Galaxy's Edge Space Bar (archive)

[Terenia]

Efaen reaches the lake and dips a hoof in, a sigh of relief escaping her nose slits as the cool drink makes its way up her calf. She is still feeling lightheaded, and her flanks are slick with sweat despite the fact that she had not made a far trek. She is beginning to wonder if perhaps she should not have left the ship so hastily.

<A Yeerk ship,> she reminds herself, removing her hoof from the water when her thirst is satiated. She walks the short distance to the tree line, passing the freshly turned soil of Tamora's grave without a second glance. When she reaches the shadows of the nearest trees she stops, slumping back into a more comfortable position. This simple exertion has winded her thoroughly and she needs to rest.

And then what? she wonders. But she has no answer, and already her consciousness is beginning to drift...


Terenia squirms around the small pool, as though creating the relatively miniscule waves will alert someone to her presence. After a few moments of silence she cannot bear it anymore.

<Temrash, I require my host. You need to find her right now and give her back to me! Or find me another body for the time being until I can retrieve her! I am not going to wait around blind and helpless while she goes and kills our body!>

[Chad32]

"If Efaen wants you back, she will take you back. Much like last time. I don't have a host here for you to borrow, and even if I called one in I'd need good motivation to do so. Hopefully Efaen will have found a quiet and comfortable place to get some rest like she should be doing."

[Myitt]

"Sorry to interrupt," Corliss calls hesitantly, stepping out from the line of trees that separate the meadow from the broad arc of the lake.  He holds out his hands.  "I was hoping to find you, Efaen.  I'm unarmed."

[Cobra (Gymn)]

"I would volunteer, but I don't know if Terenia would get me killed or not." Dara offered. "I do need to feed..." <Are you up for it?><I guess so.> <If you say so.> "I'm going to feed and Dara has offered to be Terenia's TEMPORARY host. On one condition. You don't get him hurt."

Bear and John stood by Morgan's ship. "I need to rest. I will be in my ship." <And I need to check something out.> John headed for his ship and entered and Bear headed to the woods.

[Chad32]

Temrash thought that over. "Terenia is not trustworthy. If I put her in your head, I'd have to accompany you." He sighed. He didn't really feel like doing this, but if Dara wanted to do it he wouldn't stop the guy.

<Dara be careful?> Jagill asked. Dara was the son of Jagill's good friend.

<We'll all be careful.>

"Oh, alright. Terenia may enter Dara's head for a short time. I will go with you, and Terenia, you will follow my commands for as long as you're in Dara's body. Anything else, and I'll haul you back in here. Do you agree to this?"

[Terenia]

<Fine,> Terenia snaps at Temrash, quickly agreeing before he can change his mind. Her agitated circling comes to a halt as she waits impatiently for those on board to make the next move.


Efaen's main eyes, which had fallen to half-mast, snap open at the sound of Corliss' approach. I must have been tired not to notice him, she thinks, concern growing at her physical state. Regardless, she pulls herself up to her full height, tail arcing into a battle position.

<What do you want, Yeerk?> she asks coldly. Her thought-speech is tired, but firm.

[Cobra (Gymn)]

<Here goes nothing.> Kevlin moved Dara over to the table and leaned over. <See you later buddy.> With a slight splash Kevlin slipped into the container. Dar reached his hand into the pool and cupped Terenia in it. As he put he hand to his ear he looked at Temrash. "Keep me alive. Please."

[Chad32]

"She won't leave my sight." temrash said. He wrote something out for Ossanlin. Telling him they had gone out, and would have the hatch closed. He wrote down the button to press to get the hatch open when he wanted to leave, but the ship would lock back up after he left.

[Myitt]

"I want to know where you intend to go, if you leave Terenia," Corliss asks quietly, stepping a bit closer and keeping an eye on Efaen's tail.  It was unsheathed, as Temrash had warned.  "You know that she needs you, but no one can force you to return to her.  I just...wanted to make sure this was really what you wanted.  She'll be well taken care of, either way."

[Terenia]

As soon as Kevlin's body interrupts the calm surface of the pool Terenia wriggles forward and into the waiting hand of Dara. She eagerly waits as she is lifted through the hair, her skin drying out almost immediately. It takes only a few seconds for her to sense the familiar structure of an ear canal. As she pushes her way into the passageway, though, she immediately senses the differences between this host and Efaen.

<It has been a long time since I inhabited a Hork-Bajir for any amount of time,> Terenia says in thought-speak, more to herself than anyone else. The memories that this host dredges up are unpleasant, and she distracts herself by pushing onward. It does not take long for her to find Dara's brain, and she quickly flattens her body out, surrounding the gray matter and squeezing into the small crevices there. Her body reroutes the nerual pathways, directing them through her own body. Quite suddenly she can see again.

"Ah!" She lets out a little yelp of surprise - more of a growl, really - not entirely used to the ultra-violet spectrum that Hork-Bajir are capable of seeing. She does not move for a long moment as she quickly peruses Dara's memories, not bothering to look in-depth at anything but the last few hours, to see if she can gather any new information about the events that have transpired.


<My plans are not of your concern, scum,> Efaen says, though her tail lowers ever so slightly. <I do not need Terenia to accomplish my goals; the fact that she needs me is further proof of her own incompetence. I suppose it is that weakness that attracts you to that...creature, but I have no use for her if she will not return to the Empire for espionage purposes.>

[Chad32]

Temrash waits a bit for Terenia to gain full control. "I guess you want to run out and find Efaen. Let's go then." He says apathetically. he starts walking out towards the ramp, waiting for her to follow. He knows there's a chance she might attack him from behind, but he's listening for it. Honestly he has never fought dara, and knows he's been used as a bodyguard. This makes him concerned about giving Dara to terenia.

[Myitt]

"So you're leaving.  Perhaps with War-Prince Ossanlin?" Corliss ventures, hoping to stall her.  "I daresay you'd at least be able to continue your own personal war efforts with him."

[Cobra (Gymn)]

Dara watches as Terenia rifles through his memories of leaning against the wall and watching Efaen and Corliss and Ossanlin. He had almost forgotten what most Yeerks were like. He and Kevlin were more like partners. What was I thinking!

[Aluminator (Kit)]

To anyone paying attention, the flight path of Salem's ship near the edge of the solar system would have appeared erratic. The ship flew away from the sun, then back towards it, then away again, then back again, in different patterns and intervals. Every once in a while, a flash of energy or a projectile would issue forth from the ship, lancing away from the sun and into deep space. The energy field maintained by the ship's shields fluctuated constantly.

After some time, the erratic flying stopped, and the ship sat, motionless in space, nearly a trillion miles outside of the Space Bar itself. After a few minutes, it began to move back towards the GESB.

[Terenia]

As Terenia finishes shifting through Dara's thoughts she sharpens his focus on Temrash, who is already descending the ramp. Accessing her new hosts motor skills more thoroughly, she propells the body after him.

<I am not like most Yeerks, you know,> she says to only Dara. She does not bother clarifying, though, and her thoughts are preoccupied. Making friends with Dara is certainly not on the top of her list. As she walks Dara can see bits and pieces of her thought processes and most prominent memories. It is not nearly as much as Terenia can see of him, but there are a series of non-chronological images. A small girl, looking like a younger version of Efaen's human morph, sitting on a bed crying. The same girl, older, snarling at Terenia with hatred. Running across a field on what can only be the Andalite Homeworld. A stern Andalite warrior, glaring at Terenia as he asks her to do the unthinkable. And, of course, the last few hours. The death of her sister, Corliss leaning in close for a kiss, the many accusations that have flown her way, intermingled with rare and foreign understanding.

Terenia's slightly jerky walk smooths out as she becomes used to the natural Hork-Bajir gait. She falls into step behind Temrash, alert in case he decides to make any sort of move.


<As I said,> Efaen repeats, <it is of no concern to you.> She takes a few steps away from Corliss, intending on leaving him, but her head begins to spin almost immediately and she halts, dropping her tail almost to the ground. Squeezing her main eyes shut she wills her surroundings to settle.

<What did that dapsen Yeerk do to me?> she growls openly.