The ship's deck is alive with activity, a certain grim delight mixing with the taint of fear in the crew's determined actions. The ship's captain, a black Rhian with a face crisscrossed by scars that look like welts, stands at the rail, his fingers clenched around it, looking down. Far below them, and slowly receding as the airship retreats, the city of Babel lies, the central Tower rising like a stake from its center. Torchlight and a strange red mists illuminate most of the city … save for an immense and precisely circular area of blackness, a dark scar on the city. As the wind rushes past, it sounds like the wailing of the damned, an unholy howling that chills the bone.

A white poodle stands on the deck, not far from the captain. She wears Templar robes mixed with blue-trimmed black chitin armor, and unlike the others on the vessel, seems curiously unaffected by the hurry and rush all around her.

The poodle woman stands looking out across the edge of the ship, eyes tilted downward to view the damaged city below. As if having her memory suddenly restored, thoughts and memories of a previous and true life replacing many aspects of a hazy existence serving this captain, she blinks. Uncertainly she asks, "Captain? What has happened?"

"It's done," the Rhian answers her. "We've succeeded." A cruel elation mixes with bitterness and anger in his voice, making the clipped words laden with meaning. "Now, we just need to get out of here. Lieutenant, to your station."

As the Rhian answers her, Elise slowly makes her way to the edge of the ship and, like him, grips the rails and stares down into the gaping crater in center of the city. "Can it … be?" She shakes her head and immediately pulls herself away, eyes wide in an expression of controlled horror. "All those people … "

"Vengeance," the captain whispers. "Mine, at last. For Rephidim, for the Captain-Astromancer, for the First Ones. For my crew, and your parents, Lieutenant de Bellefeuille," the Rhian finishes, his voice gentle as he touches on the final words. "At last, we are all revenged."

Elise simply shakes her head in disbelief, as if attempting to comprehend it all. How she could possibly have been here, and painfully worse than that, assisted in the drop of the Boomer on Babel? "But … but why? It was a city … a city full of people who were only following their leaders … civilians." She turns then and focuses her disbelief on the captain, gesturing off the side of the ship with one hand. "Why was this necessary? We … you were never ordered to do this!"

Meanwhile, the crew lets out a ragged cheer. They have a haggard, weary look about them, but the completion of their mission seems to fill them with considerable relief. One of the crew, a Khatta, seems almost a ghost compared to the others, barely substantial. He looks over the side, and makes the sign of the Star and Anchor over his breast. And then … he reaches into his jacket, pulls out a small pellet, and puts it into his mouth.

The Captain turns to her, blinking in surprise. "But it was right! They struck at us, at our civilians, at our innocent wives and children! We needed to teach them a lesson. We needed to show them that Rephidim will not tolerate such an attack!" He gestures with one clenched fist triumphantly to the hole below them. "Their leaders were down there, their royalty, all those who supported the Plaguebringers when they came to us. Now all their people will understand the price they must pay for daring to match themselves against Rephidim. And not just them – but any other enemies of Rephidim who think they can tread upon us, without fear of retaliation!"

In the distance, an airship can be dimly seen against what lights remain of the city, tumbling out of control. It seems an oddity, really – one and only one other airship to be seen over perhaps the largest city on the surface of Sinai (wrestling for that distinction with Nagai City).

Eyes shift from the captain to the hazy figure in the distance, another who seems at the moment as out of place as the officer poodle. She studies the Khatta as he takes the pill, opening her mouth to stop him, but pausing as she finds herself too late and her attention stolen by the captain again. Again she turns to face him. "And in your blind search for revenge you would go this far? To … to not only go against the will of the Captain-Astromancer, but … to slaughter so many innocent people as they hurt us? You dare claim to be right? You, you are far worse than even those who piloted the Plaguebringer ships. They were following orders … you acted for your own revenge, and became unto yourself the very the very example of a people you hate most! How could you?!"

Captain Rockmore looks back at the poodle, his eyes struggling to focus on her face, as if he had not yet seen her clearly. "The Temple knew what we had to do, even if the Captain-Astromancer refused to see it." His fingers clench against the railing. "I did not do it for myself I did it for all of us! I did it for you! And your parents! Where would you be now, if those monsters had not unleashed their disease-bearing weapons upon our home? What have I done? You forget yourself! This is about what they did to us! What they would do again, and again, if we did not prove that they would pay for it!"

The crew, meanwhile, goes through the motions of operating the ship, as it continues to sail away from the city, so far unimpeded in its journey.

"It is not for you determine!" snaps Elise angrily. "The Captain-Astromancer refused to see it? You would question? Do as you felt was right … to make your own judgements on the revenge of us all? What you speak of is anarchy! We cannot make for ourselves such vast judgements! What you have done here … is unforgivable. You delude yourself with your beliefs this was correct. You are wrong. This action was the delusional operation of a traitor blinded by his own losses. You have forgotten everything in your search for revenge … and those people have paid for your poor judgement with their lives. Murderer."

"And have you struck every blow in the name of the Temple, only with direct approval of a Temple bureaucrat? Have you never done a deed with your own First-Ones-given sense of right and wrong, without first pausing to ask an officer permission?" the Rhian balks. "I did what I did for the Temple, and I realize that I shall likely pay for it with my life. My whole crew recognizes that risk. But we sacrifice ourselves for the Temple. We accept the 'shame' that shall be heaped upon us, while privately the Temple applauds our actions and recognizes it as necessary to distance itself from the 'vigilantes' that carry out its will."

Elise again shakes her head in disbelief, and speaks, "I am empowered to make the best judgement when presented with unusual or unexpected circumstance, not to destroy cities! You dare compare the emergency judgement of an officer to … to this? How can you honestly believe it allows for what you have done? This was not necessary, this was not a sudden change of plan, this was a deliberate military action originated entirely by you." The lady's hand begins to shake, an obvious representation of anger that so obviously permeates her words as she argues. "And you dare think yourself a martyr for this terrible atrocity you have done? Do you even realize that you and your crew have done to Babel what was done to us, that you have obliterated whole families … or destroyed them, in part? Even now I know there are civilians crying over the loved ones you have taken from them. Taken, and thrown to a most horrible fate … a fate I know, for I felt them all die."

Some time during Elise's speech, and it's not clear just when, something has changed about the city. A distant glow can be faintly seen, growing more bright. Upon the wind, somehow carried all the way from that distant point, comes a song. The voice sounds familiar … or, perhaps more accurately, the voices. It's a very melancholy tune, and it's not clear in what language it is sung, but the meaning is carried nonetheless … A tale is being told, of a soldier, weary from war, returning to his home. But all he finds there is that his home has been ravaged in his absence. There is none to return to.

""Originated by me," you say," the Rhian snorts. "Tell me, then, how did I single-handedly take this 'boomer' from the clutches of the Nagai, and all the way here to Babel to deliver it to the Sabaoth's palace? Are you so naive as you make yourself out to be, child?" As he speaks, one of the crewmembers, catching the hint of the tune, pauses in his work on the rigging to wipe at his eyes, and another stops in his tracks, eyes staring into space, lost in the sound.

As the crewmember listens, the song abruptly changes tone as it plunges from melancholy into madness. Anger and revenge replace remorse and grief. The pit felt in the heart of the soldier is described … and then the need to fill it with the shed blood of those who brought him to this state. The enemy have become monsters, caricatures of tormenting evil that haunt him in his madness until he must lash out against them!

Too distracted by her words to listen until she had finished, when she stops speaking, Elise perks her ears to listen. The song is somewhat familiar in the message it conveys, though it is an experience Elise has felt in a different way. Once she has her response from the captain, she glares at him briefly before shifting to an expression of surprise. "This ship. It is of Nagai origin … Not only have you done this, but you plot with Nagai as well? Or … "

"I do not plot with the Nagai." Rockmore snorts derisively. "This ship was a war prize, and its appearance least likely to arouse the suspicions of the Eeee."

As the song continues Elise lifts her hands from her side and partially covers her ears in an attempt to block it out, the maddened tale enough to make her shift her focus. "The Boomer … Nagai … this ship … that song! And … " Her eyes squint as she tries to make sense of it, nodding after a moment. " … the High Princess … So, it was not merely your infernal luck that managed this … but fellow plotters, in the Temple, how terrible. Traitors, as you are. Assistance from traitors does not make you right, captain. They are as wrong as you are."

In the song that carries on the wind, the soldier's heart fills with madness and hate, and the warrior nurtures it further, until it has become a weapon in itself. The song cries of the final revenge, of loosing the horrible heart upon the soldier's enemies until they burn and writhe with the same pain he has felt. And after this blow is stuck … numbness and silence. The wind-borne song grows still and quiet.

Abruptly, a ballista strikes the side of the vessel, coming somewhere from behind Elise, and the Vengeful Spirit rocks beneath the impact. The song-numbed crew shake off their dizziness, which is replaced by alarm.

Elise emits a sudden yelp, and staggers forward as the ship rocks from the impact. She quite nearly tumbles into the captain who is directly in front of her. "Ahh … an attack … but by whom?" she wonders out loud. After regaining her balance she spins around to search for the attacking vessel.

There is a faint sound, as the song picks up again, then builds in volume, even over the sounds of chaos on the deck as the ship falls under attack. In the gentlest of tones, there is the voice of the soldier's dead wife, calling to him across the void. She offers forgiveness, and love, if only he will return to her embrace, telling him that he doesn't need to fight anymore.

As she turns to look, she spots the assaulting airship – flying the colors of the High Princess, with Eeee lettering emblazoned across its helm, proclaiming it Revenge's Servant. The crew start to rush to their battle stations with renewed energy at the attack, but the shift in the song seems to slow them. The one who wept earlier sags against the rigging. Even Rockmore seems paralyzed at the moment, holding one hand out where it was when he argued with Elise, but his belligerent words now gone.

"How can her ship be here? She was not supposed to be … no … Captain!" The armored poodle woman turns towards the Rhian and reaches out to shake him. "Though I have half a mind to let them destroy you and your ship, I fear there is a much larger conspiracy at hand. A villain larger than even you! You must wake up! We must defend this ship!"

The captain shakes his head, dazed, and looks at Elise. "Maybe it's for the best. I've done what I needed to. Perhaps it's time for me to join my friends again, my lost crew and comrades," he says, slowly.

Elise removes a hand and points at the enemy vessel. "Look at the colors of that ship! The High Princess was reported as not being in Babel at the time of the Boomer drop. That she is here, and ready with a battleship speaks that she was expecting you. Think. The Boomer weapon has destroyed many of the Houses of Babel … many, except hers. Leaving her in control. What does that tell you? Wake up, Captain, you are being manipulated!" she tells him quickly.

"If she were to destroy you, she would appear as a great hero of Babel. You would be her prize trophy, her puppet on strings that eliminated her rivals and died on cue for the world to see," Elise adds as she desperately tries to get him to snap out of it.

The Captain shakes himself out of his stupor. "That … that's impossible!" he protests. "The weapon was centered to include her own palace! I saw it vanish with my own eyes!" His eyes narrow thoughtfully on the vessel. "This is just a lone member of her fleet that happened to escape," he says, with surety, then cries out in a voice of command, "To battle stations!"

The stupefied crew snaps out of some of the song-induced lethargy, rushing back to their positions. Some take aim at the approaching vessel, and launch return volleys upon it. Eeee figures stream from the ship, armed in assault garb.

"You are wrong! She was not present in the city, it is history," Elise explains briefly. She then turns from the captain and examines the deck for stations where her own leadership might be of assistance. "The song you hear speaks of magic! Ignore it, listen to us and our words, we will guide you if you cannot focus. All hands, prepare to be boarded!" And with that she draws her pistol and turns to take aim at the approaching Eeee.

The crew ready their weapons in response to the poodle's commands, and they switch fire from the ship to the encroaching wave of Eeee. As soon as some are within range, Elise opens fire. Her bullet rips through the fragile membrane of an Eeee's wing, and he plummets screaming towards the ground. In moments, others have joined him in involuntary descent, but still more swarm on board, and the crew rush forward to engage them in hand-to-hand.

With the ship being boarded now, Elise switches from her pistol to draw her rapier and off-handed main-gauche. The combination, though normally exclusive to duels, now serves to provide her with an off-handed attack, and she believes the weak Eeee to not carry heavy weapons or support massive strength enough to make off-handed parrying impossible. She then moves to engage the Eeee who lands closest to herself. "The Eeee are a fragile race, do not hesitate to overpower them if you think yourself strong enough and the action wise," she gives as advice to the surrounding crew already engaged.

Even as she dispatches the unfortunate bat who landed nearest her, the poodle lieutenant hears a cry from behind her, alerting her to an attack from the port side of the vessel, nearer the bow. An unfamiliar buzzing fills her ears.

Elise backs off, keeping her weapons facing the onslaught while she carefully and quickly glances behind herself to see what now assaults the ship from the port side, but wary that an attacker might try to take advantage of any break in her defense while so distracted.

No attacker immediately presents himself, and she has time to see a flight of giant, nasty-looking insects wing their way over the rail, along with a mob of Eeee, most dressed in ordinary clothing, but holding various weapons in an all-too-serious fashion. The bugs sting at those crew facing them, the blows causing an almost immediate collapse in the stricken target, and the Eeee advance cautiously along the decks. At their head is a robed, black-furred mage whose eyes hold a fey green radiance, and in his right hand he carries an odd weapon, like a balance with a dagger at its center.

"We are being attacked from the port side! Do not attempt to engage the insects at close range, use small arms fire and target their eyes if you can," commands Elise. Orders given, the poodle holds to her own advice and attempts tokeep away from the insects while edging her way towards combat and the all-too-familiar Eeee leading the group. "Cyprian!" she yells, attempting to get his attention.

The mage's attention, originally focused on the Captain, who has pulled out his saber and shouts warnings and orders to his crew, shifts towards the poodle. Despite the noise and turmoil of the roiling battle, as the crew adjust their tactics to try to deal with the encroaching horribs, his voice carries perfectly to her ears. "Lady de Bellefeuille."

From the rear of the ship, the poodle hears another cry go up, and the thudding of chitin boots onto the deck of the vessel, indicating a reinforcing wave from Revenge's Servant.

"Cyprian, this is madness, can you not see it? Look around you … the captain and his crew have been played as pawns so that the High Priestess could destroy her rivals. Her ship is here! Cyprian, snap out of it, see me and wake up!" yells Elise to the black bat. Though shouting for clarity, the woman is not prepared to lower her guard in a display of peace. She keeps herself ready in case another Eeee attempts to engage her.

As the battle rages, Eeee warriors boarding Rockmore's vessel, and horribs joining the chaos, a winged coyote soars into view.

"Of course she is here." A half-smile forms on the black bat's face, his fey eyes tinged by an anger not directed at the poodle. "We are all here. We all want the same thing." His fingers twist around the hilt of his curious weapon, then he points it towards Rockmore. "Him."

Lochinvar spies the deck below, angling into a slow dive – intending to board the airship also.

The poodle warrior standing towards the center of the deck, though on the side closest to Captain Rockmore, pleads with the black bat in front of her. "And will killing him accomplish your revenge? Just as he destroyed Babel for revenge against those who slew his family? Kill him, Cyprian, and make him a martyr. Kill him for his cause however he was directed … and you will solidify the belief in him. Others we cement their desires for revenge, that he displayed, and come for you. And, if you die your fellows will come for them. Cyprian … " The woman shakes her head. " … this is not right. He must pay for his crime, as must all traitors who assisted him. As too must the High Princess if she is involved. It must be shown what he did is wrong, or it will never end … "

The carnage on the ship seems to fade into the background, the nameless Eeee and the Rockmore's faceless crew locked together in a mortal struggle while the winged coyote, poodle, and Rhian remain unengaged by physical assault. A fourth figure moves onto the scene: A female Eeee clad in ornate, gleaming white armor trimmed by red, crowned with jewels and precious metals, and holding a great red sword in her hands. "I am here," she says, in a high voice that cuts through the noise like a knife, "to serve my people. I am here to give them vengeance."

The winged coyote finds an open enough spot to alight upon the deck, the massive chitin double-bladed axe seemingly light in his hand despite its impressive size. His attire identifies him as a Temple Ranger, yet the Babelite boarders do not move to engage him.

The smile on the dark mage's face grows a trifle larger, and he takes a step towards the Rhian and poodle. "I do not want to kill him, Lady de Bellefeuille," he says, in a voice flat and bone-chillingly cold.

The Hekoye/Vartan strides towards the group around Rockmore, glancing at the poodle briefly. Familiar, he thinks, then continues on. "What are you going to do with him, now you have him?" he asks.

The poodle woman frowns. "And will you torture him? As you … you did me? Give in to that twisted side of yours you fear so much? It will accomplish the same. No, it will be worse. You will make him a living martyr, and you will enrage those that support his quest for vengeance. It will do nothing in the long term to help any of this. All it will do is sate your momentary desire for revenge. Go home, Cyprian. Tend to those who have been hurt in this … those innocent people. Do not continue here. Allow me to handle him, and you will have in a way what you desire. You will have justice," argue Elise, her words directed between the black bat and the High Princess.

Off the side of the ship … there is a point of light that is soaring into the air, drawing closer. As it continues to approach, it resolves into an angelic being … a winged ki'rin woman, impossibly beautiful and radiant.

The Rhian whinnies, "Nobody has me yet!" And with that, he swings his sword, parrying a blow from one of his assailants, and responding with a strike aimed to disembowel one of the nameless Eeee from the High Princess's vessel.

"I want him dead," the armored female Eeee says, glaring at the Eeee mage. "Nothing less will satisfy the wound that divides my city, that infects my people. I am High Princess Saraizadze, and I will see Justice done!"

"Please, stop all of this fighting!" Envoy urges as she alights onto the deck. "This is not the way to close old wounds!"

"No! You must not kill him! Nothing can be accomplished if you kill him! It is true he is guilty, no matter how it was decided, it was decided by him to drop that weapon … but you must not kill him. If you, or Cyprian kills him you will make him a martyr. And this will not be the end of your suffering. For others will follow his example … and it will never end," responds the poodle officer. "We must stop this. Allow me to bring him to justice, and I will see he gets the punishment he has earned. Everyone will see. And … perhaps it will finally end."

"I had the understanding," says the winged coyote, now seeming to recognize the poodle more, "that Rephidim did not seem interested in finding this person for trial or punishment."

Cyprian lowers his arm to his side, looking away from the Rhian to focus directly on Elise, as if truly seeing her for the first time this evening. "No. I do not want to kill him. And I do not want to do to him … what I did to you, either. I only want to show him what he's done. I want him to understand what he did to us. As I understand it. And as I think you understand it, too, Elise." He keeps his voice soft as he speaks, but the words carry.

"Justice! Justice from a poodle! Bah!" The High Princess gestures angrily with her sword. "What does Rephidim know of justice? They could not even find him, one of their own! Though they pronounced him traitor, they cared nothing for capturing him – they have shielded him instead!"

Looking to Cyprian as she approaches, Envoy says, "That sounds reasonable, Cyprian. And in return, you will also strive to understand why he did what he did, correct? Anything less is not Justice, for there will be no balance to Rephath's scales."

Elise glances to the winged coyote and shakes her head. "That is not true. This man has allies in the Temple, but they are all traitors as he is, and deserving of the same punishment. I am representative of the Temple. He is guilty, and I will see justice done. This cannot continue!" She then focuses on Cyprian and nods to him. "You … you know, I know you do. Cyprian … I will trust. And I will … add my memories to your own, that they might come from us both. Come forward."

The Princess looks triumphant. "So! You admit that he is guilty! Then it is only fitting that his punishment be carried out here, at the site of his transgressions. Or is it that Temple justice for his 'guilt' would be to slap him on the wrist, and tell him 'naughty boy, don't do that again without your muffler and woolen mittens, or you might catch cold'?"

The armored poodle nods to the High Princess as well. "And many would scoff at the idea of justice from an Eeee, High Princess. You know that. I know greatly of justice. I also know of peace. And, I know he is protected. But not by everyone. Certainly not by me. I can find him. And, I can find those that helped him. I swear to you he will see justice. And that those who support him will understand that he is wrong," she tells her.

"His fate, I am certain, will to be executed in a manner that allows for everyone to understand what he has done and see it must not continue," adds Elise, answering her question.

Envoy smiles to the High Princess, "You are still Yodhsunala, are you not, Saraizadze? You should listen to the poodle, for she has dared walk Sunala's path herself. By that token, you should give her some respect."

"I will show him all that I know of the consequences of his actions," Cyprian answers Envoy, evenly, "And accept whatever he offers in return. I ask nothing more than this." His green gaze does not waver as he advances at Elise's gesture, Rephath's weapon held like a scale at his side.

The High Princess glares at the mage, then back to poodle, snapping, "And just what is this fate? You determine his guilt, but you say nothing of the punishment for this crime. Is this yet another example of Temple trickery?"

Lochinvar watches the exchanges, looking mildly confused. It would seem that out of everyone here, he seems to know the least of what is happening, not knowing too much of the inner workings of either justice system.

Elise glances towards Envoy, looking surprised, and then turns that surprise to the High Priestess. "It is true … I have, in a way, done so," she admits. She then looks to Cyprian and moves to intercept him with a nod, still speaking to the High Priestess as she does so. "As an officer of the Temple and oft the hand of justice myself, I assure you the fate of a traitor such as he is execution. However, before he meets his punishment I would see he understands it and walks to it willingly. And I would have Babel and Rephidim understand his folly, that they not repeat it."

Envoy looks to Lochinvar, and asks, "What says Rephath? Easy vengeance now, or more satisfying and broader justice later? Surely, the prospect of bringing down powerful figures in the Temple is worth more than a moment of bloody catharsis." Smiling to the Princess again, she adds, "Besides, it would set such a fine example that even the powerful are not immune to justice, wouldn't it?"

In the background, the fighting has still been raging, despite the verbal exchanges. However, it has definitely not been going in the favor of Captain Rockmore, as his men continue to fall to the sword, and the attackers seem to be hardly lacking in numbers. At last, several Eeee warriors charge him in unison, and though he severely wounds one, he is pinned to the ground, and his sword wrenched from his hand.

"From what I have noticed from Rephath, I think she would opt for an easy vengeance," replies the coyote.

Elise jerks to spin around as she notices the captain has fallen, and takes a few steps forward to gesture the combatants to cease. "High Princess! Cyprian! Stop them, do not let them kill him!" she pleads with the two Eeee now behind her.

The black bat mage takes Elise's hand with his left, still holding the dagger scales in his right. "They will not," he says, seeming certain of it, and without other comment on the ongoing debate. He leads the poodle to where the Captain lays, his breathing labored, jaw clenched, while several Eeee hold him down.

The High Princess, seemingly noticing the winged coyote for the first time, nods in agreement. "Yes, I should think so. Five years of waiting has been quite enough. I shall not be inclined to wait even longer for the legendarily slow gears of the Temple bureaucracy to turn out the same justice that I can just as easily mete out here."

"And then what?" Envoy asks the Princess. "Will that end all the mourning and anger? Will it bring any reparations from the Temple? Or will it just make you look like a hero?"

Seeming relieved by Cyprian's certainty Elise follows along with the black Eeee without objection. Her gaze falls on the pinned captain, though her words are directed behind her towards the High Princess. "This is not simply your justice … it is mine as well. He is a traitor to me, and what I believe in, as well. If what he did engulfed Rephidim in war again … who else would have died? My sister? Cyprian? Myself? This is my justice, too," she explains.

The Eeee around Rockmore shift, it seems by instinct, to leave room for Cyprian and Elise at either side of the Rhian's head. The Captain grits his teeth, then spits, as the black bat kneels beside him, but the mage ignores it, looking instead to Elise, still holding her hand. "Kneel with me, my lady," he says, his voice curiously gentle, so low that those farther away are unlikely to hear it. "I must call on my gods; I would that you call on yours. Let this be justice for us all."

The High Princess looks coolly to Envoy and Elise. "You have had your chance these past five years. Now, we claim our vengeance. You offer us nothing but stalling."

"I will do as you ask. Cyprian, I am glad you see," says Elise to Cyprian. The poodle woman then kneels beside the captain and, after sheathing her dagger, puts the tip of her rapier to the deck and wraps her hands around the grip. She then places her head against her hands, assuming a position of praying. The way the sword is aligned it vaguely resembles a Star and Anchor which seems to hold some significance for her. Her eyes close and she nods her head slightly. "I am ready Cyprian. First Ones, may you heed my prayers."

"That is the problem with Justice," Envoy comments. "There is always that lurking fear that you might be in the wrong. It takes courage to seek Justice. Vengeance requires only fear."

The High Princess looks to Envoy. "Do you mean to suggest that Rockmore might be wrongfully accused? That he did not drop the weapon upon Babel?" She looks to the Rhian. "Tell us. Tell us you are innocent. Tell us you did not drop the 'boomer', and kill eighty-thousand people."

The Rhian spits again, this time tinged with red. "I'll tell you no such thing. I give my life in service to the Temple and to the First Ones, to deal a blow against Rephidim's most wretched enemy. Long stand the Temple!"

"Those matters are not yours to take into your own hands," Lochinvar says. "While it's known that Rephidim has problems with Babel, what was done was done in cold-blood, without reasons and formal declaration of hostilities."

"Silence," commands Elise, ordering the captain. "You represent no such thing. The First Ones speak of duty, and service. The Temple does not abide by traitors such as you. You have abandoned the Temple and the First Ones. All you see is vengeance. And you too, High Princess, see his vengeance? He hates you. And you, hate him. Draw from your shared desire for vengeance what you will."

As the debate continues to whirl around him, Cyprian remains indifferent to it. He places the scales above Rockmore's head, and speaks with almost a chanting cadence. "Zakaro, through your gifts I craft this spell. Sunala, show how well he served You in all the slaughtered souls. Inala, tell of the pleasure he has stolen from our lives. Gorphat, show how his actions weakened all of us. Rephath, let him know all that his Vengeance has wrought. Blakat, let him feel true madness from the pain he's wrought. Barada, make him understand." With that, he utters a single syllable, and the light dies from his eyes, while the ship is suddenly rocked. A tidal wave of red mist erupts on all sides, howling spirits lashing within its grasp.

"I do not mean to suggest that the Captain is innocent, Princess," Envoy says. "Only that you have reason to fear Justice. After all, if it were to be carried out, and all of those who supported the bombing of Babel exposed and punished, then whom would you have left to hate? It would be much harder for you to rally the people without an enemy, wouldn't it?"

As Cyprian reaches mid-way through his chanting Elise begins her own. "First Ones, guides of the Procession and our lives let him know his folly. Show him sorrow, that he has abandoned you. Let him see your disappointment in his misguided faith. Teach him of those who have passed on to meet you. Let him hear their names, and see the paths he has shattered … and his own," she prays quietly, finishing moments after Cyprian does.

The red mist cascades upwards, then whirls around the poodle, Eeee and Rhian like a tidal pool, before splitting into two separate streams, one pouring into the poodle, and the second passing through Cyprian – and from them, cascading into the body of the Rhian. Rockmore's eyes widen, then roll back into his head, his body twitching at the assault.

At some length, the seemingly endless torrent of streaming red mist dies to a trickle, then vanishes entirely. The black bat mage slumps forward onto his hands, eyes closed, while Rockmore's body lies still upon the deck, save for the slight rise and fall of the Rhian's chest.

Saraizadze braces herself against the railing, during the rocking of the ship, and snorts derisively as it finally eases. "Well! I stand corrected. Your treatment of him is far more merciful than quick death."

"His death would only serve to protect those that supported him," Envoy points out. "Surely you don't want to give powerful enemies of Babel such security, Princess."

Elise, like Cyprian, slumps forward from the onslaught that passed through her. In order to remain from crumpling to the ground completely she removes her left hand from her sword and braces herself, her face strained by a sudden exhaustion.

The High Princess spares a confused look for the Exile, then shakes her head. She stalks from the railing to the prone captain, and prods his side with the toe of her boot experimentally.

"He … he will know. Know, as Cyprian and I know. And perhaps, more. He will know their deaths … and … our gods willing, all he has wrought," explains the poodle quietly to the High Princess, her words made slow by her exhaustion.

Envoy looks to Cyprian, and quietly asks the Mind Mage, "Did you learn why he did it?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the Eeee ruler says to Elise, exasperation in her voice. The black mage responds neither to Saraizadze's comment nor to Envoy's, seeming barely conscious.

The Aeolun notes Cyprian's exhaustion, and goes to stand next to Lochinvar. "Are you here voluntarily, Lochy, or did you get drafted as well?" she asks the Ranger.

Lochinvar replies, "If walking down a path and finding myself plagued with nightmares suggesting that I find this person constitutes drafting, then yes."

Elise seems to have regained some of her energy in her rest, and uses it to pull herself over to Cyprian. Her sword, tip-down to the deck and it had been, is pulled with her. "So many people dying … When, when the Boomer weapon impacted Babel, Cyprian became aware of it. He … felt them all die. And through him, I knew their agony as they expired far above us. Now … Captain Rockmore knows. I have also asked that the First Ones teach him of his … his folly, that he know by them the truth. That he has betrayed them, and the Temple," she says. As she pulls near Cyprian she reaches a hand out and places it on his arm. "Cyprian has asked much the same of the Seven Sisters. And, perhaps now he is learning in turn the feelings of Captain Rockmore."

"That's a nice axe," the Aeolun comments, looking over Lochinvar's weapon. "I don't suppose you've thought of turning it on Rephath herself, have you? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just curious." She then focuses her attention back on Elise and Cyprian.

Turning to look at Envoy, Lochinvar asks, "And what would that solve?"

If the mind mage is aware of Elise's gesture, he doesn't show it. His glazed, but no longer glowing, eyes look sightlessly at the Rhian before him, who is no more responsive.

"I don't know if it would solve anything," Envoy says, shrugging. "It just struck me as a paradox. Can one seek revenge on Vengeance? I'm still not sure how the challenges of the Sisters should be met."

Having changed position as far as she seems inclined to do, Elise lays her sword down and uses that free hand for support. "I wish you luck in your search, Cyprian. Find what it is that tortures him so," she whispers to him. And to the High Princess she offers, "This is not over. This is but a dream. Nothing is over, just yet. But I tell you this: When the time comes for the captain to meet his waking justice, you will find me there. And I hope, then, that you will ease your wrath and know I spoke the truth here. He will pay for his crime."

The night seems curiously silent, and after a few moments the people on board realize that it's because the earlier, omnipresent noises – from the battle, from the howling of the hunting groks, the wails of the dead – have all abated. Even the buzzing horribs have vanished, leaving nothing but the whisper of the cool night breeze.

Lochinvar handles the axe absently. "I don't know," he answers, "and I am not prepared to chance finding out."

The High Princess is just in the middle of yet another rebuttal to Elise when a winged warrioress in ruddy, chitin armor glides up, just off the side of the ship. She lightly lands on the deck, and casually strides over toward Lochinvar, brushing aside a braid of gray hair hanging over one shoulder. Then … she snatches the axe from his hands. "Thank you all for coming tonight," she says. "However, I am SICK of listening to you all prattle on. Rockmore is now reliving eighty-thousand deaths, give or take a thousand, repeatedly, and his mind is turning into mush. All right. I'm happy. The dead are happy. The living are happy. We're all happy now, right? Now … " Her brows furrow. "GO HOME!"