The ancient Prison Liner Orocin, its engines roaring painfully from the stress of cruise, its hull seams creaking in pain from age, its windows opaquely-shaded with dust and grime, and its inner halls echoing with a solemn silence within them, was now traveling deep through Omicron Alpha, the Core System of the Outcast Territories... Where it was exactly, was at the Siniestre Nebula, cruising along the ever-present green gases present within...
Katarn's search within the Taus made him encounter the Omicron systems' Jumpholes, and the Outcasts themselves... Knowing he wasn't very much welcome amongst the Outcast populace (he had a nice bounty on his head by a cartel), he managed to meet up with a contact of his to get into the systems safely: payments were made to specific cartel members to turn a blind-eye when seeing the old veteran; a few records here and there altered to put any potential hunters off-track; and besides... the Orocin wasn't mentioned in the bounty board, so if the old veteran played his cards right he could slip past the Outcasts as another persona.
After the transactions were completed, the Prison Liner was given a general green rep amongst the general populace for the time being which would help in easing Katarn's stay there in the Outcast territories. The veteran loaded up his ship with goods, put on a temporary alias for himself, and ventured off into the unknown...
... and the rest is history... To summarize it all, he wasn't successful in finding any links of Clare with the Outcasts... but he did get a suggestion from one of them to explore ONLY a small part of the Siniestre Nebula, because people searching for old stuff frequented there.
For now, the ship and it's captain were just about to give up since they've already searched most of the 'explorable' parts, when suddenly...
Katarn's senses felt different... He wasn't sure, but it was the same feeling he had over at the Strange JH he found in Omicron Gamma... The same homey, but eerie feeling, surrounding him, calling out to him, beckoning him...
The old veteran looked around the surroundings, and the ship soon caught a glimpse of something on long-range scanners.
"... Elizabeth... What be that I see...?" He shivered because the sense of welcome, and the sense of dread, conflicted with one another and started to confuse his mind.
[color=#000099]
~~~SCANS INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF A TYPE-4 JUMPHOLE ANOMALY WITHIN LONG-RANGE READINGS. REFERENCE DATA AND TRIANGULATION GEOMETRY INDICATE ANOMALY IS LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE SACRED BURIAL GROUNDS OF THE OUTCASTS. CAUTION IS ADVISED IF CAPTAIN WISHES TO PROCEED WITH MOVING THE SHIP TO TAKE A CLOSER INSPECTION WITH SAID ANOMALY, WHICH WOULD BOLDLY STATE A BREACH WITH THE NO-TRESPASSING AGREEMENT~~~
The veteran paused for a few moments to think about the situation... ... Hmmm... There doesn't seem te be any nearby Outcasts te witness me trespassin...
... But... No... It be not worth it... Maybe I should just---
"GYAAARRRGGGHHH!!!" A sudden pulse of pain erupts in his head as a vision pops up from out of nowhere...
"... Why do you continue to sleep, youngling...?"
"... New course, awakens..."
"... Fear for the future, onward to the past..."
"... To live in the now... or die unsatisfied...?"
"... The seas of suspicion... The waves of doubt..."
"... To alter the currents... To find the right path..."
"... The frantic calm... The turbulent grace..."
"... Secrets unveiled... yet clouded once more..."
"... Free the shackles... Free the bonds... Free the cages... Free your destiny..."
"... but what you may seek... may not be what you find..."
"... What... What be..." The old veteran opens his eyes after a few moments, and stands up from his kneel shakily, [color=#99FFFF]"... What be that just now...?"
~~~SCANS INDICATE KATARN IS SUFFERING FROM LEVEL-1 SYMPTOMS DESPITE KNOWING LEVEL-2 STATUS. REFERENCE DATA INDICATES KATARN HAS ONLY SELF-TAUGHT HIMSELF TO ATTAIN LEVEL-2 STATUS. KATARN'S LEVEL-2 MEDITATION TECHNIQUE IS INCOMPLETE AND REQUIRES REFINING FROM CURRENT DATABASE INFORMATION TO ATTAIN FULL LEVEL-2 STATUS~~~
"... Uh... What?" Katarn scratches his head, unable to comprehend what Elizabeth said.
~~~PLEASE PROCEED TO NEOPHYTE MEDITATION CHAMBER 2 FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS AS TO REFINING CURRENT LEVEL-2 MEDITATION TECHNIQUE TO OPTIMAL SKILL LEVELS. VESSEL WILL HANDLE TEMPORARY COMMAND OF SHIP TO ENSURE NO OUTSIDE SOURCES WILL INTERRUPT TRANSITION PROCESS~~~
"Huh? But where will the Orocin be goin?"
~~~VESSEL HAS PLOTTED COURSE TOWARDS PLANET MALTA MOORING STATION. VESSEL IS CAPABLE OF INTERACTING WITH OUTSIDE SOURCES, AND IS CAPABLE OF INITIATING DOCKING PROCEEDURES~~~
"But what if they be really needin me te talk with em?"
~~~IF TRANSMISSION PRIORITY PROVES HIGH, VESSEL WILL ALLOW KATARN TO COMMAND SHIP ONCE AGAIN TO REPLY TO SOURCE~~~
"Ehm... aw, alright..." The old veteran started to walk towards the designated room on the ship...
..... Several minutes later.....
Katarn soon found himself back in front of the strange door he found as he went with the group of kids in the Refugee-Transporting Mission the Orocin undertook. He slowly stepped through the portal as it opened, and walked near the center of the large, pyramid-shaped room.
"Uhm... Elizabeth... What now?" The old veteran shouted out around him.
Suddenly the purple ceiling crystal flickered to life, and launched a thin beam of light towards the center of the floor. Slowly, the beam widened up until it got wide enough to outline a holographic image of a humanoid wearing a very large, long-sleeved robe that covered the whole person, its hood pushed back to reveal the soft face of a Bretonian maiden.
The maiden was the opposite of the veteran physically: she was shorter than him, and had a thinner and frailer frame; her facial skin was clear of any hardship, and her eyes showed that of calmness and grace; her hair was tied back into three ponytails that trailed behind the length of her back; her zipped-up robe was very large, covering her hands and arms if they clasped together, and the cloth reached up to the ankles of her feet, which looked like they were wearing equally-large cloth boots of the same make as the robe.
She walked towards the veteran very gently, and after being only a few feet away she bowed considerately to Katarn. She spoke in a very calm, yet formal voice, "Good afternoon, Katarn. I am XTR-98. You may know me as the TB-NARS-98's on-board... AI... But I guess you prefer to call me Elizabeth, and have also newly christened the ship as Orocin, so for your comfortability I shall use these new names from hereon.
"... Welcome to the Neophyte Meditation Chamber 2 of the Orocin, Katarn. I suspect you have a lot of questions needing to be answered, but considering that much of the ship's data-entries are corrupted and/or unavailable my ability to answer some of them may be limited as to what is still intact."
"Yer darn RIGHT I be havin a lot o' questions needin te be answered!" Katarn starts to pace impatiently around the room, "First off, what be this issue on ME bein what ye call me... A Neophyte, ye say? Who are they? What are they? What be their purpose? What be yer reasons as te why I be one o' them?"
"Unfortunately, that information is classified until you reach a higher level-status... What I can tell you, however, is that the Neophytes are still humans, but they are different in a way that they have talents they use for the betterment of Humanity's way of life."
"How long have they been around? When were they founded?"
"Mostly corrupted information, I'm afraid... What I can tell you is that they've been in existence as far back as the 2nd century A.S., existing as a secret shadow organization that once encompassed all corners and walks of life, dedicating themselves mostly to research and development, and have a hand to some of Humanity's significant technological breakthroughs.
"Any further than that is highly classified and needs higher level-status to access."
"What be their origin?"
Elizabeth laughs softly to herself upon hearing that, "... The answer to that question is actually so classified only the highest status-level Neophyte members are allowed to know about it..."
The old veteran soon starts to scratch his chin in wonder, "... Well, at least can ye answer why I be considered te be one o' them?"
Her first response was a warm smile before she went on, "... You have these dreams, don't you? The strange dreams that don't make sense to you? You also have frequent visions and sorts: some significant, others confusing... And the most notable is when you hear... words... chant going on in your head, riddles that don't make much sense.
"That is what all untrained Neophytes have... You see, all Neophytes have basic psionic abilities they call the 'Union': it is a spiritual plane Neophytes connect into to telepathically communicate with each other, even over great distances; unlike normal verbal communication, the media used for transfer are thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, visions to communicate amongst themselves.
"But this ability to connect 'properly' into the Union is a trained skill... They can only connect to the Union if their minds are in deep concentration. Those who are still untrained have this ability go unchecked, which at worst case leads to painful connections into the Union in the form of migraines. Neophytes who suffer from these are called Level-1 Neophytes, and their condition is dubbed as Level-1 Status: those who have no control over their connection with the Union. This ship has sensors installed that are well-equipped to notice the patterns of Level-1 Neophytes and their symptoms."
"So... What ye be sayin that there be a technique te stoppin these accursed headaches permanently?!" His words started to sound excited in anticipation.
"Exactly...
"But as you may have already known, you are already knowledgeable of the technique yourself, but you are not knowledgeable as to the degree of it."
"What do ye mean, te what degree?"
"You notice that most of your painful visions result from you sleeping? The reason is the technique to connect you into the Union stems from deep meditation, or in this case deep sleep. Whenever you ordinarily sleep your mind goes into deep meditation, but your thoughts are chaotic and unorganized, leading to a messy connection with the Union.
"The solution to this would be to concentrate your thoughts mentally as you sleep, keeping them in check. This means you have to master the molding and creation of your dreams whilst you sleep, always making sure you have control over them so that the connection will be organized."
"Ye mean I have te keep concentrating in me sleep?!" Katarn's face was starting to show disbelief.
"Not necessarily... What you must do is to become aware of your thoughts and be able to control your dreams at will. In other words, your dreams must be lucid.
"But be warned... This is the most difficult part in your transition from Level-1 to Level-2... This ability requires great willpower to maintain, and is not for those who are impatient... But once you have mastered your dreams you will no longer experience Level-1 symptoms and become a fully-fledged Level-2 Neophyte... Also, as you progress into higher status-levels your clearance into classified information will be increased, which should help answer your gnawing questions in due time..." Elizabeth finished her sentence with a gentle smile.
"Well then..." He grins in anticipation as he went on, "Challenge is what I be made fer, Elizabeth, HAHAHAAAAH! I be excited te have these accursed migraines disappear from me life forever anyway, HAHAH!"
"That is good, Katarn... I am happy you have chosen to accept yourself as a Neophyte member.
"Now then... As for how this is going to be done, sadly you'll need to do these meditations here in this room so that I can observe your progress and help you if ever you should need some. This means you'll be spending the next hours for sleeping here in the cold floor of the meditation room until you have mastered your dreams, heheheh... Is that fine for you, Katarn?"
"Ah... That be okay, Elizabeth... I've slept in far worse conditions than this...
"Very well then... since I be tired already, I guess we can start this right now, eh?" Katarn smiles slyly as he slowly stoops down to the floor and rests his head on his hands and concentrates himself as he falls asleep.
"Good night, Katarn... May you succeed in your endeavors..." The beam of light that outlined Elizabeth quickly disappeared and receded back to the purple crystal, leaving the old veteran to sleep peacefully to himself in the pitch-black room...
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