The Aftermath of the Slaughter

Dray:

Several weeks have passed since the dethroning of the xenodragon Queen, but the station is still in chaos despite the best efforts of all of the Ministry boards and Security to restore order. Over three million persons left homeless, stranded in Driolo when citizens were forced to evacuate... however, this couldn't have come at a worse time, as the city was undergoing its annual monsoons; eight were drowned as massive flooding broke the shores of the West Mamtu river, several dozen are still unaccounted for. Even beyond the bad timing, the death toll of those who were captured and made hosts by the invading hive has not been completed, yet, as new, grisly discoveries are made each day by repair crews who have since been plumbing the depths of the station's back-ways and crawl-spaces.

The station, damaged by the blast from a re-purposed terrorist bomb and listing on its support cable, was through mammoth effort pushed back into a stable orbit, but the damage to the hatching deck will take months to repair; Housing and Life Support on either side suffered damage as well and the repercussions of this are yet to be fully realized. Throughout the station, property damage caused by looters and street-side battles is estimated to be in the millions of credits; some citizens may not have much of a home to come back to.

The Ministry of Security has come under heavy fire from all political standpoints and economic lobbiers; for the invasion in the first place, for the damage, and for what, exactly, it will be able to do to make the station safe once again. Even now, teams are working through the station and eradicating xenodragons left in the wake of the Queen, for fear that one of her facehugging progeny will give rise to another egg-laying caste. There are many demands made of the Minister himself, many laying blame across his shoulders despite several eye-witness accounts of his heroic efforts in battle. Several xenodragons unrelated to the invading hive have been targeted by hate groups, and picketers have set up what seems to be a permanent camp in the Ministry halls, their holo-banners and crudely painted posters scrawled with hateful slogans.

A bill to add xenodragons to the 'Red Group' has gained momentum and support from the general public, and is already moving through hearings in the parliament to be passed into law. Bill 47X would see that xenodragons be labeled as a unanimously hostile species, barred even partial citizenship and banned from entering Station space. This extremely limited list -- including the Siisakoo and other invasive, untenable species -- would require that all xenodragon citizens currently occupying the station be deported immediately to Nexus space. To give comparison, in the Station's Citizenship Bylaws and Annals, xenodragons as a whole were placed within the Amber Group along with Balespawn, two species of Hydra-kin, and Thorian-kin, denoting careful monitoring and strict laws restricting reproduction or expansion, or interaction with other citizens of the station.

While repairs are still heavily under way, the public has begun to be allowed to return to the station, though steep fines for disobeying curfews have been put into place, and it will be some time before business returns to full swing. Station space is under heavy patrol by its small fleet of cruisers: pirate activity surrounding Star City has shot up by 35% since the evacuations began. An advisory has been placed in travel logs to exercise caution upon entering station space, and intra-Nexus aid funds have thus far begun to make a dent in the great losses that the station's economy has suffered due to the loss of business and lives.

It will be quite some time before things return to normal, if ever they do again...

Blooding the True Hunters

Phoenix:

Although the Abstract Destiny detached from Star City for the duration of the xenodragon infestation, it maintained a close orbit and sent all the help it could in the form of its own security teams -- including the whole of its yautjadragon and yautja-hybrid force and the mother of the species itself, Rhakarndi. Present practically from the first station-organized battle of resistance to the very last against the monstrous queen herself, the yautja huntress was not unaware of the achievements of her kin -- both those who already called the station home, and those who had reappeared from wherever into the Nexus they had gone after their hatchings. What she did not witness firsthand, she learned from those connected to the Huntermind, and ultimately came to a decision.

There were many who had pleased her and lived up to their bloodlines, even exceeding them when dilution cast a taint, but on some things the yautja could still not be swayed. That very day of the final battle, she called Rifan, Lahan, and Neisan Mei'Rhakarndi to her side. From the nearest xenodragon corpse she tore a claw, which she dipped in the beast's own blood and used as a tool to put her mark upon them. When they left her presence then, they bore new names: Rifande, Lahande, Neisande.

A few days afterwards, after the Destiny had re-docked, she called them to the ship. There the three met a fourth: Vironde Mei'Rhakarndi, parted from the bond he had chosen at birth and drawn back home to fight for its freedom. Though he had not been able to fight his way to the queen's chamber as they had, countless lesser servants had fallen at his claws and his honor was no less than theirs. With pride and ritual formality their measurements were taken.

By the end of the week, they were clad in the garb and weapons of true warriors: Blooded at long last, not in the safe facsimile of a Hunt within the Destiny's bays, but out in the battlefield against their greatest foes.