The Promised

[The Storyteller]

Track Change​

Watching the display of her handy work take effect, The Promised proceeded to take a moment and utilize her affinity toward nightsister magic. From the shadows she swirled her arms, curling and writhing her fingers to form a cloud of ethereal green mist before stepping through and becoming nearly undetectable as the invisibility technique was complete.

If not interrupted she would leap up to the heavy branches above. The thick base of the branches where they curved into the main body of the tree would be where she placed her feet. The solid placement keeping the branches from shaking. Her soft voice spoke to the captain of the distant ship. Her voice a seductive whisper. "Let me have my fun, captain.

☠
​

To the east, moving counter clockwise were still the dozen cultists. They moved with hurried purpose around the edge of earlier ceremony sight. They came out of the forest for a few seconds and crossed the open ground of the wide lanes that had been dominated by the eldritch flame. But soon after they were back into the woods they were crossing into.

Even the cultists were not immune to the savagery of the forest though. Glowing eyes watched them fly past. Grinning lipless mouths with needled teeth dripped with saliva. The previously observant and kneeling fiends had rose up, having been entirly ignored and possibly mistaken for statues. They were once beings of intelligence and logic.

Now they just wanted to fulfill their violent urges, even if it was on those that shared. Half of the flanking cultists stopped once back inside the treeline. The growl of four different Wretches came forth from the shadows. They had no weapons saved for their own curved clawed hands, horns and teeth.

The six cultists that did not stop kept heading towards where the Basilisk war droid had last made its position known but it would be a moment before they arrived. Meanwhile a beastial roar came from the Wretches, the feeling of fear and aggression flooded the cultists. They had felt it too. Now it was just time to decide which of them were strong enough to survive to continue the hunt. Elsewhere around the edge of the ceremony clearing were more of these things. They slunk into the shadows, looking for prey to hunt.​

☠​

The four Zealots were noticably made up of unique beings at this distance. The slight glow of their dark side fueled expressions gave light to a similar characteristic as The Promised though perhaps not as intense. Three of them had the cracked red skin and illuminating irises that stared towards Perek and Narir. The fourth had a mask that was clearly a Kel Dor making him different than the rest.

The silver haired Zealot closed the distance. With each step he increased his speed until he came down with an over head strike to chop into the Al'Verde. The glow of his lightsaber illuminating his shadowed visage even further in malicious light. The dark haired male would come a step after him. But he leaped towards the basilisk war droid only to use it as a spring board for a redirected attack towards Narir with a stab at his center of mass from his 9 o'clock.

For the avian mandalorian he had two Zealots to deal with on his own. Simultaneous to their cohorts, the woman and the Kel Dor curved around the melee that was about to ensue. Their attention clearly focused on Perek. The Kel Dor moved first and charged forward with a swing going from his own lower left to top right before mirroring the action with a bottom right to top left, intending to cut the Rishi in an X like slashing attack. The woman though, stayed back and on guard. Her left hand beginning to build up with the force.

☠
​

The heavy clawing of the rancor would be rewarded with Solone adjusting and taking off and getting some distance from the site. With deep claw marks carved into the hull of the ship and likely making a portion of the ship open to being depressurized if they went into unsafe altitudes. She flew away and the gnarly clawed hands of the beast was not enough to slow down the acceleration and thrust the star yacht had at its disposal. But that was all the thing could do besides roar at its moving quarry.

A few moments later the woman would turn around though and keep at a wiser, and safer distance from the clearing and in part the rancor. The twisted rancor moved into the high topped forest canopy thinking its prey was gone. Soon it would be in the dark forest as it sought something else to consume.

☠
​

In the distance the boxy ship loomed. The once small square like silhouette had become more defined. The outline of turrets and complex technology visible in shadow. The blood moon back lit the ship making the front face appear completely black. But it was slow, ponderous and ultimately decreased its acceleration with the order from The Promised. "As you wish, my lady." He replied without actually transmitting the confirmation. Serena would already know the Captain would obey her wishes

@GABA @Phoenix @Faster Than Light

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir was aware of the approaching Witches by the glow of their lightsabers, and he could only wonder what else was out there. Hopefully that didn't mean anyone behind him. He was vaguely aware of the Bird-Mando setting down nearby, but he intentionally kept the two of them at distance. Whether out of some sort of Force-premonition or just bad luck, they all seemed to know precisely where the Mandalorian was, but he didn't seem... alarmed by that. In fact, he didn't seem to move from his position.

Two for one person... well, that just solidified the game plan. Beskad still in his right hand, his left finally selected the belt item he'd been considering: a single fragmentation grenade. In this environment it would be quite effective: namely the darkness.

One step was all it took, and Narir was going to take advantage of it. The activator on the grenade flipped to "on" and the Mandalorian dropped it to the ground at his feet. His right hand came up horizontally to block the downward strike and he leapt backwards. His left fingers wrapped under and activated the jetboot controls, ensuring that he would clear out of the way of the downward stab - and radius - before it arrived.

Spotting the small grenade in the darkness, shadows, and shrubbery was nigh impossible, and even if they saw it drop, finding it in the underbrush before it detonated was quite unlikely. The grenade detonated and while Silver might have escaped - hopefully not - the Dark Hair would have almost certainly not recovered from his leaping stab and darted out of the blast radius before it detonated.

With luck, that would mean Narir was down to only one or perhaps no enemies, allowing him to focus on the other threats. Either way, his beskad was at the ready to engage and defend himself still. @Darasuum @Faster Than Light @GABA

 

[Solone Wren]

The ship rocked and there was the distinct sound of screeching metal from the beast's attempt to latch onto the Mandalorian's ship. She scanned over the sensor read out and shields, looking for anything out of sorts, but nothing too alarming came up. Regardless the sound it made was the kind that would make any pilot get out and check the damage before heading out to jump, but in this case, there was no time in the moment to check and would deal with it when she could. The most shocking was in all was nothing came from the armed box that was approaching; the woman leaned forward as she took the ship back over the clearing, high enough to keep it from being fetched by mutated rancors, but she expected it to have engaged.

"I don't like this..." she told the badger in her lap as it nudged for at least one hand to dedicate itself to scritches. Optimistically she thought the witches below were perhaps in the grounds of a retreat, having scattered into the forest, air support to assist.

Solone frowned, the gnarled trees and dark forest below made it hard to see any movement below, especially following the basilisk stopping its firing, "Hey, Narir, are you close to wrapping it up? You are taking pretty long time down there to chase out some witches." she said over his comm line, knowing exactly how it sounded, but with the uneasy quiet above the trees, she was limited on what she could do. "This other ship is just sitting here...you think there are more of these bastards on there?" she asked chewing on her lip in open thoughts.

@Faster Than Light @Darasuum @Phoenix

 

[Birdmando]

Parek wasn't as skilled as a warrior as Narir and can't take advantage of the darkness like he can. The Birdmando has wings and rather colorful wings that he doubted the witches could miss, but still he wasn't helpless against the two that were moving in against him. Parek stood his ground where he was as the witch and Kel Dor looking to pluck his feathers were on the move, facing them. Now it's just one of them with two lightsabers looking to cut him up and another one staying back, looking like shes gathering concentration. Who knows what vile witchery it's planning but they are going down. Parek was given adequate amount of time and breathing room to prepare. He didn't want to go for anything too risky either.

Before the charging Keldor gets in striking range, Parek would have his right hand aimed at the Kel Dor quickly and then fire off his wrist-mounted repulsor, poised to hit him in the chest with the power of a force push. An attack that the Kel Dor would not be in a good position to defend against given he's at at the end of his charge and already beginning to commit to an attack. The Kel Dor's attack would be negated but just in case the birb would also sidestep to where the Kel Dor is blocking the other threat's line of sight of Parek when the Kel'dor closed in, limiting what she can do in response to the birbs movements.

If the repulsor does work as intended he'd follow it up quickly with two blaster shots to the Kel dor's chest as he's been pushed away. The Kel dor would more than likely be unable to defend with his lightsabers, but deflecting the bolts to anywhere meaningful would be impossible nonetheless. All the while, he did keep the other witch looking for his feathers in his mind and sight. If she does something he can react accordingly, but if all goes well he should at least hat the Kel dor down for the count.
@Darasuum @GABA @Phoenix

 

[The Storyteller]

Track Change​

Above the two mandalorians was the invisible woman who had orchestrated this event. The Promised watched with interest both to see how her own followers faired as well as the warriors of Mandalore. She had heard of them, witnessed them sparingly and was curious to see their performance. Taking care to not make any sound or disturbance in the branches she made her way above and between the avian mandalorian and the more human fighter. It was difficult for her to track the dark armored warrior though. His armor blended with the shadows to the point that even she was not sure of his movements.

☠
​

Screams shot through the woods and would reach the ears of anybody within kilometers. The grinning Wretches tore through cultists in their frenzy. The ceremony had been stopped early and with the peak blood lust in the air they did not see the cultists as their allies. Tooth and claw ran with blood. A few of the wretches had been injured but they did not feel pain like most beings. Disks from lanvaroks protruded from their flesh and severed arms lay among the twigs on the ground next to the corpses of the cultists.

The six cultists that had kept running were the new prey of the Wretches. The others had been slain but the monsters did not want to stop hunting despite having plenty to eat. They chased after the cultists that had originally intended to meet the Zealots against the mandalorian intruders. But they would find their attempt at flanking cut off. Halting in their tracks, much like their dead comrades they backed into one another to fend off the Wretches in the dark. Only violence and terror would ensue.
​

☠​

It was dark and while those attuned to the dark side were the type to be partial towards cloak and dagger, the environment was still hard to perceive things. After their initial attack on Narir the grenade would go unnoticed. As the mandalorian backed up the two Zealots opposing him stepped towards and over the grenade. Their pace ready for a counter attack from the warrior's bes'kad. However it would not be the blade that did them in. The explosion from the fragmentation grenade would boom and flash. The silver haired one would be cast to his left while the other dark haired Zealot was thrown into the hulk of the basilisk with a thud before slumping to the ground. Some of their flesh burned by the explosion and numerous lacerations. They were out of the fight and even if they were not dead yet they would bleed out from the numerous lacerations.

For the Kelborn clan member, the Kel Dor would bring up his lightsaber in an attempt to defend against a wrist blaster or dart launcher. No such specific attack was made. Instead it was the blast of a repulsor that slammed in, and threw the Kel Dor back end over end several meters until he was face down among the dark brush. One of the follow up shots made by Parek would wing the warrior's right shoulder but the brutish Zealot seemed more bothered at being denied his charge in such a fashion.

The female partner of the Kel Dor raised her hand that had been building up with the force and leveled it at Parek. After her partner had been thrown out of the line of fire. With this energy she shot forth a stream of arching electrical energy towards the avian mandalorian.

☠
​

The ship had not stopped its approach. It had slowed and was no longer using its maximum speed to intercept the enemy vessel. But only moving at twenty MGLT equivalent in atmosphere was far from quick. However the ship had gone ignored thus far and despite its obvious approach the attacking forces had neither fled nor moved to intercept. Four dual auto blaster turrets along the ventral side of the ship opened up. With the Marauder's Revenge not moving at fast speed already it would take a moment for it to build up the acceleration for evasive maneuvers. Because the dungeon class ship was above the scene it could only afford to use the underside based weapons.

@GABA @Phoenix @Faster Than Light

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir could hear screeches and screams, but he didn't know the source. He pitied the poor souls who the sound came from, and although he assumed them to be victims of the Witches, he probably still would have pitied them if he'd known they were his enemy. The ending they had just met was clearly far beyond any horror that Narir wanted to imagine for himself.

In the more immediate vicinity, his grenade felled the two combatants he was fighting, and without further signs of movement from them, his left hand reached across his body and snatched the disruptor from its holster. He depressed the trigger and aimed it at the female enemy who was preparing to attack Bird Mando. The disruptor whirred in his hand as it prepared to fire, but Narir was still vaguely aware of his seemingly dead opponents. He figured if they were faking, he'd have a nice body-disintegrating surprise for them.

Otherwise if he had the chance he would fire at the woman and her body would either be melted, or she would be forced to evade the shot and throw off her attack. Even so, his beskad was ready in case there was some sort of other unexpected "surprises." @Darasuum @Faster Than Light @GABA

 

[Solone Wren]

The comm crackled with silence and Solone rolled her eyes, it would have been pretty embarrassing if Narir were dead and she was just derping around reporting on a large ship that seemed to overshadow the Mandalorian and her borrowed vessel. "Your badger needs you..." she quickly comm'd to the Field Marshal, her gaze falling on the belly of the cruiser as she began to turn the ship for another loop around, but what seemed just to lurk suddenly opened fire. Solone cursed loud enough it would startle the badger in her lap, its claws gripping tightly into her thighs as the ship rocked violently from the hit as she pulled on the accelerator to weave out of the turret fire.

Solone gasped as she tried to wiggle the badger off her lap and pull the ship out of the range of the ship's underbelly fire power. The hit made her nervous, "We can't take another hit like that again, droid." she said as the turret fire blinked around the viewport; she flipped a few switches to silence the alarms that were sounding from the sensor read-outs. The ship certainly was not moving as fast as it was, but still carried enough speed that she could work with as she flew from under the shadow of the ship's underbelly and took it back around, gaining enough altitude to keep the gunners busy with their weapons.

"We need a bigger ship, little badger..." she grumbled as she made her way to be level with the port-side of the freighter, nearly a blindspot for their weapons.

@Faster Than Light @Darasuum @Phoenix

 

[Birdmando]

That screaming was on, but Parek had his mind on other things, like the two enemies he's fighting he can't let his mind wander. Parek did see the second shot of his blaster strike the Kel Dor right in the chest as he was unable to evade it or block it (OOC: second blaster shot was not acknowledged/addressed, therefore autohit). The shot would burn harshly, it would either kill/KO him or put him down at least momentarily, he didn't know but the birb's focus instead went towards the other immediate concern, but the takeaway is that he isn't getting up too soon.

Now with attention on the witch that was gathering force energy, She unleashed her attack, an arc of force lightning. Parek was already in motion as he was sidestepping, when he saw lightning coming towards him, his kneejerk reaction is to sidestep further in the same direction he was already going. Although Narir's disruptor shot aimed at her is poised to either turn her into ash via disruptor or force her to dodge/interrupt her own attack - just in case the lightning managed to go off with intended force somehow then Parek's left arm would be struck by lightning as he's moving to the right. It would be painful, burn a lot of his feathers and it would hurt a lot but at least he'd be on his two feet still and able to still fight, although wounded. Although in the more likely event of her attack being stopped Parek would be unharmed of course.

He'd have his blaster carbine still leveled however either way, what Parek would do next depends on what the force-using witch (if she isn't ash yet) and the Kel Dor as well (unless he's down for the count)

@Darasuum @Phoenix @GABA

 

[The Storyteller]

The darkness was only partially deterred as the distant flashes of laser fire from the ship lit up the night sky. It would ultimately not make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things but the numerous turrets of the ship would keep up their barrage just slowly coming in from maximum range. They were still one kilometer away. But the captain of the dungeon class ship was not shooting to blow the Marauder's Revenge out of the sky. Instead he was giving it a choice. Stay and fight to risk death and destruction or get out of the zone of the ceremony.

Knowing that her ride was coming, The Promised remained watchful from her perch. Her invisible form held a lightsaber hilt in her hand but other than that would make no move. The loss of her warriors was a sight to behold. She felt nothing though as they died. They were mere instruments for her own ends. The sounds of screams reached her caused her to smile. The Wretches were having their fill. The process of their feeding and bloodshed would not be rushed so it would be a moment before they potentially set themselves on the Mandalorians.

☠
​

The Kel Dor that had been getting up on all fours was struck by the second shot of Parek. It struck him right in his mask which was not actually armored. The limbs of the Zealot went limp and his body returned back to the ground.

The woman that had been charging up her attack would successfully release and connect with the appendage of the avian mandalorian. A full two seconds of arcing intense pain and damage would rock through the Rishi's body. The adjusting of his movements was compensated easily enough and the coursing energy of the force lightning would fry into his flesh doing significant damage. The lightning would only end after a few seconds as Narir discharged his disruptor at the woman who apparently had tunnel vision for Parek. Still, the damage had been done.

@GABA @Phoenix @Faster Than Light

 

[Narir Solus]

While Narir had practiced firing with his disruptor before this many times, he had never actually vaporized someone in combat before. Wow was it an impressive sight to behold. The weapon bucked in his hand like a bull reek and lanced a shot through the air that struck true to the woman who had been attacking the bird mando.

Within an instant her body had quite literally disintegrated to ash, and there was nothing left where she had once been except dust. His finger depressed the trigger once again, starting the charge up in case someone jumped out, but not firing if there were no more targets.

You okay? he asked, crossing over to where the other Mandalorian was in order to see if he was still alive and unwounded. His head was ever on a swivel and his weapons were up and ready. @Darasuum @Faster Than Light @GABA

 

[Solone Wren]

Please leave your message after the beep...

"Hi uh, Narir, yeah, dude..." Solone let out a gasp as she pushed on the thrusters and then jolted the yoke to the side in order to make a sharp turn away from the incoming prison ship. Alarms were sounding all around and they could be heard in the background of the message.

"Your ship sucks." she flatly stated, "I can't believe you snatched yourself an Imperial design, this thing flies like they do." she directed the power to the rear deflector shields, she needed to get out of the path of the larger vessel. "And where are the rest of your Mandalorians?" The woman paused as a loud creek could be hear, like metal succumbing to pressure, "That didn't sound good," she mumbled, but was caught in the message, "Aren't you supposed to be a badger, like swarm on the enemy kind, cause, I came from Wrens and we're more like sneaky sneak and this certainly is not my pint of ale and this is the worst fight I have ever encountered, do you think the stupid Sith finally got some balls to actually fight?" There were a series of purrs and chittering from the badger that was still in her lap, "Yeah, I agree tiny badger, hey, yeah, your badger doesn't like this either."

The ship picked up speed quickly, zipping to the edge of the fire ring before turning back to circle just inside the ring itself keeping a perimeter; she didn't want to go too far in case Narir did reply, "The badger and I are going to get drinks later, I promised him some honey, I think that's what they they liked, but like you and the rest of the badger team should learn to like communicate cause this isn't working for us, Narir, and by us, I mean you and I, and I think your droid took my request for booze seriously because there is a lot of noise in the back...but yeah, call me back...thanks, 'kay, bye."

Your message has been delivered.

Solone sighed as she kept the ship in flight, but instead of heading directly back to the dark vessel, she kept her distance, knowing she was going to be a toasted bird if she stayed within range for too much longer.

@Faster Than Light @Darasuum @Phoenix

 

[Birdmando]

The Bird Mando had his eyes on the witch, as he was exiting his sidestep and as the witch was compensating for his movements with her lightning the birb reacted accordingly, he'd hop with momentum in that direction, and his jet boots on combat mode would activate, launching him further in the air that way quickly, avoiding the rest of the duration of the witch's lightning attack. Although he did feel the lighting as well through the rest of his body as she compensated, but it was very brief as Parek reacted with quick movements.

He'd see the witch was disintegrated as he landed on his two feet. A wonderful sight to see befall those vile witches. Parek shaking his head and his body a bit to recollect himself and recover a bit, he would then turn towards Narir who asked if he was okay. "Thank you. Yeah I'll be fine. Ready to follow your lead" he said, speaking quickly as to not waste too much time. They still have work to do here (or so he guesses). He still felt the shock of the lightning, but it's going to take more than just that to put a Marauder down, he still was standing and could still use his weapons, he's good to go, although he probably shouldn't be flapping his wings for a while.

@Darasuum @Phoenix @GABA

 

[The Storyteller]

Narir was ready for more. That much The Promised could see from above. Thankfully, no enemy presented themselves either. On the bright side the reboot of Narir's basilisk war droid was coming back. The internal components had found a way to reroute the power needed move and act.

The darkness matched the close silence. The cries of pain and anguish that had been in the distance became quiet. That meant the unseen cause of terror was finished with their old prey. With this quiet The Promised would not move. With the lack of immediate commotion she felt she would likely be heard or detected even in her invisible form. For now she built up the force in her free hand, stewing over a few ideas with what to do to the two mandalorians before her.

​

The slow but dauntless ship came over the clearing. It did so without being able to chase after the Marauder's Revenge with anything but tracking laser cannon fire. The top gunners would adjust to face the direction of the mandalorian ship but being on the dorsal side would not be able to see it until the capital ship had landed.

The loud thrum of the ship kicked up some minor dust and blew out patches of flame. The ceremony was coming to an end. The doors to the ship remained closed for the time being. A horn blew from near the loading ramps. It blasted the woods with a large howling sound. It was a call to the altered rancor. A follow up call of different sound would go out, this one intended to signal the Wretches.

@GABA @Phoenix @Faster Than Light

 

[Narir Solus]

With no immediate targets, Narir holstered his disruptor and flipped his jetboots back on, flitting up to the back of his basilisk that had come online again and just begun to move.

That was when he noticed all the messages from Solone. Icons on his comlink were blinking and chirping, and he quickly listened to it only to be... less than impressed. Really?... some of us are working, he groaned into his comlink as he took a sitting position on the basilisk once again and gave it a pat on the back.

It whirred and buzzed as if it were a dog waking from a long nap. For now, Narir had no targets, but he was at the ready.

OOC: Sorry, short post @Darasuum @GABA @Faster Than Light

 

[Solone Wren]

The comm channel crackled and she heard Narir finally respond in a less-than-pleasant tone and the woman raised her eyebrows in response as she kept her distance. The large prison ship was landing in the clearly, Solone watched as she replied back to the Marshal, "Well, I'm not some mind reading witch." she paused, hearing the horns below from the ship. It was loud enough that it also caught the badger's attention, its claws digging once more into her thighs, "Also," she hissed, trying to gently lift the creature with one hand under its belly, "Your badger is having issues..." she getting it to release her legs and set it down on the floor only to have it climb back in her lap.

"I'll send you the coordinates where I land your ship." she mumbled, turning the yoke to move the ship away from the ceremony clearing to the out edges of the forest where she had first started this adventure.

@Faster Than Light @Darasuum @Phoenix

 

[Birdmando]

The basilisk war droid was coming to life, with the unseen witches disable droid attack wearing off and it beginning to recover. Parek glanced at the dead Kel dor's body and then remembered he had two lightsabers on his person. The other zealots had lightsabers as well, but the Kel dor was pretty close and grabbing his would take little time so it was more convenient now that they would begin moving again. Quickly jogging over to the Kel Dor, he'd quickly grab the two lightsabers that he had, and stow them away in pouches on his belt. Don't those Galactic Alliance guys still have bounties out for red lightsabers? The birdmando isn't quite sure, but if not he might find a good use for them at some point.

After that, when Narir was ready to move out, Parek would be too, he'd still have his sword out in one hand and his blaster in his other hand, ready for action.

@Darasuum @GABA @Phoenix

 

[The Storyteller]

The hair on the back of her neck rose. She was going to get her own fill of violence. These armored beings needed to know what it meant by interrupting her ceremony. She was The Promised, she was the bride. Her fingers curled together and she was about to let lose a devastating attack on the scavenging avian warrior but her earpiece activated and she heard the voice of the captain once more. "My lady, we have arrived. We should collect your creations and depart."

Belaying the attack she debated a moment. Holding the power in her tense hand she eventually let the hand flatten. Instead of aiming it towards the two mandalorians she stretched it out towards the darkness of the forest around them and closed her eyes. Go to the ship my children She spoke towards the minds of the Wretches that were out in the darkness. Coupled with the call from the vessel the various beasts, including the twisted rancor, would go to the dungeon class vessel.

While the beasts returned so would Serena. Her body leaped from the boughs of gnarled trees for a few dozen meters. Once she was at within a few meters of the large ship she dropped her invisibility. With a calm step she made her way on board. The grinning faces of her creations seeming to look towards her. Cultists on board had expected more of their fellows to be present but it was evident that the mandalorians and Serena's own creations had lowered their numbers. She could not keep them in check at all times. But that was why there was a dungeon ship landing and not another type of vessel. They would be secure and the crew of the ship would also be safe as they were transported.

If there was no other interruptions, the pedestrian doors of the large ship would close. The ramps would raise and the vessel would life off once again. The turrets remained at the ready in case the Marauder's Revenge returned. Otherwise the boxy dark ship would head back towards orbit with their violent passengers now aboard.

@GABA @Phoenix @Faster Than Light exiting thread attempt

 

[Narir Solus]

Narir heard the roar of engines and his droid was up and running again, but he couldn’t get close enough to attack.

If he’s not attacking you he must like you, Narir said, glad his badger was safe. It seemed they had all survived, although what exactly he’d just seen, he wasn’t sure.

Perhaps time would tell along with a thorough review of the footage and sensor data of the Revenge. Or perhaps not.

//Thread

OOC: Sorry another short phone post, just making this at a stop since time was running out. @Darasuum @GABA @Faster Than Light