… and receive this lovely set of Ginsu knives at no extra cost!
I would appreciate it if Baker would send a recap. And the contents of your cursed disc would be welcome too.
Sher thing, Dude.
to the Gang of Four: he has a decent skill level. 
Should make for some fun.
I’m at my friend’s shop right now, will look for dd when I get home.
cc: CC
Corner Case, check your email, I sent you some stuff. After you look it over I hope you consider joining us.
Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated.
Ah, fresh meat! We eagerly await your contribuition, Corner Case. Don’t fret, I’ve already pulled a couple of continuity boners myself.
Tag and Tagga were lifted and carried into the medical facility. Playing nearly dead, the two were carrying on a furious squabble, reminiscent of how they had fought over toys and entertainment controls as children.
An alert Xavvian medic noticed the changed in vitals on the latest two survivors. Caught up in their battle, Tag and Tagga had lost concentration on maintaining their shape.
The medic arranged for the two to be put in a separate section of the sickbay, and after a quiet word to the guard, enabled a force field to surround the two. Then he turned to the other survivors and quickly forgot them.
Sensing the energy of the force field around them, Tag felt like kicking himself and his sister for their clumsiness. After reading the type of force field, tho, he smiled inwardly. It did not extend into non space. Formulating a new plan, the genius twins decided to wait for the ineveitable gathering of the “players,” as Tag liked to call them, in the hospital/military/religious compound.
As Grav drove the shuttle back out to the dual disaster sites, he was musing on the things he had been learning about Kel and Wayre. Xavvians were quite naturally religious in thought, and he was trying to reconcile all he now knew with his own cherished notions.
He had known for quite some time that the seemingly metaphysical aspects of daily Xavvian life, like the crystals, the Adepts, the Royals, were all just some other form of universal physics. Not understanding it was one thing. Supestitiously labling it all as religion was another.
That early awakening of his, in skirmishes with pirate smugglers and rogue courriers some years back, had led him to move up the ranks of the military’s research programs til he was in a position to guide theories and applications fo of non bilogical representations of crystal abilities.
His scientists had also recently uncovered much ancient knowledge of these same things. Soon, he felt, his machines would be the equal of certain Adepts. Still, talent seemed to be a variable there. Both in Adept’s capabilities and in useful machine manipulations.
A proximity alarm sounded on his flight control panel as a large shape shimmered into view before him. It was a large battle droid, obviously, but of a design that he had never seen.
Victor Jr awoke with alarm filling his thoughts. A med-tech noticed and adjusted the healer tending to him. Calm immediatly replaced the alarm he had felt, and he lay back to collect his thoughts. The tech signaled the liason office that the lone Human patient was able to receive visitors now.
In the days since the Death Rite and the crash of the Explorer those aboard Searcher had been busy. Kal, as a pilot himself, and familiar with the Echo II class design, had been aiding Granthiaxav in the investigations surrounding it’s tragedy. Martel, as a courier, had been consulting with regular priests at the Temple about the behavior of the adept. Victor Sr., Jacob Kenezr, Tobe and the Wyrie(who had taken the name Canus) had been having long sessions in which they were hammering out what, and how, to tell Kathy about what had happened to her at the rites, an in particular why. The truth is always difficult.
Part of the reason it was difficult was that nobody except M’Kayla had seen Kathy since she had been taken, still in shock, back to Searcher. She declined to leave her quarters, and seemed to be in some sort of retreat. M’Kayla was spending a lot of time with her, bringing in meals and such. She wouldn’t speak a word about what Kathy or she were doing. Once, when Jacob had pressed her, she had pushed him against the wall, growling "Leave her alone! Haven’t you done enough already? All I know is that she reconnected me! I’m a courier again, my crystal is alive!
So everyone was surprised when Kathy showed up one morning, pale, but composed. She ate her usual big breakfast but didn’t seem to get any pleasure out of it.
Finally Jacob spoke up. “Uh, Kathy, we missed you. I’m truly happy to see you back with us.”
“Thank you.”
Tobermory rose and moved around the table to sit beside her. “My dear Kathy, you know I do care about you. Can you talk to me now?”
Her eyes were bleak. “Not yet .”
All attempts an conversation got the same polite, monosyllabic replies.
The meal was nearly over when Victor Sr. came strolling in. "Hey, everybody, good news! I got a call from Skoop, and Victor can have visitors now. Skoop is still miffed I changed my mind and let him be treated at the hospital in Nexia, instead of bringing him back here. I think she wanted to eviscerate * me* instead, but…
Suddenly the elder Channing found himself flung against the bulkhead of the room.
“What did you say?” grated Kathy. "Victor isn’'t dead?
The elder Channing opened and closed his mouth, “Oh frell, didn’t anyone tell you?”
Victor Sr. looked down at himself, and over at Kathy, and suddenly both realized she hadn’t used her hands to shove him around. “Umm, Kathy, do you suppose you could, let me go? unh!” and now he was standing on his two feet, unstead of being stuck to the bulkhead like a fly on paper.
Her mood change was as swift as his release. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was just surprised! But, I thought Victor was dead! I saw that thing bite him, all that blood. When he closed his eyes I was sure…but…why didn’t you tell me he was alive?”
A jumble of voices answered “We just thought you knew” , “you never asked”,
“you never came out of your room to talk!” M’Kayla, who had had the only real contact with Kathy, was more stunned than any, and could only look at Kathy and say “Forgive me.”
“For what?”
“For not understanding, I guess.”
"M’Kayla, there’s nothing to forgive. You all didn’t say, I didn’t ask, I think…
“what we have here is failure to communicate” Tobermory butted in, using yet another old Earth vid quote." Kathy recognized it, and in spite of everything started to chuckle. Tension in the room started to dissipate.
Jacob leaned over the table and put his hand on Kathy’s. “My dear, he is right. And that’s something we intend to remedy. We, that is, Victor here, Canus(nodding to the lupine), myself, and Tobermory, or qStan’Lit, as Canus calls him, we all feel you need to know the truth, the whole truth, etc, so that you can learn to control what you have. If things happen around you everytime you have mood swings, that might not be healthy for you.”
“Or me either” , said Victor Sr., rubbing his sternum where the invisible force had pressed on him. But to get back to what I originally came in to tell you all, Vick can have visitors now. I’m going in, but maybe we shouldn’t overwhelm him all at once. Kathy, will you come?" She nodded, more eagerly than she knew. “Who else, for now?”
Only M’Kayla opted in, partly because she wanted to help keep an eye on Kathy. The Xavvian courier was not without mental talents, and had worked on them with Kathy before.
The group started to break up, and Kathy, intending to leave for the visit, overheard Canus quietly referring to Tobe as “Favored One”
“I thought your real name was q’Stant’Lit? What’s this “Favored One” business?”
Tobermory looked away, his face turning a darker green of embarrassment. “I don’t like to talk about it. It’s not part of my name, it’s well, a title.”
“A title? For what?”
“It means ‘Heir of the Heir’”
Tag and Tagga lay quietly, concentrating on maintaining their shape. Tagga kept tabs on the medics, and when she judged the time was right, signaled, “Now!” to her twin.
In an instant they were gone. No flash of light, no noise, just gone.
Or were they?
Unseen to humanoid eyes, the pair drifted as dust motes, Tag guiding his sister. When they found the awake human male, they settled on his tunic.
“I can’t hold this shape for long,” Tagga telepathed to her twin.
“You can shift, just don’t get big enough for them to see,” Tag replied, then smiled as his sister amused herself by shifting into various microscopic beings.
“Why him?” Tagga asked, pausing in between her shape shifting.
“He can have visitors now. And maybe the visitors will take him with them.”
Tagga grinned back, then resumed her play.
On board the Searcher, Kathy caught a glimpse of a shaft of green light as it phased into view then out again.
Kathy turned to the others. “Did you see that?” she asked.
“See what?” asked several voices.
She felt a tingle at the back of her head, and spun around.
“That!” and this time other eyes saw the light flicker. It held for a bit longer this time, split into two parts, and then re-formed into a single glowing sphere that pulsed rapidly several times before once again winking out.
Extensive scans by Searcher’s instruments revealed no sudden power or radiation surges. The group, used to odd phenomena by now, began to relax, and Victor Sr., M’Kayla, Kathy, and Tobe(who had changed his mind about visiting) left for the hospital to see the younger Channing.
Once, during the ride in, Kathy felt that same tingle, and glanced sharply around. But this time she saw nothing. Suspicious, she decided to test herself. Willing her body to relax, she closed her eyes and visualized a net being cast for fish. For some time there was nothing, and she wondered if she had imagined the sensation.
Then a burst of light flared inside of her eyelids. She cried out in alarm, as her fellows heads whipped around towards her, but this time she did not shrink back. Mentally she “closed the net” and began reeling in her catch.
Canus snapped to attention upon hearing Kathy’s cry. “What?” Tobe asked. “Trouble brewing?”
Canus shook his head. “One of the Masters is here. She is nearing the point of contact.”
“Masters? Point of contact?” asked Kathy, not turning from her catch. “What’s he talking about, Tobe?”
Tobe decided it was time to tell everyone about his trip to Forsetti.
“I have decided to accept my position as The Favoured,” explained Tobermory, “And I met with the Royals at Forsetti.”
“Great Mother!” cried M’Kayla. “You met in the Hall of Rites? That’s only used for imperial succession…” As her voice trailed off, everyone grasp what that meant. q’Stant’Lit, who they all knew as Tobermory, and who spent at least 7 years as an earth housecat spying on a an altered Human crystal experiment, and who they’ve all seen do battle and kill with bare paws…, was one of the three most powerful political entities of the Known Worlds.
“My Lord,” intoned M’Kayla, affecting the odd posture of Xavvian submission, namely, knelt down, head lowered, fore paws raised above her head.
“Let’s have none of that!” cautioned Tobe. “I’m still the same cat you’ve all known. Just with a few more militaries under my command.” He smiled as he said this, an oddly human affectation that he learned in his years of observing Kathy. People tended to smile a lot around her, and he liked the custom.
In the silence that followed this bombshell revelation, Kathy’s clear contralto voice asked one very important and disturbing question, “Why was Wayre part of that meeting?”
The two Kel siblings stopped their game when they sensed the party enter the compound. Shifting into their natural bodies, they were able to calm down and hide in the shadow realm between space and non space. After all, that was the realm in which they were born, it was very easy to watch, or read, from that position.
A strange read from the Human woman disturbed Tag. She had someone, something, with her. It wasn’t Wayre, it wasn’t any shape shifting species, it wasn’t a non space lifeform. He read that it had amazing mental prowess, but no jumping or battle jaunting capabilities.
Still, he was nervous about it. In his over 3000 yrs of running all over this galaxy, he had never come across such a thing before. He thought about asking Tagga, but any communication might now be felt by the newly tuned senses of the Human woman, or by the non space functioning newly altered organs of that thrice cursed Xavvian Royal.
The large battle droid being studied by Grav’s researchers silently disintgrated the grappling moorings holding it captive. Its circuits switched from passive reading to battle alert.
NCB, I had intended Forsetti to be a neutral planet. The name was borrowed from Norse mythology: Forseti, god of judgment. Or, in this case, mediation.
I’m just trying to get this story moving, guys. If we keep adding characters and places in every post, it’s gonna bog down.
We have a nice confrontation coming up, why don’t we work on that?
Hopefully, that didn’t come across as snarky or snide, because I think all the talent in this thread is outstanding.
The point I was trying to make is that after the front of a story, when characters and a theme and all are introduced or added… after that has been done, we need to work with what we have. Build on it, reveal motives, set up conflict, stuff like that. Too many things coming in all through a story makes for a confusing read, much less a confused set of writers.
No hard feelings, I hope.
Hey, you’re the one who came up with the Council of Nith. 
Joking aside, I was just pointing out a continuity error. It would make sense for the Council to have gathered in a neutral place; plunking The Hall of Rites down on the same planet doesn’t fit.
NCB, no offense here, and I hope none elsewhere. Such a story is bound to have it’s unintended paths. BTW, Jeff, NCB, in a return email to me, when I asked him a question, complimented your inclusion of the green light as a useful idea. I too am looking towards a good confrontation, but I imagine you all can figure out what I wish would happen with two of the characters. Just call me Mary Sue
When Victor opened his eyes again his room seemd filled with visitors. How had they managed to enter without waking him? he wondered.
Seated at his right side was his father, eyes bright with pleasure. “I see you are among the living again.” he said.
“Guess I am” was the reply. “I can’t be dreaming a taste like that in my mouth.” He turned his head to his left, and there was Kathy standing there. She had an odd greenish tinge in her blue eyes, but was as lovely as he remembered. “Here, these are for you” she told him, extending a sheaf of Sevastol flamelilies. “I made the transport stop at a market where I could get flowers.” As she said made there was that green twinkle again, and she took the flowers back to arrange them in a bowl.
Victor’s gaze took in Tobermory, that lupine character(whom they informed him was Canus), and M’Kayla. and his face creased in a frown. "This isn’t a gathering of survivors is it? I mean, where are the others? "Who’s on Searcher? Victor Sr. sketched out recent events, including the death of Explorer and much of it’s crew.
“The last thing I remember clearly was feeling like a vise clampled down on me, at the Death Rites. What the frell was that thing that had me? And then it dropped me, when that other whateveritwas slammed into it.”
The elder Channing deferred to Kathy, a question in his eyes.
“That was me, Victor” said Kathy. “It seems I have a “gift” if you want to call it that, part of what was once done to me.” Here her look raked across Victor Sr. and Tobermory. “We’ll explain more later, as I[ haven’t even been told everything yet. But I can shape shift, I found out, especially when I’m upset. M’Kayla has been helping me learn a little control though.”
Victor Jr. took a little heart at the somewhat frosty tone she had exhibited to Tobermory, but had little time to think of it.
“Son” his father spoke up "We’ll have more time to catch up aboard ship. I’ve talked with your medical team, and now we’re going to have you released to us. Dr. Skoop has agreed to take a leave of absence from her duties here to act as ship’s doctor aboard Searchr until we can get a permanent replacement for Dr. Morgan.
“Who’s going to be the nurse?” he bantered, looking up at Kathy.
- The two Kel could not believe their luck. The Royal, the Wayre, the human woman(what was it about her?) all were to be gathered in one place! They must accompany them! But how?*
Victor looked at the others
Oops. Thought I had erased that last line!
I take the line that there isn’t anything that can’t be fixed. One of you two will figure something out!
Back story is one thing, as is revealing feelings or capabilities previously unknown, but if any of us add something major this late into the story developement, we had better make it very clear, either via hints or e-mail, what we intend to do with the new addition or how it relates to the existing story path.
Besides, Forsetti can still be a nuetral planet, an idea I like very much. The Hall of Rites doesn’t have to be for Xavvians only. Since we’re dealing with multiple species here, it can easily be a UN type planet. Perhaps to be recognised politically, major events (like imperial succession) have to be held at Forsetti, the Planet of Eternal Peace…
How will that, or something similar, work in with your ideas, Jeff?
Also, is everyone picking up on the love interests here? One is blatently obvious, one is revealing itself slowly… Good additions. Plus, I’m still trying to get back to Jeff’s droids, a great early addition to the scene.
Any input is welcome.