trans_9 | Lirath - Ground Battle

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Lirath - Ground Battle

After dropping off some of the crew at Balisair, it was time for the crew to set course for Lirath. The situation greeting them wasn't the most promising.

The cracked surface of the moon called Lirath was one of its most unmistakeable features. One of the three moons of the planet Kehoe, it had been terraformed and served as a settlement for a hundreds of different species, some humanoid, some not. Despite occasional class struggles, environmental issues, and speciesism blocking their way, the darker parts of Lirath's past were largely left behind, and an era of peace and tolerance had reigned for quite some time. The only problems they'd had recently were with a terrorist group whose cause for their actions had been a mystery, but they weren't tied to any particular species or social group and had been likened to a cult and had largely gone quiet in recent years.

Now the peace on the moon of Lirath had been shattered by the invasion of the Ohm.

The capital city had been destroyed. Now, all that was left of the peoples of Lirath was evacuating from one of its smaller cities, one known as Smyteval. A desert city, existing in a valley in between a rocky range of canyons and mountains, even though it was in the low ground, the natural channels of rock served as bottlenecks for any Ohm attacking from the ground.

GIA squadrons patrolled in space, locked in explosive warfare, protecting the Bleed-gate that had been activated to see the evacuated ships to the refugee world, and a shield created by massively-powerful shield generators extended around the city and up into the atmosphere, creating a shielded tunnel so ships could escape.

Word had come that there was a vital weapon to be deployed on Lirath, one that needed to be destroyed, hence why the Transmigration 9 had been called in. Given the diverse crew, and the ships that were in its hangar, there was at least someone or something on board that could blow the weapon up if it did show.

There was no sign of it yet. Right now, there was just chaos, streams of evacuees boarding ships, armies of Ohm engaged with GIA soldiers outside the shields, and forcefields that everyone hoped would hold out just a little bit longer.

The crew would be following Leon's orders but finding themselves fighting side-by-side with GIA platoons, full of various species that were currently all getting their asses kicked severely.

[ooc: STAGE 1 is now open! ~~Please do not tage STAGE 2 until it's announced as open as well.~~]

[ooc: STAGE 2 is now open!]

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Kerrigan would have liked to ignore the person but she was a Councilor. And she very well might need her help. "Alright, we'll do it together. Focus on me." She was reaching out now, not just to the Ohm but to Dhianeila.

"Yes."

She closed her eyes, focusing back as well. "May we discover more than we did last we spoke to them, and discover the path to putting an end to this." A spoken hope. She reached out along with Kerrigan, opening her mind as much as she could - for she was used to trying her best to keep her ability to read minds and feelings to a minimum when around others. It was a powerful surge, mixed in with the eagerness, the desperate want to learn. To understand. That was what she wanted them to understand, that they wished to understand.

Kerrigan linked their minds.

As much as she tried to put a barrier between them, certain things poured through the link. Images, feelings. Sarah as a young girl, strapped down in a sterile white room while men in lab coats hovered over her with syringes. Having a heated conversation with a scruffy but muscular man. Killing alien creatures. And then killing humans. Blood, death, so much death. And a transformed, infested Kerrigan laughing over their bodies.

Ready? Kerrigan asked.

A small pause. Dhianeila was used to things like this. Unwilling images, memories and feelings from others that she got too close to physically, or when she allowed closer connections like this. Her own memories were a little more controlled, not that Dhianeila really kept anything but her own occasional insecurities to herself. Endless reaches of space, escaping from other beings bent on annihilation. Brothers responsible for the massacre of creatures that looked as strange as the Ohm, and the horrifying realization that they had killed their innocents and children (something more vivid than the rest, as their encounters with the Ohm reminded her of that moment). Hopes and dreams given to the power of Age-- the young boy who might be familiar as he had awakened on Stacy as well.

But Dhianeila was good at putting the images she would see aside. She was not the type to question or judge based on such things; everybody's emotions, feelings and memories were their own and she never wished to trespass upon them, even though her powers often sadly did just that. Yes, she answered.

As they reached out, they could sense the minds of all the Ohm controlling the combat forms throughout the battle, thousands, millions of them. They could sense the connection they all shared.

They could sense the Ohm minds focused on the battle on the surface of Lirath and in orbit above. They could sense a singular, strong mind, young and vibrant, leading the Ohm forces aboard Stacy. And they could sense another mind, watching, waiting, possessed of and immense power.

It was a presence Dhianeila would recognize.

{{LEAVE.}}

No.

This was nothing new to Kerrigan. In fact, usually she was the one leading millions of beings. There was no hint of uncertainty in her mind because she had none.

Kerrigan might feel that surge of familiarity with the response from Dhianeila. But she braced herself, deciding to skip the pleas, skip the questions she had already asked and try to learn more. To understand. Plus, Kerrigan had already responded with their stance on the matter of leaving.

Why are we monsters? What have we done? she responded, sure to send the intent of the message as strongly as she could. In her moment of focusing on the question, Kerrigan would feel the response from her last encounter. Rushes of anger, rage and sadness, accusing those who tried to speak with them.

Cold rage and indignity rose up from the presence, its emotions barely contained. It was as though the being expected her to know already.

{{No More.}}

Enough of this.

She was still feeling the rage from the Ohm troops, and now she was feeling her own add to it.

I need to know why I was abducted and experimented on for a war I never agreed to join. I need answers. We need answers. She corrected herself.

No more ... that was all they wanted to. So why did it always have to come to this? She remembered meeting with Prome-O, learning some of their reasons as to why they deemed humanity as unfit to exist in the universe. Could the Ohm be thinking the same of all of them? There were more than simple humans on Stacy, however ... could they think that way of so many? Murderers, she had felt they thought of them. She remembered her brothers and their conquest for revenge, killing innocents on Tauron and not even realizing the difference between the innocent and the fighters of the planet's race. And she remembered how inferior they were seen as because of how immature humanity still was.

Many of our races are still growing, and still making mistakes, she said, remembering how she defended their right once before. Only now it was more than humanity that hung by a thread. Is it these mistakes, these flaws that cause you to hate us so? Please, please tell us what we've done to you.

She knew humanity was still learning, and she made sure she let them know that as well. They still fought each other, feared different beings than them and sometimes acted harshly in response to things they did not understand. But nobody on the ship had ever seen the Ohm before their awakenings, so none of them knew why this was happening. That was what she wanted to know.

We want to understand you. To know you.

The rage continued, as well as a grief that swelled up alongside it. It was rather shocking to feel how deeply the Ohm could feel things, their emotions magnified many times over what a normal human could feel while remaining sane.

{{No More. Take No More.}}

With that, the presence began to push forcefully at their minds, attempting to drive them away.

Kerrigan pushed back. The emotions were breaking through to her but she held it together through her own cold determination.

No. You will take more if you do not explain. How many more people are you willing to lose? We are being used. But if you give us no other option then I willkill as many of you as it takes to get through.

We never wished to take from you in the first place.

She fought back as well, bracing her mind and trying to stay steady alongside Kerrigan ... at least until they could get something. Anything. But it was that power ... that force, they wouldn't last for much longer.

But you have also taken from us. And we do not understand why you have done so. Show us so we understand, please!

Kerrigan's threat only made things worse.

{{NO MORE.}}

Before, it was content to just push them away. Now, though, it was mad. Very, very mad. There was a sudden psychic force that hit their minds like a freight train, followed by a terrifyingly powerful crushing feeling.

This being was undeniably old and powerful, and now, it was focusing its full attention and rage on the two of them.

Kerrigan used all her resources to maintain the link. There was a reason the Psionic Index had been recalculated just to include her. Still, she knew she couldn't last long against this.

Don't say I didn't warn you. And then, to Dhianeila. Whatever you have to say make it quick.

Well, this wasn't going as well as she'd hoped. Last time they had simply been cast away by the power, but this? This was different. This was huge and encompassing and painful. But pain was nothing compared to the end they all faced if they failed, so she struggled, tried to endure it, to show them that they were serious, eager in the intentions she hoped they understood.

Please! Dhianeila pleaded again. It was mad, it was so mad at them all but at the same time, it was only a small portion of how they felt as a whole, not just from their interference. This will never end if you do not help us understand! Not just for them, but for the Ohm as well.

Psychic battles were strange things. The conflicting sorrow and rage the creature felt began to bleed through, causing the two of them to feel colder than the depth of space yet burn hotter than the brightest star. The depth of emotion a being so old and powerful could feel was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

{{YOU TAKE AND WANT MORE?}}

{{NO.}}

Kerrigan had never felt such an emotional whiplash. Now, despite her previous insistence, she wanted to end this communication. She'd spent too long trying to bury her own emotions. This was too much.

But she had to. Just a little longer.

They take ... they did take. At least Dhianeila knew they took many things. Humanity had been a selfish thing for so very long, and still remained as such, even before the last moment she remembered before waking up on Stacy. They took riches from the Earth, other planets and the powers around them. And being what they were, they had no way to return any of it. But that was part of their journey, to get to the point where they could fix things, give things back. They had started to get there, after obtaining the powers of the race before them who reached the point where they could move on to another universe.

Dhianeila wanted to plead again, but words didn't come at first. What could she say to that? Did the Ohm even mean take in the sense she was thinking of? Or had they taken something from them? And did they want more? Everybody on Stacy wanted their homes back. Wanted their lives and their friends and family back. Would the Ohm understand that? Would they see these things as the 'more' that they made sound so disgraceful? All of these thoughts were sudden, and probably felt through their connection. Take and want more ... Dhianeila felt overwhelmed with the power she was feeling from those surges.

If you hate us for taking, why do you do it as well?

{{YOU PERSIST.}}

For a moment, there is a brief flash of something. Not an image, not a feeling, just something that the being has been holding on to for a long, long time. But the sensation is gone too quickly to comprehend it.

{{NO MORE. IT WILL END HERE.}}

That sensation ... Dhianeila couldn't comprehend it, even though she felt it. If only she knew what it was...

We persist because we do not understand. It was easy enough to admit. They were all lost, weren't they? About the Ohm, about the GIA, even about the ship they were on. But they were struggling, struggling to learn everything. Struggling to figure out their place in it all.

Help us, please, she said again, a final question, because the power overwhelming her from the being was quickly becoming to much to handle.

The intense rage continued to flare, and the two of them the psychic pressure from the being forcing down on them. It was an oppressive, choking feeling, accompanied by excruciating pain. It would be so easy for it to kill them both then and there.

But then, at Dhianeila's plea, it relented. For a brief, singular moment, they could sense another emotion hiding beneath the surface emanating from the being. But it was too unclear, too buried beneath the other emotions that they could not sense what it was.

{{No.}}

With one mighty push, it sent them away, severing their connection to the Ohm, leaving them once again with more questions than answers.

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Lirath - Ground Battle

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