It took me a while but here it is. Hopefully this can tide people over until ARC4460 posts again. House of Shadows: A Dreg's Tale Chapter 1 Part 1 Vrelis-Kell of Shadows was in chains. She knelt in pain in front of her captor, her legs broken and twisted by treacherous Vandals. They had numbered too many for her size to matter and she was given no chance to fight when they came for her. Captains, Vandals, and Dregs of both Fallen Houses watched as Zuliks-Kell of Bones drew his swords and raised them above his head. "Vrelis, Kell of Shadows is no more! House of Shadows is disbanded!" He barked. Zuliks-Kell of Bones removed Vrelis' lower arms with one simultaneous swing. Vrelis roared in agony. Zuliks sheathed his swords and walked over to the Ketch's throne. He plucked up the glowing spear that laid across the armrests and sat down with it in his hands. Its sleek pale silver body was filled with light along its length. The tip was long and narrow, with a circle of pure light in the blade's center. The light shimmered in many colors, never staying one color for more than a second, and its beauty held all eyes present. Truly it was a Fallen relic from before the Whirlwind. "Those who were once House of Shadows, are now House of Bones! Lay your blades down, and swear fealty to your new master!" Vrelis shook with pained rage. She had never been so angry before. She roared again, making sure all in the room heard her doom call. "All who betrayed me will know my wrath! I will rend your flesh and devour your souls!" She glared at Zuliks. "Brother of mine! You who would sit upon MY throne wielding MY scepter, I will end you on its tip and drink of your Ether!" Zuliks let out a hearty laugh. "Savor your own ether Sister, you will need it the coming months as you rot in the brig. You will be killing nothing, Vrelis, Dreg of the Houseless." Vrelis slowly slumped over. Zuliks was right, with her former house full of traitors and chains on her wrists she had little chance to wreak vengeance on them. Any attempt to fight back would lead to her death, as her brother had only spared her because of their shared blood. She would indeed rot in the brig, losing most of her ether and reverting back to a Dreg. Left long enough and even the other Dregs would belittle her. All hope began to leave her when she noticed a dark grey Shank hiding at the back of the room. She had reworked it herself but she had never relied upon it for anything of difficulty, mostly drinks and platters of food. It certainly wasn't a typical Shank designed for combat but it had most of the coding and mechanical features still intact. She thought she could use it in an attempt to escape, if only she could get close enough to adjust its programming. With this small chance she would reclaim what was rightfully hers and slay her betrayers. Most importantly, she would again hold the key to ancient Eliksni technology which she had scoured the cosmos so long for. Any further thoughts she was about to have ended when a Captain struck her in the head with the butt of his gun. They dragged her to a cell deep in the belly of her own Ketch, where it was devoid of anything else as the House of Shadows rarely took anything captive. When she awoke, she heard and saw nothing. The darkness did not scare her and the silence was calming. She would have been at peace for awhile if not for the throbbing in her legs. Ugly things they had become. She would need them removed and regrown, but she doubted anyone would even give her that level of dignity. If only she could get free and somehow get to the medical trauma pods, she could fix her legs and her arms as well. If only. She propped herself up against the back wall and began to let her mind wander through thoughts as they came. Thoughts of the far off solar system and the planet in it where she and Zuliks had grown up, now crushed under the boots of Cabal. Thoughts of her original House, the now scattered House of Night. Thoughts of the Spear-Scepter-Key, which had been bestowed upon her from the Order of Eyes to unlock the ancient secrets of the Eliksni. She needed to get it to the lost Temple of the Lightbringer, but more importantly she needed to get it away from Zuliks. He would not use it to reunite the Houses under one banner, He would use it to burn all other banners so that only his remained. House of Bones indeed. Just as she began to feel sleep come over her, she noticed a small light in the distance. It came closer until it was right in front of her cell. She still could not see its true shape but she recognized the light now. It was the little grey Shank. She felt relief that it had evaded the guards. Zuliks was likely tearing apart her Ketch to find anything of value, and a personal Shank like hers could contain video logs full of useful secrets. The Shank hovered close enough for her to reach, but she still had to drag her body across the cell. She groaned and ground her teeth as she moved, until she had pulled herself up to the bars near the Shank, and laid down. She was exhausted, but she knew if she didn't use the Shank to escape now, she would likely never get free. She grabbed the Shank through the bars and started to open small compartments in the bottom of it. Most of the tools she needed to rework the Shank were there. She found the small flashlight and turned it on; although Fallen could see better in the dark than most, they still needed light to work on delicate operations. She shut the Shank down and began removing its outside casing. Inside it looked like all other Shanks except for the distinct lack of a weapon. She would need to fix that. She modified it for about an hour, tinkering with what little scrap it had built in. When she was done, it had a weak electric arc pulse generator built from its spare power nodes, and a sharpened shank attached to the underside of the other Shank like a bayonet. It wasn't gonna win wars but it would get her past the guards. She turned it back on and had it open the door. It didn't even have to hack the system as the guards did not think anyone would release her. Fools. She used the Shank to help drag her up to the brig's entrance, keeping her pain silent as best she could. When she could see the guards far ahead she had the Shank stop, and ordered it to kill them as quickly and quietly as possible. If her adjustments to its programming had been sufficient, it would do exactly what she wanted. It hovered over to the first of the two guards and shocked him at the base of his neck. He fell down and spasmed for a moment while the Shank rammed the little shank into the second guards throat, before he could let out a shout. Both were definitely dead and it seemed no one had heard the event. With its task complete, the Shank returned to Vrelis. "Good job, shank-on-a-Shank." It beeped once for affirmation. She grabbed onto it again and began the torturous journey through the Ketch, avoiding guards where possible and killing them with Shank-n-shank when not. She managed to get to the medical trauma pods without much trouble, as no one had been injured during the betrayal except her and so the halls around the facility were empty. She made the Shank lock the doors and prepare one of the pods for a healing cycle. She had nothing to fight back with so she had the Shank guard the entrance nearest to her while her body was restored. The pod was strangely comfortable, like a cocoon. It takes a lot of time to mend such large wounds, and she fell asleep during the process. She awoke when she heard banging on the outside door and the Shank opened her pod. Her legs had been regrown though her lower arms were still gone. Her legs were a little stiff, but they would be back to normal after a bit of use. Without a weapon, she would need to rely on her hand-to-hand skills and the makeshift Shank/shank combo to deal with whoever was at the door. Right before she opened the door, the alarm sounded. When she finished opening the door, the two Vandal guards were too busy paying attention to the alarm instead of her. They were startled, and it was easy enough for her to smash their skulls against the wall. She picked up one of their rifles and a sidearm as well as their swords. Weapon problem eliminated, now all she needed was an escape route. The Ketch was too large for her to get out the front door without anyone noticing so she would have to use the escape pods. She started down the hallway with the Shank following behind, remaining careful to avoid detection. One thing being the Kell of Shadows had taught her was patience and stealth were as deadly as any missile, if applied correctly. She managed to make it to the escape pods without any more incidents which was strange. Normally there would be guards but the room was empty. She didn't waste any more time and began to climb into the pod. When the Shank came near, she strapped it onto the floor, hoping it wouldn't come free during the descent. It wouldn't be pretty if it did. She closed the hatch, and launched the pod towards the alien world below. During the descent she noticed on the screen that Cabal were assaulting her stolen Ketch. Zuliks' Ketch was also under heavy fire from Cabal dropships. "So that was why the alarm was raised. They might be too busy to know I have escaped. This is good." She thought. No wonder the guards hadn't been more of a nuisance. Most had been partying with Zuliks, and the ones still on duty were immediately called to fight the Cabal. Now she just had to survive the pod landing with Shank/shank. Chapter 1 Part 2 in next comment due to size limit on posts.