Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.
 

CHAPTER TWO:
A Little Crazy

Cloak meditated in his secreted spot and he saw a vision swim before his eyes. It was Shadow, on a stage wearing a red cloak that made her look somewhat like Little Red Riding Hood, She held a rather antique-looking microphone on a stand, and began to sing:

"What color's the sky?
Oh, my love! Oh, my love!
You tell me that it's red
Oh, my love! Oh, my love!
Where should I put my shoes?
Oh, my love! Oh, my love!
You say, 'put them on your head!'
Oh, my love! Oh, my love!
You make me a little crazy,
A little bit crazy!
The way you keep me guessing,
I'm nodding and I'm yessing.
I'll count it as a blessing!
That I'm only a little crazy!"

Then her father, Cloak's brother-in-law, a bottlenose dolphin-form Realm Walker, joined his daughter on stage, wearing rather causal duds. He sang:

"The loco that you make me
It is just a little crazy.
The sense that you're not making --"

His daughter, Shadow, chimed in:

"The liberties that you're taking!"

Then they both, father and daughter sang together, concluding the song:

"Leaves my head shaking
You are just a little crazy,
A little bit crazy!"

Then the song ended with a flourish, and Cloak opened his eyes. He hadn't any idea if that had really happened, or it was just his imagination.

***

"Atrocian, Biosovortian, Cerebrocrustacean, Detrovite, Ectonurite, Florauna, Gems, Hazari, Iskoort, Jo-adian, Kryptonians, Leeran, Mynock, Namekian, Omicronian, Peg doll, Quintesson, Raxacoricofallapatorian, Saiyan, Tangean, Uxorite, Vulpimancer, Wookie, Xenocyte, Yuuzhan Vong, and Zirkonian entries have all been updated," Guy said, as if he was siting a checklist. "We really do have the most comprehensive species database, don't we?"

"It doesn't include many, if any at all, Terran species, though," Goom pointed out, somehow holding a clipboard without hands and he wasn't using his elliptical feet to hold it either. Many RAFians just accepted this as something that Goombas could do, without question. "Then again, Earth is well-known for its unique biodiversity. . . ."

Then Goom noticed something that distracted him. It alarmed him.

"Cut the hard lines, Guy." Goom said, intensely. "I'm serious! We're being hacked!"


SOURCE SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg8116aeD7E; and don't get mad that I translated (roughly) the Spanish -- remember, Realm Walker language is instantly translated, if the word is translatable within reason.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THREE:
Creeping Doubt, Being Proactive

As it turned out it was just the species database that was compromised. The personnel files, the archives, the personal computers of the various RAFians -- it was untouched. Was it because they managed to find the hacker out or because the species database was all they wanted? They couldn't be sure on the motives of this hacker, whoever -- or whatever it was. Still, the forum at large were informed about this.

Cloak felt distinctly aggrieved. He thought he knew why the hacker, whoever it was, was after the species database. Those files were rather extensive about the species' planet of origin, their capabilities including powers of any nature, their natural disposition, and their . . . and their weaknesses. It was this that the Realm Walker was sure that was the thing that the hacker was after. There was even an entry on his own species, which he knew would be considered blasphemy against his kind. Then again, he was already pretty much cast out from "polite society" there -- those snooty, snotty, holier-than-thou bigots.

Splixsons. Pyronites. Orishans. Florauna. Gimlinopithecus. Talpaedan. Protost. Lepidopterrans. Tetramands. Polar Manzardills. Ectonurites. Pernese dragons. Galileans. Aerophibians. Uxorites. Biosovortians. Vulpimancers. Nemuinas. Cloak provided information on all those species for the database. And for what? For completion sake, and nothing more. He failed to take into account the possibility that anything in the forum could have possibility have been compromised, which was rather stupid and naive on his part, considering how many times that they had to abandon it earlier last Dweller year. Before they instituted Code Avalon, which wasn't a perfect defense, admittingly, but it was sufficient.

Sure, there were hostile, authoritarian members of these species, but those individuals did not represent the species as a whole. If any harm came to those innocent species . . . he would be responsible. He would have to shoulder some accountability if this information was used against them, because he wouldn't just be able to shift the blame to someone else. No, he would have to take the blame . . .

He felt incredibly foolish. The files were only loosely encrypted, and a particularly ingenious hacker could penetrate it with crude, elementary ease. They had gotten complacent. They had been unguarded. They had gotten sloppy. And Cloak wasn't free from these insults, as he was just as guilty for this lax security. It was as if they allowed their internet security to expire and kept using the database. It should have been an isolated system, with no hard lines outside the forum. This was a mistake, they all saw it as such and were working to improve the situation. Requiring a voice-print analysis, retinal scan, Mark scan, etc. to access.

Cloak had worked through his disbelief at this, and his anger at himself was ebbing away into acceptance. But all this improvements to the systems . . . it was too late. The information was out there now, and it could just be used for good or ill, or nothing at all and discarded -- but that was being optimistic to the point of delusion.

There had to be something they could do about this. And he didn't mean just the improved security of the database, but something a bit more proactive to get that information back and out the hands of whoever this hacker was. This information was just too easily abused by those with looser morals and backwards ethics -- too dangerous in the wrong hands. Yes, some species were inherently dangerous, but this information could be used to blackmail and extort them. This was bad, a bad security leak on the RAFians' part.

And, oh, by the First Light, if the likes of Bern Bridges and his ilk found out . . . they'd never hear the end of it. And their PR was on the uptick as of late. They needed to correct the error. They made a grievous mistake, one that desperately needed to be corrected. Cloak's mind worked furiously about this, trying to come up with a way to correct it, to delete the information from whatever computer the hacker has it stored on.

But who exactly would go through this tremendous endeavor? Who would go through all the tedious amount of work and effort to get that information?

His first instinct was Malice, of course, but this didn't seem like her style. She wasn't this . . . impersonal. She was cunning, sure, but she also wanted him to know that it was her, that it had her Tasmanian devil claws all over it. If she was behind this, then her motives must be changing -- all her schemes were for no other purpose but her amusement, despite the harm to Dwellers that it could cause.

Then he thought of the Knights of Humanity. It would make sense that they would want this information to destroy all non-Terran species, and chase them away from Earth. It does fit with their M.O., with their rhetoric of purging the world of all non-Terran life. Fortunately, they weren't smart enough nor had the resources to set their sights higher than that. Which brought Cloak to doubt that they were behind this. They were a threat once, but they soon devolved into a group of tribalist idiots who shout and scream incoherently about things they had little knowledge on.

Then the Realm Walker considered Cadmus. He knew that they were technologically-minded, but beyond that, he and the other RAFians didn't know much, if anything at all. They were a real possibility, but they didn't know enough to make such a definitive conclusion of their involvement -- unless the hacker had their symbol, their sigil, somewhere on their person -- the strand of DNA within a beaker, within an eye, within a red triangle.

Or it was entirely possible that it was some faction or individual that they had not encountered before . . . but there had to be something they could do. Someway that they could be proactive about this . . . some way . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOUR:
The Hacker

In a dark room, a shadowed woman watched a screen she had a mindless drone, which looked somewhat like a vaguely antropomorphized turtle, working on. She had it just copy all the files, not download all of them and delete them. She was actually looking for a particular file. A particular file that would help her out her situation.

She was attached to a bulky machine, that was roughly shaped like a potato, in which she was reclined into. It was rather like a hospital bed with a lot of seemingly unnecessary tech in it. But it was clear from a glance what this machine was for -- it was keeping her alive. She had no intention of dying just yet. She was staying alive out of pure spite and vengeance, for she was slighted and wronged in a most egregious way, she felt.

Her name was Miranda Sigyn, and she used to be a C-list actress, before giving that up for a bad job. Then she went into CADMUS, though she wasn't privy to most of the underhanded, cruel aspects of it. At least, until she became the head of it. But she was a very selfish person, in addition to being very vain. She considered herself more beautiful than any other -- a mortal Aphrodite. She concerned herself more with her appearance than the day-to-day minutia of the organization. She didn't endear herself to the employees, and she seemed almost willfully oblivious to this.

Then came the inevitable conclusion.

She was ousted from her position, and supplanted with that Waller woman. Naturally, Miranda didn't think too highly of her, but all her criticisms of her were appearance-based and not policy-based. Miranda criticized Waller for her weight, her choice of clothing, and the like. Nothing substantive, and she knew it. Miranda knew that Waller was the superior choice, and she refused to acknowledge it. She refused to acknowledge it, even though it was obvious. Her ego was actually that fragile and she was quite thin-skinned. She believed herself to be the greatest -- and she wanted to believe that and nothing else.

She didn't give up her position easily, and she quite literally fought for it, trying to make it impossible for her to be ousted. But this came far too late, and the usurping had already been effect. She, desperate, blew up the office. Yes, some would say that was an unnecessary escalation and a blatant overreaction. And it was, but the usurpers were unharmed in the explosion, and even the office survived mostly intact. The damage was mostly cosmetic somehow. This was a testament to her incompetence and hastiness.

But that's the reason why she was stuck in this machine. She would have died had she not gathered up the materials and cobbled together this device. Sure, she made bad decisions in her life, but she wasn't entirely stupid. She still was technically proficient enough to make this to save her life. But it wasn't enough. This wasn't a permanent solution. Though she did have enough resources to make drones to help her out, and she learned about the species database quite accidentally, by seeing footage of the RAFians consulting it remotely via their communicators.

Then she remembered an alien creature that she only had vague memories of that might be able to save her, and help her restore her beauty. Problem was, she couldn't remember the name of the species. She thought it began with a "B" or maybe a "T", perhaps a "C", though she didn't think so. She couldn't quite remember. She didn't have the best of memories, hence why she didn't last as an actress.

She had all the files, or so she thought, and she began her search greedily for the name of the species that might save her. She hadn't given a single thought as to how she would procure a specimen of such a species, but she plowed on anyway. She decided, however to be thorough. She started with "A".

The first entry was for the A'askvarii. They were a race of green, white-eyed, bald humanoids with cephlopod traits, namely with three tentacles sprouting out from either shoulder in place of arms, with suction grippers on the ends of each tentacle. They were bipedal, with each leg ending in a three-toed taloned foot. They were indigenous to the planet O'erlanii, the third planet in orbit around the star Deneb. The A'askvarii possess gills in place of a nose, stood roughly five feet, nine inches tall, and had closely-spaced, needle-like teeth. A fairly advanced race, they had rudimentary warp-drive capability and a pacifistic anarchic system of government, which was technically leaderless.

No, no, that wasn't the one. One to the second entry -- A-Chiltarians. They were a species of sapient humanoids which possessed multi-faceted eyes, four-digit hands, three-toed feet and purple-grey fur covering the entirety of their bodies. Their culture remains tribal despite having reached the interstellar era, and they were mildly aggressive and temperamental. They are indigenous to the planet A-Chiltar III, the third planet orbiting the star A-Chiltar, known to the scientists of Earth as R Monocerotis. Despite the fact that their homeworld possesses a high quantity of methane in the atmosphere, it is apparent that they can somehow breathe in Earth's atmosphere, although it is possible that they wore specialized breathing apparatuses.

That wasn't it either. She continued through the Aaamazzarite, Aakon, Abbai, Abinyshi, Abominor, Ab'Ugartte, Abyssin, Abzorbalovian, Acanti, Accipiptero, acid lizards, acklay, Adarian, Adder Moss, Adipose, Adorian, and Advozse entries. None of these were the ones that she was looking for. None possessed the powers that she was looking for.

Then she looked at the Aedian, Aenar, Aerophibian, Aganof, and Aggedor entries. None of these were the right species, either, but she wanted to be thorough.

Then she looked at the Ailon, Aing-Tii, aiwha, Ajisa, akk dogs, Akrennian, Akurian, Akwin, Albeniz, Alcidian, Aldebaran Beidafang, Aldebaran Mud Leech, Aldebaran Serpent, Aleena, Alpha Centauran (1), Alpha Centauran (2), Altairean Bouquet Tree, Alvarian Space Wyrm, Alzarian (1), Alzarian (2), Alzarian spiders, Amani, Amaran, Amazonian, Ambassador of the City State of Binding Light, Amber Ogia, Ambrian Bat, Amebid, Amedea, Amperi, Amphi-Hydrus, Amphibiosan, Andalite, Andorian, Androgum, Androzani Pine Tree, Anguilla, Ankari, Anodite, "Anointed People" (the name they called themselves), Anomid, Annoo-dat,, Anooba, Anothian Living Crystals, Ansionian, Antarean, Antarean poisonous butterfly, Antican, Anubian Baskurr, Anuran, Anx, and Anzati with renewed vigor. But these were not the species that she was looking for.

Then she looked at the Apokorat, Appoplexian, Aqualish, Aquan, Aquanna, Aquitian, Arachne, Arachnichimp, Aramandi, Araquia, arboreal octopus, Arburian Pelarota, Archanan, Arconan, Arctic Horny Whelmer, Arctic Polar-vanes, Arctic Sedge Slider, Arcturan, Argazdan, Argolin, Aridian, Arkanian, Arkarian, Arkenite, Arkonian, Arlian, armored eel (Yavin IV), Arpor-Lan, Arquillian, Arquindae, Arrak snake, Arrakisian, Arrowtongue, Ash Angel, Askajian, Assembler, Astran, Atasian, Atraxi, Atzerrian Meek, and Atrocian entries. Nope. None of these species had the power that she was looking for, nor resembled the image that she had in her mind.

Then she scanned the files on the Autocron, Auton, Avogwi, Avril, Axanar, Axi-Tun, Ayrou, and Azurite species. None of these had the powers that she was looking for, nor did she believe that they could be useful to her. It was onto the "B"s she guessed.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FIVE:
Guilt and Guards

Cloak felt incredibly guilty about his contribution to this. If he had kept his information to himself, kept it under his cloak*, then this wouldn't have been such a problem. Granted, he wasn't in charge of security of this server of sorts, and he had no idea that it could be hacked in such a way. He found himself close to giving into self-pity.

This was increased when the forum's lockdown was enacted. He was seriously wondering if his presence in the Prime Universe was more of a detriment than a help. He wondered if he was doing far more harm than good. He wondered if he just bungled everything he touched. All the insecurities and doubts about himself that his mother fostered were coming back to him. This was causing him to question his worth, not just as a RAFian, but as a person on the whole.

This well of despair was surprisingly easy to get into, but remarkably difficult to leave. Cloak knew this, but fell into it, nonetheless.

***

While Miranda perused the B'ool Sporath entry, she posted more guards at the entrance of her little hiding place. She swiped through the Babel fish, Bachani, Badoon, Bajoran, Balhoonian, Ballchinian, Balmorran metal parasite, Balosar, Baltian, Balunian, Bandril, Bane, Bannerman, Banshee, Bantha, Barabel, Baragwin, Barkonian, Barooga, Bartokk, Basalt, and Bat-dragon entries. She was, despite herself, disappointed. None of these were the species she was looking for. But she had to be thorough.

How does she have guards? Not all of them were drones. Some of them were CADMUS loyalists who left the covert organization with her. It was roughly 36% of the personnel. She actually didn't care about their loyalty, really, as she was technically slowly dying. This machine would slow the process to a standstill, but not forever. It was not a permanent staving off of the grim reaper, and she knew it. She didn't care if she was hostile, aggressive, and callous to her loyalist staff.

She looked at the Beach Loper, Beach Quills, Beast in the Mouth of the Mountain, Beck-tori, Beldon, Belly-thrower, Bem, Besalisk, Beta Renner Cloud, Betazoid, Betelgeusian (1), and Betalgeusian (2) entries. She cursed and swore loudly. None of these were the species she was thinking of. She was getting impatient, it was true. Time was her enemy now, but she hadn't any means to cross-reference the files. It took enough of her power and technical skill to just get them in the first place.

"What's the matter, ma'am?" one of her CADMUS loyalist said, entering the room tentatively.

"GET OUT!" she roared. "GO BACK AND MAN YOUR POST!"

She didn't have the strength to throw something at him, but she would have if she did.

She continued with the database files. She looked at the Bi-Cranial, Bimm, Bimmisaari Tiga Loreng, Binka trees, Biosovortian, Bith, Black Arms, Bladderhorn, Blarth, Blase trees, Blase tree goats, Blba trees, Blob, Blodex, Blog, Blood Bloom Plant, Blood Carver, Blubreen, and Blurrg entries. Her frown deepened. She regretted her decision not to put in some sort of cross reference system in place. But she had to be thorough and methodical about this.

She persisted with her desperate search with the Boglodite, Bogwing, Bolian, Bolovaxian, Bolt-tongue, Boma, Bomb Ball, Bone Vampire, Boraalan, Borg entries . . .

Borg? She read through the file three times to be sure. But came away disappointed. It was similiar -- the most similar thus far of what she was looking for. But it wasn't, and she didn't want to be a part of a gestalt consciousness. Well, not one that she wasn't in charge of, anyway. And they wouldn't be able to repair her failing body, like she hoped. So this was a pass.

She disconsolately scrutinized the Borumu, Boslic, Bothan, Boudacian, Bouncer, Bowlump, Brain Ball, Brain Slug, Brain Spawn, Brakiri, Breen, Briar Wolf, Brizzit, Brood entries . . .

Brood? She read this entry carefully, not wanting to miss any pertinent information. She was excited until she read about the utter loyalty that the Sleazoids have their Brood Queen. It was the same problem with the Borg. She didn't want to be enslaved to anyone else, she wanted to be the top dog, if anything. She valued her own independence, but didn't care about anyone else's. So this was a pass.

Disheartened, she examined the Bug, Buglizard, Buggalo, Burning Martian, Burrow Beast, Butcherbug, Butchertree, Byvoid, Bzzit Khaht, and Bzzzz entries. No, none of these species would be of any use to her for her needs and requirements. Onto the "C"s, then.


*Realm Walker for "keep it under your hat".

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIX:
Snapping the Towel

Cloak continued, despite his efforts, to sink into despair. He couldn't help but feel so hopeless. There was no way to tell where that information had gotten to, or how far it had spread. True,Esteore had contributed as much, if not more, than he has to this database, but Cloak still took the weight, the responsibility of this leak onto his shoulders. His guilt was his, and his alone, he felt. He felt that he , , , he didn't know. He just felt so lost, and he kept wondering if he was doing more and more harm by being here.

There was no hope . . .

"No, Cloak!" a voice reverberated in his mind, "You must never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road, and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In your darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength."

Wheeza . . . it was an echoing memory of his beloved, dearly departed aunt. She was always a source of strength for him, just as Shadow and Faith were. And, even with her gone . . . some part of her was her with him. Her words, her lessons . . . her compassion . . .

And those words were applicable to this. He mustn't give in to despair. He must be proactive. There must be a way to find out where this information went. Chances are it didn't spread to far. The hacker would surely want to keep it between whoever they were and perhaps a few trusted fellows. Perhaps a burgeoning cartel or something.

But a plan was formulating in his mind. A plan that he couldn't accomplish alone.

***

Meanwhile, Miranda continued with her search. Caatati? No. Caitians? No. Calamarain? No. Canal carp pilot fish? Useless to her. Can-cells? Also useless for her purposes. Cannok? No. Canyon krayt dragon? No. Cardassian? She scoffed. Cardassian voles? Of course not. Carrionites? They could possibly heal her, but she would have to persuade them, and she had no interest in that. Cathar? No way that they'd be useful to her.

"This is going to take a while," she sighed. "And I don't have a while."

But what other option did she have? She continued her search. Celegian? She dismissed them out of hand. Celestial? No, they would never deign to help her. Celestialsapiens? She wouldn't be able to even contact one. Cephalod-ae? No. Cephalopoid? No. Cerean? No. Cerebrocrustaceans? Not likely, and wasn't what she was looking for. Ceti eels? This was opposite of what she was looking for. Chadra-Fan? No. Chagrian? No. Chameleons? No, they'd never help her, willingly or involuntarily. Chandir? No. Changeling? No. Charrl? No. Charnocks? No, not those terrorists. Chevin? No. Chevs? No. Chimera Sui Generis? No, they'd have their own self-interest in mind. Chimeron? No. Chiss? No. Chlorisian? No. Chronian? No, they're virtually extinct. Chronosapiens? They'd be able to save her body with their chronokinesis, but she hadn't any way to force or persuade them to do it, so pass. Chrysalide? NO. Chumblies? No. Chupacabras? No. Churl? No.

"So many species, so few are useful," she muttered, full of angst. She continued her search through the Cironielian chrysalis eater, Clawrantular, clockwork droid, and clodhopper entries. She sighed angrily. She was getting frustrated, but she had no other choice. The species she was looking for was in these files. She knew it.

She checked the Colicoid, Colo claw fish, Columi, Condor dragon, Conductoid, Constancian, Cortalopus, Corruptura, Corvan Gilvo, Cravenor, Crawfordsville monster, Crespallion, Crite, crystal barnacle, crystal snake, and Cthon entries. All of which she considered useless to her.

"Why are so few species useful to me?" she lamented, as she continued onward.

Cyanberries? No. Cybermen? No. Cybermats? No. Cygnoid? NO. Cytherian? No. Onto the "D"s now . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Conclusions

"CADMUS must be behind this theft," Cloak said.

"We don't know much, if anything about them," Saffa pointed out, "how can you be so sure."

"I can field that question," Guy said, raising a finger into the air. "The hacking, while clearly showing some skill getting through our security protocols -- which, despite our security on the database getting admittingly lax, I do acknowledge that -- they were rather sloppy themselves in doing such."

"Sloppy? How so?" Sakki inquired.

"The hackers left their fingerprints, so to speak, all over it." Guy answered. "We might not know much about CADMUS, but they practically telegraphed it with their hack."

"But why didn't they leak it already?" Demos asked.

"That assumes that leaking it was even their intention in the first place," Cloak said. "And we can only speculate at this point as to why they wanted the species database."

"And that speculation will be just that, speculation, without more evidence," Goom said, "but we believe we know the hacker's location. They didn't protect their location from us. By all appearances, they were just trying to get in and get out, with little care of being recognized or us being able to track them down."

"Also, there were armed guards at the entrance," Parker noted. "Which doubled within the last couple of hours."

Helen tsked, "You'd think if they were going to hide something, that they'd be a little more covert about it."

"I presume we're going to do something about this?" Empress Goose said, almost lazily. "And that this meeting is to discuss that? I doubt we're just going to let this hacker steal from us."

"Too right," Phoenix said. "We will be proactive, but this has to be covert. If the likes of Bern Bridges get their hands on this information and has a chance to spin it negatively about us . . . well, let's just say we don't need anymore bad publicity."

"Which is why I have a plan," Cloak said. "But I will need Ash, Underseen, Empress Goose, Rocky -- and I think that's it, for the first part of it, with Yarin, Guy, Goom, Xeno, and Aquilai for the second part. And I'll be there as well."

Cloak paused for a moment, before smacking GH upside the head. He was playing the "Mission: Impossible" theme on his guitar, with surprising accuracy.

"Hey! It was apt!" he complained.

***

Miranda hoped that the "D"s would hold more promise that the first three letters. But she wasn't holding her hopes all that high on it, as she meandered through the Dactillion, Daggerwrist, Dagle, Dagobah python, Dakalan centipede, Dalek, Dalgo, Danian, Dashade, and Dasypodidae entries. None of them were useful to her, not to mention the difficulty she would have obtaining one, much less get its compliance.

"This is getting old," she growled. "But it's in here. I know it!"

Then she skimmed the Decapodian, Defel, Deltan, demirevenants, demon shrike, dendrosapien, Denebian, Dentrassi, desert muck leech, Detrovite, Devaronian, Devidian, Devlikk, Devourer, Dewback, Dexoid, and Dheronian entries, and found them a letdown. None of these were the species that she desperately sought out to save her slowly-fading life.

"Life is dripping away from me . . . the species had better begin with a 'D'," she said.

Then she skimmed the dianoga, Diathim, Digger, Diskflyer, and Divto entries.

"Useless. All of them. Why are there so many useless beings in existence?" she bemoaned.

Then she continued with the Dokarian, Doldunian, Draconian, Dracosian, dragon slug, Dragonsnake, Drahvin, Drakoulias, Dralian, Drang, Drashig, Dravek, Drej, Dreman, Dressellian, Drexl, Droch, and Druyza entries. None of the species were the one she was seeking. She was starting to see a pattern.

"It's here . . . I know it. It's here. Somewhere." she muttered to herself.

Then she perused the Dug, Duinuogwuin, Dulok, Dur Sabon, Duracrete slugs, Duracrete worms, Durgolosk, Durlan, and Duros entries. It wasn't one of them. It wasn't there.

"Onto the 'E's, then," she sighed.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT:
Lockdown Liquidated

Cloak told the others his plan, while the lockdown is quietly lifted again, but not made known publicly. Just to the RAFians. Cloak, meanwhile, was ironing out the plan with those in on it. They would have to be covert -- that was one of the paramount objectives. They couldn't allow the likes of Bern Bridges to get ahold of this. There were enough crazies out there, that were out for their blood, due to that obese human's pejorative propaganda. They had to be careful, and they had to be precise.

***

The guard who had come to check on Miranda when she had raged that one time was named Quentin Beckinkal. The surname was pronounced "beck-and-call", and it was an apt descriptor of the muscular, blond man. He kept his long hair into a tight ponytail, so he looked like some Liefeld character, or some sort of comic book character without any depth to him. He didn't care about these superficial prejudges on him.

He worked at CADMUS, true. It was just a job to him, something he did to make money. There was no passion in it for him. There was no . . . initiative for him to climb the ladder to higher positions. He didn't really have a lot of passions in life, though when he was younger he had aspired to make films, and special effects for them. Granted, he wasn't very good, but it was something that he actually deeply enjoyed.

But that stopped when he posted them online, and got the online trolls criticizing his movies. Granted, since they were online trolls, they couldn't be bothered with criticizing it constructively, but just to cut him down. He never replied to them but they had cut him deeply. Cut him so deeply, that the shine, the enjoyment, he had with making the low-budget, low-quality films was gone. He never posted anything else, or made another movie. Something which these same cyberbullies harangued him for time and time again.

Then they found his social media profile. Whether it was the same callous trolls or different ones who had singlemindedly set out to ruin his life, he didn't know. Nor did he care to know. All he knew was that he was tired of the harassment. He moved house when he got the job at CADMUS, and he quit social media altogether, despite that being the only way he could contact a majority of his friends and family. He was tired of the abuse and harassment, to the point that he regretted ever making those low-quality movies in the first place. They were pieces of passion, but with low resources to pull from, and now he hated them with as equal passion as he hated his haters.

Anyway, he worked at the sheisty organization known as CADMUS as just a security guard, a lowly grunt that none of the more prestigious people gave so much as a second glance to. Sure, some would spout the perfunctory greetings, without really caring about an answer received. It was almost procedural, a minor social obligation. Despite what some other people might think about such a thing, Quentin reveled in this. No one was giving him snarky remarks about his terrible movies, no one was advising him to kill himself, no one was sending him death threats . . . his anonymity was the greatest gift that he could have received at that point in his life.

The Miranda became the head of the entire organization, and he was immediately smitten with her. He hadn't spoke a word to her, but he was head-over-heels in love with her. He didn't really know anything about her, and this was little more than a lustful attraction, but he didn't care. It was this above all else that caused him to be ever-loyal towards her, despite secretly knowing that she would have nothing more to do with him, that she saw him as nothing more than an inconsequential grunt.

Whether he realized this or not, he didn't outwardly show it, clearly preferring the fictitious fantasy of her playing hard-to-get and being coy about it. He never told any of the other loyalists his feelings -- he's been mocked enough in his life already -- and he believed that his unrequited feelings was reciprocated, but subtly and coyly. This is why he had such intense loyalty towards Miranda, despite her not even being aware that she had such devout loyal from him.

She didn't even know his name.

***

Miranda pawed through the Ebony Blister-wing, Ectonurite, Edosians, Ee, Efrosian, Eidolan consciousness, Eight Legs, Eirrauc, Ekosian, Electrophyte, Elom, Elomin, emperor sea strider, encyclopod, Engibrain, Eopie, Eosapien, Er'Kit, Ergesh, Eris Fairie, Evroniano, Ewok, Excalbian, and Exogorth entries. None of these species were the right one.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER NINE:
Correct Locale

Quentin was guarding the entrance with another guard. He was another guy, at least mid to late twenties, at least a five years to a decade younger than Quentin, and more athletic and fit than the former. Quentin, despite himself, felt a little inadequate next to him. Quentin only knew his first name was Dick -- a name that Quentin found rather unfortunate, as Dick was a respectable, venerable sort of guy. Granted, he never spoke much.

However, there were supposed to be two more guards here -- where were Chris and Wyatt? They went to the bathroom for what seemed like an eternity ago. None of them had military training, but they all knew how to use the buddy system. You learn as a child how to use that simple system, and only the truly stupid and incompetent don't know how to use it effectively. Quentin was perplexed.

"Where are they? Did Wyatt get the runs?" Quentin asked. "I told him not to have those tacos -- that place was sketchy."

Dick didn't say anything, and remained silent. When Quentin looked over, he saw Dick flinch and blink rapidly. Quentin quickly came to the conclusion that he was drowsing. Quentin said, good-naturedly, "Geez, Dick, you need to get more sleep at night. The sun's still up."

Then Quentin slapped his back, still concerned that the other two still weren't back yet. Something was wrong . . . his gut told him so. And he tried to ignore it. But it still nagged him, still weighed on his shoulders.

"They should have been back by now," Quentin said, nervously. "What's taking them so . .  WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"

He saw the two strolling up, holding their weapons in a stiffer way that they would ordinarily. Quentin ****ed and an eyebrow. Were . . . were they doing something else on the way to or from the bathroom? He would have never pegged them for --

Quentin grunted suddenly as he fell to the ground, as the area around him shimmered and everyone outside this shimmering saw him leaning against the wall nonchalantly, as it was revealed that Dick rammed the butt of his gun into the back of Quentin's head. Knocking him out, not killing him. He looked at Quentin and deftly tied him up, and leaned him against the building.

"Goose, you in?" the man Quentin thought was Chris said.

"Of course I'm in, Underseen!" he snarled.

"Ash, actually, and there's no reason to talk to me in such a way," she . . . he . . . she said, in what was obviously Chris's voice. She had taken his shape, not his body as Goose had with Dick.

"Sorry," Goose said, clearly not really meaning it. "But you have no idea how . . . filthy . . . this man's thoughts could be. It's like he never picked up in here."

"Can you maintain control?" Underseen asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's easy," Goose said, in Dick's gruff voice. Then he looked at the steel-and-ivory bipedal canine, Rocky the Chee, and asked, "Where are the others?

***

Miranda continued into the "F"s. She skimmed through the Falleen, Falumpaset, Fambaa, Fatu-Krey, and Faux-Tamaranean entries. None of these were the species that she was looking for.

"I'm starting to see a pattern," she grunted. She was starting to feel a modicum of discomfort, but ignored it.

Miranda continued through the "F" files, skimming through the Felacatian, Felucian,Felucian bird, Felucian Chelonoid, Felucian flying manta, Felucian slug, Felucian snail, Fendahl, and Ferengi entries. None of these was the species she sought out, either.

"None of these were the one," she sighed.

Miranda continued mulling over the files, as she glanced through the Fillian dragon, Finleg, Flatwoods monster, Fleeblebroxian, flesh-eating horses of Mars, Flipstick, Flora Colossus, Florauna, Florn Lamproid, Fluggrian, and flying steeds entries. Again, none of these were it.

"Maybe I should start from the 'Z's," she said. But she came this far in, so she was going to stubbornly continue to do it her way.

She went through the Foamasi, Follow-Wing, Forest Gulper, Forest Slider, Frenk, Frog-Dog, Frozian, Furon, and Fuzzum entries Nope. Again, nothing she considered worthwhile, and not any of those was the species she was desperately searching for.

"I cannot give up now," she murmured. "It's here somewhere. Somewhere."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TEN:
Inside

"We're here," Cloak said, suddenly appearing within the hologram. "Just maintain the facade while we get in and do what we need to do. Remember to stay covert."

"And what contingency do we have if something goes wrong?" Goose said, with Dick's gruff voice.

"Broken is on standby to modify memories," Cloak answered easily. "It's not something he's gonna be proud of doing, but he may not ever have to."

"And I can use my telepathy to make it look like a figment of their imagination," Yarin said. "That doesn't please me any more than Broken, but if it proves necessary . . ."

"Then lets get this ****show on the road," Goose said. "It gives me no pleasure to have body-hopped this guy."

Cloak turned to Guy, Aquilai, Goom, Xeno, and Yarin,  "The facility is a tad larger than expected."

"How are we going to get to the server room?" Aquilai asked.

"I will be able to Metalsight our way to it," Cloak said. "The floor is made from rusted metal, but my Metalsight still works reasonably well. Any other questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Let's go."

***

His name was John Perdigiorno*. He was an extremely lazy layabout, but it wasn't enough that he was a lackluster security guard. He had an annoyingly condescending attitude towards the other guards, as if he thought that he was better than all of them. He hadn't any reason for this bloated opinion of himself, and he just thought that it was assertiveness and self-confidence. He was egotistical and he would badmouth the other guards behind their backs.

However, the other guards were well aware of this, and none of them were too pleased with Perdigiorno. It was really unclear whether the man was aware of the ire that he drummed up with the other guards, until Quentin once called him out on it when the latter didn't do something that Perdigiorno condescendingly scolded him for. Something that Perdigiorno hypocritically never did himself. He was immediately offended that someone called him out on his crap, unaccustomed to it, proving himself as being as thin-skinned as a glass frog's abdominal skin. He never understand the concept of that in order to be respected, you must be respectful to others, instead of assuming that people must not only respect him, but revere him, without any reason to.

The only reason that he was a guard for Miranda was because he thought that this would be an easier job than working security at CADMUS, where they were really much more of hard-asses for work diligence and really intolerant of laziness or tardiness. Or flaking out whenever he just felt like coming into work*, apparently oblivious to the ire that this generates in his coworkers, later claiming "tiredness" and "feeling sick".

So why Miranda put him in charge of guarding the server room was beyond anyone's comprehension.

***

She proceeded to the "G"s. She flipped through the Gabbit, Gagh, Galidyn, Galilean, Galvan, Galvanic Mechamorph, Gand, Gaoul, Garthok, and Gastropod entries with only a cursory glance. Even with this briefest glimpses at the pictures that accompany the files, she could tell that none of these were the ones that she was looking for.

"Not here, either," she muttered.

She persisted through the Gelagrub, Gel-sucker, Gem, Geochelone Aerio, Gharzr, Ghhhk, giant canal carp, giant kangaroos, Gigglepie, Gil'Dishpan, Gill-Head, Givin, Glommer, Glop monster, Glukkon, and Glymphid entries. Again, none of these were the one that she was looking for.

"This is getting monotonous," she growled in frustration.

She checked the Gnalish, Gnarltree, Gnasp, Goa'uld, Godoan, Gorn, Gorph, Gorryl slug, Gossam, Gotal, Gouka dragon, Gourmand, Gran, granite slug, Grazerite, Great Devil Corker, Great Thranta, Great Vampire, Gree, green Martians,Grel, Grepoan, Gro-Tye, Grounder, Groveback, Grunka Lunka, Gubbage Cone, Gullipud, Gungan, Gurreck, Gweld, and Gyrosprinter entries. None of these were the species she so desperately wanted to find.

"Ugh," she said. "Onto the 'H's."


* I've actually had to work with TWO people like this at my job. One was fired, and the other one I hope either quits or gets fired.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Navigating the Facility

John stood around, apparently counting the dust particles in the air. His gun appeared to be holstered, but, in truth, he had left it at home, neglecting to bring it with him. He didn't care about doing quality work, after all. He was just drawing a paycheck (or at least, he thought that he was), and that's what he cared about. He didn't care about making friends with the other guards (after all, he thought they were just lowly grunts and peasants, and that he was far better than them . . . for no reason, really -- he just believed that he was).

Then he leaned against the the wall to the left of the sliding metal door to the server room, where the stolen, copied files from the RAFian species database (which wasn't a comprehensive list -- some species they haven't encountered or just forgot to input into the database) were stored. Fortunately, they couldn't get into the Archives, which detailed the RAFians' personnel files, forum history, and events of interest, as those had no external lines and were heavily fortified. That rabid Pikachu essentially guarding it.

John shut his eyes, as he crossed his arms across his chest. This job was very boring, but it was a job. And one that he never took seriously, which was a major point in contention with his coworkers, and he either didn't care or didn't know. They rarely talked to him, and when Quentin did, John got upset and said twice, "EXCUSE ME?!" as if it was unthinkable that anyone to dissent from his actions. Then he turned around and demanded that Quentin never talk to him again, as if he were a person of a higher echelon of society than he really was. He was clearly unaccustomed to anyone disagreeing with him, or disliking his actions. It flew in the face of his self-narrative that he was just so great, cracked his deliberate misconception that he was beloved and admired, when he was neither.

His head dipped deeper, before jerking up to its original position.

He thought nothing of his condescending, elitist attitude. He never conceived of wronging others. In his mind, he was the only one could be wronged. He was always the victim. He was always the plaintiff, and never the defendant. He never conceived of any action performed or statement given as being anything less than perfect. That every action performed or statement given was always free of ramification or consequence, as it was always the right thing to do, and never poorly executed, in his heavily biased opinion.

His breathing slowed and became very regular.

He thought nothing of leaving his coworkers hanging with his frequent and often unannounced absences. He thought the excuses he made up for the absences were masterful works of deception, when, in reality, they were childish and amateurish. Only Quentin had enough of this and told him off for it, while the others usually just ignored John, the absolute travesty of a person that he was, or just smiled and let him think these grandiose things about himself.

His shoulders sagged.

He was clearly accustomed to always having all his needs met, and no one saying a thing about his condescending, contemptuous tone of voice, even though it rankled a very many amount of people around him. He was unaware that his extremely permissive upbringing wouldn't translate very well into the real world. He expected people to baby him, and tell him that he's a good boy. When he wasn't. He wasn't aware how harsh and unforgiving the real world could be, that his actions could have negative repercussions on those around him.

He swayed on the spot he stood.

By some miracle, he was married. He didn't even need a job, as he could live off her job's wages. It was a wonder who would ever marry such a person. They were childless (which was good -- there was no way John would be even able to hand a child, especially because he, himself, was essentially the child of the family). None of his coworkers knew what his home life was like, and very few, if any, really cared. They mostly dreaded having to work with him, since they knew that they would have to do a bulk of the work, as he was more inclined to be on his phone . . . or sleep on the job.

Then the snores started, as he fell to the floor.

***

The RAFians entered the facility with very little fanfare, which was precisely what they wanted. Broken had Disillusioned this team, except Cloak, on which the charm wouldn't have worked anyway. Realm Walkers are basically magic Teflon -- no magic sticks to them. Anyway, they continued on the straightaway, and Cloak could tell immediately that whoever was in charge of this facility had only the most minimal security staffing. There weren't even security cameras. He decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the humans say.

They soon came to a "T"-shaped split in the hallway, and, without breaking stride, Cloak took the lefthand route. Then they came to a sharp right turn into a hallway with two perpendicular pathways leading from it, one in the middle and one at the end of the hallway, both on the left. They went to the one at the end of the hallway. This led to a semicircular pathway, which arced to the right. Then they came to two parallel hallways, linked by a short connecting corridor. They took that connecting corridor and took the right path from there and continued onward. Then they had to turn sharply at a forty-five degree angle, then once again.

And they still weren't close to the server room, and they had yet to come across any security patrols. It was almost like those four guards were the only ones that this facility had -- talk about being understaffed! There were turtle-like drones, every now and then, and one or two that resembled raccoons and very small hippos, but they all ignored the Disillusioned RAFIans, and Cloak stayed out of their vision, looking nothing more like a black shadow if they managed a glimpse.

***

As she said she would, Miranda started through the "H"s. She scrolled through the H'nemthe, Hakarian, Harch, Harrowbeast, Hath, Havok beast, Hazari, Hedzek, Helmacron, Hengrauggi, Hepsalum Tash, Hermaphlamingo, Hirogen, Hiromi, Hoojib, Hook-tailed Flyer, Hoothi, Hoover, Hopper-cone, Hork-Bajir, Horta, Houjix, Houk, Howler, Hupyrian, Hulex, Hutt, Hydronoid, and Hypnotoad entries.

"Damn," she cursed, "onto the 'I's, then."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE:
A Roundabout Way

They rested a bit to allow Cloak to get a better bearing of where they were.

Then they proceeded to a hallway that doubled back, with a short connecting corridor between the two, making an "A"-shape. They took the short connecting corridor, and proceeded left from that connecting hallway. Then they came to a straightaway path that turned to the left, connecting the original corridor, before veering off at a forty-five degree angle. They took this short cut and went into the corridor that veered off at that diagonal. Then they traveled from a curved corridor, and then came to two parallel pathways with another short connecting hallway. They took this connecting hallway and then headed left from there. Then they came to a fork in the path, both of which branched off at forty-five degree angles. They took the left one, and soon were standing outside the server room.

***

Meanwhile, outside the facility, Ash was still pretending to be Chris Gottfried, Underseen was still pretending to be Leon Wyatt, Rocky was pretending to be Quentin Beckinkal, and Empress Goose was still body hopped Dick Grey. They still stood outside.

"This is rather boring," Rocky said, though it came out as Quentin's voice, as he was projecting the hologram of the man around himself.

"That's what being a guard is about, apparently," Goose said, in Dick's gruff voice. Then he pointed to Dick's chest with Dick's finger, "At least from this Dick guy."

"Why are you so uncomfortable in him?" Underseen said.

"I never really enjoy hopping people like this," he said. "And for this long. Always makes me feel like I'm manipulating them. Stealing from them. Not to mention this guy's mind is an absolute mess. There is no mental organization in here."

"But you do it with seemingly no compunction," Rocky said, speaking with Quentin's voice. "Or hesitation."

Goose seemed to take offense at this, but when he spoke it was with determined calm. "Just because I don't show outward remorse or regret with what I have to do, doesn't mean that it's not there. I'm not like . . ."

"Like who?"

Instead of replying, Goose seeming just fell out of Dick, who grunted at this, then blinked and gazed around with groggy confusion. Goose didn't hesitate to jump back in and try to modify his memory of that incident as just a dream.

"You didn't see that," Goose said, through Dick. He found falling out of someone he body hopped to be quite embarrassing, despite the fact he wanted to get out of the clustered mess that was Dick Grey.

"You're not like who, though?" Ash said, who wasn't so easily distracted.

"No one," Goose said, making sure not to fall out of Dick this time. "Never mind. It's not important."

But it clearly was important to him.

***

Miranda was starting to wonder if hacking into this database and copying the files (in the hope that she wouldn't be discovered) was really worth the immense effort that it took to procure. She wasn't finding the species she wanted. But, still, she persisted, looking through the Ibian, ice bore, Ice-Crawler, Icedart, Ice Scrabbler, Ice Warrior, Iktotchi, Imhotep, Incursean, instant Martian, Inter Minorian, interphasic organism, Iotian, Irkburgle, Irkian, Ishi Tib, Isolus, Issori, Ithenite, Ithorian, Ixion, and Ixll entries.

"Dammit," she cursed, "onto the 'J's, then."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Slumber and Search

The RAFians came to the sliding door that lead to the server room. There slumped over to the left of the door, snoring quite obviously, and didn't stir when they showed up. Cloak waited, and saw, through Earthsight, that this guard's slumber never faulted even a little bit when they came up. He was clearly a terrible guard, but this was fortunate to the RAFians. Though Cloak did find it a little odd that there were only five guards for the entire facility. Talk about understaffed! He supposed those robotic turtle, raccoon, and hippo drones made up for it, but they were not exactly the most effective things on the planet.

The RAFians examined the door. Like everything else in this makeshift facility, it bore some rust damage. To its left, above the deeply slumbering guard's feet, was a number pad. The buttons for 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 had the printed numbers show a noticeable wear and tear, while the buttons for 1 and 5 appeared to be untouched. Clearly, 1 and 5 wasn't part of the code to get in.

"Got it," Guy whispered, holding a small notebook laptop that they all brought with them, and appeared to be Disillusioned just like them. He was whispering as to not rouse the sleeping guard, although Cloak suspected greatly that it would take an earthquake or flashing flooding to wake the dude up. Guy stepped up to the pad and pressed 8-3-2-4-6-2-7-2-4-9. The door shuttered and slid, almost awkwardly, to the right, getting stuck once or twice. It was almost as if it was a door on a television set that had to pulled manually. "Whew, that was just an educated guess."

"In," Cloak said, ushering them in. Once they were in, the door shuttered shut. They felt that they could talk above a whisper, but lower than their normal volume. These walls could be paper-thin, so to speak. Cloak looked at the room, at large. It was a fairly spacious room, with the servers sticking out of the floor rather reminiscent of the plates of a stegosaurus, or a grove of plants. The floor here was actually metal, but it was so dusty and encrusted with dirt that it looked as if the flooring was dirt. The entire room had the smell and feel of neglect, despite the abundance of use.

"Okay," Cloak said, with a low voice. "Do your stuff, guys."

As the Disillusionment Charm seemed to wear, Aquilai, Xeno, Guy, Yarin, Goom, and Aquilai went to work, plugging directly into the server. Cloak didn't know if this was an orthodox way of hacking -- on-site hacking -- as he would freely admit that he didn't know everything about human technology. Veil, he didn't know everything about Realm Walker tech, much like that average layman wouldn't.

The room resolved into silence, other than the quiet clacking of keyboard. Even Goom, despite the fact that he didn't have any arms or hands or any manipulation appendage that could be used in a similar manner. It was always a bit of a mystery of how he and his species managed to do this. Was it tactile telekinesis? Was it some unseen appendages that not even Cloak himself could see? In the grand scheme of things, Cloak supposed that it didn't really matter.

While the others were doing this, Cloak stood by the door. He was keeping watch via his Earthsight, afraid that the sleeping guard might have garnered attention from his fellows, that demonstrated that they were here. Cloak couldn't have known that this was actually fairly commonplace for John. He often fell asleep on the job, which was a point of contention for him and his coworkers. The RAFians only had to deal with five guards thus far, but that didn't mean that there were only five guards. Granted, it seemed that way, but Cloak didn't have enough evidence to be sure for sure.

He just hoped that the others worked quickly. Sure, he could just destroy the servers with his elemental might. But that would undoubtedly lead to an explosion. Explosions, by their very nature, are not covert and generally attracts very unwanted attention. So, knowing this, Cloak opted against this.

***

He needn't have had to worry. The truth of the matter was that there was, indeed, only five guards. Miranda didn't inspire much loyalty when she was at CADMUS. Initially, it was more, but over time, they left for various reasons. Work conditions, Miranda's nonpayment for their services, Miranda's abusive authoritarianism, amongst other things that have a tendency to drive away people from vocations.

Chris, Wyatt, Dick, and Quentin were the only ones who were devoted enough to Miranda to stay. John just stayed for the imaginary paycheck and because he wasn't the most employable person in the world.

***

"Let's see what a disappointment these things are in the 'J's," Miranda muttered, as she flipped through the jackal mastiff, Jaffa, Jagaroth, Jakabird, Jarell, Jawa, Jazbinan, Jelly-bladder plant, Jem'Hadar, Jenet, Jerni, Jetdarter, Jillsarian, Jilruan, Jimvu, Jinda, Jitterbug, Jo-adian, Jokhalli, Jubba bird, Jubba-Jubba, and Judoon entries. "Ugh. None of these are the right species. Dammit. Onto the 'K' entries."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
'K' and 'A'

Miranda sighed, as she pawed through the kaadu, kafit bird, kahler, kaiju, Kaleesh, Kallidahin, Kaminoan, Kanassan, Karemma, Karfelon, Kargul, Karkarodon, Kasheeta, Kastrian, Katarn, Keejin, Keeled Slider, Kel Dor, Kelbrid, Kelemanean, Kete, Khommite, Khormai, Khramboan, Kindalo, Kineceleran, Kintan Strider, Kitonak,Klingon, Klingon monster dog, K'lor'slug, Klorb, Kluuzot, Kobali, Kobheerian, Korugaran, Kouhun, Kowakian monkey-lizard, Kraaho, Kraang, Krafayis, Krakai, Krarg, Krayt dragon, Kreegon, Kreetassan, Kreetle, Kressari, Krevaaki, Krevol, Krikhasi, Krish, Kron, Krontep, Kroton, Krozurbian, Krylorian, Krynoid, Kryptonian, Kryptonian dog, Krytollak, Kubaz, Kulless, Kumumgah, Kurtzen, Kushiban, Kwa, Kweltikwan, Kylothian, Kynachi, and Kyuzo entries

"None of these, either." she sighed, frustration threatening to engulf her. "Ugh. Onto the 'L's, I guess. But I don't have any expectation that those will yield anything for me."

She never noticed how her screens had a subtle static, like playing a blank VHS tape. She was too intent on getting the information that she was after. Granted, she could have actually asked for the information (it was a species that the RAFians had dealt with before, after all, a long time ago). Granted, that wouldn't guarantee that she would get it, but she could have been healed in other ways.

But she was far too proud to go that route. She preferred this way, just taking what she wanted. Though she just copied the database files, they weren't hers to copy. They weren't hers to take. They were a culmination and collaboration of the RAFian's knowledge, Cloak's bestiary knowledge of species through out the Realms, and Estelore's observations from her sojourns, and the work was theirs, the information was generated by them. She had no right to take it without permission, but she didn't care. She was accustomed to being allowed to do as she pleased, with nary a consequence or ramification for such hasty, in-the-moment decisions.

But this . . . she went too far with this. She stole from the forum. The RAFians knew that she stole from them, so they were going to delete her copy of their files. Because that was their prerogative -- to take it back, to prevent its dissemination to others. It was theirs -- if they wanted to information, they could go out and gather it themselves, and aggregate it themselves. This was just lazy on Miranda's part, though if you ask her, she would regale you with how hard it was to hack into the RAFian mainframe and copy the database without their knowledge -- as she didn't know that RAFians, in fact, did recognize what was happening, despite being too late from her taking the information.

That's why the RAFian team was currently in the server room, guarded by one of the most powerful RAFians at their disposal. They were busy hacking -- this way was a bit more convert. The hack couldn't be tracked back to the forum, so Miranda wouldn't be able to play the victim about the hacking. If anything, they'd see it coming from their OWN server room. If anyone would be blamed, it would have been one of the guards, all of which were incapacitated in such a way. Four of which were currently being impersonated with the last one still slumbering deeply on the job.

Cloak was keeping a careful, and almost paranoid, watch. He didn't know that all the guards were taken care of -- well, except John Perdigiorno, who took himself out, essentially. And he was being very diligent in his role, ignoring the monotonous clacking of keyboards.

"We've accessed the copied database," Guy announced, in a low voice. "But they've added their own sort of encryption."

'Meaning?" Cloak asked.

"We'll have to go through the files, one by one," Goom said, not even looking up. "Deleting them from their copied database. It won't let us do it all at once."

"That seems a bit contrived," Cloak muttered. "But, okay. Go as quickly as you can."

No one raised an objection to that, but just started clacking their keyboards with a renewed fervor. It was almost as if they had to delete each file character by character.

Soon enough, Xeno announced, "The 'A' files have been scrubbed from these servers."

"Good. Don't stop," Cloak said.

Cloak didn't like what he saw through his Earthsight -- the guard outside seemed to finally be rousing.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Progress and No Progress

"Yarin," Cloak whispered, barely moving his lips. "The guard outside this room is stirring."

Yarin stopped clacking on his small notebook laptop. At least, with one hand. The other four were clearly still hard at work, though a bit distracted. He placed his upper left hand to his temple and his six eyes fluttered shut. He was using his telepathy to trigger the sleep response in the guard outside. This was far easier than the Nyac ever expected. It was quite effortless, and the Nyac RAFian conveyed this to the others.

"A lazy guard," Goom said, sarcastically, "will wonders never cease."

Then silence fell over the assembled RAFians once more, and the quiet clacking of keyboard reasserted itself as the dominant sound of the room. Cloak was still the lookout. He was sure that the slumbering guard would have attracted attention -- but Yarin had gleaned some thoughts from his mind as he put him back to sleep. He assured the others that apparently this was a fairly common act by the guard.

"Then this place must have ridiculous job security," Xeno whispered.

Yarin stopped again, and looked at the others, "You know . . . we have a resource to things here, slumbering right outside the door there."

"What do you mean?" Aquilai asked, knowing precisely what Yarin was suggesting.

"We can find out how many guard there are," Yarin said, slowly, "It'll just take a little a probing into his mind."

"Is that ethical?" Cloak said, feeling quite well that it wasn't. It was a distinct invasion of privacy, and Yarin had to have known this.

"It's not like I want to plunge in and get his deepest darkest secrets," Yarin said, indignantly, as if someone insulted his microwave again. "I'm not like Merser. It'll just be fishing for the one pertinent nugget of information. It surely would be surface knowledge."

"And if it isn't?" Cloak asked.

Yarin didn't answer.

"The 'B' files have been deleted successfully," Guy announced, ending the uncomfortable silence.

Meanwhile, Miranda was flipping through the Lactran, Lahdia plant, Lakertyan, Landrusian, Lankin, Lapling, larvae gun, Leaf-tail, Leeran, Leffingite, Lenopan, Lepidopterran, Leviathan, Lewodan, Limax, Lipole, Lissepian, LGM, Littoralope, Lizling, Llwelkyn, Lobel, Loboan, Logopolitan, luck sprite, Lugal-Irra-Kush, Luminar, Lurian, Lurman, Lurmen, Lutrillian, Lycanthrope, and Lyco Pibex entries. "Nope, all useless to me."

She sighed, "Onto the 'M's, then."

Back to the RAFians, the silence stretched as the clanking of keyboards once again overtook everything else as the dominant sound of the room. Cloak had to admit that Yarin's proposition was tempting. More intel would be useful, but they could surmise that from what they have encountered (or lack of encounters) that there was at least less than ten guards. Granted, it wasn't a firm, confirmed number, but that surmised, estimated number was the best they could do without infringing on the grounds of morality. The proposition was still tempting.

"We could do with a little intel," Guy said, slowly.

"No," Cloak said, firmly. "We go down that slippery slope, we may never come back."

"It surely would be surface, Cloak," Yarin insisted.

"And what would be stop you from doing that to everyone who couldn't stop you?" Cloak said. "You could use the argument that 'it's just surface knowledge' to excuse it. Even when it isn't."

Yarin stopped clacking on his laptop completely. "I'm not like that, Cloak."

"And you weren't recreating that Veiled microwave a second and third time?" Cloak said. "Without a care of the negative ramifications of it?"

Yarin didn't correct him with the use of "microwave". Yarin replied, mulishly, "It's not the same thing."

"Isn't it? You carelessly and crassly recreated that thing, or tried to, until you were discovered, and if we gave you leeway this time, would you stop? Would just telepathically probe anyone and everyone you could just because it was 'surface knowledge', which you could always redefine the definition of? Going deeper and deeper and claim that it's still 'surface knowledge'? It's a slippery slope, Yarin, one that return may not be possible."

An uncomfortable silence expanded once more, broken only went Goom announced, "The 'C' files have been deleted."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Quiet Progress, Loud Irritation

"The 'C' files have been deleted," Xeno announced in a whisper.

After that declaration, an uncomfortable silence fell. Cloak knew that he had suddenly made himself unpopular with Yarin, and perhaps with Guy and the others as well. But he was steadfast and adamant in his stance. They had to maintain at least some semblance of restrain and integrity. He's seen it far too often with his species back in the Universal Nexus.

Good people getting swayed by power, both great and small, and suddenly the illegal activities and crimes they commit, no matter how minor, "don't count" because they're apparently special in some way or manner. And once swayed, they are more than willing to do all sorts of mental gymnastics that would baffle Dweller politicians. But such dirty politics . . . Realm Walkers may have very well been the first to indulge in them, but they were most certainly not the only system of government blighted by such corruption and deceit and misrepresentation.

Cloak could not allow the forum to fall down such a pit. There was not a Veiled thing that he could do to salvage that corrupted, gangrenous wound that was the Realm Walker Council -- no matter how noble and progressive a candidate was before succeeding in claiming the Councilor position, they were inevitably corrupted by decadence, opulence, and luxury. Their heads were turned from the plights of the Realm Walker people towards their own hedonistic pleasures. And their history texts reflected this, as apparently the Council did not see to put their propaganda into the schoolchildren's textbooks. They were too self-interested, and too busy crafting legislation to suit themselves.

The Realm Walkers once did have a Constitution-like document, but that had been basically ripped up and thrown out long before Cloak was even thought of. Eventually, the Council stopped pretending that they were constitutionalists and even had the best interests of the populace and the electorate at heart. Then again, they change seats so frequently -- far more quickly than any nation in this realm, on this planet, did. The political power was a lot more volatile in the Nexus, and the Dwellers' variation of it was far more stable in comparison. There was constant backstabbing, usurping positions, blackmail, and the like. Politics is not an occupation in the Nexus that one takes without expecting some drama in some way.

It was a secret fear of his, one that he wasn't even consciously aware of this fear, a fear that the forum would become the utter mess like the Realm Walker Council was. But the forum was far more stable, unified with mutual respect and intent, cared for one another in a genuine and honest way. None of which was true for the disingenuous, faux professional, deceptive, cutthroats on the Council or any other position of relative political and financial power. Cloak suspected this is one reason why his species first started to Walk the Realms. To get away from this sheer, unregulated madness. Any time there's relative stability, everyone knows that it will never last. There were brief spans of time where relative peace reigned, and the Walkers could go about their lives, business as usual. But, eventually, there would be a political upheaval, and they would find themselves with five new Councilors, who inexplicably ended up there.

And, yet, many of them had the nerve to look down on Realm Dwellers, and deem themselves superior in every way, when that wasn't really true.

"The 'D' files have been deleted," Goom pronounced, in whisper.

Meanwhile, Miranda was flipping through the M'mannix, Macra, Magnedon, Magrathean, Majin, Mak'Tar, Makurth, Mala'kak, Malmooth, Mandrel, Mantasphid, Mantellian Savrip, Many-Angled Ones, Markovian, Marshmen, Martian, Martian dog, Mawkaw Magkong, Maxatomar, Meatian, Medusan, Melkot, Melmacian, Melmacian ****roach, memory worms, Menoptera, Mentor, Mercora, Merdlidop, Merdoc, Methanosian, Microbrain, Mikan, Millicron, Millitile, Minaran, minotaur, mire beast, Mirialan, mnemoraptor, Moappa, Mogarian, Mon Calamari, Monean, Monnok, Monoid, Moocher, Moozle, Morganian, Morlox, Morp, Morpho, Morok, Mrlssi, Mucilator, Mudokon, Mugruebe, Muklukian, Multiform, Mummy-nest flyer, Munyip, Muroid, Mustafar lava flea, Mustafarian, Mutriok, Myneyrsh, Mynock, and Myrka entries.

"None of these species are the one. They're all useless to me!" she growled. "Onto the 'N's. It's gotta be in here somewhere."

Back in the server room, Guy announced, "The 'E' files have been deleted."

Yarin was focusing on the work, but the back of his mind wandered. He didn't like what Cloak was suggesting, at all. He wouldn't have gone down such a path for just gleaning some information from a guard's mind. It wasn't like that he was going to go burrowing into the man's psyche like Merser, that crazy Yeerk mutation. Despite what happened with the whole Food Yield Increaser thing, he wasn't without morality. He wasn't without scruples. He wasn't without reason.

Yarin felt that Cloak was overreaching, and looking too deeply in such a simple request. Yarin would argue that it was an invasion of privacy, as he would just be brushing the surface of his mind to see if it was buzzing about any pertinent, usable information. He wasn't advocating digging to his deepest, darkest secrets and putting him in a vegetative state. Yarin couldn't see any slippery slope that Cloak was pointing out, so he refused to acknowledge that there even was a slippery slope. He could be just as obstinate as Cloak in this.

And, Yarin thought, wasn't it just a bit hypocritical of Cloak to ask him to trigger slumber in the guard telepathically, and won't allow him to scrape . . . to scan the surface of the man's thoughts for any pertinent information. It was like just listening to a man muttering to himself, what thoughts that he was already thinking. Maybe influence him a little to think of the information that he was looking for . . . Cloak just didn't understand the intricacies of the mind and telepathy.

"The 'F' files have been deleted," Aquilai announced, in a low voice.