*casts Raise Thread* 
(Gee, I haven't posted since... February?! Filler just to get the thread active again, but hopefully this'll lead into resuming the main arc soon.)---
Several hours passed. Xan forced himself to meditate, focusing his mind on anything other than the constant prickling sensations throughout his body while the healing device did its work. He wasn't angry-- no more than usual, anyway; knowing, as he did, that his opponent 'Kane' was no doubt in much worse condition and with no similar way to regenerate-- but he
was frustrated. One of his elders had locked him in a glass coffin-- or so the cylinder appeared and felt-- for a quarter of a day. He rarely
slept that long.
Time slowly passed by, and the assassin's thoughts focused mostly on the humans he'd seen-- and one he'd sparred with-- that night. The was a reason they were outside, especially as a group; he doubted it was for a walk.
Although the crisp Roshtarian nights are much more pleasant than their days....He had nearly fallen asleep, having finally adjusted to the steady, dull ache of technological healing... when with a click and a
hiss the lid slowly rose, and the machine quietly hummed as it powered down. The assassin gave a deep sigh and swung his legs over the side, then dropped to the ground.
"I
knew it." he muttered, clenching a fist.
Those scientists-- they're certainly not 'doctors'-- planned it. Yes, lock the tired assassin in a bottle... make it so he can't sleep... and set it to end just
when he finally adjusts to it. "I hate science." he said, walking over to a desk where-- he'd been too injured to notice at the time-- his sword had been placed. "I'd kill those senile old men, but I owe them for helping me out. ...well, perhaps some 'severe lacerations' would be enough, and then
they could sample that bloody regenerator--"
"You must be Xan." called out a woman's voice from the gloom, and the assassin abruptly stopped.
"I... apologize." he said after a moment. "My... frustrations were with the scientists."
"Yes, they can be like that, can't they?" she replied, stepping into the harsh glow of a ceiling light, voice higher than her original sarcastic tone. "My name is Senali... though I would prefer if you called me 'Sena.'"
"Xanas Antares, although 'Xan' is sufficient." He half-smiled. "One of the madmen mentioned you... you're a huntress?"
She nodded. "And a skilled one... or so I would like to think, at least."
The assassin looked her over after a short nod. She looked the role, at least... attractive, with an impressive figure that her outfit, a low-cut green vest and slightly darker leggings, only accentuated. She was more muscular than many female Tribesmen he'd met, and as she was roughly his height, and, he estimated, slightly older; they would be more evenly matched in a fight than most.
"Do you like what you see?" Sena quipped, and Xan averted his eyes elsewhere in the lab. "Do you know how badly you stare? I wasn't sure if you were checking me out or trying to figure out a way to kill me."
"A little of both, actually." he replied dryly, and she laughed. "I was curious... I haven't met many women combatants... not in the past years, at least."
"You'd rather I be in the kitchen?"
"I'm not sure. How well do you cook?"
Sena laughed again, and Xan made a thin smile. "Well enough, but only because I can't stand the taste of rations. And I enjoy hunting, so I sort of had to learn." She nodded toward Xan. "How about you?"
"No. I tend to live on rations or foraging. Actual cooking is a woman's job."
The huntress began to laugh again, but Xan's tone indicated he wasn't joking, and she crossed her arms, frowning. "I'm sorry you think that way,
Lord Antares. Shall I get your jacket for you as we go upstairs? Or should I stay down here and sweep the floor?"
Xan likewise crossed his arms. "I meant no insult to you,
Miss Sena. In fact, I'm certain you're a fine warrior, for a woman."
"
For a woman!?" she repeated, nearly yelling now. "I bet I could gut
you, you chauvanist pig! We have
centuries of history of women fighting just as well as men in the Tribe and
you think you can come along and--"
"If your offer to take my coat still stands, Sena, I think I will be going up to speak with the doctors now."
The woman halted in mid-sentence. She stared at Xan, shock and disgust crossing her face, then slammed her hand into a nearby shelf. "
Get your own bloody coat!" She stormed through the door, slamming it shut behind her; and to add insult to injury switched off the laboratory's main lights as she left.
"Women." Xan murmured, shaking his head as he took the door handle, noting where it was earlier. "Never controlling their emotions properly. One might think I had unfairly insulted her or something." He shook his head and slowly ascended the stairs after her.
---
"...something tells me you two didn't hit it off." said Kai mildly, looking over a Roshtarian light energy rifle in his lap.
Xan shrugged. "Women are strange and unpredictable. How was I to know she'd react like that?"
Tulkata stared askance at the young man, then shook his head, putting his hand on top of his white hair as part of the gesture. "I... well, I suppose I can't blame you. You're... what, exactly, twenty?"
"Nineteen, but nearly that, yes. I don't see what that has to--"
"I think that's enough." chuckled the old scientist, who stood, rifle still in hand. "We do have more important matters to concern ourselves with, and Sena will get over it."
"Assuming Mr. Antares doesn't treat her as a maid." retorted Tulkata. "Senali is among the most skilled and well-trained Hunters I personally have ever seen. She is dedicated and cunning--"
"You left out her charming smile and hot body." joked Caeus, and the younger doctor rolled his eyes.
"...and she has seniority over
you, Xan. I suggest that, if you're going to remain here, you put aside your outdated prejudices and try to get along."
Xan glared at Tulkata. "Then I shall not remain here long, Doctor."
"Are you both finished?" cut in Kai, voice firm. "Because if you
are, we have payment to discuss, Xan."
The assassin arched an eyebrow. "Really? After your treatment of me, I had been considering charging
you. Taking an assassin prisoner--"
"You weren't going to earn any blood money in your condition." snapped the older Tribesman, his tone unusually cold. "We did you a favor, and now, young man, you owe us."
Xan crossed his arms, and turned his gaze toward Kai... but the old scientist didn't flinch. He sighed. "...very well. What do you want from me?"
"It's simple enough." answered Tulkata, sitting down, and picking up a note in Sena's careful handwriting. "Senali was at the Palace of Floristica this morning. She reports there was a Bugrom invasion on the premises, and while the Royal Family is reportedly secure... there are a large number of casualties. A group of humans attempted to restore order but with, so far, no success." He removed his thin-framed reading glasses. "Kai personally investigated, and apparently two of the three Great Priestesses-- Water and Fire, fortunately for us they enjoy being color-coded-- are in the city."
"That is convenient," Xan replied, "...given that it would be too great a distance for help to be summoned and then provided in so short a time."
"Isn't luck always with whomever fights the Bugrom?" Kai joked, and the younger scientist chuckled.
"I suppose so. ...in any event, Xan... our request is simple. We want you to eliminate the Bugrom in the palace and, if possible, their leader... Sena reported that it was a young human male, so there are no unforeseen complications."
"There are
always complications." Xan countered, but he nodded. "That's acceptable. Further... if I remember correctly, the man I fought earlier is probably related to the Fire Priestess."
"Business first." cautioned Caeus, wagging a finger comically at the assassin. "No killing anybody else until the palace is secured."
Xan half-smiled. "Fine. ...two things, however. First, why do you-- since I know you haven't received any orders from the enclave-- want the palace saved? And second... do you happen to have any chemicals that kill Bugrom? Poison doesn't work effectively on them and I would rather not melee them in numbers."
"Well, we want to preserve the status quo. If the Bugrom take over Roshtaria that easily, it'll topple the balance of power across the entire continent." Kai shook his head. "And if the Bugrom win...."
"...we lose." finished Tulkata. "To that end... we do have toxins designed against the Bugrom, but most are air-dispersal and designed to work in contained spaces, like rooms in a hive. The palace is, largely, open to the air... and, well, it wouldn't help. Not sufficiently enough to weaken the big ones, anyway."
Xan opened his mouth to speak, but this time Kai cut him off. "Have no fear, young man. Your 'senile' elder has an idea." And saying that he held out the Roshtarian rifle with both hands.
"...an RPG3X?" said Xan, unimpressed, looking at the weapon. "A Roshtarian pulse gun would be remarkable if it gave a Bugrom second-degree burns. Even their cannon batteries don't help much against them." He raised both eyebrows, another thought coming to him. "...if you
want me to die on this mission, you could have at least come up with a better joke. You never know... with this I could conceivably hit one with the butt and break its anten--"
"No, but you're tempting me." growled Kai, and he took back the rifle. "...I picked up two. One of them I've already taken apart... examined its power cells, blast coiling, and so on. Apparently, the humans that adapted this technology didn't know proper ways of focusing an energy beam... hence the weakened pulses and slow rate of fire. But the power they generate is potentially lethal...."
"...if it were properly adapted." Xan supplied, his turn to finish the old man's thoughts. "I suppose so, and weapon and gun design
is one of my non-combat skills...."
"Yes," said Tulkata, half-joking, "...you didn't seem to be the sort who was into pottery or dance."
"Or oratory... but then, talking a man to death is the domain of a scientist, not an assassin." Xan quipped, and Kai grinned.
"Well said. Now, let's see if you're as skilled in gunsmithing as you are at
repartee, young man. I've done most of the hard work already, but actually converting the rifle to a short-range high-power pistol... well, it's something I wouldn't want to mess up."
"...alright." said Xan, loading the rifle, parts, and his gear onto a tray and heading for the laboratory again. "...I estimate an hour or two, with these tools. It's not difficult work, for one who knows how... as long as nothing goes wrong."
"Then for your sake, I hope nothing does." said Tulkata, soberly. "The regenerator will need several hours to recharge."
Xan nodded as he went back down. There was nothing quite like the threat of death to focus one's mind intently on the task at hand.
---
OK... I should be ready to go [with new and improved Bugrom blasting 
] whenever someone involved with the main plot posts again. Apologies for the length; but I wanted to get all the extraneous stuff out of the way. :]
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), and ended up taking the entire thing down. I visit the site on rare occasion-- mostly to read stuff by people I know, like Mr. What over there-- but that's really it. It has some good members of the online writing community there, sure, but it has all the bad ones.