Symarion: Call of the Void.

Every plans execution.

“ Anthony, we have a Situation in the Enclosure. “ Hope alerted Anthony.

“ Whats going on ? “ Anthony responded, briefly looking over at Alianna who was sitting there like a good girl, watching as he was still setting up a new system for the New Horizon.

It was something that Hope could have done for him, but he was feeling like laying the groundwork at least, so he would not grow to rusty with his skills.

And Hope had plenty to do right now anyway, it made him wonder if he should give her more equipment to ease her load and grow a little further as, removing the former Colonists sleeping bays, could provide a lot of extra space for additions like this.

“ There appears to be an argument between some of the Siren, and one of them is using extra appendages to assault the other two. “ Hope reported.

“ Appendages ? “ Anthony asked as that sounded a little lacking in detail.

“ Yes, Tilly is amongst the once being assaulted. The aggressor seems to release long appendages and sexually assault her and another Siren. “ Hope clarified.

And this got Anthony to stand up, as Tilly was one of those he considered his, and the first of the Siren he has been with, so that sounded a little to close to home. And the suggestion of sexual assault through appendages was also a bit worrisome as, in his understanding, the Siren where not capable of such at their level.

“ I am on my way. “ Anthony uttered as he started to move.

“ You stay here. “ He addressed Alianna, and then quickly made his way off the 03.

“ Would you like for me to activate the security androids ? “ Hope asked as he moved through the hallway.

“ No, let’s not cause an incident that could sour our relationship with Eden. I am taking a lot of liberties as is. “ Anthony responded, and recalling the information from that Padd, the security androids would do little against them anyway.

“ But it might be a good idea to contact Aria, let her know that we have an incident here. “ Anthony instructs, thinking it best to make them aware of it, as they still knew Siren the best, this was the first time there had been conflict between them on the Hope, and he did not know yet what could be the cause of such.

“ Tilly just informed me now that it seems to have been a Misunderstanding, but still wishes you to come over. And Aria responded as well, they are going to send someone. “ Hope reported moments later.

By then Anthony had nearly reached the Enclosure, which was, by layout, somewhat of a large park area, meant for the crew to either relax in, or use as a means to hold animals in for a time, prospectively even both.

And Soon he could see the enclosure, a 400 by 400 meter large area that was accessed through a ramp that led down into it. The area was using the fact that there was a lot of space between each deck, so that it was placed lower then the main deck, allowing it to use a wider area without directly effecting the deck layout to much. Though some of the main decks passages were partially visible along the edges of the rounded steel dome it sat in.

“ Whats going on ? “ He called out towards Tilly, seeing that one of the Siren lay on the ground, panting like she was in heat, and that look in her eyes suggested just as much.

Tilly was meanwhile kneeling on the ground with her back toward him, holding another, as he thought, Siren to her chest as she gently stroked over her head.

“ Anthony. “ Tilly begun, lightly leaning to the side so she could see him approach.

“ I think, I need to introduce someone to you. “ She tried then, finding no way around the issue of telling him about Ina, but not quite finding the right words.

And Ina, she now felt sorry, ashamed of her act under Tilly’s suggestion that he might be disappointed with her. So she was now hiding her face in Tilly’s chest, which worried Tilly only further with how childlike the Nah’Rahan reacted.

Physically she had the appearance of a woman of around 20, but the way she spoke and acted was, innocent. It would fit for the predatory behavior of a Nah’Rahan, but Ina seemed somehow different, and Tilly could not tell if it was an act.

“ So ? “ Anthony utters, as Tilly seemed to consider her words.

“ Well. This is a bit hard to say. But, your pet Vixen, Ina. She’s a Nah’Rahan. “ Tilly finally managed.

Anthony rose an eyebrow at Tilly at those words, as that sounded just, unbelievable. But then Ina carefully looked up from behind the cover that Tilly provided her, and Anthony could see those eyes looking at him.

“ Anthony, no mad, yes ? Ina good, Ina promise. “ She uttered, and there were tears streaming down her cheeks, which not only confused, but completely disarmed Anthony for a moment.

“ Um. Ok. “ Anthony uttered, his mind currently unable to properly compute what this all was to imply.

And how could he, he was just being told that the Vixen that he considered his anchor, had been a Nah’Rahan this whole time, creatures that are not exactly depicted for their good behavior.

“ She’s been helping you, and probably part of the reason why your invited to Eden in two days. “ Tilly explained, trying to disarm a situation that had a feeling of, standing on a land-mine right now.

“ So, she is a Nah’Rahan, and, you knew ? “ Anthony asked for clarification.

“ Yes, but she is different. She is a new Nah’Rahan first, which is why we knew not how to handle the situation. She has been asleep as far as I can tell, she has been working on instincts while she was the Vixen, and her instinct was to trust and help you. How and why, I have no idea. “ Tilly admitted.

“ Anthony, I have a shuttle on approach. They are asking us to meet in the Hope’s conference room, and to bring Ina too. “ Hope interrupted them.

“ That was quick. “ Anthony admitted, surprising himself at how calm he was being.

His mind was quick this time to offer solutions though. There was that big ship behind the Hope, so that shuttle must have come from there, they may had prepared for this eventuality.

And his calmness ? He could probably attribute this to the fact that he already encountered to much that was to strange and fantastic, so that his mind was probably going numb to this new development.

Though somewhere at the edge of his mind he also felt somehow betrayed, as he had felt a connection to Ina. She has honestly kept him sane back then, when it was just the two of them, and now. Well, he honestly did not know anymore what to think of this. His mind was trying to offer excuses in favor of Ina, and even putting in question if that really was Ina to begin with.

“ Tilly. Go ahead and bring her to the Conference room. “ Anthony simply decided, as he felt it pointless to rake his mind over this when someone was eager to come running and rectify this mess anyway.

“ Hope, can you retrace Ina’s steps ? “ He then asked the AI before Tilly could respond.

“ Yes, it seems the animal had left her quarters a few hours ago, and she appears to have been well aware of dead-zones in security coverage. At some point the system lost track of her, but as there had been no security concern about her, the system saw no imminent need to flag the situation as suspicious.

And with the Siren’s ability to change, it had no reason to flag the appearance of a new face as suspicious either. “ Hope reported, and it felt nearly like Hope was trying to excuse her failure to properly evaluate the situation.

No, that was Anthony trying to shift blame again, Hope was right. The security system was not designed for full coverage. It was not meant to spy on everything on the ship, it was an aid, not total surveillance.

“ Anthony. “ Ina then spoke up, pulling herself away from Tilly to rush before Anthony, grabbing him by his shirt, looking at him with those eyes he always found so enchanting.

And it worked just as well this time as he looked at her. She was genuinely looking sad, and he found himself reaching up to stroke a tear from her cheek with the urge not to see her like that.

And at that point he stopped to care about the inward struggle and the questions this threw at him, simply to reach up and stroke over her head in a means to comfort her.

“ Slow down, Ina. “ He uttered, feeling strange calling this young woman by the name of the Vixen, but it also did not sound wrong.

“ Just give me a little time to understand this, ok ? “ He asked, to which Ina slowly nodded.

“ Good, and be so sweet, cover up for now ? “ He then near pleaded with her, the current exposure of her body was not being very helpful.

“ Ok. Ina good. “ She responded, and formed something like a summer-dress around her bare form, granting her some modesty, even if Anthony still found it quite alluring, but it was better then to show off everything she had right now.

“ Tilly, take her to the Conference room please. I will join in a bit. I just need a moment to breathe right now. “ Anthony instructed Tilly then.

“ Ok. “ Tilly responded, getting on her feet, and inwardly cursing at how she was still left with that burning hunger between her legs through Ina’s assault.

But the situation called for restraint, so she would place a hand on Ina’s shoulder and utter a soft, “ Come Ina. “ At the former Vixen.

Ina hesitated for a moment, looking pleadingly at Anthony, but as he simply nodded at her, she relented and allowed herself to be led away by Tilly, though clearly not happy about it.

“ Hope, send someone to the 03, have them bring Alianna back to her room. And have someone bring this Siren to the medical bay for now. “ Anthony instructed as he looked at Miriam, who was still laying there, a mess of unbearable desire that was looking at him as though pleading for him to take advantage of her.

“ Understood. I will inform the Siren to handle it for now. “ Hope responded.

At that moment, Anthony would lean his head back and close his eyes, deeply inhaling as he found himself wondering if a hint of normalcy was to much to ask for. Only to find his mind reminding him that Normalcy, the normal he knew before then, would be pretty boring, considering what opportunities he was being given here.

“ Yeah. “ He muttered to himself, guessing that nothing was ever for free in this world. He had been given his own little paradise with the Siren aboard the Hope at his back and call, naturally there had to be something to ruin this. Perhaps the Siren’s compliance may just have been a distraction from something else, and he fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

“ Wait. “ He mused then, as one particular word came back to mind, a new First ?

He shook his head, there was no point thinking of it right now, it was an interesting slice of information. But there were answers awaiting him in the form of that arrival, he would pose his questions there. And he was expecting answers now, waiting two more days, after this, seemed implausible to him, unless they gave him a very, very good reason why they could not answer him now.

Meanwhile…

Tilly led Ina through the hallway, and already the newly repaired lift nearby opened for a young man to step out, led by another Siren. Tilly did not know this person, though she could hardly know everyone.

Ina however suddenly stopped in her step and seemed to watch this man with curiosity, as though she just found something that warranted her entire attention, like she was seeing something she knew, but that looked wrong.

“ Come on Ina. “ Tilly urged as the man was led into the conference room.

“ Moody ! “ Ina called out then, suddenly pulling her hand free from Tilly as she chased after that young man.

And the man stopped in his track at that word, turning to face Ina, who then blatantly slammed against him with some force to hug him.

“ What, did you call me ? “ The man uttered, his face seemingly having gone pale, and his hands held up like that show of familiarity from Ina was utterly uncalled for.

“ Moody ! Moody is Moody. Ina miss Moody! “ Ina insisted.

And at that moment Tilly realized it as well, that man, he was a Nah’rahan, and there was only one male Nah’Rahan in existence. He had perfectly masked his presence somehow, but that charade broke when Ina started to hug him.

“ Of all the things she could have given you, she gave you That ?! “ The man protested, looking at Ina, but just like with Anthony, Modaran had no defense against her gaze, it was utterly disarming, and Modaran suspected now that this was on purpose.

Heck, the first was probably watching right now, and laughing her ass off. And as he realized now, he probably had been played as well. Giving Ina that accursed pet name the First used to tease him, that was on purpose. That was her way of telling him that he had been had, his involvement in this mess was implied from the very beginning.

“ Please, don’t call me that, ok ? It is Modaran. “ Modaran near pleaded with Ina.

“ Moody ? “ Ina spoke, and then leaned in to rub her face against his chest.

“ NIMILIA ! “ Modaran near growled out, calling the First by her name.

And he wasn’t wrong, she was laughing her ass off. Sitting far away on her lone Asteroid that gave her such a lovely vantage point over that scene. It brought tears to her eyes as she watched her firstborn falling for that particular trap.

“ Haaa. This never gets old. “ She uttered with a smile.

“ This isn’t a game, child of mischief. “ Kadim spoke, the ghostly figure floating in space behind Nimilia.

“ It is fun though. You should try it too sometimes. “ Nimilia responded, not bothering to turn around to look at the other.

“ They will be moving soon. “ Kadim warned.

“ We have a few years, maybe decades, and there are still pieces to play. “ Nimilia suggested.

“ You can’t win. “ Kadim warned.

“ How long ? “ Nimilia asked then, turning to actually face Kadim, who seemed to not understand the aim of her Question.

“ How long do you think, your Parents are going to watch ? “ Nimilia clarified.

“ They will not get involved. “ Kadim claimed.

“ Oh, they will. They are the reason we are in this mess to begin with. And it is time they took responsibility for their children. “ Nimilia spoke with open hostility.

“ They are not their children. “ Kadim protested.

“ Oh, but they are, and they will come back to haunt them.

Or, did you perhaps forget the reason why this all started ? “ Nimilia insisted.

Kadim watched her for a moment, and then simply blinked out of existence, which caused Nimilia to smile with cruel delight.

“ That’s right, run little girl. Let’s see how much longer you can hide. “ She spoke with spite in her voice.