, in fact... none of these weak and vulnerable flesh carried inside weak and vulnerable flesh, but instead slowly-growing bodies that rested securely inside the metal wombs of genetics capsules, near the center of Paradise. As if I'd ever trust Mengele to run any of my most important projects... He paused, then looked disdainfully at the holograph floating above the terminal, which showed the current progress of Paradise's system functionality. "Hurry up!"

His harsh tone caused many of the scientists present to jump and look at him with terror... but all of them immediately began to work faster, and Narrius smiled grimly to himself, glancing back at the hologram and watching the floating shape in the corner flicker and turn from '97%' to '98%.' Soon... very soon, everything would be ready. And it would likely as not draw the rebels forwards... and once they came out, he'd squash them like bugs.

Every other project - his real military, his real ambitions - had also been progressing nicely. For instance, the Enforcers - merely test dummies, incomplete prototypes he had used to test the efficiency, loyalty, and ability of clone soldiers that boasted Phase One superior DNA - had all proven to be exceptional units... therefore Narrius expected his Black Rogue Enforcers, who carried the full Phase Three genetic codes, to prove reliable killing machines. Sure, it would likely take around a month to manufacture enough of them to make sure, without a doubt, he'd be able to wipe all of Hez'Ranna clean of everyone who irritated him, but most of that time would be spent developing Godsmite and the weapons core of Paradise.

They'd never have the durability of their Phase Two counterpart, however... and Narrius grinned coldly as he murmured: "But wouldn't you be honored, brother... I'm recognizing your usefulness, if not your strength. They're all forged in your image, after all... and that should fuck with Zerrex's head nicely, as well." He made a disgusted face. "The only thing that took too long to deal with was your ridiculously-stubborn brain... it took the idiot scientists too long to finally figure out they should just wipe the slate clean and install a control chip in place of the frontal lobe in each clone."

He shook his head slowly, then glared around at the scientists again as Paradise flicked to 99% completion, then snapped impatiently: "Why the hell aren't we ready for launch yet? We still need to draw the rebels out... and you filth need to get back to work on the rest of the projects in this facility!"

Zerrex looked back and forth from Huck to Albatross grimly, hating how he had no real proof... but was somehow absolutely sure that all of Narrius's other projects until now had been a smokescreen, a cover. Even Drake, however, seemed confused, asking in his mind: What the hell are you talking about, Zerrex? Then why did he work so hard on the nephilim projects, like me? Why keep you alive and perform all those experiments, steal all that genetic material from everywhere?

"I don't know!" Zerrex said irritably, then winced as the two Dragokkaren looked at him blankly, grasping the side of his head with one hand and mumbling: "Not you two, Drake. He's asking the same questions though, pretty much... but look, we need to get ready for attack... lock down the facility or something, or..."

"Boss, you need to calm down." Huck said mildly, then winced when Zerrex grabbed him, immediately holding up his hands and coughing as his eyes widened at the lizard's expression. "Friendly suggestion! Just a friendly suggestion, not an order, I swear! I'll shut up now."

The white-haired lizard made a distasteful face, then he glanced over at Albatross, who rubbed the back of his head and coughed a bit. "Locking down could be a mistake, Lord Zerrex. Especially if it is an attack like you're predicting..." He paused, crossing his arms and sighing a bit as he slumped back. "I think the best thing we can do is... just... sit and wait for it to happen. We can't really boost our defenses up anymore, anyway... that magnetic shield and the few repairs we've managed on the metal shielding of this facility is just about the best we can manage, aside from evacuating into the tunnels."

Zerrex nodded, then forced himself to relax, stepping back from Huck and blushing a bit as he looked embarrassedly from one to the other, then he sighed and shook his head slowly, murmuring quietly: "I know... sorry guys. I guess I'm just... a bit scared." He admitted, and then smiled faintly at the looks on the faces of the two males. "What, you think even we genetically-predispositioned killing machines with experimental body enhancements don't get scared?"

"Uh. Hmm. That's a really hard question. Let's see... how about... no!" Huck said, wincing and hugging himself as he stared back and forth in something like abject despair. "Don't go saying shit like that, Boss! That's like... the most... uncoolest thing ever, because it means that... like... look, I'm a fruit, and you're... a bazooka." He paused and coughed, holding up his hands. "Non-sexual, seriously! I'm this little fruitcup in a tin can... but inside I'm all squishy pears and shit. You're a tank: inside, you're explosive and... you got... soldiers with guns and... scary faces and shit...

"Therefore this means if you have reason to be scared... I have reason to be fucking terrified, and I do not want to be fucking terrified. I'm fucking terrified of being fuckin' terrified, so I guess that means I'm not just fuckin' terrified, I'm utterly-fucking horrified..." Huck paused, then stared at the expressions of the two. "What?"

Zerrex grabbed his hair and winced, and Albatross merely sighed and patted Huck on the shoulder gently, as the Dragokkaren looked at the two strangely. "At ease, soldier. We get the picture. Just... please. Don't go hurting yourself too..." A pause and a frown as a tremble ran through the tower. "What the hell was that?"

"Sir, sir!" called one of the technicians, and the three turned, surprised by the urgency of the mechanic's voice. Worse, however, was the pale face of the mechanic as he wiped at his forehead with a dirty rag, stammering: "Massive... something like massive... massive tectonic activity detected beneath the surface of the ground... something's moving, sir! Except it's also giving huge thermal readings, and it's definitely not an... not an earthquake..."

"Then what is it?" snapped Huck, approaching the panel and frowning as he noted the distance... and then the world seemed to tremble again, Zerrex grunting as a bit of dust rained down from the ceiling and he almost fell over, setting himself firmly against the ground. Huck, on his way to the console, was less lucky, staggering into a table and almost knocking it flat as he howled: "Holy shit! Albossatross, man down on deck!"

Albatross snarled, but he had the least trouble navigating across the room towards the control panel as it shook again: Zerrex, meanwhile, was just glad he didn't fall over, as the world rattled once more. "You'd be damn useless on a ship, Huck! You need to learn to walk a tightrope in a thunderstorm on a destroyer!"

"I hate ships!" bawled the other Dragokkaren, and Zerrex snorted, privately agreeing as he felt the tower give again, then he looked up at the ceiling with a snarl as he heard something crack above. Wait... this whole tower is fragile, isn't it? Burned out or something... "Dude! Someone check the fucking bounce relay! Hit coordinates 32.16.54... oh crap!"

Huck spilled over the table with a grunt at another heavy shake that hit the building, as Albatross slid a bit to the side and Zerrex fell to one knee... and as one of the windows shattered, the Drakkaren looked out in shock as he heard a louder rumble... and a massive dust cloud arose from Uroboros as the sound of crashing stone and buildings filled the air. For a few moments, the world shook harder, and the Drakkaren snarled as he saw bits and pieces of rock and metal rain down just outside the building from the towers above, crashing into the walls and sides of the base... before the tremors finally halted, and the reptile slowly stood, snarling a bit as he heard Huck standing groggily, yelling abjectly: "Dude! What happened? I almost pissed myself!"

"That." Zerrex said quietly, and he approached the shattered window as Albatross turned, lavender eye widening... and the group of mechanics lined up at the broken windows, as outside, soldiers stood from the ground and many others filed out from the base, murmuring their amazement, shock, and horror at the thing now floating in the skys above Uroboros: as for the first time, they saw what the Drakkaren somehow knew, was the weapon that Narrius spoke of... and likely his paradise, as well. No... it was a riddle of words, wasn't it? A pause, a flicker of thoughts, images, and a sudden memory of words spoken by scientists so long ago now, during the briefest moment of consciousness...

It's a massive battle fortress...

Paradise...

Zerrex looked down silently, and then back up at the ship which now floated in the sky... no, not a ship, a monstrous, floating facility. It was shaped almost like a blimp, except slightly rounder, and with strange, dome-like bulges along the body of what would normally be a balloon... but in this case, was solid steel. It seemed to sit on a thick metal tray that spanned its body, as well, instead of a small cabin... and Zerrex could see, even from this distance, bits and pieces of stone that had clung onto it over the many years it must have been in development falling slowly down from the bottom of the enormous machine to crash into the city below.

It had risen above the crowd of dust that had blown over the city... and now Zerrex could see that there were several large, rectangular cabins on the top, big enough to be visible even from this distance... although he had no doubt that all through the body was all manner of other machinery as well. It looked impenetrable, like a floating, mechanical island... and the reptile found it truly terrifying to behold. The worst part, perhaps, was that it was all plain steel, with no attempt at all to make it appealing to the eye or anything else... it was what it was... and what that was, was obviously a death machine.

Paradise floated slowly above Uroboros, hovering silently by some unknown method of propulsion... and then Huck snarled, looking over at Albatross, who was gazing through his telescope at it. "Shit... look, let's get in close, run a scan over the fuckin' thing, and see if we can blast its vulnerable points with rockets... hopefully we can do some damage to it before it fucks us up good and proper."

"No." Zerrex said quietly, staring at the machine as he gripped the windowframe; bits of glass were digging into his hands, deep enough to draw blood... but right now he didn't care as he gazed at it, gazed at this monstrous aircraft that was larger than several city blocks put together, and was now beginning to float slowly towards the jungle. He felt Huck and Albatross both looking at him, and he murmured quietly: "He's playing chess with us."

"What?" Huck frowned, nudging Zerrex lightly and asking in a concerned voice: "Boss, are you okay? What do you mean... because look, that thing is going to be out of range soon... but if I lower the shield, I-"

"You'll leave the base vulnerable." Zerrex's voice was soft, strangely gentle, and Huck halted as he began to move towards the computers. He frowned, then came and leaned on the windowframe again as Zerrex drew his hands back, glanced down at the shallow cuts and the fragments of glass stuck in his palms, then he made a face and pulled several of them out, causing the other males to wince. Then the male shook himself a bit, waking himself out of the stupor of hatred he'd fallen into: the disgust so deep it had made him almost feel serene. "Look. It's... if he had a weapon, if he could destroy us with that thing... do you think he'd be floating teasingly away? No... he'd accelerate towards us, and just... drop it on us. I'm sure that thing's heavy enough to crush our shields and this base.

"That... that's the queen in chess. The most powerful piece." He continued, his tone becoming a bit more solid now. "But even if it's the strongest piece... it's still not the most important one, so it can be used as bait for a trap. I'm sure Narrius has a way out of there if he needs to..." He stopped again, then murmured quietly: "And even if we send all our knights, rooks and bishops forwards... they could still get taken out by pawns if they're too focused on just attacking the queen."

"Nice metaphor." Huck said wonderingly, looking out at the ship and then nodding slowly, before he cursed quietly under his breath. "Shit... got way too ahead of myself again..."

Albatross smiled a bit at this, then he sighed and brought the telescope up again, adjusting it slowly as he gazed at the floating fortress, watching it withdraw slowly into the distance and murmuring quietly: "One question then, Boss... what exactly is the king up to? Why's he pulling this piece out now?"

Zerrex didn't like the answer that came to mind for this... but as he looked out at Paradise, he found the courage to speak it anyway: "Because whatever else, he doesn't have anything left to lose... and he's almost ready to play his real hand."