Light... blinding light... surrounded by darkness...

The taste... bitter... stagnant...

Air... breathing... couldn't...

Warmth... fluid... draining...

The ground... falling... cables detaching...

Something opens... a lower floor... cold...

Something warm... dripping... against my hand...

Darkness... images... mind...

...

The strange being blinked her eyes as they began to glow a brilliant green. She was lying on the floor, on her side, as an odd smelling liquid drained onto the floor from an open tank. She took a deep breath through her 'gills', sucking in her very first breath of air, and taking in her very first scents. The first thing her glowing eyes saw was the head of a Salarian, one that had apparently had a good portion of it's face nearly torn off. She did not know how she knew it, but it was quite clear: the Salarian was quite dead, gone from this world.

It was cold against the floor, so she pushed herself up with her three-fingered hand so that she was sitting on her rear, he legs tucked off to the side. She looked around at the damaged lab, which was slowly being covered in a foul smelling liquid that intermingled with the strange blood from the Salarian she had found.

'Where am I?' the creature thought as she continued to look around 'Who am I? What happened?'

She looked down and saw a strange looking fluid on her hands, and noticed that, given how she was situated a moment before, she must have been touching the Salarian's head. She furrowed her brow... nothing made sense.

'How do I know what that creature is? How can I think so well?' she wondered, looking back at the tank 'I came... from that?'

She slowly moved to get on her feet, finding it odd how she was able to walk so very easily. It still made her confused though, how did she know these things? She looked at the tank and saw numerous wires and odds and ends, and realized, much to her confusion, that she must have had those attached to her at some point.

'I... was an... experiment... that's the word...' she thought as her clawed feet scratched against the ground as she walked 'I was made... not born...'

She looked down at the Salarian, noticing an odd lab coat wrapped around his body.

'He must have made me...' she thought as she continued to look around the room.

There was a screen on a wall of the room, and on the screen was a series of letters, which the creature recognized to be 'Neovgre'.

'Neovgre... I don't know why, but I like that word... is it... my name?' the creature thought as she approached the screen.

Edward Black had been extracted from the Citadel, hours before the riots. He was given his next mission briefing.

"Agent Black, Sources on Noveria have indicated a genetics lab. The labs recently lost contact with the port, and have had all access cut off. We need you to investigate this."

"Yessir. How will I get to the facility?"

"You're going to get there by Orbital Hard Drop."

"What? That hasn't been used in years. Why can't I just fly down in the Kingdom?"

"Because you'll have to go through customs and alert everyone to your presence. Also, your weapons will be confiscated, and you are carrying very hush-hush stuff. Drop is in half an hour."

Half an hour later, and Edward was in his Ceramic drop suit with retro thrusters, designed specifically for this deployment method.

"Ready to go, Black?" asked the drop manager

"No."

"Good" the manager replied, kicking him into the airlock, which then opened, sucking Edward into space.

Hurtling towards Noveria, Edward opened up the HUD on his suit. It indicated his target, and he steered himself towards it.

after several minutes of severe vertigo, Edwards was about 100 metres up, and his retro thrusters fired, slowing his descent.

"Not enough! Not Enough! NOT ENOUGH!" He screamed and he hit the ground.

After struggling out of the ceramic suit, which had cushioned the impact for him, he tried to find his bearings. After a few seconds of confusion, he realised that he had landed on top of the facilty.

Talk about accuracy.

Finding a ventilation duct, Edward crawled in, keeping an eye out for anything...

*Creeeaaak*

*Snap*

The floor of the duct broke away, and Edward fell through, landing on his feet. He quickly activated his camoflage and started scanning the area.

definatly a lab alright. lots of tubes... including some smashed... bodies...

"Nasty mess happened here." whispered Edward

"Agent Black, this is command. Report?"

"Facility infiltrated. looks like there were no survivors..."

The creature, whom had decided to call itself 'Neovgre', stared at the screen, finding it odd that she was somehow able to read it, yet not ever remembering anything from more than a few minutes ago. She decided not to question it though, she knew it was impossible to truly understand the minds of living beings. She noticed a button near the screen, and she pressed it with one of her three clawed fingers. The screen slid upward, revealing a compartment underneath.

She was able to think better at this point, though it didn't stop her from wondering how she was so capable. Within the compartment was a full set of clothing. Along with the clothing came several things used to hold various items, as well as some odd cloth wrappings. Recognizing that, though she was infinitely more comfortable in what she was not wearing, she was not presentable to any form of sentient lifeform, and that she should probably put on the clothing she found.

Oddly enough, she found that it fit her perfectly. The top consisted of a black, midriff bearing vest that extended up onto her neck till about midways, and was of the more modern style, and she found a pair of black, first-knee-length pants that were skintight and of a similar design. Atop her pants was something akin to an ankle length loincloth that was black and belted on her sides with brown belts. The black cloth wrappings were around her forearms, and on the shin area between her ankle and her second knee. A brown vertical carry harness set her pistol holster on the right side of her body for a left handed draw, and she had a pouch strapped to her left thigh, which connected to a belt she had around her waist via another brown belt.

After assembling her clothing, she had to admit she felt a little odd, albeit still rather comfortable. She had o make sure none of her long tendrils got caught on anything before she could do much else, as she figured that they would hurt like hell if they got pulled out. After that she looked back around the laboratory, attempting to find anything she could possibly use as a weapon. The doctor's face was mostly ripped off, and it was highly unlikely that the assailant was going to keel over and let her walk out of the base.

Edward walked carefully among the tubes, aware that the active camo made a lens effect when he moved. He pressed down on what appeared to be an ordinary floor tile. However, it was actually a trigger for an alarm system.

looking up, he saw two automated turrets descend from the ceiling. They scanned the area with their cameras, and Edward thought they were fooled. However, they then switched to infrared, and spotted him. They opened fire, and Edward was forced to draw his katana and try deflecting the hail of bullets, his camoflage fading as his suit routed the power to restoring his damaged shields. knowing he vunerable, he jumped, and sliced one turret, destroying it. However, he felt the katana start heating up. The kinetic barrier generator was overheating due to the shear amount of deflection. when it over heated, he'd have to rely on his suits shields, which wouldn't last long.

He dived behind a crate, and let the katana cool down. He drew his pistol, switched to live ammunition, leaned out and fired at the remaining turret, destroying it.

He rested a while, allowing his equipment to restore itself, then set off carefully, aware that he had probably alerted the facility to his presence...

Neovgre froze at the sound of the alarms, though she knew not why in regards to her knowledge of it being an alarm, but she also had no idea who had set it off. If it was one of her experimental brethren, it would have gone off long ago. That was not the case however... which must have meant there was an outsider in the base.

'Hopefully he's friendly... a hostile outsider would be more difficult to deal with.' Neovgre thought as she approached the door, ready to leave the room in search of some, hopefully willing, assistance.

She found the door locked though, but it was a manual lock, seeing as how the electronic lock was clearly destroyed. She removed the mass of metal that had been placed in the way, and found that it was quite heavy, definitely heavier than what a normal Salarian could have managed under normal conditions. Fear and adrenaline were amazing motivators though...

'...I still have no idea how I know these things...' she thought as she attempted to push the door open, though found it impossible to do so.

A few moments later the door flew open, but in her direction, sending her flying backward onto the cold floor, one of the parts that was not soaked with either that foul liquid or blood. She struggled to get up, but a... creature... leaped at her from the doorway, disgustingly aggressive sounds coming from it's twisted form. She brought her feet up and caught it in the chest, twisting slightly and launching it into another cabinet, breaking it open so that a few of it's contents spilled out.

She then scrambled to her feet as the creature was recovering, and rushed for the mass of steel that had previously been blocking the door. She swung it around as the beast leaped at her again, catching it hard in the face with the absolute greatest force possible. A brief series of snaps, pops, and crunches came from the creature as the steel caught it's face, and it landed in a heap in the corner of the room.

She approached the creature, the steel still raised in case the creature was still alive. It proved unnecessary as she noticed an odd, greenish-yellow substance oozing out of it's head... which held odd pieces of gray flesh that was, most likely, brain matter. The creature was... indeterminable as to what species it was... but it was definitely SUPPOSED to be a sentient being.

'This must have been one of my brethren.' Neovgre though, furrowing her brow 'How am I related to this... thing?'

She decided to take another look around the room, seeing as how at least one of the other cabinets was now open, via a rather strong impact from a rather heavy being. Neovgre looked inside, not bothering to pick up what was on the ground and soaked in various fluids, and saw something she knew and recognized as medigel, despite never seeing it before. It also held a long, metallic object, which was the part she found to be most interesting.

She shoved some of the medigel into the pouch on her thigh, and picked up the metal object, which she found to actually be fairly light. She grabbed one end of it and held onto it as she walked out the door, noticing there was a very, very soft clicking sound from the object. She grabbed another part of it and pulled, the object separating and revealing a thinner piece of metal that ended in a sharp point.

'It's a sword...' she thought as she examined the blade, twirling it around in her hand once or twice before putting it back in the sheathe 'I may not know if I can use one well... gut I can try.'

She continued to hold the sheath portion of the blade as she walked down the body ridden hallway towards the only doorway that she hadn't passed through.

Edward heard a clicking noise from the direction of the doorway. He turned to point his gun at it, when another section of ventilation fell from the ceiling, and a mutant landed on top of him. It was six legged, with sharp claws, and generally disfigured. It moved to swipe at him, but Edward swung his arm upwards, his suits exoskelton amplyifing his strength temporailiy, sending it flying into the air. He drew his sword, and using reflexes honed by years of training, slashed it five times in mid air before it landed.

Turning back to the door, he saw the... whatever it was had entered. It didn't look hostile, but he undid the safety on his pistol, all the same.

Neovgre walked down the hallway, carefully stepping over bodies both normal and mutant. She kept looking around for anything that might be a hindrance to her progress, even observing the ceiling which she noted as having a rather wide ventilation shaft.

'Why don't they make those things smaller so various beings can't climb through them?' she wandered as she passed through the open doorway, not noticing the armored man off to one side of it until she heard movement.

Turning around to face the door, she saw the... human by his body type and size, pointing what she knew to be a gun at her. Her eyes narrowed in irritation; she had been thinking and was unfocused, which is why she didn't notice the human.

'It seems thinking can be as much a hindrance as not doing so...' Neovgre mused as she made no attempt to move, not wanting to provoke the being.

"Hu... hu-man..." Neovgre said, having to use her... whatever she uses to speak, for the first time.

She noticed that she sounded remarkably like the hanar, and though she could not see it, her eyes brightened with each syllabul, much like the hanar.

"Human... I am... no... threat..." she managed, giving her speech portion of her brain a good workout "I wish... to... leave this... place. Will you... help me?"

Edward stared in surprise. Then radioed command.

"Sir, I think we got a survivor, except this appears to be one of the experiments. It can talk, somewhat, and hasn't tried to eat my face off yet. It wants me to take it away from here. Any suggestions?"

"If it isn't hostile, I'd let it come with you for the extraction. The Noverian execs are preparing to bombard the facility in about an hour, and we'll send in a covert dropship to pick you up. The dropship will land outside the facility. Commander out."

Edward returned his attention to the creature.

"It's okay. You'll be coming out of here with me. Do you have a name?"

"My name? I have... chosen... Neovgre." Neovgre responded, her eye's 'smiling' when she spoke... as normal smiling required a mouth which she did not have.

'Come to think of it... how do I eat?' Neovgre thought, reaching her hand up to her mouth to check.

She opened her 'mouth', which was barely more than a small opening in the center of her lower face. It was too small for most foods to fit through.

'...CAN I even eat?'

Though it was an interesting thought, she knew it was not time for such intrinsic observations. She returned her gaze to the human, rather than the ceiling as previous. She decided that it would be easier for everyone if she knew the human's name as well.

"What is... your... name, Human?" she asked, starting to feel the speech come about more naturally with every word.

"You can call me Edward."

he stopped as his brain trying to figure out the pronounciation.

"Neo-vu-grr? Neo-vi-gre? Neo-vugre?" he thought.


"Come on," he said out lout, "Let's get out of here."

deeper in the facilty, came a couple of screechs...

'Edward... are all names supposed to be that easy to pronounce?' she wondered, halfway listening to the human as her thoughts distracted her.

She was, however, completely aware of the loud screeching from deeper in the facility. The screeches were horrendous, disgusting, and laced with rage and hunger. It was not a pleasant sound to Neovgre's ears.

"That is... not good." Neovgre said, drawing her blade in a moment and holding it at her side, a clearly untrained stance "Please... lead me out... of here."

The sound of claws, screeches, and the gnashing of various teeth suggested that it was more than one creature, and Neovgre was hoping that her human companion, Edward, was able to fight well enough for both of them... if necessary.

Edward saw Neovgre draw her own sword, and was somewhat dismayed when he noticed that she obviously didn't know how to handle it.

"put it away. You'll likley hurt yourself." he said, drawing his own sword. He didn't bother with the kinetic shield, reasoning that the mutants wouldn't have access to fire arms.

Outside the facility... Maybe they could get out without much of a fight...

"Follow me!" he yelled at Neovgre, has he ran towards the exit. There was a locked door, which didn't look like it would open...

"I recognise that lock type..." he muttered. "Its has an emergancy opening code... what was it... was it this?" he tried tapping the code in. The lock's light changed from red, to flashing yellow.

"Get back!" he yelled, as the yellow light flashed faster and faster until

*KAWOOMPH!*

The door exploded outwards, showing the exit door. Edward ran towards it, and tried to open it. It lifted a few centimetres off the ground, when the power cut out, sending the door slamming back down.

Edward could only see the glow of Neovgre's eyes, so he flicked on his suit torch.

"Looks like we're trapped in here." he said slowly.

'How would I damage myself? It can't be that hard to kill things with a blade...' Neovgre thought as she sheathed her blade, following Edward all the while.

The door was locked, but Edward said he could open it. Unfortunately, Neovgre was not expecting such a loud explosion, and she visibly jumped as the door blew off it's hinges and flew past her. She was also not prepared for the lights going out, and she drew her blade out the moment a light began to eminate from Edward's previous position.

"Looks like we're trapped in here."

"That is obvious." Neovgre said as the sounds of clawing, gnashing, and scratching headed their way "We are... not alone... and at a... disadvantage."

She twirled the blade around in her hand, holding on to the end of the sheathe with a slightly loose, yet also firm, grip.

"I will not... be killed...here." she muttered, though with the way she spoke, that was rather difficult to do softly and out of earshot.

She was, more or less, prepared for the worst, though hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Edward turned to look at his strange companion. Or rather, the glowing green eyes where his strange companion was.

"You wouldn't happen to be immensly strong and able to lift the door?"

the eyes appeared to narrow

"Just checking..." Edward hastily. He looked around a bit. There was no other way out, other than the inactive door. He sighed, and unholstered his pistol, brushing has hand against his grapple hook...

The grapple hook!

Edward aimed at the ceiling, and saw a small ledge, by a window.

"Thats it! hold on to me!" He ordered.

He fired, and was rewarded with a dull THUNK! as the head imbedded itself in the ceiling. Making sure Neovgre had a firm hold on him, he activated the ascent. They were pulled up onto the ledge, by the window. unhooking the grapple, Edward drew his sword, and stabbed the glass with the tip. he then moved the blade around, making a hole large enough for a human, and a something to get through.

"FREEDOM!" he yelled.

but there was still 20 minutes until the drop ship arrived... and there may have been more ways out for things that wanted very much to eat his face...

Neovgre was surprised at how strong the human was, able to hold her, a being easily seven feet tall that had to weigh a good bit given her build. She had no idea humans were that strong. She was also surprised when the man was able to cut through the window using naught but a sword.

'This being is quite powerful... and infinitely more dangerous than I assumed.' Neovgre thought as she followed Edward out after he rappelled down the wall outside of the facility.

However, the difference between the two of them was such: she jumped down from what seemed like a second or third story window, landing on her feet before Edward had even reached the ground. Taking not of the fact that the strong being behind her was not able to make such a jump, she concluded that, though he was rather strong, he was not very durable. Then she thought that maybe, just maybe, she was strong in a different means.

She then made not of the fact that it was cold... very cold. She shivered against the weather, noting that she would freeze soon enough if she didn't find a way to stay-

A loud screech interrupted her thoughts as a spider-humanoid leaped out of the hole she and Edward had just come through, it's trajectory leading it directly to her. Her blade in hand and drawn, she took a stand and held the blade straight out as she remain prepared for the strike. As the creature neared, it's claws and fangs set to tear into her, she thrust the one handed weapon forward with one hand, shoving the molecular blade through it's mouth and through the back of it's head. She then pulled it upwards, the blade digging in further as she swung the creature in an arc above her head.

The creature eventually left the blade, flying a fair distance before landing in a twitching heap. The blood slid down the blade to her hand, but a quick swing of the blade cleaned it off before it could dirty her hands. She turned to her human companion, smiling as best as she could with her eyes.

"See? I did not... hurt myself." she said.

"True... but you had no...finesse. Let me take the next one... I'll show you what I mean..."

Right on cue, a humanoid mutant, with four arms burst out of a vent. Edward, took a moment to analyse it. Then, he moved forward, slashing his sword so that it cut off it's legs. He used the hilt to knock it in the air, and lept after it, hacking and slashing various limbs and body parts off.

(it should be pointed out here, that Ed's suit contains a small powered exoskeleton)

they travelled 3 metres in the air, and then landed, Edward on top with his sword impaled through the mutant's chest.

"Somewhat impractical during normal combat, but sometimes it's good to show off." he explained to Neovgre.

Neovgre observed with keen interest, watching as the man seemed to dance in the air, his blade cutting beautifully and artistically. When he landed, he had explained that it was not practical to do something like that during normal combat, but she had gotten the idea.

"You move... fluidly... and it is... beautiful." Neovgre said, her eyes smiling as she spoke "But if it is... inefficient, then.... why do you... do so? Would... superior efficiency... be more useful... than beaury?"

From withing the wall of the facility, a creature sprung out and landed on Neovgre's back, as she was not focused enough to hear the sounds before hand. The creature dug it's teeth into her neck, though it failed to pass the scales that covered her skin. She screamed as she reached back, gripping a side of the creatures face and shoving one of her clawed fingers deep into the soft tissue that filled his eye socket.

The creature screamed as it fell off of her, and she drove her foot back and caught it in the soft part of it's underside, most certainly crushing organs. She spun around and slashed her blade catching the creatures throat and splitting it down to the bone. As the creature crumpled with a gurgle, she glanced at Edward, not dropping her guard this time.

"I... see how... training might be... useful." she said, her voice sounding as if she was somewhat humbled by being caught off guard.

Edward ran forward to help Neovgre, but she was able to shrug off her agressor.

"And another thing... try to be aware of your environment at all times..."

he looked at his HUD's clock.

"we have ten minutes left until the drop ship comes..." he was cut off by a tremendous roar. A ten metre high... thing, smashed it's way through the wall. It had arms and tentacles, and bodyparts that Edward had never seen on any living thing... presumably for a reason.

"LOOK OUT!" he screamed, leaping out of the way as a club-shaped appendage thudded into the snow where he had been seconds before.

He had never had to face an oppenant this much bigger than him... what could he remember from his trainer at STRIFE?

"Remember Edward," came a snippet from his memory, "if all else fails... go for the groin."

Typical. He could've sworn his instructor was drunk that day. Not to mention this thing didn't appear to have a groin.

His memory threw up another quote, as he lept over a tentacle swung at ground height.

"If you are entirely out of options, even having used the groin method... Go for the face. Hard."

That was slightly more reasonable. The fact that said face was around nine metres above he hadn't escaped him...

"Neovgre! Try to keep it's attention! I'm going for the face!" he yelled. He lept onto an arm, and ran up it, praying that the creature wouldn't do anything...

Despite her size, Neovgre was quite acrobatic. She leaped out of the way of an odd club like thing, landing on one hand and pushing off so that she landed on her feet next, blade still in hand and sheathe in the other.

'...I didn't know I could do that...' She thought as she gazed up at what could be considered her brethren... her ugly bastard of a brother in one sense.

"Neovgre! Try to keep it's attention! I'm going for the face!"

'...what?' was the thought as Edward seemed to go about his own business and climb up an arm '...this is bad for me...'

She decided that the best course of action would be to rush in and distract the creature, preferably on the side that wouldn't include the arm containing Edward. She ran in as fast as she could, which she found to be much, MUCH faster than she had thought. She ducked under a blow from one of the many tentacles, and she leaped, a few meters actually, on the creatures legs, crouching and leaping off towards one of the larger arms.

She literally hacked off the arm at the wrist, eliciting a loud roar from the creature as it's arm, and blood, cascaded to the ground. Neovgre landed several meters away from the creature, and turned around, mimicking the stance Edward had used, albeit rather sloppily.

'The pain in it's arm should distract it long enough for Edward to kill it.' Neovgre thought as she watched the creature writhe in pain for a moment.

She was also realizing that, while she wasn't exceptionally strong, or durable, it was clear she had other benefits. She had strong legs, allowing her to move quickly and leap rather well. Her scales were a some kind of natural armor... of sorts, and she apparently had reflexes on par with Salarians. Flexibility was also a high poing, adding to a more acrobatic nature.

'It is rather interesting...'

Edward heard a roar of pain from the creature.

"She's doing a good job..." he thought.

He lept from one arm to another, running toward the monster's face. He reached the head, and than realised it's full attention was on him.

oh well

"FACE KICK!" he yelled, kicking in the face. He than followed it up with a katana to the general face area. The monster screamed, but wasn't going down...

"can't say I thought it would..." with that, he jammed the katana in the monster's throat, and ran round the throat in a circle. The head slowly rolled off... the the monster began to fall.

"ARRRGH!" screamed Edward, beginning the 10 metre descent.

Neovgre watched as the man fell from a height, clearly panicking at falling from such a height... or maybe it was because of the creature that was falling with him. Either way, he was screaming, and it looked as if he was going to need saving. So, sheathing her blade, after quickly shaking off the blood of course, she went about saving her savior.

She avoided the head as it landed with a loud thud next to her, and she made sure that the body was not going to fall on her either. She waited, arms out, as the man fell. She then caught the man, who was heavier than she had thought, and shifted to keep herself and him from ending up on the ground any more than necessary.

With a grunt, Neovgre managed to right him, setting Edward on his feet. She then eye-smiled (OOC: My term ^_^) at him as the body thudded against the ground, beginning to ooze greenish yellow blood over the ground.

"That was good." she said, happy that she was able to complete a sentence fluidly for once.

Edward fell, still screaming, into Neovgre's arms.

"ARRRghhh... ouch... you're harder than you look..."

He stood up gingerly, pain shooting up and down his back.

by sweet, sweet providence, his radio burst into life.

"Agent Black, this is dropship Sierra Zero-Thir-Teen. Mark location, and prepare for evac in 1 minute."

Edward got their GPS co-ordinates, and sent them to the dropship.

"Rodger that S013, location marked."

"Location confirmed. Beginning final approach now."

Edward looked up. A Peregrin class dropship emerged from the clouds, flared, and fired its vtol rockets, landing a few metres in front of them.

Edward turned to Neovgre.

"That's our ticket out of here! Come on! let's go!"

"Edward, this is command. The Noverian execs have detected a lot of facility damage. They are about to begin the bombardment..."

"It's okay sir, we're just about to board."

"Rodger that. God speed to you."

"Come on!" Edward said to Neovgre, "Get on board!"

They climbed in, and the dropship took off, and began speeding away, as the fleet above started bombing the installation.

The ship was odd... and was smaller than what she needed to stand or sit properly. It was clearly designed for the more... humanoid species. Her legs were bent rather uncomfortably, and she was still pretty cold from the freezing planet that she realized the human was not so able to deal with.

'The more I'm around this human, the more I discover the more interesting things in this world.' Neovgre mused as she seemed oblivious to the explosions raining down from the heavens outside.

She had to consider new clothes, warmer clothes... though she doubted that the humans would have clothes that would fit her alien-style anatomy. Still, she would have to see, for her current outfit was... not to her liking, though she knew not what she liked.

She looked at Edwards, who seemed to still be nursing his back slightly.

"Will your people... accept me? I am aware... that I am... not natural." she said, perfectly calm, and seemingly innocent.

She then pulled on the wraps on her forearms, noting how they were effectively soaked in an odd colored blood.

"I... would also like... new clothes. I fear... I have ruined... these."

"Humanity has traditionally been a rather xeno-phobic race. I'm not sure about how well you'll be accepted. As for the clothes... yeh... slightly more hard wearing ones might be better. You might want to consider armour as well."

He removed his helmet, with a faint *psst* as the pressure seals opened.

He walked up to the closed exit doors, and looked out the window as the fleet continued to pound the ground with MAC fire.

He wasn't against genetic manipulation. What he had in the bay with him proved that it could go right, despite the scare mongering... but the other creatures were practically a blight...

The pilots voice came through the speakers.

"Approaching STRIFE Unforgiven. Preparing to dock. The Unforgiven will then jump out system, where you will be debriefed."

The dropship flew into the dockingbay, and cut it's engines. Edward stepped out the back, helped Neovgre out, and proceeded to the conferance room.

The ships helmsman came over the speakers.

"Entering Mass Relay in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

There was a whining noise, as the relay's tendril of power stretched out to the Unforgiven, then an almighty clap of thunder, as the Unforgiven was propelled to speeds many times faster than the speed of light.

Edward arrived at the Conferance room, as the Unforgiven exited.

"Ah, Agent Black. We've watched your suits recording of the mission, and I must say that you did pretty well. You made good use of your resources and managed to hold off against oppenants more powerfull than yourself. However... about this... friend, you picked up. You've let her on one of the most secret ships in the galaxy, and she may give us away. Of course, people know of STRIFE's existance, but you know that we like people not to know when and where we operate. If she gives this ship's name away, we'll have to get rid of it."

"There is one solution for that sir..."

"This had better be good, Black."

"We could ask her to join STRIFE"

this suggestion was met with silence.

"Prehaps. We might consider it, but all STRIFE members have been human until now..."

"She's got a lot of potential. I can feel it."

"We will discuss it. Dismissed."

"Thank you sir."

Edward walked outside, and found Neovgre.

"How would you like it, if you joined STRIFE?"

She seemed to be under guard of some sort, though it was not completely clear. She had been asked to stay in a waiting room of sorts, and there was another man, heavily armed, in the room. She had decided to test her theory at one point, drawing her blade and attempting to clean it with the clothe on her left arm. The man had reached for his pistol, ever so subtly, but Neovgre had noticed it.

'They do not trust me... and it makes sense for them to do so.' Neovgre mused as she resheathed her now clean blade 'I am not normal, I am aware of that.'

Edward made his appearance through a door a moment later, and Neovgre still found his unmasked appearance to be... different. She stood up as he approached her. The guard also left when Edwards left, though he kept his eye on Neovgre all the while.

"How would you like it, if you joined STRIFE?"

Neovgre cocked her head to one side.

"Strife? Is that not... a bad thing?" Neovgre asked, very much missing the point.

"No... STRIFE. Stealth and Tactical Reconasiance For Earth. It's an acronym. A bit misleading, though, as Earth got taken over by xenophobic activists. We are currently operating out of ships like this, in absence of a standard base. It's somewhat more secretive too, as we can move our operation if there is a chance of being discovered. Anyway, If you do join, you'll recieve training, equipment, quarters..."

Edward paused.

"That is of course, if the brass decides to let you join, and if you pass the entrance test."

"I see..." she said aloud, contemplating her decisions.

She really had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Companionship was something that would probably benefit her, as would training, equipment, and a place to live. Food was also important, and by the feeling in her stomach, she could probably use some. That would have to wait a while though, she had more important matters to attend to.

"I see... no better option. I have... nothing to... lose by trying." Neovgre said, her expression her own unique eye-smile "When would I... be able to attempt... this exam?"

"Well, We aren't on any mission... I'm qualified... We'll be hooked up to a Virtual Reality machine, running a simulation of an earlier mission. You'll be trying to infiltrate and gather information on a crime ring, I'll be observing. You'll be the only one who can see me, so no-one else will notice. All the 'people' in the simulation are run by a powerful VI, and will be able to notice suspicious behaviour. If you get caught, or sussed out, the simulation will stop, and you will have failed."

His comm beeped.

"Myes? Mmm hmmm... Right? Okay. Thanks. I'll tell her. You are allowed to start the test. We will head to the VR room, then get ourselves hooked into the machine."

He set off, through the ships corridors, making sure Neovgre was following him.

Eventully they reached the VR room.

"They've had to modify the Machine a bit... your body is somewhat differant from humans... Anyway, you'll essentially be taking my place in one of my old missions. Like I said, I'll be observing, taking notes and such forth. We'll be visiting the multispecial starport world known as Tatooaria. When I went there, it was a hive of villany, and corruption. Now, not so much. Anyway. We're ready to start when you are. Climb in"

Neovgre looked at the machine she had been directed to, and found it to be a little... odd. There were sensors, scanners, and various other connections that would be attached to her in some form or fashion. It didn't look too intrusive, but the sensors did appear to be strong enough to go through her scales.

'Well... it can't be that dangerous if Edward is going to enter it as well.' Neovgre thought as she stepped into the machine, finding that the seat was really not too horribly comfortable to her.

Edward had said that humans were a xenophobic species overall, so she attributed the lack of comfort to their own phobias. The sensors and everything hooked up as they needed to, and after all was said and done, all of her senses were numbed. The arrived a moment later, but it was... not what she was used to.

She was standing in the decontamination chamber of an Alliance ship, facing an unknown surroundings, and armed in exactly what she was wearing before she left, blade included. She glanced as Edward seemed to materialize beside her.

"Edward... what information can... you give me?" she asked him, having forgot to do so before entering the machine.

Every mission had a briefing after all...

"Keep an eye on everything. Try not to draw undue attention to yourself. And don't have a trademark. It's as good as a sign above your head, saying "SECRET AGENT, RIGHT HERE!"

He saw the door open. There was complete and utter void outside. Then, a few green lines began tracing outlines of objects outside. The world continued to load, beginning to resemble one of the large space ports of Tatooaria.

"Sam?" Edward called out to the VR operator, "You got us?"

"Yep... running world test alpha 1..."

blocks of differant sizes and materials appeared, as the computer made sure they acted like they were supposed to.

"World test alpha 2..."

The computer eventually finished running diagnostics, and the items it had made, dissapeared.

"Here." Edward send, handing Neovgre a small braclet he had got same to make in this 'reality', "Take this. For luck."

The field seperating the two from the computer world vanished, as it finished loading.

Edward stepped out of the ship, and stood where he had once stood 6 years ago.

"This was where I proved myself as one of the best STRIFE agents... why they gave me my cloaking armour. Come on. You have work to do."

(Continued in Tatooaria VR)