The Cornerian Complex

[Star_Dragon]

(For an accurate pic of the El-Aurian Disruptor, go here: http://www.yourprops.com/original-4d1d56919e7d9-Star+Trek%3A+Generations+%281994%29.jpeg . For an accurate depiction of what the gun sounds like when firing, scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the play button for "Soran's Gun": http://trekcore.com/audio/ )

As Star went and asked Kyle to help her, Kay unholstered a trophy weapon of his - an El-Aurian Disruptor. He hit the arming hammer, lowering the disruptor emitter 90 degrees to the right, over Kay's hand. Holding it in a so-called "Gansta style" - with the grip held sideways - which is how the weapon is typically fired - Kay took aim...

* * *

As the helpless woman approached Kyle and asked for his help, Kyle received a severe cold chill up his spine. Someone was stalking him. But who? Where? Why?

"Excuse me sir, would you mind helping me out? ive seem to have lost my child somewhere in the complex"

Kyle frowned slightly. He sensed... deception. But the level of which was not what he expected; it was possible that this person didn't know she was being manipulated. Kyle happened to cast a glance up when he noticed what was going on; an assailant, dressed in heavily-modified and customized Yaut'ja armor, was hanging on a support pillar, with a weapon pointed squarely at them.

Using his Dragon-Shifter powers, Kyle knocked this hapless woman out of the assassin's line of fire whilst screaming,

"HIT THE DECK!" He flipped the table over on it's side, he and Anna ducking behind it as the first shot discharged. The green disruptor bolt smacked into the table and blasted a chunk out of it.

"Now I see why you go everywhere armed," Anna commented. "Sorry."

"I never came here unarmed in the first place," Kyle said, unlimbering a heavily-modified Klingon disruptor capable of firing the same kind of disruptor pulse that was being fired at them."

"Sneaky b****d," Anna chuckled. Another disruptor pulse rained from above and blew another chunk out of the table. Kyle rose from cover, arming his own disruptor at the same time, and fired. The pulse missed as the assailant dashed to another support pillar, then to another, and onto another level.

"Who the hell is this guy, spider-man?" Kyle growled.

[Guest]

"that son of a bit**! He tricked me.......im gunna shoot his a** DEAD!" she took out her pistol and fired at kay, aiming for the head

[Star_Dragon]

Though both Star and Kyle were shooting at him, they missed - Kay's hunting instincts kicked in, and he moved light lightning, dashing from one place to the next. Leaping from support pillar to balcony to escalator rail to overhanging bar and finally to the above level, he moved up and out of sight.

(BTW, Star - what kind of weapon do you have?)

[Guest]

(pistol. Im not a weapons expert) "im not gunna let him get away!" she soon followed after him, shooting at him at every chance she saw him

[Star_Dragon]

(That's fine; I would suggest a weapon along the lines of this: https://d44ytnim3cfy5.cloudfront.net/assets/1135567/lightbox/f08df3e6b225b1b9e8511284477e61ce.jpg?1277196258 . <---Mandalorian Disintegrator. Bullets are virtually useless against Yaut'ja armor, so unless your pistol fires .50-caliber BMG rounds [which only fit heavy-duty Sniper Rifles and heavy machine guns], this is your best bet.)

Kyle and Anna moved after Star and stopped her.

"Listen," Kyle said, "His intention was not to kill you - he's hunting me. The only reason he didn't kill you was - to his knowledge - you were unarmed; if you maintain that appearance, he won't hurt you."

"How do you know?" Anna asked.

"Assuming we get out of this mess alive," Kyle stated, "remind me to explain to you the particulars of Yaut'ja culture."

* * *

Kay moved with unprecedented impunity through the structure of this supercomplex. Plenty of hiding places, overlooking ledges, and sniping posts; a perfect hunting ground, if ever there was one...

[Guest]

"maintain an un-armed image? hmmmmm mabey, but not for long.........................that basta** messed with the wrong girl at the wrong time......" she said in a very angered tone.

"any chance i see, he's dead. by the way, why is he hunting you?" she asked

[Star_Dragon]

"Believe me, if I knew, I'd tell you," Kyle said. "What did he look like? What was he wearing?"

* * *

What no one realized was that Kay had actually doubled back - he hung from an overhanging bar near an uninhabited level, his vision catching every word between Star and Kyle.

So she's armed... figures, Kay thought. Even in a place like this, everyone's armed.

Kay dropped down onto the deck below his feet, moving with practiced stealth and speed.

[Guest]

"wait............hold up. I know it sounds crazy but......i think he was actually listening to us, he saw i was armed........i heard his thoughts, also heard him land onto something below. i have enhanced hearing and eyesight, damn........im going after him, catch up with me when you can" she said in an unfazed tone. she walked off, mad but scared at the same time. she ran up the stairs to the deck where kay landed and put her gun away, to show she wasn't going to shoot him, she was mad but she wasn't going to shoot him. she had something similar to this, but regreted what she did to the person who betrayed her.

[Star_Dragon]

Kay moved along the level he was on when he noticed something, but couldn't make it out. He switched vision to Infrared, and saw Star coming after him.

"Ah, the game's afoot, eh?" he whispered to himself. Switching to another mode, he saw the holstered Mandalorian Disintegrator. She wished to appear not to be a threat - a wise decision. Had that weapon been drawn, he wouldn't hesitate to fire.

But whatever Star had in mind, Kay didn't care to find out. He moved to the side, leaping off the level, plummeting to the floor, and rolling as he hit it. Recovering in record time, he ran into a thin, dead-end alley, leapt from wall to wall, scaling them until he grabbed a corner and swung around to the high-up fifth level.

If you think it easy to catch me, you would be wrong; I have scaled walls far higher than these on worlds more densely-populated than this, he thought.

Switching back to his dragon-shifter tracking vision, he noticed Kyle and his Ryukaissen companion catching up with Star.

* * *

Kyle and Anna caught up with Star as the assailant scaled an alley all the way to the fifth floor. "Was that him?" Anna asked.

[Guest]

"yeah. Grrrrrr! I swear im not gunna rest til i catch the bastard........he just.....i just have to catch him, i dont think he's all bad." she said, running down the stairs to chase him down

[Star_Dragon]

"Star!" Kyle called after Star. He ran to catch up, then said, "Don't bother chasing him - if we want to catch him, we need to head him off; drive him into a corner or a dead end."

"There's still time to get ahead of him; this way!" Anna said, motioning for Star and Kyle to follow.

* * *

Kyle moved along the fifth floor, heading toward a nearby sporting goods store as the owner left. He entered the store, activating his personal cloaking device as he went. He made a ruckuss in the store, making it seem as though he went out the back door, and then exited the way he came in, hiding cloaked in a nearby alcove.

[Guest]

"ok.......what are your guys's names btw?" she asked in a mildly frustrated tone, holding a pistol in her right hand as she walked

[Star_Dragon]

"As far as introductions go, I'm Kyle Anderson - the Ryukaissen woman with me is my wife, Anna," Kyle responded. He and Anna reached the fifth floor and saw a seeminly-ransacked sporting goods store with a open back door.

"He went this way," Anna said. She led the group toward the store. They peered through the door, then up and down the staircase.

"Guesses?" Kyle asked.

"He may be trying to get lost in the crowd;" Anna responded. "We go down."

Kyle and Anna charged down the stairs, intent on capturing this assassin...

* * *

Idiots, Kay thought. He emerged from his alcove, moving in another direction. If Star saw him, the most she would see would be a barely-visible, hard-to-track ghostly shimmer (If you've seen the Predator series, you know how this looks). He moved with stealth along the fifth level, then leapt off, swinging on the supporting bars on the underside of the sixth and final level, finally moving up to the sixth level. He moved to his right, arming and firing his El-Aurian Disruptor at the locking mechanisms of the Sporting goods store, causing the closing fence to drop, lock, and effectively shut anyone inside. With that out of the way, he moved along the sixth level, heading toward the laser tag arena, on the other side of the complex.

[Guest]

star saw the action and ran after kay, she was smart enough to not walk in without having her doubts. she looked at them through the glass and said

"ill keep going after him, find a way to escape" she said and ran to towards where kay had ran to. she held the gun in her hand, just in case he would try anything towards her

[Star_Dragon]

(Wait a sec - isn't there supposed to be security in this complex?)

Star was clever - she stayed out of the store, even as the closing fence shut before her. Still, she did not survive the three Kemoran wars, and she certainly didn't do acrobatic training on the high-gravity Yaut'ja homeworld; he had the immediate advantage. Kay moved along the sixth level under cloak, then leapt from the sixth level to a walkway down on the fourth floor. He hit the deck at a roll, recovering and continuing to trek toward the laser tag arena...

[Guest]

she heard his various movements and followed them, she saw it was leading near a lazer tag arena.

"a lazer tag arena? why would someone like him go there? he has an advantage against the other players......mabey thats why......." she thought to herself, still following him with a gun in hand as he went towards the arena. she knew he distrusted people, his aura was a mix of red, blue and black which showed multiple signs of anger, agression, rage, a feeling of distrust and hate towards others, and sadness. she knew what he felt, but she also knew he was a very caring person deep within him who wanted to trust others. she couldn't help but feel sorry for him

[Star_Dragon]

Kay arrived at the laser tag arena as the players began to file out. he moved into the control room, knocking the guards unconscious and programming the holo-emitters of the arena. With the proper programming, the arena became a small replica of 1998 downtown LA, California - complete with agonizing heat and Colombian and Jamaican drug lords waging bloody war in the streets (If you've seen the Predator series, you know this reference). He then altered the holographic protocols to let the players now entering the arena participate in the LAPD's attempts to quell the criminals, and changed the rules board to say,

"Welcome to 1998 Los Angeles! We're sorry, but we cannot spare any team matches right now, so feel free to help the LAPD; they need it. The only rule in this sim: SURVIVE!"

Kay then altered certain safety measures to allow that people with laser tag equipment wouldn't be harmed, but those that didn't have a laser tag gun and laser tag chest plate would. An interesting test of one's ability to adapt, to be sure...

* * *

Kyle and Anna arrived at the laser tag arena almost at the same time Star did. "I take it you followed him here, too?" Kyle asked.

"Kyle," Anna said, "Look." Kyle looked at what Anna was indicating - the words on the rule board.

"What are the chances he's changed things in there?" Kyle asked.

"Chances are, he's engineered a match where he has plenty of places to hide; no doubt he's taken off the safety measures, too," Anna responded. "We can expect a few surprises."

[Guest]

"well then, lets see what he's got for us" she said as she was walking in. she didnt have a lazer tag gun, only her pistol. she looked around at the scene, being as alert as possible. She wasn't going to hurt kay, she never intended to do so. but she also knew she would have to fight him soon enough.

"damn........he's got to be around here somewhere" she thought to herself. she suddenly heard someone attempting to shoot her, as the man attempted to fire, she dodged and made a clean head shot, killing him in the process

"talk about being a gentlema-" she was interrupted as a sharp pain entered her leg. she fell to the ground, bleeding and in need of medical attention. She was able to heal, but not self-heal. she had spotted kay, in the controll center of the facility. she attempted to get up but was shot again, this time in the shoulder. she looked at kay and said telepathically

"what did i............ever do to you? i know what you feel kay............i know you dont trust me..........ive felt the same way, my whole family was murdured, you had lived on a high gravity planet, where your whole species was whiped out, your the only one left.......i know how that must feel........but you just gotta think.............you just gotta.............trust me" she said with tears in her eyes and soon falling unconsious from the pain and exhaustion.

[Star_Dragon]

As a dragon-shifter, Kyle was able to do things others couldn't. It came as a complete surprise, then, when an emerald-scaled dragon with sapphire-blue dragon eyes swooped in from above, taking Star in his arms, and taking off with her to another part of the arena. He shifted back to normal holding an unconscious Star in his arms, as he exited the arena and into a secluded area, well-camouflaged and easy to overlook.

Kyle set Star down on the table, relieving her of her Mandalorian Disintegrator and setting to work immediately. He stopped her bleeding, treated her wounds, and finally sealed them. He then slapped two self-adhering battle dressings on her wounds and wrapped them in bandages. As a Dragon-shifter, he used his power to teleport them to the nearby hotel, checked out a room, and set her down on the bed. She was still out cold. He removed two wires from his mask, then removed the mask itself with a metallic pop! He set it down on the nightstand next to Star, letting it be the first thing she would see when she awoke. Gesturing toward her mind as he turned around to gaze out the window, he said,

"Awaken, Huntress Star - your part in the hunt is not over."

[Guest]

Star had soon awoken, seeing the mask then seeing kay staring out the window. she looked at him, believing this was a dream, but it wasnt

"kay.............is that.......you?" she asked in a worried and suprised tone. she thought she would still be in the arena, dying a slow and painful death, but she was in a hotel room, alive as ever. she didnt know what to think, he looked different, she had also noticed the wounds were sealed, treated, and bandaged.

"he treated my wounds............and sealed them, then bandaged them. he...........he helped me..........but why?" she thought to herself

[Star_Dragon]

"I'm a dragon-shifter, not a shape-shifter," Kay said. He turned to face Star, the scars on his face evident; he had two separate scars over his eyes, one over each eye, plus a scar on his forehead over his left eye where he'd been shot with a bullet weapon, a scar on the left side of his muzzle, and a scar over the right side of his lips. His piercing sapphire-blue dragon eyes stared Star down, still filled with mistrust and rage.

He noticed Star's unrest and said, "Have no fear - I won't hurt you." He held out Star's pistol and said, "As you can see, I have your gun." He twirled the gun on his finger as he stated, "You surprise me, Star - unlike others I have met, you display a curious level of compassion; you feel sorry for what I have been forced to live through. Even faced with your own death, you try to reach out to me - make me feel as though I am not alone. Why?"

[Guest]

'ive lost so many parts of my family, ive been thrown out a window, ive nearly been burned alive, ive had to live alone since childhood, living in fear...............you remind me of myself kay, not trusting a single soul , not being able to tell friend from foe........you have had it worse though. i wouldn't let you have to deal with that, wouldn't let you feel like you were alone...............because your not. you just feel like.............i know it sounds crazy but in a sense, like family" she said in a compassionate tone

"i know you couldn't help but defending yourself in such a way, your aura isn't clean..........it's filled with hatred, sadness, fear, distrust towards others...........and i dont like seeing anyone feel that way............beneath the scars and the hatred..........i know your a caring and pure hearted person, its just no one knows how to make it show" she said

[Star_Dragon]

(I assume you read Kyle Indari's profile?)

Kay chuckled to himself. In Russian, he said, "YA uveren, yeslimertvye mogli govoritʹ , oni by skazatʹ vam, yatsinichnyĭ ublyudok, kotoryĭ ohotit·sya na takie chuvstva ." (I'm sure if the dead could speak, they'd tell you I am a cynical b*****d who preys on such feelings.) He set Star's pistol down on the table next to the TV. "But that is not who I am. I am a hunter, not a monster; But you are correct - I cannot tell friend from foe; it is why I go everywhere armed and armored. You are also correct in that I had to live my life in conditions far worse than your own - you were not there..."

Kay blinked away tears as the memories returned in a flood of pain. "You were not there... when the Necromyans glassed Cerinia - my home world," he growled through clenched teeth. "You weren't forced to watch as everyone and everything you knew burned and died around you. You weren't forced to watch as the Yaut'ja tribe, whom you thought of as your foster family, was systematically slaughtered." Tears streamed down his face as he continued, "You've never fought the Kemorainians, as I have - you never fought in the three Kemoran wars; You may know battle, but you know nothing of war - let alone three of them, all against the same adversary.

"And most of all," he growled, his blood boiling, "You know nothing of the visions that haunt my dreams; the screams of the dead, orbiting Kemoran IV... the graveyard of the Kemorainian Rebel Insurrection. You never strode upon it's ashen surface, a place that had once been a proud metropolis." Kay turned his back, staring again out the window. "You never lived the life I was forced to live; you may have lost your family, but I lost everything; my home, my family, my peace of mind, my entire life... just ashes. Burnt and withered into nothing, like Cerinia - like the man I could have been."

[Guest]

(yes,yes i did)

i know what you mean.....and I know that what they say about you..........that they'd tell me your a cynical b*****d who preys on such feelings......i know that isn't true. i know you hunt and have lost so much............but i was betrayed my my family. my brother, he did so many horrible things to me. he starved me, he beat me nearly to death, he's tazed me, he's tried drowning me, set me on fire, even threw me through a glass window on my birthday..........i was battling for my survival......it was a battle i knew i could not win. the only thing i could do was leave and hope that i knew that i could survive on my own. and i know it wasnt anything like a war but.....it was something i will never forget.......watching him burn my mothers grave......and abuse me time and time again........no one......not even my own father cared" she said, holding back tears of everything. she knew she shouldnt be doing this when he's had it worse than her. Her eyes changed to a very dark black, she looked at him, gazing at him, knowing that she wasn't making him feel any better.

"the scars that you have........i can heal them if you want." she said. she took out a pocket knife but not to make him think she was gunna hurt him, she set in on the side tabe next to his helmet, to show she wouldn't think of hurting him, try to make him feel that she could be trusted.

[Star_Dragon]

Kay was silent as the radio began to play a certain tune. It was soft, slow - with distant guitars and faint drums. It came alive suddenly, then got softer. Kay had heard this tune before. He sang along as the singer began, "Crowded streets are cleared away, one by one; hollow heels separate as they run; You're so cold, keep your hand in mine - wise men wander while strong men die..."

Kay could no longer keep it in. The pain of his past made his knees give out under him, and he fell to his knees on the floor, crying - mourning those he lost on Cerinia. The pain of ages of slaughter and rage pressed in, crushing his mind. It was one thing to hear one's cries of agony - but to be the one who bore such pain was still quite another.

He could remember every detail as though it happened yesterday - how he stood in his home, watching as the first of the Necromyan plasma bombs fell. He remembered watching as crowds of people - friends, allies, strangers - burn and die as the plasma beams chased them, vaporizing them by the dozens. He remembered his inability to escape as his home collapsed around him. He remembered his struggle to survive on what was left of Cerinia as the atmosphere boiled away into nothing. He remembered how, after years of surviving in the ruins of what was left of his homeworld, he looked upon it's ashen surface, seeing the devastation. The unprovoked annihilation of an entire race - for what?

All of this and more flooded his mind as he cried out in agony, on his knees on the floor.