• Prologue: Relics

    "Everyone has two sides, it's the one they choose to confide in that people never see." -Kaira


    "Darra, we don't have much more time!" exclaimed Shen in a tone of urgency. As a loud explosion rocked the delapidated hunk of starship, the worried pilot turned to his fare. "The Derelict is about to break apart, if we don't get out of here soon we'll be toasting marshmallows with Orina!"

    Darra growled, "It's our job to retrieve the Relics to study, I'm not leaving here empty handed and I'm not going to let these precious artifacts be destroyed!" He turned back to the control panel, frantically trying to find a way to access the metal capsule suspended within the forcefield in front of him.

    "Can't we just blast the damned thing out of there?" suggested a husky voice. It belonged to Darren's hired bodyguard, Enrak. Not being the sharpest file in the toolbox, he made up for it in muscle and combat experience. Both of which Darra needed for his mission. "It's not like we'll risk damaging the Derelict, it's already breaking apart from that stunt you pulled getting us into this chamber."

    "Are you crazy!?" Darra exclaimed, not even turning his head to direct the scowl on his face at what he thought was a preposterous suggestion. "You'd risk irreparably damaging the capsule, and we wont be able to find out what happened to Kaira." After a few more seconds of fumbling with the controls, the forcefield vanished. As quickly as he could he reached up and grabbed the small egg shaped capsule, tossing it to Shen.

    "It's about time, you crazy fox." grumbled the pilot as he slipped the relic into a pouch on his hip. They moved as fast as they could out of the chamber, trying to stay on their feet as several more loud explosions reverberated through the corridors. When they passed near the small windows lining the circular halls, they got a glimpse of just how precarious their situation was.

    Entire sections of the derelict were being blown apart, shrapnel and debris scattered into space as fiery explosions rocked the ancient hulk. The few seconds of seeing that gave them the modivation to move faster, jumping over fallen supports and tubes as well as dodging the occasional power relay blowout. Within minutes they reached the airlock their shuttle was docked at, not wasting any time to squeeze inside and escape the chaos. As soon as they broke free of the hunk of ship, a cataclysmic explosion consumed the entire derelict and blew it into shards. the resulting debris and shockwave pummeled their little shuttle, giving thee one heck of a bumpy ride.

    "I don't intend on doing that again.." Enrak sighed as they moved a safe distance away from the field of shrapnel. Shen turned back to the hulky bodyguard, his oversized Fennec-like ears pointing up in accomplishment and a smug grin on his canine muzzle.

    "You have me to thank for not getting us killed in the blast." He bosted. Enrak brought his palm to his face, the lion obviously distressed.

    "Yeah yeah, you're a great pilot. Maybe Darra will keep you around for a bit longer now!" He teased. Shen's ears flattened as he frowned, looking over to his employer who was quite focused on configuring the interface of his station to accept the artifact.

    "Shen, hand me the device.. I think I can access the data inside. Maybe this one will tell us more about Kaira." he said, pausing a moment and looking up at his pilot. He was met with a frowny, flustered looking Fennec. "Whatever's bothering you, get over it and give me the relic."

    "Yes sir." he replied, digging around in his hip pouch before retrieving it and handing it to the eager fox. He gave Enrak a dagger stare which was met with a goofy, mocking face that made him even more angry. He huffed at the beefy lion and quickly turned back to his fight controls, piloting them through the remaining sections of the ancient derelict ship.

    Darra ran his hands across the smooth, shiny egg-like object. The surface was etched elegantly, resembling filigree and feathers. He set it down upon the interface he had crated, which fit snugly and caused the etching to light up and glow.