Location: Objective 3 - Dispelling ghosts within and without
Nir Si
Crasdon Kaine
Rayia was seething. At nothing... at everything... at herself. She couldn't escape the shame prickling her nape that she was acting like a child. That there were eyes watching her, awaiting something. The ship she had hitched a ride on rumbled as it broke atmosphere and a blanket of fog slowly smothered the viewports, trailing wisps through the illuminated beams the ship was using to search for a proper landing zone. Rayia ignored it as she continued pacing around the cargo hold she found herself in. Whereas the trip might have once filled her with dread, the only reaction the shudder prompted was a disgusted growl as Rayia pulled a face.
"The Reaper wouldn't have felt a thing," she muttered only for a fresh wave of scorn to wash over her.
'Well, you're not on the Reaper, are you? No, you're doing what you always do. Running away lest you explain to anyone what your problems really are,' a voice in her head mocked.
"Shut up." Rayia growled under her breath, whirling around to start pacing back towards the other side. Glowing, golden feline eyes snapped upwards as Rayia took stock of her helmeted reflection in the transpara-glass before her. Noting the red-rimmed eyes, tussled fur, and haggard mane, Rayia let her shoulders slump.
'The note was a nice touch,' the voice wheedled again,
'...you think anyone's gonna read it?' Rayia drew back a fist, nails biting into her palm as her muscles tensed. She opened her mouth to shout, but no words came. She couldn't argue with that.
Rayia had left a note in her room on the Reaper, after the operation on Ukatis. In simple, scratchy letters Rayia had told the Reaper's crew that she would be gone for a bit. It said that she would explain everything and that she promised to return. The prospect frightened her. She'd been scared of the others finding out about the beast within ever since she had met them. She'd remained elusive about personal information and experiences, preferring to spend more time listening to the opinions of others. Anything to avoid telling them why she had wound up on Cathar, running away from home and the prospective rite of sucession that awaited her. She hadn't even told Jonyna about it, posing as a simple Cathar when her mentor had found the Felacatian on Cathar. But that wasn't an option anymore, and she knew the others would be looking for her.
'Heck, maybe the whole Order is. Who knows?' Rayia wondered, perking up as a series of furious steps bounded down the stairs. Her tail bristled as it picked up on the movement in the air around her, feeling a rather portly human barreling his way towards her.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing? The real monster is out there! Save your energy for the fight. You've been driving us all crazy for the past hour with your shattering and smashing everything in our cargo hold" The head engineer of the transport ship hollered, seeming to flush bright red at the sight of Rayia about to crumple yet another piece of spare equipment to dust.
"Sorry." Rayia said, and slowly relaxed. She let her hand fall to her side, before snatching a datapad hurled at her from the air.
"Read this. It'll have everything you need to know. We're passing the point where you'll need to disembark. Pilot is too spooked to even think of landing." The head engineer said, shaking their head slowly. Rayia started to skim through the details of the mission, wincing as she saw the last name of one of the individuals assigned to the mission. It was the same as her mentor Jonyna's own.
"Wait, Nir Si, didn't I... Yes. Yes, when we descended into the maw of the earth together. Seems like we'll be doing that again this time," Rayia muttered to herself, puzzling out the familiarity of the name.
The engineer grabbed a hold of a restraining bar near the bulkhead, motioning to Rayia to do the same. Shuffling sideways to grasp a hold of the locking mechanism, Rayia started to open the door. There was a pneumatic hiss and Rayia's ears filled with a eerie whistling sound as gusts of wind licked past the slowly widening opening, pulling at her cloak and fur fiercely. Rayia dug her clawed toes into the durasteel deck-plating for more friction as the engineer pointed towards the spot where she needed to jump. Rayia could barely make out the silhouettes of windships breaking through the fog. Her tail was rendered temporarily useless as the howling wind batting at her through the open doors. Rayia jumped and vanished into the fog.
"Are you leading the operation? Are others coming?"
Rayia picked up on the human's voice as she strolled into the camp, moving slowly and warily. She couldn't detect any motion but that didn't mean there wasn't any danger. Something had dealt with the scientists originally sent to scour this world after all.
"I will be joining the two of you on this mission. My name is Rayia. It is my pleasure to meet you." Rayia said, introducing herself before fixing her eyes on Crasdon.
"You are a researcher, a scribe yes? This is good. Perhaps you will be able to make some sense of what the scribes discovered, or what they were working on when they were ambushed? I feel as if it may prove a valuable detail for our understanding of their fate."
