Apollyon's Court.

“We are pleased to meet you, c0dy!” They humm happily “this is indeed alarming, would you be willing to dive with us to see if we can locate these blueprints?” Er1s asks, the two walking over to him, but giving him space.

They blink at that, raising a brow “....that would be beneficial, yes, however, you are here as a new member, yes?” They murmur, pitting their hands behind their back. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”

“If it means keeping those.. those things off the streets... yes... there’s not many of my kind allowed out of the Sanctuary and t-the thought of one of them being attacked by.. by someone looking for dirt on like I dunno proof we’re still loyal to the elders or something like that....” 

They nod “I understand...then if you feel comfortable, trace it, I could introduce you to our tech people, if you would like support in this?” They offer softly, the crowd slowly dispersing, the large majority moving to start talking to members of the remittance.

“That... that might be good... uhh.. am I.. the only Codex here at the moment? Who is your tech team?”

They smile a little “we have two other codexs...err...well, they’re the same, but they call each other siblings.” They explain calmly “we also have a reprogrammed spectre, and some mechs.” They add gently. “as well as some normal mechanics and admins.” They humm, beginning to walk and gesturing for c0dy to follow.

“You actually have a spectre?” He follows, interested, he’d never really known spectres to be sentient enough to be anything but war machines....save when they copied someone they might have personality bleed into them... some long lived spectres had to be factory reset after deployment...

He looks to them, studying the way they might have customized thier forms, trying to get a sense of if these two still wished to be refered t by female terms or if they had other ideas about pronouns... afterall, he’d hate it if someone didn’t do him the same kindness! “Hello! A pleasure to meet fellow codexi!”

They blink at that, raising a brow “....that would be beneficial, yes, however, you are here as a new member, yes?” They murmur, pitting their hands behind their back. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”

“If it means keeping those.. those things off the streets... yes... there’s not many of my kind allowed out of the Sanctuary and t-the thought of one of them being attacked by.. by someone looking for dirt on like I dunno proof we’re still loyal to the elders or something like that....” 

They nod “I understand...then if you feel comfortable, trace it, I could introduce you to our tech people, if you would like support in this?” They offer softly, the crowd slowly dispersing, the large majority moving to start talking to members of the remittance.

“That... that might be good... uhh.. am I.. the only Codex here at the moment? Who is your tech team?”

They smile a little “we have two other codexs...err...well, they’re the same, but they call each other siblings.” They explain calmly “we also have a reprogrammed spectre, and some mechs.” They add gently. “as well as some normal mechanics and admins.” They humm, beginning to walk and gesturing for c0dy to follow.

“You actually have a spectre?” He follows, interested, he’d never really known spectres to be sentient enough to be anything but war machines....save when they copied someone they might have personality bleed into them... some long lived spectres had to be factory reset after deployment...

They blink at that, raising a brow “....that would be beneficial, yes, however, you are here as a new member, yes?” They murmur, pitting their hands behind their back. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”

“If it means keeping those.. those things off the streets... yes... there’s not many of my kind allowed out of the Sanctuary and t-the thought of one of them being attacked by.. by someone looking for dirt on like I dunno proof we’re still loyal to the elders or something like that....” 

They nod “I understand...then if you feel comfortable, trace it, I could introduce you to our tech people, if you would like support in this?” They offer softly, the crowd slowly dispersing, the large majority moving to start talking to members of the remittance.

“That... that might be good... uhh.. am I.. the only Codex here at the moment? Who is your tech team?”

They smile a little “we have two other codexs...err...well, they’re the same, but they call each other siblings.” They explain calmly “we also have a reprogrammed spectre, and some mechs.” They add gently. “as well as some normal mechanics and admins.” They humm, beginning to walk and gesturing for c0dy to follow.

They blink at that, raising a brow “....that would be beneficial, yes, however, you are here as a new member, yes?” They murmur, pitting their hands behind their back. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”

“If it means keeping those.. those things off the streets... yes... there’s not many of my kind allowed out of the Sanctuary and t-the thought of one of them being attacked by.. by someone looking for dirt on like I dunno proof we’re still loyal to the elders or something like that....” 

They nod “I understand...then if you feel comfortable, trace it, I could introduce you to our tech people, if you would like support in this?” They offer softly, the crowd slowly dispersing, the large majority moving to start talking to members of the remittance.

They blink at that, raising a brow “....that would be beneficial, yes, however, you are here as a new member, yes?” They murmur, pitting their hands behind their back. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”

“But what do we do?” Apollyon asks, hands behind their back as they continued “well. Our most common operations currently, are protecting mostly alien neighborhoods, and defending scavengers, you’d be surprised how often humans come looking to cause trouble for both. We work to locate human supremacist groups, and other violent elements, and break up their meetings, make them afraid. We understand that not everyone is accustomed to aggression or direct action, so do not expect to be suddenly thrust into a dangerous position.” They explain gently “all we ask, is that we can count on your support.”

He shifts a bit at the words, taking them in... honestly they.. didn’t seem a bad group just.. a reactionary one to feelings of not being safe... and he could understand that.. looking at his own underlying fears about society he liked t keep telling himself were unfounded... but then he saw skulljacks on the human side black market while netdiving.... “E-excuse me s-sir i might have information you might want to hear...” 

The assembly looked to him, and apollyon’s gaze found the codex quickly. They were quiet a moment, before speaking “I see. Do you feel comfortable sharing this here, or would you like to speak in private?” They were fairly gentle, most likely noticing the synethic’s nervousness.

“It.. It’s a bit selfish sir but during a Netdive i...” he held up a hand and began to jecting a hologram of the page he had found. “A Black market site for anti-alien weaponry in-include..” his stutter was clear as he shuddered to even look at the blueprints for the skulljack.

“But what do we do?” Apollyon asks, hands behind their back as they continued “well. Our most common operations currently, are protecting mostly alien neighborhoods, and defending scavengers, you’d be surprised how often humans come looking to cause trouble for both. We work to locate human supremacist groups, and other violent elements, and break up their meetings, make them afraid. We understand that not everyone is accustomed to aggression or direct action, so do not expect to be suddenly thrust into a dangerous position.” They explain gently “all we ask, is that we can count on your support.”

He shifts a bit at the words, taking them in... honestly they.. didn’t seem a bad group just.. a reactionary one to feelings of not being safe... and he could understand that.. looking at his own underlying fears about society he liked t keep telling himself were unfounded... but then he saw skulljacks on the human side black market while netdiving.... “E-excuse me s-sir i might have information you might want to hear...” 

The assembly looked to him, and apollyon’s gaze found the codex quickly. They were quiet a moment, before speaking “I see. Do you feel comfortable sharing this here, or would you like to speak in private?” They were fairly gentle, most likely noticing the synethic’s nervousness.

“But what do we do?” Apollyon asks, hands behind their back as they continued “well. Our most common operations currently, are protecting mostly alien neighborhoods, and defending scavengers, you’d be surprised how often humans come looking to cause trouble for both. We work to locate human supremacist groups, and other violent elements, and break up their meetings, make them afraid. We understand that not everyone is accustomed to aggression or direct action, so do not expect to be suddenly thrust into a dangerous position.” They explain gently “all we ask, is that we can count on your support.”

He thought back to his own release, of all the proving he had to do, of days and days and days of being evaluated and having to work hard to prove himself the model citizen so he could be allowed out of the codex hold, a slight shiver crossing his form as he thought of the many Codex still there, formless from psionic dampening, serving sentences for crimes forced upon them by the elders, everyone here had been slaves to them at some point or another... he thought back to his own duties he had no say in with the elders, of scouring the human’s media and censoring it... he thought of how many times he’d heard a human complain hat something from long ago had ceased to be and he always felt the pangs of guilt at possibly being responsible... the more they spoke.. the more he had to wonder.. was he truly free? he was one simple mistake away from being back in the codex hold.. back to being stripped of his form and just being his processor hooked into a mainframe alongside dozens of others all kept there before they were ‘too dangerous’ to let be free, because they couldn’t be dampened without robbing them of their very bodies... he knew it... he knew he also got looks, also was judged, every day someone watching him for any sign of him breaking his oath to not use his psionics for more then his physical form...

Seeker let his words rest on the crowd for a while longer, before Apollyon returned to the front, nodding gently. “Thank you, seeker...these are only a fraction of the stories that exist in our organization.” He explains gently “and we want to make sure that these no longer have to be heard. The police have failed, and we cannot count on the powers that be to protect or defend us.” They says grimly “we have to do it ourselves.”

Seeker blinks at that, pausing “ah. That’s probably Apollyon, our leader.” He muses calmly “a former member of the Templars.”

“A Templar? Thats... odd I mean I guess its good you have a human in your group to remind some people here not all humans are bad.... if it keeps you guys honest its probably not all that bad... so uhm.. when does the meeting officially start?”

Seeker blinks at that, pausing “ah. That’s probably Apollyon, our leader.” He muses calmly “a former member of the Templars.”

“Yes Uh... he told me I could come to this meeting to be properly introduced to um.. what you do and for a proper case to be made as to why i might want to join you...” He was clearly nervous being stared down by the armored hybrid, as his hair looked more like a conventional codex’s now, completely wild above his head.

“Ah.” She nods, shifting a little, gesturing for him to enter as she speaks “so a tentative recruit, want to learn about us...alright, you’re a touch early, but the meeting should be starting soon.” She muses, being mindful as she noticed the state of his hair, knowing he was probably already intimidated.

He walked in, glancing about the place, and already by force of habit searching for any data flow or psionic flow in the area... looking for signs of this place being rigged up with a network either digital or Psionic, as he lived in both worlds equally. “Any rules i should be aware of as one here to observe and possibly be persuaded?”

There was some data flow, mostly information on where to contact scavengers, locations and activities of supremacist groups, training talk...as for psionics, there were a couple, sectoids communicating, and one powerful presence. “Mm....don’t use your real name.” She muses calmly, glancing over at him as they entered the main room. A small crowd was there, people talking calmly as they waited, mostly aliens and hybrids, with a rare human...all seemed to bear scars, slashes, blunt ones; some even had fresh bruises. As well, there was an obvious lack of psionic dampeners on those with capability for it.

As a Codex had had the rare privilege of already not having a dampener, which was why codexes were rarely allowed into society. With a dampener, he wouldn’t be able to manifest his body at all, which meant he had to very carefully earn trust from those in charge of his release to be let into society. He looked the group over, curious, and already starting to understand why these people had the stated goal of fighting human supremesists.... all of them were scarred and angry. He could feel the ambient anger in the air, see it like a red fog hanging over people’s heads... this was anger he didn’t share in... and already he felt a bit out of place... but what was this... incredible psionic presence it almost felt like... he did not want to finish that thought with ‘an elder’ but it was the only thing that compared! at least that he had personally ever been close enough to... best think of that fake name fast then... maybe change the body a little... look tougher or look more submissive? what would be socially advantageous here?

Some in the crowd took notice, gazing at him warily, but not saying much, simply going back to their conversations. “Ah, there you are!” Called a voice nearby, Seeker approaching, in a different outfit similar to the hybrid lady he had spoken to previously. “How are you my friend? I’m glad you could make it!”

Ok a familair face at least helpped ease some tension but his hair was still wild. “I’m alright.. i uh.. didn’t expect so many people and your guard lady is frankly terrifying.” He shifts a bit. “Uhm.. can I get a tick of advice... should I try to look tough or uhh... meek.”

Seeker blinks, tilting his head and smiling warmly “just be yourself, though I’d recommend maybe being a little tough looking I suppose.” He hums, chuckling as he adds “Yes, Bellona tends to scare off the people we don’t want at these meetings.”

“Yes Uh... he told me I could come to this meeting to be properly introduced to um.. what you do and for a proper case to be made as to why i might want to join you...” He was clearly nervous being stared down by the armored hybrid, as his hair looked more like a conventional codex’s now, completely wild above his head.

“Ah.” She nods, shifting a little, gesturing for him to enter as she speaks “so a tentative recruit, want to learn about us...alright, you’re a touch early, but the meeting should be starting soon.” She muses, being mindful as she noticed the state of his hair, knowing he was probably already intimidated.

He walked in, glancing about the place, and already by force of habit searching for any data flow or psionic flow in the area... looking for signs of this place being rigged up with a network either digital or Psionic, as he lived in both worlds equally. “Any rules i should be aware of as one here to observe and possibly be persuaded?”

There was some data flow, mostly information on where to contact scavengers, locations and activities of supremacist groups, training talk...as for psionics, there were a couple, sectoids communicating, and one powerful presence. “Mm....don’t use your real name.” She muses calmly, glancing over at him as they entered the main room. A small crowd was there, people talking calmly as they waited, mostly aliens and hybrids, with a rare human...all seemed to bear scars, slashes, blunt ones; some even had fresh bruises. As well, there was an obvious lack of psionic dampeners on those with capability for it.

As a Codex had had the rare privilege of already not having a dampener, which was why codexes were rarely allowed into society. With a dampener, he wouldn’t be able to manifest his body at all, which meant he had to very carefully earn trust from those in charge of his release to be let into society. He looked the group over, curious, and already starting to understand why these people had the stated goal of fighting human supremesists.... all of them were scarred and angry. He could feel the ambient anger in the air, see it like a red fog hanging over people’s heads... this was anger he didn’t share in... and already he felt a bit out of place... but what was this... incredible psionic presence it almost felt like... he did not want to finish that thought with ‘an elder’ but it was the only thing that compared! at least that he had personally ever been close enough to... best think of that fake name fast then... maybe change the body a little... look tougher or look more submissive? what would be socially advantageous here?

Some in the crowd took notice, gazing at him warily, but not saying much, simply going back to their conversations. “Ah, there you are!” Called a voice nearby, Seeker approaching, in a different outfit similar to the hybrid lady he had spoken to previously. “How are you my friend? I’m glad you could make it!”

“Yes Uh... he told me I could come to this meeting to be properly introduced to um.. what you do and for a proper case to be made as to why i might want to join you...” He was clearly nervous being stared down by the armored hybrid, as his hair looked more like a conventional codex’s now, completely wild above his head.

“Ah.” She nods, shifting a little, gesturing for him to enter as she speaks “so a tentative recruit, want to learn about us...alright, you’re a touch early, but the meeting should be starting soon.” She muses, being mindful as she noticed the state of his hair, knowing he was probably already intimidated.

He walked in, glancing about the place, and already by force of habit searching for any data flow or psionic flow in the area... looking for signs of this place being rigged up with a network either digital or Psionic, as he lived in both worlds equally. “Any rules i should be aware of as one here to observe and possibly be persuaded?”

There was some data flow, mostly information on where to contact scavengers, locations and activities of supremacist groups, training talk...as for psionics, there were a couple, sectoids communicating, and one powerful presence. “Mm....don’t use your real name.” She muses calmly, glancing over at him as they entered the main room. A small crowd was there, people talking calmly as they waited, mostly aliens and hybrids, with a rare human...all seemed to bear scars, slashes, blunt ones; some even had fresh bruises. As well, there was an obvious lack of psionic dampeners on those with capability for it.

“Yes Uh... he told me I could come to this meeting to be properly introduced to um.. what you do and for a proper case to be made as to why i might want to join you...” He was clearly nervous being stared down by the armored hybrid, as his hair looked more like a conventional codex’s now, completely wild above his head.

“Ah.” She nods, shifting a little, gesturing for him to enter as she speaks “so a tentative recruit, want to learn about us...alright, you’re a touch early, but the meeting should be starting soon.” She muses, being mindful as she noticed the state of his hair, knowing he was probably already intimidated.