[i]~BEGIN PART 1~[/i] D: For starters my name's Dreshna. D-R-E-S-N-A, people always add an h when they hear the 'sh' sound. Z: And your number? D: My number? Why are there others? Z: No, the number of times you've been rebooted. Most exos add the number to the end of their name. D: Don't know nothing about any reboot, been the way I am since my ghost found me. If I had reboots before I guess old me wasn't sentimental enough to make a fuss over it. Z: I suppose it's not important, continue with your story. D: Sure. So Theena, that’s my ghost, first rezzed me in Mare Imbrium a little ways from the Hellmouth. I can't tell you what made her crazy enough to check out Luna but she found me there so I ain't complaining. First thing I remember is the longest breath of my life followed by a lungful of moon-dust. I must have been coughing for a minute straight before I finally got up and saw my ghost. She tells me she was really glad she found me and that I was destined to become a guardian of the light and you know, all the stuff they probably learn in ghost school. Second thing she tells me is that there are a lot of things nearby that want to kill us and we need to be careful. I see this hellish green smoke on the horizon and say no-thank-you to that so I head in the opposite direction. I'm on the outskirts of some old colony base when I spot this half-man half-bug thing in green rags rummaging through some scrap on the outside of a building. Z: The Fallen. D: Right, that's what you call them. Theena tells me it's dangerous and we should keep going but I want to move closer, get a good look at it. Unfortunately I'm new to the concept of stealth at this point and make one hell of a racket blundering through some parts or something. This thing turns around, spots me and immediately goes for its pistol. I'm out in the open so only thing I can do is rush the guy and get to it before it gets a shot off. Luckily I do and we wrestle for the gun for a bit before I manage to kick it aside and pin the thing down. Dregs might not seem tough to you titans but I'm telling ya for someone who's fresh out of the afterlife, those guys are pretty strong. Regardless I have it held and it starts making this awful shrieking noise, I figure it's callin' to its buddies. Obviously I can't let it do that but I've got no weapons and this things exoskeleton is pretty hardy. I notice the tubes on its head and without even thinking I give one a mighty tug and pull the thing loose, white gas starts spraying everywhere. Stuff smells awful and I lose my grip but the guy immediately shuts up and starts frantically grasping for the tube I pulled. I can hear the thing wheezing and suddenly I realise it was breathing whatever was in that tube. I try to help but it takes a dagger out of its belt and swings the thing at me, gets me in the leg and the knife lets off a shock that takes me off my feet. Can't do much else at that point so I'm just sitting there watching this poor fella suffocate to death in front of me. It was a fighter, must’ve taken a couple minutes for the guy to finally stop struggling. *Silence* D: That was my first kill, nearly broke me. Hell maybe it did. Z: The dreg attacked you, it was self defence. D: Yeah that’s what Theena told me too. S'what we all tell ourselves isn't it? Don't make it right, you're still taking the life of another living creature. And call me selfish for sayin it but you've gotta live with that act for the rest of yours. Anyhow I'm getting off topic. Once I come to terms with what I've just done I snag the Dregs knife and sidearm and make my way further into the colony base. I'm making my way up the side of this hill when BAM! Lights out. I wake up a couple hours later and my ghost tells me I got domed by a vandal some three clicks away, drilled a hole right through my forehead. Now I don't care if it just killed me, I've got respect for something that can make a shot like that at three plus kilometres. Fella also taught me to keep my head down so I lay low for a while, maybe a week or two. I learn the routines of these scavengers and watch them work, nothing too interesting but you get to know the guys watching em day in day out like that, I gave em names and everything. There was one little guy I named Phil, feistiest dreg you ever saw. Never found out if he survived. Z: Survived? D: Yeah, cause I was just getting comfortable with my new neighbours when some genius decides to wake the goddamn Hive. [i]~END PART 1~[/i]