Return To Terra'lupin [ShalRavenne] [TwistedMerlin]

[ShalRavenne]

Saria gravely nodded, accepting the compliment. She flustered for a moment not knowing what to say.


"You were smaller then.." She straightened and flushed as she realized she said it out loud.


Hope chuckled softly. "Yes, we were. But then again so were you." Hope stepped forward to kiss her forehead. "You needed us very little, but it was good to see you now so strong."


Saria smiled ruefully and shook her head, "I should have asked for more insight." She looked sad for a moment, "I am saddened by the prospect of not being able to meet any other wolves, I was hoping to see how they may have thrived differently. Yet I suppose that is not to be." She heaved a heavy sigh and turned to Tael. "We have a long road ahead of us, don't we?."


It was Faith that replied, "Yes, you do. Support each other in the times to come. Val’Len will lead you on your path, it is time for the royal line to make it's return from the shadows where you slept. Now, here we are. Look around and take strength. Take from us, our name's meanings. Hope, Faith, Mercy. Learn and be wise, Prince Val’Len, teach this young pup well."


Serra looked to Tael and Saria before their vision went grey again, and as it cleared they found themselves in the war room once more. Saria turned to look at her team, all of whom had fallen to one knee with heads bent.

 

[Dakota Storm]

Val’Len watched as DarkMoon fell to their knees, a snort of amusement falling from his maw. “On your feet, boys and girls, we have work to do.” They nodded in unison and rose to their feet.


“You heard what the Elders said, our people on this side of the veil are no more and or home world is overrun with scum.” He pulled up a holographic image of the planet below them and pointed to it. “We are going to go down there and get ourselves set up, and once that is done.” The holograph switched to an image of Terra’Lupin. “We are going to initiate a war such as the universe has never fucking seen. Now get your asses to the hanger and prep me a drop ship! Move!” He chuckled softly to himself as the all but fled from the room.


“Was that really necessary.” Saria asked.


“Yes, actually it was. I’m pissed and I want them to know I’m pissed. It was spur them on just that little further, in the coming weeks and months, and going to be asking from them that they’ve ever had to give before. I don’t want to, but I have to.” He passed his hand over his face and sighed. “I’m getting too old for this shit. Once this is done with, I think Xii’Derra and I are going to disappear for good. Get our retirement in.”


“That would be nice.” Xii’Derra murmured in reply, She briefly touched Val’Len’s muzzle before leading the way from the room.


Within half an hour they were standing in what was left of a large courtyard, “Welcome to the Den.” Val’Len murmured before picking up a small crate containing spare power cylinders and handing them to Forei'nos and turned to the others, “You won’t likely need you’re weapons, this place is still sealed so there’ll be no wildlife in there.” He picked his way through to what looked like a small outbuilding,


“Siren, open the bunker please.” Two metal doors slid back to reveal not a building but a large elevator. Val’Len lead them all inside and within moments they were descending.


It took only a few moments for the lift to stop and the doors to slide back, revealing a long, wide, dimly lit corridor.


“The air is breathable, if a little stale.” Val’Len murmured. He lead them a short way ahead to the power core; where he made quick work of yanking out the old cylinders and replacing them with the new ones. “Siren, get this place fully booted up.”


“Working on it.” Came the synthetic reply. Seconds later the primary lighting and other systems started come back online after fifty thousand years of dormancy. Val’Len nodded in satisfaction. They sure as hell built things to last back then. He took them from the room and led them through at least a mile of tunnels, pointing things out as they went.


Eventually they came to a massive circular room, the walls were lined with monitors and in the centre of the room was a circular console station. The ancient male glanced around the room and sighed heavily.

 

[ShalRavenne]

Dark Moon took a look around the room with a forlorn expression. That is until Saria spoke up, "It is so depressing to see it all like this. Lets go, boys. Jiirn'nyr, Kyni'snu and Sok'ismr, try to hook in our equipment to the older machines. We need to set up base and get some defenses set up. Set up a communication's link with the Amaru, I want an analysis done on the state of the equipment and what has fallen into serious disrepair. Move it."


She set up her own pack and rubbed her temples, war. They needed intelligence, they needed to be prepared to rain hell down on the invaders, the civilization that was responsible for wiping our her ancient people. They would pay dearly for their folly. Even if it were a very long time ago, it had to be done.


"Soret'tus, take Kori'nn and explore a little, report back in an hour via radio. I want to know more, we will need to start making ourselves a bit more comfortable while we discern what course to take next." They left with a curt nod and she stretched her arms out. "Forei'nos go stand by the elevator shaft. I don't expect trouble but I want a guard in any case." He left with a grumble.


Time went by slowly as they went about patching the systems with their gear, sounds started disturbing the silence, communications was the first up, then came the sensors and information flooded in. "We're in business." Jiirn'nyr yipped, obviously pleased with himself.

 

[Dakota Storm]

The whole time that the team were setting up, Val’Len was leaning against the door frame, his expression was stony blank and completely unreadable.


Once all was done, he nodded in satisfaction and stepped forward to the consoles. “Orn, lock yourself in and let’s see what we have.”


Several minutes later the AI’s childlike voice burst into fits of manic laughter.


“Oh this is rare, this is too rare!”


“Orn! Calm yourself and tell us what is so funny.” The AI suddenly became all business, there was however still a gleeful tone in her voice.


"They’ve rebuilt their entire civilization based on technology we left behind father, they’ve duplicated the Arc Net, perfectly.”


“YOU’RE NOT SERIOUS!” He demanded, incredulously


“Oh, I’m deadly serious, father. If I wanted to, I could slip myself in right now and disable their entire defence grid.”


“Well, at least now I’m not going to have to blow up the entire planet.” He murmured, before doubling over in a fit of laughter. It was several long minutes before he managed to resume his usual decorum, and he stepped up to a console and begun typing in a string of commands, his amber eyes were transfixed upon the screen in front of him.


Everyone else was looking nervously from one to another before Saria finally spoke up.


“Umm, what exactly did you mean by blowing up the planet?” The old wolf, turned and regarded Saria calmly.


“That has always been a possibility, the Amaru has three TRITON class missile launchers in her underbelly. I will use them if I have no other option. Those missiles; when launched into a star will cause a chain reaction that will cause it to nova, destroying the entire star system.” He scratched at his maw before turning back to his console.


“We do however have other options. “

 

[ShalRavenne]

"Soret'tus reporting in" Came a voice inside Saria's mind, "We've found the basics of what you would expect to find in a place like this.  There is a unstocked kitchen, a common lounge, and an old armory with a few weapons on racks in major disrepair.  We're back tracking to your location now, I don't think we should explore any farther until we get a sense for the layout, more defenses wouldn't hurt either."


"Understood, I'll get some things organized here."  Saria looked over to Tael and Serra, "Not much in terms of supplies, but that was to be expected after all this time.  We should probably start thinking of getting some people down here to set up defenses and outlying buildings."


The old wolf nodded and motioned to her team.  "Let's get on it then."  She barked at her team to listen up and proceeded to assign tasks and gather information. 


Soret'tus and Kori'nn returned a short while later and sat down to have a drink of water while tuning into the ongoing conversation going on between Saria and the rest of the crew.  "We'll send an encrypted message to the Amaru to get a building team transported down, Sok'ismr and Soret'tus I want you to be escort for this group coming down, Kori'nn stand by on the surface to make sure their path back is clear and Jiirn'nyr I want you to monitor communications and scan the surface to give us a bit more in our field of vision.  Go."


An hour later a crew of wolves touched down on the surface and was escorted back to make some temporary buildings on the surface near their bunker.

 

[Dakota Storm]

Val'len was working in his study, within the palatial residence on Terra'lunar, he was tinkering with a small device, his eyes intent, his mentor was sitting across the room reading something on her data pad, probably another message from his father, either that or one of those daft romantic fantasy novels she was so keen on. 
She raised her eyes to find him watching her. “It’s not polite to stare, dear.” She rose to her feet and sauntered over to him. She picked up the device he was tinkering with and gave it a once over. “I see you’ve altered the data core but to what end?” 
Val'len took the wrist console from her and slotted the back panel back in to place. “Free and unrestricted access to the Arc Net.” Xii'dera blinked in surprise then chuckled, “If your brother finds out, he’ll mount your head on a pole.” Val'len grinned and strapped the console back to his wrist. 
The dream faded and Val'len awoke, Xii'dera was sitting next to him on the bed, her eyes were intent and a slight smiled curved her maw. “Little did either of us know at the time, that the simple alteration you made to your console would lead to the formation of the overseers.”
“You were watching?” He murmured, stretching himself out. The female leaned over and rubbed her nose against his, “My dear, I’ve been watching since the day your father first placed you in my care. I see how much Daria’s likeness to out lost daughter pains you, in truth it pains me also, but she is strong and resilient in her own right and has her own personality. She will do us proud, just as our daughter did; and perhaps once this is over and all is said and done, we can finally settle down and start a family anew.”  Val’len sighed and took her into his arms and held her for several long minutes before he released her and jumped out of the bed. 
“Orn, I’m calling a council. Have Rah and Saria, meet us in the war room.” The AI acknowledged and sent out the messages. 
“What is it, love?” Xii'dera asked as the two of them got dressed. “I’m about to lay a world of pressure on Saria, I just hope she can handle it.”  Once the four of them gathered in the war room, Rah spoke first. “What is this about old man? We’ve all got work to do, you know.” 
Val’len help his hand up to indicate silence, “we’re not all here yet.” Rah started to object but suddenly went silent, his eyes widening in awe as he felt the presence of the Triad. Only then did Val’len speak again. “You as well, Orn; you’re as much an overseer as the rest of us.” He waited a moment for Orn's holographic likeness to appear. 
His eyes bored in to Saria’s. “I’m sorry.” He murmured, before addressing the group as a whole. “Myself, Rah and Xii’dera; even Orn are far too old and far too jaded to make this decision.” Rah tried to interject again, but once again Val’len silenced him. “Let me finish. We would like nothing more than to smash those responsible for all the hurt and the pain we have endured. My, father, my brother and even my daughter lost their lives, and you Rah, your family was wiped out as well. Which is exactly my point. Is our lust for revenge really what is right for our people? But guess what? The people responsible, they’re all dead, long dead; every last one of them.” He brushed his fingers through his head fur, Rah snarled in response, his fists clenching and unclenching as he fought with his desire for revenge and what was right for the people of the Terra. 
He finally sighed and shook his head. I hate it when you’re right, so what are our options?” It was Mercy that spoke next, “Saria must decide,” her presence becoming semi corporal, as did the other two. “Val’len is correct, even we three suffer from the same affliction. Saria however is still young and has not had to suffer from the war, and she is still fairly uncorrupted of your personal thoughts and feelings for revenge.” 
She fell silent and Val’len looked again at Saria, his eyes boring in to hers, “Any planet on this side of the veil will be suitable for our people, including this one. So the decision is thus; do we go to war, wipe out the Sumara and reclaim Terra'lupin and spread out from there, or do we make Terra'lunar our home world and spread out from here.” 

 

[ShalRavenne]

Saria took a deep breath and thought about what the two paths would require, what it would mean for her people and what would be in the best interests of the future. She saw merits in both path but to her, there was only one true answer for now until more came into play.

She gave a strong but small smile to the group. "It may not be what you want to hear, but I think for now, peace is what we need. We should start here or maybe another planet that may be more rich in resources if it is nearby and we should grow, prosper, find ourselves again here closer to our roots. If we go looking for a fight now, we may find ourselves with no hope of survival. We need to learn more, build more, establish ourselves here. Maybe other from Serrailia will decide to come, branch out. We could learn from our past and integrate it with our present. Go on short excursions, gather intel, maybe we'll find outlaying colonies that if our people still exist in this region of space we could liberate, should they wish to be after all this time. Hell we may even find that our once hated enemies are now allies to us, co-exist and have made our people better for it. The fact of the matter is we just do not know enough to go in guns blazing." She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't much like the spotlight, she wasn't all too comfortable making decisions for her elders.

"The question is now to set up at least a temporary living structure here, down on the planet so people can start exploring and getting out of cramped quarters, fresh air. Then we will start exploring different planets around this zone, we will have to be careful though, we have no idea what is out in store for us. Your thoughts?"

 

[ShalRavenne]

Val’len nodded and loosed a long breath of anticipation. "It won't be easy but it is a good idea at least to establish a base to work from while we work out all the details and plans. We will follow your lead on this, we will start by sending a message home that will invite smaller groups of our choosing to come and start colonizing this and potentially nearby habitable planets." He stopped himself and looked to Saria, who grinned ruefully and took over as he sat down, so used to giving the orders.

"Agreed. We will need to send out teams to find good airable and fertile lands to start planting crops and water sources we can start setting up transport systems. Lodging will be above gound for now, we can start cleaning out and restocking the base after we start enabling better resources here. I'm sure everyone will like fresh produce as soon as able. We'll need security teams and teams aboard the ship monitoring around the clock for anything on ground and in our sector of space, I don't want any unexpected visitors."

She crossed behind Val’len, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We will have to use your memories for old maps to be overlayed with new ones as we go and explore. Spacial scans can only show us so much. We'll need soil and fauna samples, lets see if there are any edible plants we can use for now. I can tell the scientists are going to have fun while we slave all day setting things up at base." She huffed.

"That about sums it up, lets go draft up orders."

~~~~~ 3 Months Later ~~~~~

Saria smiled as the first ship full of hand picked colonists since they first landed here descended planetside with excitement, there were a few young pups among them and there were foaming at the mouth with excitement. Three months had gone a long way into building what was now a small town of buildings, outlaying crops, irrigation and more. Animals were now to be starting to be released to roam and little by little the animal population was starting to rebuild itself, even insects were around in smaller amounts. Fish were released into the three main lakes within 50 kilometers of the base, and even a few smaller avian species were released to broaden the fauna range. Soon the planet would be on it's way to recovering it's own ecosystem.

~~~~~ 4 Years Later ~~~~~

Four cities now populated the planet they call home. It was more spacious than the planet they left, with open sky and not crowded to every inch of land and they liked it that way. Technology was up to speed as much as back on Serrailia, but not as noisy and certainly not polluted. They took great care to not pollute or over encroach the natural earth so that it woudn't be all modified and hollow feeling as it used to be. It felt more free to be here, and technological advances were rapidly coming to the surface to make their way of life better but not more cluttered.

Saria looked out over her balcony with a deep breath and a smile. "I think I made the right decision, for us. I have a feeling this peace won't last but we can't say we aren't ready for an assault now and we've got our foot in the door." She felt two arms circle her waist and a chin slide onto her shoulder.

"Hmm yes, and I am glad I could snag a spot a few years back. To think, me, your best and most cherished friend had to fight for a spot" She nipped her shoulder. "What do you have planned for today?"

"Not too much on the agenda today thankfully, barring any issues that arise."

Not a moment later, Val’len entered Saria's Mind The Amaru is getting a distress signal from an unknown vessel begging for aid as they come into range, for safe harbor and peace. We should get up to there to handle things as they take the small vessel into docking. I want your team up there for security detail as well. See you in 5.

Saria sighed, "Spoke too soon, looks like we'll be seeing some excitement today. I'll have to go up to the ship, I'll keep in contact." They shared a brief kiss and she went to pull on some clothing for the day ahead. "Being in charge can be a real pain." She chuckles before heading out of their rooms and headed off to her shuttle, already sending orders out telepathically to her team to meet her without a second delay.