The Voyager

After a long pause, Caz growled. "It makes perfect sense. Those people had lives, families, homes, children, parents... and now it's all gone. It's not your place to make decisions like that, it's not." Another pause. "And why would you do that... if you could just use your 'Lurinia' to get it from my consciousness for you? Why do that?"

Lurinia frowned. "I'm right here you know! I'm a person too, you know! Hmph," she crossed her arms and made a pouty face. "And I can't search sentient beings fully and completley, I can search your mind for information about Verax's 'projects', and feel if you know something, or are hiding something, or see a place or person your thinking of, but its not like I can open you and read you like a book."
Verax laughed, "You'll have to forgive her, she's rather easy to offend, especialy if you talk to or about her as if she's not a real person, because she is! She just turned herself into data and is now part of the ship! But anyhow....... why would I do that? EASY! BECAUSE ITS FUN! VERAX LIKE-ED BIG BOOMS! And besides... why should nameless faceless people an families who have none of your problems, you not know and who do not know you, matter? A life is a life, THERE ARE BILLIONS MORE OF THEM! WAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!"

Caz was burning with anger at this point. "Each one of them was an individual, with the potential to be just as important, just as special as any leader! You have... you have no regard for life. You're heartless, that's it." Caz stood, at this point. He was furious. "You don't care who you hurt. You don't care who you kill. You're a disgrace to the Alteriian race, and to all life in this galaxy."

((I'm pretty sure he's not an Alteriian. Was the last of his race after crash-landing on Alteriian soil. You might as well keep moving, it's not like Caz knows the whole story. Sorry to interrupt. Move along now. xD ))

Verax stopped laughing. He looked at Caz slowly, with a fury in his eyes that would have killed him if it had been any more intense. "I'm no Alteriian. I am a Myrionith, a being born from Escadiza in the Negative 6th." He strut over to Caz, and lifted him by his neck as if he were no more than a puppy. "But you're right, I have no regard for life, I don't care who dies or how they die or what they might have lived to be. If they are no use to me... they are no use to ANYONE!"
And with this, he threw Caz into the ground, creating a massive crater in the steel floor, about ten feet deep. "Here," He tossed a small metal panel over to Caz, making sure it hit his face. "Its a holo transmitter. A special version I invented. Just put in the name, race, and role of the person, and a hologram of you will appear to them, and they will appear to you. I already input Zyria's information. I have something to attend to, apparently a dragon was just eating hundreds of guards. You have until I return." and he strut out of the room. Lurinia just looked at Caz, stuck her tongue out at him, and vanished.

((Oh... I thought... after Archie's little story... oh nvm.))

Caz just laid there for a second, catching his "breath", recuperating. Then he lifted the transmitter, and initiated it, taking a breath and trying to not look overly distraught or worn.

"Zyria. I'm here. Are you getting this?" And then her image appeared in front of him. His heart lept a little, but he knew that she was still down on the planet's surface, still in danger. Still, his heart lifted slightly when he saw her. Still, he did not smile. In fact, he looked quite weary and distraught, despite his trying to hide it. "I'm okay. He hasn't hurt me yet. He... he killed nearly three hundred thousand people, but he... hasn't really physically hurt me... yet. Are you okay? Please tell me you're alright..." his voice was filled with worry, but not just for Zyria. He believed that she could take care of herself, but he still worried.

Verax laughed as he began dragging Caz away. "Oh lets see how long it takes you to start talking. Imagine how thick with pain your body will be when you're powering a ship the size of many planets! OH PAIN OH PAIN OH DELICIOUS PAIN!" He laughed, but Caz could clearly hear an edge to it he had never heard from Verax before. Jealousy.

Caz cursed under his breath. No... he was supposed to go for Tam, for Crenel. Not this... Zyria... Caz's heart pounded. Verax could kill him so quickly this way. Caz didn't want to die. But not for himself. For Zyria. He didn't want to leave her, didn't want to destroy her with his death. He could only imagine what she would do if he died and left her behind. Caz shivered, pushing the images out of his mind as Verax drug him off. Caz heard the odd tinge in Verax's voice, but it didn't really matter.

His heart pounded as his mind scoured the area for any chance of escape. None. Then he desperately tried to think of a way that he could NOT die. Still nothing. He was...

He was going to die.

Really going to die.

And if Caz was going to die, then he was going to take the information that Verax wanted with him. He would take it to his grave and could save millions. And he could do it.

Caz's other resolution...
was that he wouldn't give Verax the satisfaction of hearing him scream.
It was only pain. He could handle it. Caz's mind was made up. And if he was going to die...

Well there was a chance that he could take Verax down with him.

Verax laughed again, an angry laugh. "You will not meet death today. Unless you die of pain... but what are the odds of that?" He looked at him with fury. "I will show you... at this moment... Fluffy is going to send your dear... sweet... lovely.... Zyria to death, and you'll get to watch. You may be resolute now, but I will watch the life drain from your face, as you scream and call out to you love as she's ripped from life, while you are forced to endure it and the other pain you will be subjected to." The anger in his voice was now thick with jealousy.

"Enjoy your last moments of 'perfect' life. I am going to take everything from you, everything except your life. You will watch as hundreds die because you will hold out on telling me what I seek." For a moment Verax's entire form seemed to shift. Just for a moment. "Ah, here we are." As he opened the door to the engine room, Caz was struck by what he saw. It was not the shackles placed within the generator for him, it was who was chained to the wall. Caz saw bound to the wall, struggling.......








Verax.

Caz's mind was blown. He stopped struggling against... against Verax, and just stared at... at other Verax in utter confusion, and bewilderment. What... what's... going on? I don't...

"Verax... or... Verax? Someone explain what's going on..." Caz head was starting to hurt.

The Verax tied to the wall looked up in amazment. "Caz? Caz! Thank goodness! I thought you died! Is Zyria okay, and Robless and the others?" Upon seeing his confused face, he yelled, "Thats not me! Thats Lurinia! I told you I didn't want to kill Zyria or harm you! When I went off to go check on Fluffy, Lurinia got the army in here to overpower me and stick me in here!" The Verax holding Caz laughed as his form shimmered and skin dissolved to reveal its true form, a massive bulky cyborg.

Lurinia appeared in the room and laughed a high, girlish, airy, downright annoying laugh. "Lavernius Erav, don't you see? If you don't do what I say, someone else will."

Verax roared. "THATS NOT MY NAME! I AM SUPREME MASTER OF CHAOS! LORD CAPTAIN OF HELL'S DREADNOUGHT! I AM THE DREADLORD VERAX!" Lurinia laughed again.

"Say what you will. I run this show now." Verax looked to Caz.

"Shall we make a temporary truce?"

Caz just shook his head slowly. It was just too much. But... maybe something could salvaged of this. Maybe. But it would take work.
So Caz looked to Verax, and then sagged against the massive cyborg's grip, exhaling heavily, his face looking utterly hopeless. "How can a truce help us? She's in control. You're trapped and I'm... about to..." his voice broke, and his eyes filled with pain and sorrow.

"Then its over. Once you give up hope... its over. But.... I have a way out of this." Verax grinned evily. "If we get out of this, please let me come with you. She's... in control of my ship. I'll have no other choice. If I get us out of this, can we agree to work together until I have control back?" Lurinia laughed.
"There's no way out, and even if there was, you're nothing without me. You are a ship with a sail. I am the wind that guides you."
"You are a traitor and a liar! To think that I....."
"You of all people should have learned not to make bonds. Your friend betrayed you to centuries of pain. You're fiance murdered your parents then herself, and yet you still tried to form another relationship?" She laughed her high-pitched laugh again. Verax paused, looking pained, before turning back to Caz.
"Caz..... if I can get us out of this, do you think its possible we could.... temporarily work together?"

Caz hesitated. Verax was crazy, that much he knew. The guy had problems, big ones, and Caz didn't think he could really trust him. But what choice did he have? If Verax could get them out, then it was the best option.

"The others may not agree... but if you get us out of here, then I suppose I'll agree to a truce." Then he added, "But if you try anything, then it's over. I won't let you hurt any of my friends, and I still don't trust you. But... I'll agree to this, if you succeed in freeing us." Caz looked at Lurinia, grimacing, "And if you fail, then we're both screwed."

Verax, surprisingly, DIDN'T laugh. "I expected nothing short of your rules. But I swear on my life, the only thing that matters to me mind you, that I will abide by them." THEN he laughed. "True, if I mess up we're both dead, but have you already forgoten?" He let his words hang in the air, and suddenly Lurinia freaked out.
"NO! NO! How could I have been so... ARGH!!!!" She was in total dismay. Verax bellowed with laughter.
"THAAAAAT RIGHT! Like with Archelaus, I AM LINKED TO FLUFFY'S MIND! EVEN NOW SHE IS SPEEDING TOWARDS US!" He turned worried though, "But.... nows the hard part, getting to the hanger alive." Lurinia hissed at them.
"I will make sure that you do not!" And she vanished. Verax's hands glowed red as the chains binding him melted off.
"You wanna play boy? Well c'mon!" And before either Caz or the Cyborg knew what was going on, a spear of ice impaled the robot in the head, and it with Caz crumpled to the ground. Verax held his hand out to Caz.
"Ready to play?"

Caz hesitated, then took Verax's hand and grinned as he stood.
"Ready."
Then he turned towards the door, not knowing the ship's layout and thus not knowing where to go. "I'm right behind you."

It was at this moment that Caz would have shifted form into something menacing with which he could actually fight, but... his implant! They couldn't leave it behind, it was too important. It had saved them too many times. "Verax, wait. My implant, the one you removed when I got here. I need it, we all do; we can't leave without it. Where are you keeping it?"

Verax understood instantly. "It should be behind you. I tried using it earlier to power the ship. It didn't work. And before we go....." He cut a hole in space and pulled out a large black egg. "THERE we go. Are you ready? If so...." He stomped, and a panel in the floor slid back to reveal a stash of weapons. "Lets do this."

Caz turned around, finding as Verax had said on a metal tray on a table behind him. He picked it up, instantly connecting to it, and then placed it deep inside of his form. The only reason it worked was because Caz's energy was such a pure, condensed energy; with any other form of energy it would have just gone right through. But the Kazesqui being was so condensed that it was almost a pseudo-mass, and allowed them to hold on to objects and such, like the implants.

As soon as it was lodged in his system, Caz tested at it to make sure that none of the tests Verax had done had damaged it in any way. There was nothing, so Caz put it into use and shifted form into a massive, man-sized wolf (with cat-like elements) and smirked as Verax went for weapons. He wouldn't need them. His massive, crescent claws slid out, digging into the floor satisfyingly. It was an impressive form, and would serve Caz relatively well.

Verax laughed, and stomped again. Like Caz, he needed no weapons. He had everything built right into him. The panel slid closed again as alarms began blarring throughout the entire ship. "Heh, I dare say we've been discover-" And dozens upon dozens of droids broke into the room. Man-sized black steel red-eyed warriors with only one objective. Kill anything that lives. Verax, without even checking for Caz, burst out at them, summoning his favorite weapon, the Banisher. It was a massive greatsword, made of flickering red and blue fire-like energy. Verax roared and charged like a behemoth, leveling row after row of aggressors.

Caz was right with Verax. With every droid that broke through and lunged for them, Caz's claws and teeth ripped into three more. He rammed two against a wall with his broad shoulder and swiped another into three more with one smooth motion of his foreleg. His teeth snapped one of the droid's heads off but four were immediately on him. He reared up, throwing them off, and then bore down on them, tearing them apart. As he turned back to the door one got behind Verax, seeming at least to have escaped his notice, and raised its arms as if to strike with the long, curved blades that had formed from its hands. Just as the blades came down towards Verax's back, Caz had tackled the droid, taking a heavy blow to the shoulder as he tore its arms off and then finished it. He stood again and by this point most of the droids had been destroyed, so Caz limped back to Verax, most of his weight on his uninjured left foreleg.

Verax noticed Caz limping, and approached him. "Caz... hold on a sec...." A warm blue glow emanated from Verax's hand as he waved it over Caz's synthetic leg, making it slightly more broken in. "I wish I could make something easier for you, but until we get out of here, this is the best I can do. And hey!" Vera laughed. "At this rate, Lurinia could send the whole 20 million droids and other robots down here and we'd be fine! .... I wish I could just warp us out, but...." He sighed "I think if you tried traveling via spacial rift you'd die. And I won't let that happen. Any how, c'mon, the hanger isn't too terribly far from here. And don't take this offensively, but if we get into a tight scrape, get right behind me. Some things are more bullet proof than others, and I'm guessing all this armor is marginally better at absorbing blows than your face is." Verax, impatient man he is, didn't try to work through the smaller doorway out of the room and just broke the wall down.

"I think I'll be fine." As Caz spoke, he reformed the area that had been hurt, effectively fixing the wound. Then, he dissolved parts of his skin, developing instead a rock-like plating covering certain sensitive areas of his canine body. He charged through the door after Verax, feeling slightly amazed at the amount of energy he had regained recently. The Creator must have been feeling generous.

Verax and Caz began shredding through the soldiers sent at them, following a similar battle plan as in the engine room. Ripping through wave upon wave of soldiers. From out of the engine room, the two fought through a web of hallways and passages. It was smooth sailing until the two charged into a hallway suspended over an abyss, and when they were halfway across from both sides they were surrounded. These automatons were different then the droids they had fought up until now, instead of having claw hands, they had some kind of automatic rifles for arms, magazines protruding outward from their 'wrists'. Caz and Verax eventually stood back to back here, Verax complaining "What is this? I don't remember having this room!" His eyes shot over to another suspended bridge, to their left, about 5 feet above them and twenty feet away, also being flooded with soldiers. Verax leaned back and whispered, "If I get up on to that other bridge, could you handle yourself for like two minutes, I see something we can use."

"Go ahead, I'll do my best." Caz ripped two of them off the bridge and into the void, and yelled, "Just hurry!"

((lol sorry short post))

Verax nodded, and leapt up to the raised bridge, wanting to do this fast. Instantly the mechanical soldiers opened fire. "I'M BUSY!" He yelled at them, as he erupted into a pillar of fire. disintegrating all the things around him. He sprinted towards the exit on his platform, and yanked off the wall a massive turret. Using the massive bolts that kept it to the wall, he within a second linked the chain gun to his own suit, and it began to warm up, spinning as it prepared to fire. "SURPRISE!!!!" He yelled down, as thousands of heavy rounds began raining down on the soldiers blocking the exit, and after satisfiable number were torn apart, her threw the turret across the room, knocking some of the robots into the abyss.