An Empress De-throwned (Anja Aj'Rou)

[Slot 13]

Infidels. Heathens. Galactic scum! They would rue the day that they crossed Morrigan: The Empress of Birds! The Goddess of the Skies! She sat in the cage the pirate dik'kuts had placed her in, her wrists and ankles chained to the armrests and front legs of a wooden chair. Her wings were folded in a rather uncomfortable fashion against the hard wooden chair's back. Despite this, she appeared not to notice as she tapped her taloned nails in an impatient rhythm. Glowing topaz eyes gave the man across from her an annoyed gaze. "I do so hope you understand the severity of the crimes you have committed, Infidel. This will not be taken lightly." Morrigan's tone was cold and regal, as if she were his sovereign instead of his prisoner. He kicked her cage. "Pipe down, schutta!" He spat.​

Wherever they were going, whatever they were planning on doing with her was suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted by another pirate running into the room. "Gren, keep her under control! We've been intercepted!" Ah. So this is what she would be for. A bargaining chip, perhaps? Possibly to grant them safe passage? Whatever it was going to be, Morrigan was not looking forward to it.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Above head the starship, Order's End, a deliverance-class heavy cruiser patrolled the reaches of space trailing just behind the starship.

The starship didn't even hail, instead it targeted the vessel with its tractor beams in an attempt to pull it in.

"Your Worship, we've intercepted a small vessel.", the intercom blurted on as an officer alerted The Host Lord of the events transpiring. Anja got up and headed towards the command deck herself; several guards bowed before her as she entered the bridge -- looking out as the tractor beams were activated. "What do we know?", she ordered the sensory officer to report his findings. "A small ship. No markings: Probably a smuggler or pirate.", he responded firmly without looking her in the eyes as a sign of respect.

"And?", she said to the ship's new captain. The last one -- Pyrrhus Alet -- had died rather poorly in a skirmish with the Imperial Remnant; a small vanguard he was placed in charge of obliterated. The captain nodded quickly before taking a step forward to be in better range of her ears. "We've began to bring the vessel in.", he quickly gave her the tactical information as she already owned the thoughts in his head. She smirked, pleased with the quickness of his response. A feature lacking in his predecessor.

"Good.", she said and turned to take a seat in her command chair.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

The ship creaked and groaned as it was pulled slowly into the other vessel. The men- six in total- were at first loading as many weapons as they could carry, thinking that they may live long enough to kill. But the captain talked them all down to one small firearm. Looking too armed would only entice more violence than was necessary. Morrigan watched them silently as the landing door opened and they walked out into the other vessel. She smirked a little. Wouldn't be funny if they just left her here to rot in their shabby little ship until the end of time.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

As the crew entered the cruiser's hanger, they would notice the Gulandi -- corrupted Sephi warriors -- and other mysterious people -- armoured Umbarans -- crowding the walls. What they may have not known is several of the Gulandi flanked the ship and as the first few stepped out one of the warriors quickly turned his way back to the landing door and aimed a blade towards the throat. The other flanking Gulandi would charge whilst the rest of the mass stayed silent.

Anja slowly walked down the corridors on her way to the hanger, she did not give the order to attack and may be surprised as to what results.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Blaster shots rung out from the bay. Morrigan had a feeling something like that would happen. They were mindless scum. Quite improper, not to mention they made the rookie mistake of thinking they were welcome. Well, it wouldn't be long now. Soon the ship would be picked clean, and whoever was out there would most likely find her. Would she be killed, or merely enslaved? Which would be better? Which would be worse? Morrigan didn't know.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

The Gulandi finished off the smugglers, and some began to scavenge the bodies whilst others went so far to consume the fallen victims. In the fight the smugglers only managed to kill one of them; of course it was a surprise attack but they were lightly armed to say the least.

Anja approached the hanger, stepping through the crowd as her followers bowed -- immediately her gaze turned to malice as she saw they had already killed the crew.

She walked slowly to the Gulandi, some of them turning with a pause before kneeling, one in particular was still pigging out on the captain.

Reaching out with the force Anja grabbed hold of the Gulandi's throat and began compressing the flow of flesh, forcing him to choke on his own meal. The unfortunate soul dropped dead.

"Did they attack first?", she asked rather calmly.

One of the Sephi -- stupidly -- stood up and began to speak, "No, Your--", before he could even finish she turned to him wither her scepter and swung the sharpened edges of the mace-like head at the speaker, knocking him down. It wasn't a death blow, but he was bleeding quite badly and stumbled to stand. Her breathing was visibly contracting inside her chest at a higher rate; suggesting the rush of adrenaline. The rest of the Gulandi troubemakers backed away and into the crowd. Two Umbaran officers from the group approached, kneeling behind her. "Forgive us.", one of them said; the other remaining silent.

The Host Lord shook her head. "No.", she responded with that short statement; her gaze turning to the wounded Gulandi still struggling to get up after his failure at standing. "Their bloodlust was their own undoing.", she walked over and pressed the heel of her armoured boot as a way to pin him down before jamming the scepter into his exposed wound, ending him. Pulling away she walked into the ship; the officers nearly protested as she approached what looked to be a caged figure.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

What they would find was Morrigan sitting not as if she was imprisoned against her will. If anything, she looked like a ruler sitting in a thrown. The force-collar about her neck kept her uncomfortably straight-backed, but she sat as if it was her normal position. Her luminescent eyes fixed on the woman that now approached her. "Ah yes. Congratulations, you've found the final piece of the puzzle. I would applaud your valiant effort, but as you can see, my hands are otherwise engaged." Once again, she talked down to them, not being at all reluctant to use her cruel sarcastic tone.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

The two officers looked to each other before one spoke up. "What should we do with her?", she asked. The female of the two; the last one to speak being male, a quieter fellow who seemed more keen on observing this time around.

Anja tilted her head back to them but not in a way where she could see them. "Set her free.", she retorted.

The officers nodded, and went to disable the force-collar, but cautiously so. For the time being' they'd let be 'free' but it's not like she had anywhere to go.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Morrigan was grateful at least that they were going to unbind her. It felt amazing to have that thing of her neck. They opened the cage and unlocked her chains, allowing her to step out for the first time. "Now, what I'm about to do is going to take up a bit of space, mind you. But if I don't I'll get horrible cramps later." That being said, she stretched her limbs. And then, her massive wings unfurled as far as they could go, spanning almost the entirety of the small cargo space.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

The officers cautiously took steps back as her wings protruded. One of them wanted to speak up in protest until Anja herself said something.

"Who are you?", asked. It doubled both as who she was and of course what she was. Although she did ask, it didn't seem as if she was trying to be hospitable -- as if there was soon to be some kind of catch.

The officers sat behind her idly; very careful of what could or might happen.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Morrigan looked down at the woman and her guards. "I am Morrigan, Goddess of the Skies and Empress of Birds. Though, I highly doubt that it makes any difference to you. If you're inquiring for something a bit less fantastic, then I can indulge you in that aspect as well. I am what many infidels have reffered to as 'Shaliz'Na'." She glanced at the guards a bit more. How appropriate that they be nervous. At least some people were wary of what she was capable of. Those pirates were fools. She was only sory that she hadn't been the one to deal the final blow.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Anja walked back out the ship, the officers following en tail.

"Interesting enough: Shaliz'Na.", she said. The Host Lord turned back. "You seem interesting enough. Why shouldn't we kill you?", she asked. She didn't speak in riddles when it came to honesty. There was a certain respect in her voice despite the obvious threat.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Morrigan shrugged. "That really isn't up to me, now is it? If I were the supreme ruler of the Galaxy, it still wouldn't matter. I'm the captive one after all. You're the one who holds the cards. If you see no value in me, then by all means kill me." ​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Anja smiled lightly at the comment. She was a bit surprised at the sudden humility in her words; even if it wasn't intentional. "Well said.", she responded in an usually social manner.

Now it was time for the questions: "Why were you their prisoner?"

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

"The pirate scum set up their little organization on my home planet. Thought they could just order my people around and poke fun at me. But when they decided they could kill my birds... That was the final straw. We went to war. And we were winning, too. Then they got clever for once and managed to catch me off-guard. I wasn't sure what they intended to do with me, but obviously their smart-streak ran its course when they ran into your soldiers. I'm just sad that I didn't get to see them perish." Morrigan casually smoothed her hair back while she spoke. It was as if nothing had phased her at all.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Her words were somewhat akin to Anja's goals; she wasn't vengeful but she knew well enough that the Galaxy was full of ignorance and foul greed. This sense of justice held by [member="Morrigan"] was aligned with their own and that was something rare to say the least. "Interesting.", she said. Her own officers seemed confused by the sudden mingling with a stranger; of course it wasn't like any of them had much social experience to decide what was or wasn't normal.

"And what of your world?", she asked curiously, wondering if it was near or far from where they were now. The starship was on the border of Primeval space nearing the easternmost fringes of the northern unknown regions.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Morrigan thought for a moment. "We like to call it Falcrest. Not sure if anyone really knows where it is, though I assume if they did, it would be covered with cities right now. Now that you mention it... I'm uncertain where it would be. The fighting was still occuring when I was abducted. If my people discovered that I was taken..." Her brow furrowed at the thought. They might have surrendered to the infidels if they believed she was dead. If your protecter suddenly vanished without a trace, would you not lose faith as well as morale?​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Never hearing of this world, Anja seemed unconcerned with her motives but nonetheless was curious towards them. "Your people?", she asked. Perhaps it was a bit strange; finding a bird-person in the cargo hold of a small smuggler's ship. Not to mention one who claims themselves to be a regal goddess. Of course, it wasn't a challenge to fact: It was simply an inquiry.

The Host Lord paced slightly towards the side, as if to allow the person free range of the hanger.

[member="Morrigan"]

 

[Slot 13]

Morrigan nodded. "Yes. They aren't winged, as I am. They're similar to you. And they look to me for guidance and protection. My birds are cherished there, as they should be. When they learned of what the infidels had done, their anger was even worse than mine. They are loyal. And very savage fighters." Her gaze grew distant for a moment as she recalled her subjects. A small smile spread across her face.​

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]​

 

[Boethiah]

Anja walked forward before turning back around to face her. "You seem truthful, Shaliz'Na.", her eyes gazed to her, subtly glancing towards the corpses. "Unlike the ones who died here..", she whispered softly but just loud enough that it was audible. Taking two steps towards [member="Morrigan"] the Host Lord gently clasped her hands together as if she was pondering in the moment.

"Let's make a deal.", she smiled in return. "You will be allowed sanctuary in our space, protected under my name amongst my people. In return all I ask is that you lend me your services as you indeed seem influential... I'll even help you find your world.", she elaborated.