Dazed And Confused

Rha'Zhakhar is of course not actually on the ship, perhaps only just an astral projection to find out how things are going.... also giving plausible communication if needed

Flash_Guardian stands amidst the large rear garage of the ship known as the Triad, with the other pair beside him ... Veromem and Siara. It's a large room with multiple storage shelves and various mechanical/magical parts strewn about here and there. Very high tech and scientific, so probably looks quite alien in many ways to those not used to such. Flash, however, seems right at home, glancing back to the others once before walking to the exit at the far side of the room. "This way," he instructs them both, not wanting to tarry long.

Veromem follows Flash quickly as he keeps chewing on the gum in his mouth, chewing harder than usual since he was annoyed, but he had no real reason to be annoyed really. He had his guns, he had ammo, he had a pack of smokes, a lighter, and plenty of anger to deal out on someone's ass. Oh yeah, he was ready to lay the smackdown upon someone's candy ass

Princess~Siara 's eyes wander the room, gazing at so many unfamiliar things. She promptly follows after Flash as he requests, still looking about the ship. Her hand is still in a great deal of pain and she cups it in her other hand as they walk.

Flash_Guardian looks back to Veromem nervously, as if glancing at the timer portion of a time bomb. To Saria, he bites his lip to see how she holds her hand, quickening his pace just a little. At the far end of the room lies the doorway out into the main hall. Flash pushes a horizontal bar at the door's center and it swings open to reveal its long corridor with many doors. Strangely enough, for a ship of this size there would appear to be no crew, no other signs of life save for a few robotic hemispherical drones hovering in the air this way and that. Before Flash has time to decide which door to proceed to, one such drone approaches him and speak to him in a cheery feminine voice. "Hello, Flash ... Triad would love to join you personally, but he's dealing with his lessons," the drone tells him, pivoting to face the others momentarily. "This way," she speaks, hovering away down the hall to two doors down on the right.

Rha'Zhakhar steps through the halls of the Ship, an illusionary like being, it was whole in appearance but physically was just a projection and as such may not register on robotic devices as existing. Stepping through the ship it made its way quietly after the others and his thrall, a little lost however guided by some force towards Siara, the ring on its finger likely to be its guide

Princess~Siara glances back to where they came from as they pass through the door and into the corridor. She watches quietly as Flash talks to the hovering mechanical drone, before once again following after them.

Veromem lets out a smirk as Flash looks at him, knowing that he was a ticking time bomb, but he was a controlled time bomb, so he'd make sure he unloaded on the correct person/thing/whatever the hell they were going to face, thought he probably looked weird with two shotguns strapped to his back and the Desert Eagles in his coat. He blew another bubble and popped it before he looked at Flash again "So where the hell are we going anyways?"

Flash_Guardian follows after the hovering drone, turning back to answer Veromem with naught but a baffled shrug. "It's out of my hands at this point ... I'm just along for the ride and to act as a secondary opinion." They reach the open and waiting door in short order, and upon peering inside are met with a very curious site. A three-stage medical treatment wing. The first room houses many comfortable beds, just mattresses, sheets, and pillows. Cabinets have been built into the walls, one for every two beds. Each one houses the basics: bandages, medical tape, scissors, needle and thread, and the more common kinds of medication. The second room has a third as many beds, each of which has a curtain for privacy, and is home to much more advanced medical equipment, much like one would find in a modern day hospital. The last room houses a single bed, complete with the latest in futuristic medical technology for more critical patients.

[Flash_Guardian ] The drone is waiting for the others, hovering just off the ground in her usual fashion. She briefly introduces herself, "Looks like I get to act as nursemaid at this point. You all can call me Lydia. Now, who did you say was having the problem?" Flash quickly points to Siara and introduces her, also introducing Veromem. "Alright, then. Pleased to meet you both. Siara, if you'll come with me? We're just going to run some tests and see if we can't find the problem." The drone Lydia turns in the air, floating along into the third room with its single bed ... little more than a raised mattress with peculiar looking arms and a wide assortment of cables, tools, and displays hanging just overhead. Flash follows behind.

Veromem blinks and raises an eyebrow before he lets the golden rings surround his body, speeding up until he dissapears all of a sudden, reappearing in on the third floor with the same rings announcing his arrival. His eyes opened once the rings were gone, taking position just inside the room to watch, and if he needed to, be the first wave of defense againist anything, since he knew Flash was going to be busy helping Siara get that damn ring off

Rha'Zhakhar moves throughout the ship without a problem, bypassing all of its security protocols to is non-existence, moving past floating robotic spheres and drones ever towards Siara, unknown in its whereabouts Flash will be the likely person to determine when an incursion between friend and foe will occur

Princess~Siara smiles toward the drone, before uncomfortably following along to the third room. She's feeling so unsure of everything and scared about what is going to happen to her.

Flash_Guardian steps aside with his hands behind his back, while Lydia prepares the bed at the room's center for her. "Would you mind laying down up here for me? I promise you, you won't feel anything while we run our scans." The drone's voice is amazingly human and compassionate for a machine ... sounds perfectly human. She looks up at the devices in the ceiling overhead, and several of them begin to light up, warming up with a gentle whirr.

Rha'Zhakhar continues to make its way to Siara, taking its time at getting to its thrall, Siara. It would take her back to the darkness again, and complete her training, with or without a fight from these beings, preferably not a fight. Being unaware of the ships natural layout the tentacle beast was stuck doubling back a few times and passing in and out of dead ends, soon however it would meet up with Siara, it was getting closer

Veromem raises an eyebrow at the drone, not happy that it sounded more human than he was, and sounded even nicer than he was, and it was a freaking machine! That really annoyed him, but since it was going to help Siara get this damn ring off, so it was okay in his book. He then spun his head towards the door, reaching over his back to grab the M90 Shotgun, before he pulled it off his back and put it into his hands and cocked it to make it ready "Flash, you know when you get a bad feeling in your gut, and it turns out something is gonna happen? I'm getting one of those feelings at the moment dude"

Princess~Siara looks at the bed as she is requested to lay down. She pauses a moment as her eyes flash around the room at all the medical equipment, wondering what on earth they were going to be doing to her. It was a very intimmidating place. She looked down at her hand before slowing climbing herself up onto the bed, scootching herself down and laying her head softly on the pillow. Siara stares at the bright lights on the ceiling for a moment, then turns her head to the side as her eyes begin to ache. Her body tenses as she hears the machines warming up.

[Flash_Guardian ] Lydia now hovers over to a flat display panel in the wall at the side of the room. Various blips and bleeps are heard in rapid succession as instructions are keyed in. Three separate arms spring to life with the gentle sounds of hydraulics, slowly lowering the devices into position. One appears to be highly technological in nature, another seems to be simply a large multi-colored gem of everchanging hues, and the third is actually a series of metal rods of varying composition splayed out in what appears to be some sort of web. The three devices now point directly at Siara, their arms lighting up even brighter as three pale colored rays, barely visible, shoot down to get a look at Siara. "Please wait, this may take a moment," Lydia chimes cheerfully as the arms slowly pivot, scanning Siara from head to toe in order to generate a detailed biological, spiritual, mental, magical, and multiplanar readout.

Princess~Siara 's heart begins to beat faster as the mechanical arms moves above her, her breath quickens and her eyes look to the drone in desperation

Rha'Zhakhar steps out from around the corner and into Veromem's view, if just barely from one corner of the eye, taking no precaution the tentacle being slowly moves towards the doorway with itself looking calm and peaceful, perhaps even to Veromem looking like it was Triad considering it had very little knowledge of the slave owner and fewer still of this Triad. Making no attempt to hide nor attack it seemed peaceful in nature despite its rather bizarre appearance

Veromem blinks in surprise as he leaps back three feat, the shotgun raised to take out whatever the hell had just come through the door, ready to pull the trigger but he'd wait for Flash on this, since it was his ship afterall, but the gun was ready to fire, and a 8 gague slug would not do anything less than blow someone's head off at point blank range, which he was going for at the moment

Flash_Guardian isn't fooled. Not for a second. He quickly spots the floating apparition and brings his hands up and at the ready, whirling to face the creature defensively. "Triad!" he shouts. "Intruder!" After a moment or two, every other light source in the room begins to slowly fade from its normal white to a deep red, a warning buzz heard sounding periodically throughout the ship. Also, Flash now remembers the description that Siara gave of her master ... and everything clicks. He glares at the image of the illithid floating before him, a being he has encountered on numerous occasions. "Let her go," he demands of the creature.

Rha'Zhakhar stands before them in the darkness "She does not wish for me to let her go, do you Siara"

[Flash_Guardian ] Words begin to flash along the screen, though Lydia turns to look where the others are looking. "Flash? What's going on? There's nothing there ..."

Rha'Zhakhar speaks up, its voice something the computer intelligence systems would understand "There is something here and your systems are too weak to acknowledge them, security in such a fortress bypassed by one being, this is no fortress meant for the sky but a toy"

Veromem spits his gum, in a big loogie at the creature, hoping to hit it before he sneers at him, his finger tensing on the trigger "I don't care what the hell she says, because you've warped her mind so much that she's not thinking straight anymore. She is not of sound mind, so therefore her opinions and thoughts cannot be used in any way, shape or form you monster. Now, let her go, or i'll hunt you down and beat you to within an inch of your slimy life"

[Flash_Guardian ] Just then, the image of a young boy flickers next to Veromem, appearing quite without warning, his face unusually flat and displeased for such a youth. The form that appears before you is fairly non-descript; A young child, a boy wearing a dark grey sort of long-sleeved shirt, made out of some kind of soft material and very neat looking, with a pair of long pants to match, followed by shiny black shoes. Atop his youthful yet expressionless face are tufts of pure white, tussled hair. Restless grey eyes look out at the surrounding world, betraying the boy's calm exterior. "I can see you just fine ... however the gremlins are not properly equipped to detect astral disturbances such as yourself." The boy blinks, cocking his head to one side and staring up at the projection of Rha.

Princess~Siara started to frett as she remained on the table listening to the loud buzzing noise. She looks to Lydia "what's happening!?". Her hands clung to the edge of the bed.

[Flash_Guardian ] Lydia just looks back and forth between Flash and the boy now, obviously confused. Flash hisses to her, "Keep working! We'll handle him." He doesn't take his eyes off the tentacle-faced horror for an instant, trying not to show the emotions that are stirring beneath the surface. "I have a different idea," Flash tells him. "One that's not quite so messy. Let her go, and return her to the way she was before you put that accursed ring on her finger. Do this, and we'll forget we ever knew you." Lydia's voice speaks in the background in response to Siara's beckoning. "I'm showing signs of severe mental tampering, as well as genetic degradation and alteration ... also, there is a distinct demonic presence at work. It's difficult to get anything precise, what with so much magical interference ... the ship's systems are working on a magical cipher to try and clear things up. Stand by ..."

[Flash_Guardian ] Lydia calls to Siara sweetly. "Just hold still and try to relax, Siara ..." Then, in a quieter voice, she turns back to her scans and says, "Oh, if only Gyntih were still with us ..."

Princess~Siara didn't even try to relax...she couldn't! She knew something was happening on this ship. Her knuckles where white from holding onto the side of the bed and she started to feel a slight tingling crawling up from her hand and into her arm

Rha'Zhakhar looks to the spit gum and hisses then then looks to the young boys image "Well then it seems this fortress has some defense, a mere boys image is all that is capable of detecting this threat before the more physical beings" the tentacles writhed below the astral form "Siara is mine, no amount of reversing the genetic, mental and personal aspects of her even with a time warp before meeting her will fix what has been done, furthermore i do not attempt to try such fruitless tasks for what is mine stays mine, and wants to be mine"

Veromem moves closer towards whatever the hell Rha was, making sure he could not miss with the shotgun "I don't give a damn what the hell you say is yours, will stay yours, because your full of shit pal! I'll kill you, even if it means she dies as well, because frankly, I wouldn't mind watching you bleed to death and letting me watch it happen. To see the color drain from your body as you take the last fruitless breaths of life before you expire and I can bury your sorry ass in some cement"

Flash_Guardian snarls disgustedly, anger rising deep within him and yet threatening to show. Yet still he keeps it down as best he can. "She was never yours, and never shall be. You had no right to take her in the first place, and now we will reclaim her and give her back what remains of her former life and freedom." Lydia's voice pipes up from the monitor nearby. "Almost there ... just a few more symbols ..." The boy simply closes his eyes for a moment as if concentrating, then opens his eyes once more. Two things happen as a result, one which is visible and one which is not. Firstly, three more gremlin drones much like Lydia appear hovering in the air in defensive formation just on the other side of the door, weapon arms raised and ready. The other is the activation of powerful forcefields all about the third medical chamber in an encapsulating bubble which prevents the passage of anything not of the physical plane ... a transdimensional barrier, if you will.

Rha'Zhakhar tentacles writhe as it hisses "Symbols and runes and your time wasted spells, there is no way to complete the ritual now, too much time has elapsed and if you read the fine print you might not like what you want to know" a tentacle lashes out at Veromem as does a tentacle for the each of the sphere drones, baiting the team to attack as if by some strategy it had some ulterior motive

Veromem smirks as he rolls out of the way of the tentacle, and as he's rolling, he moves so that he'll land on his butt, the shotgun aimed right at Rha but he isn't going to pull, since he has the feeling that Flash has something up his sleeve to stop this madness, and once that is over, he'll find the creature himself and finish off the job. He had no qualms about killing someone, even in cold blood, since he secretly enjoyed causing pain to those who deserved it, and this was one thing that definitely deserved a shotgun shell to the head

[Flash_Guardian ] In response to the creature's attack, one of the drones springs forward and emits some kind of powerful force shield of energy, enough to fend off even astral attacks. The other two float up and to either side to get out of the way of the shield and fire back down at opposing angles with beams of intense heat, slicing along the floor as they trace across in an 'x'. Flash warily glances over at the monitor once just out of curiosity, eyeing the symbols he sees displayed there. He risks taking another step closer, and suddenly his eyes go wide just as the final symbol falls into place. "That's no cipher ... that's a spellbreaker sequence!" Flash looks over to the boy quickly. "Triad! Initiate that sequence of spells upon the ring. Now!" The boy looks back to Flash, nodding once. The second arm with the large gem orients upon Siara as magical energies begin to swirl within it, one by one casting several spells upon the ring, a process which will take but half a minute to complete ...

Rha'Zhakhar spins around as its tentacles lash out in a whirlwind of rubbery flesh, the beast uncaring of the return of fire by the drones and lack of fire by the mortal

Princess~Siara stares up at the gem moving above her, and with complete terror in her eyes, turns her head to Lydia "Nnooo...Noooo" she wailed, her eyes switching back and forth between the gem and the drone, knowing that if anything happened to ring it would be her that would suffer...

Princess~Siara kept on "you don't understand!!...please!!" without knowing that the spells would have already been completed, and there was nothing she could do

Veromem looked at Siara as he scowl "Damnit girl, just let the damn ship do what's it's going to do so you don't have to be enslaved by this damn creature anymore! Just let it work, and we'll help you through the pain and anything else we can do! Just stay calm and fight the pain until it's done!"

[Flash_Guardian ] The shield drone gets battered back by Rha's attacks as the other two continue to fire, concentrating their shots in sweeping motions that attempt to box the creature in before slicing across. Then one of the other drones moves forward to raise its shields as the other stands back to recharge. Flash himself narrows his eyes, bringing his hands back to gather magical energy and release it forth with a flourish and burst. "Dispel!" Flash shouts, attempting to dispel the magical forces behind the astral image before him. Lydia ... simply watches helplessly. Triad, however, continues to monitor the situation, his eyes eventually going wide. "Something is wrong," he says abruptly, shutting his eyes tightly and deactivating the sequence just before the final spell fires.

Rha'Zhakhar continues to whirl is tentacles around foolhardily moving within its boxed confines, caughting some damage as it fails to miss all laser shots, the image of it distorting breifly before resuming full capacity once more, each attack causing a longer shift in its regeneration, obviously the more damage in total inflicted the harder it was to sustain its projection

Veromem looked at Flash as he fired off a round at the damn thing finally, hoping to cause some real damage "Damnit! Cast that final spell and get that ring off already! Cut the sensative crap and just finish off his hold already! What the hell are you or the damn ship waiting for!?"

Flash_Guardian agrees with Veromem for once, displeased that his spell had little effect upon the creature's projection. He turns back to Triad unhappily. "What are you doing? Why did you stop?" Triad simply shakes his head as he looks back to Flash. "Her condition was beginning to escalate as the combination was cast. Were I to continue, she would likely experience epileptic shock and possibly seizures as well. It is better for her physical condition if we simply allow what is transpiring to happen." Flash's mouth hangs open in complete shock. "You can't be serious!" he argues, confusion raging behind his eyes as he glares back to the creature. Lydia, who has been watching the fight, seems to have noticed something ... now she orients her own cutting beam much like the ones used by the other drones, hovers up just a bit, and fires down at the image in a similar sweeping arc ... now three cutting beams are working to damage the creature.

Veromem growls as he stands, marching over towards Flash as he ignores whatever the hell is attacking them at the moment "Come on Flash! There's medicine for freaking seizures these days! Get your damn machine to finish off this damn spell already and stop this madness! Come on!"

[Flash_Guardian ] The boy just shakes his head firmly at Veromem. "I'm sorry, but Flash does not own me. I will not continue."

Rha'Zhakhar vanishes and returns and continues to flicker sustaining itself "Farewell mere mortal fools, take care of the thrall for now, I will have her returned to me" its tentacles lashing out towards all of the group and then vanishes halfway into its tentacle lashing, overwhelmed apparently by the damage to its being

Veromem glares at Flash as he reloads the gun with a fresh shell, fire in his eyes at the fact he cannot override this damn machine to do the right freaking thing, but he had his own idea "Fine, if you won't take off the ring, then i'll just blow her hand clean off! Hell, i'll do both of them so no ring can go on either hand because of that beast Flash!"

[Flash_Guardian ] Flash winces as the tentacle's image at last disperses just before his eyes, rolling back and away only slightly before he realizes that such a gesture is futile. And now all eyes, all but Lydia's fall upon the madman with the shotgun. Two of the drones lean quickly forward to rush into the room and activate their shields, effectively placing a wall of force between him and the girl upon the bed. The other one in the doorway orients its cutting beam at the hands which hold the shotgun, but does not yet fire. The boy takes a step closer to Veromem, looking up at him with his flat expression, though his childlike eyes betray his innocence. "Please, sir. Put the gun down. You are not thinking rationally." Flash still stands there at the ready, not sure what to think. Meanwhile, Lydia slowly floats over to hover above the bed upon which the princess rests, gazing down at her with dim eyes, her once cheerful voice now soft and quiet, filled with sorrow. "Siara ... I'm so sorry ..."

Princess~Siara calms herself as the machines stop moving above her, but she somehow feels different....She relaxes her hands from the edge of the bed, noticing that her pain has completely gone. She sits herself up and brushes her other hand over the ring, noticing it move a little. She slowly brings her fingers down onto the ring once again, this time slipping the ring off her finger easily. Siara stares in disbelief as she holds the ring in her hand

Veromem was going to start ranting and raving before he looked at Siara, blinking in disbelief as she pulled the ring clean off without a problem, putting the shotgun back onto his back before he yelled in celebration "Holy shit! We did it! We actually did it! We got that damn ring off her finger! YES!" He laughs out loud as he does a Tiger Woods fist pump

[Flash_Guardian ] The boy now looks over in Siara's direction, and at the same time those same three arms spring to life once more, moving down and orienting themselves upon the ring, and then at the girl. Flash stares in disbelief and doubt, not quite content to celebrate just yet as he looks from Siara to the screen on the far wall to await the output. He wants to know for sure ...

[Flash_Guardian ] [Analyzing ... ring is still functional, though all magical/biological augmentations of host have ceased. Subject appears healthy; genetic codes bear multiply discrepencies from the standard human genome. Mental patterns have stabilized.]

Flash_Guardian closes his eyes, lowers his head, and sighs. It is not easy to tell whether he sighs more from relief or resignation. As far as Flash, the drones, and the boy are concerned, a kind of silence falls over the room.

Princess~Siara ignored the machines moving above her, studying the ring and her. She glanced towards Flash and Veromem, a strange look upon her face. She spoke to them calmly "I'm sorry that I got you both involved with this...I should never have put you into this position. I belong with him... it's my place now. I'll be ok....don't worry...just let me leave with him and you can put this whole thing behind you." Her eyes drop to her hands, as inside her head she's already said goodbye to the princess she used to be.

Veromem blinks as he looks at Siara, raising an eyebrow before he cracks a grin, walking over to her before he put a hand on her shoulder softly and squeezed it softly "Siara, you don't have to apologize for anything, because even though Flash is the ultra good-guy and is willing to help anyone in need when they need it, I helped you because I was bored and helping you was something for me to do. Besides, you don't need to go with him anymore, since you can start over in this land, like I have. Here, let me show you something quickly" He removed the gloves from his hands, laying them on the table with Siara before he ripped off the skin on both of his hands to show they were totally robotic hands "See these? Not my real hands, and yet for some reason I don't mind showing them to you Siara. Might be because i've got nothing better to do, so i'm showing you. I lost my hands, yet I have a perfectly normal life with these ones. You can start over here, and make a new life for yourself so that your free & happy

Flash_Guardian raises his head now, that self-same look of determination from before on his face as he strides slowly over to the girl's bedside to place a hand upon her shoulder. "No, I don't think you understand ... he stole you. He has wronged you in so many ways, abused and confused you. And by the gods, he is not going to get you back." Flash whirls now to look at the boy. "Triad? Can you keep her here, on board for a while longer? Someplace well protected and dimensionally locked? At least until we can figure out a way to restore her to normal?" The boy nods fervently, speaking up eagerly. "Actually, after looking at all the data from the original scans and performing a more thorough analysis of the ring and its processes, I have already begun to postulate a possible treatment. It may be possible, at least in part, to restore her full humanity and some sense of her former self." Flash blinks. "Really?" The boy nods.

Rha'Zhakhar thinks Siara would have preferred the hands being tentacles

Princess~Siara turns her head between both of them as they stand at either side of her. "No...you don't understand..." she plays with the ring between two fingers, her eyes concentrating on the movement. "...I want to go with him..." She looks up to them as she says this, a kind of truthfulness in her eyes.

Veromem grabbed his gloves and put them back onto his hands, knowing he'd have to get more fake skin for them later when he got home "We know you do, but you aren't going anywhere Siara, since your mind has been screwed with too much. Flash, can this ship deprogram her so she'll not want to go with that thing, and how long will it take"

Flash_Guardian 's face falls slightly, kneeling down next to her and ignoring Veromem for the moment. Her thoughts needed to be respected to some extent, whether they are hers or not. "Why?" Flash asks her quite honestly. "Why do you want to go with him? Tell me, and I will try to understand. Because right now I can tell you honestly that I don't."

Princess~Siara pulls herself up from the bed to stand facing them. "you cannot understand this..." she pleads with them "...he is the only one who knows how to care for me.....he .....loves me". She speaks with such conviction, her eyes begging them to see what she felt. Her head drops to look at the floor before she looks back to them saying nothing, but turning and heading towards the doorway to leave

Flash_Guardian simply shakes his head disbelievingly, though his eyes hang heavy with pity for her. "No," he mumbles as she walks out the door to the room. "What that beast did to you was not out of love. I'm sorry, but ... we can't let you go to him. It would not be right of us, or fair to you." Desperate eyes look between Triad and Veromem now, determination longing for an avenue of expression. "We have got to help her." The boy nods.

Veromem rolls his eyes at Flash as he rests againist a wall "Well no shit Sherlock, so we keep her in a room on this contraption of yours, and we deprogram her. Well you and the ship can do it, since I have to replace the skin on my hands, and that takes three days to do, and before you off, I do it my way pal, no one else's"

Veromem rolls his eyes at Flash as he rests againist a wall "Well no shit Sherlock, so we keep her in a room on this contraption of yours, and we deprogram her. Well you and the ship can do it, since I have to replace the skin on my hands, and that takes three days to do, and before you off, I do it my way pal, no one else's"