Alanik

Alanik
by Charlie Bowater
Abilities	Cytonics
Species	UrDail
Homeworld	ReDawn
Universe	Cytoverse

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Alanik is an UrDail cytonic from the planet ReDawn.

Appearance and Personality

“She almost could have been one of us. I was surprised—I hadn’t realized there were aliens out there that looked so…human. ”

—Spensa, on Alanik's appearance

Alanik is a humanoid woman with light purple skin, pale violet eyes, and stark white shoulder-length hair. She has oddly pronounced cheeks, with white crystalline bone ridges that protrude out under her eyes and along the side of her "elfin" face. She has slender hands with sharp, pointed fingernails made of the same bony material. Despite her strange features, humans would consider her beautiful. Her body shape is the same as that of a human female and she is approximately the same height as Spensa. She wears a flight suit while piloting her ship.

She has a quiet voice and her language sounds graceful to human ears. She speaks to Spensa in a rather enigmatic manner during their brief interaction, although she was severely injured at the time. She later proves to be very pragmatic, and displays a notable distrust of authority.

Abilities and Attributes

by Bernardo Curvello

Alanik is the only UrDail cytonic. She has more understanding of her abilities than Spensa, although she believes she still has much to learn. She is able to sense other cytonics and determine their location, and she is able to hyperjump without the assistance of a taynix. She is able to reach out to other cytonics and speak to them psionically, and she is also able to place the coordinates of Starsight directly into Spensa's mind.

She is a relatively skilled pilot, as she manages to get through the Detritus defense systems with her ship "miraculously" in one piece. Her ship is similar in size to M-Bot, and appears to be a long-range fighter equipped with destructors and a light-lance turret. M-Bot calls her ship "not very advanced", although he also looks down on DDF ships; her ship's database contains a large amount of information about her people's history alongside planetary charts and her own mission log. It also contains an interference module that can stop some types of cytonic attacks.

She resembles a human with a few superficial differences, and her physiology is also fairly similar to a human's. Her body's circulatory, respiratory, and reproductive systems all seem to function like a human's, with small differences such as darker blood and breathing different gases. Her diet is also similar to that of a human. Due to the former alliance between the UrDail and humans, she is able to speak Mandarin Chinese and a small amount of English; the structure of her own language has some similarities to English, although the sounds are different and Spensa cannot understand any of it.

History

Alanik lived on ReDawn, a "backwater" planet that was not part of the Superiority. Her people, the UrDail, had allied with humans in the last Human war and were heavily influenced by human culture. Although some UrDail claimed that the humans forcibly occupied their planet, Alanik believed that this was propaganda and that humans were not dangerous compared to the oppression of the Superiority. Because the Superiority had confined humans to "preserves" such as Detritus, Alanik was not even sure that they still existed, but continually tried reaching out with her cytonic abilities hoping to contact one of them.

“We were allies once. They say that you were monsters. But I thought…nothing can be more monstrous than they are…And if anyone can fight…it would be the ones they locked away…the terror that once nearly defeated them…”

—Alanik, to Spensa

Selection for Starsight

The UrDail and numerous other races who were not primary citizens of the Superiority were sent a message by Cuna's agency seeking potential pilots for their military. Alanik was chosen as the UrDail's only emissary for the training mission; Cuna presumably had particular interest in Alanik since she was a cytonic. She was tasked with traveling to Starsight to train as a pilot. The hope was that a successful trial by Alanik would lead to additional UrDail pilots joining the military and eventual citizenship for the entire species. However, Alanik actually had several ulterior motives. She wanted to learn more about her cytonic abilities and she was also acting as a spy; she hoped to steal hyperdrive technology and liberate the UrDail.

Crash on Detritus

Alanik never made it to Starsight; she heard Spensa's panicked cytonic scream after watching video footage of a delver and was able to cytonically determine the location of Detritus. She hyperjumped directly to Detritus but was unfortunately unaware of the planet's defense systems, and she took a path that led her too close to the platform-mounted automatic guns surrounding the planet. The DDF was confused by the presence of a single alien ship that did not behave like a Krell and scrambled some fighters. Her ship barely survived atmospheric entry; its acclivity ring was damaged and one of the wings nearly detached, but Spensa could sense Alanik and was able to save the ship from total destruction by using her light-lance.

by Jill Andersen

Spensa, disguised as Alanik

After Spensa helped land the ship, she tried to give Alanik medical attention. Alanik was able to speak to Spensa using a translator pin, and told her about Starsight. She cytonically placed the coordinates of the station in Spensa's mind and told her not to trust the Superiority before falling unconscious. M-Bot was able to hack into her ship's relatively crude computer systems and was able to fill in the blanks regarding her planet and her mission. Spensa quickly hatched a plan to disguise herself as Alanik and go to Starsight in her place in an attempt to steal a hyperdrive. The DDF did not fully understand Alanik's medical needs and they simply monitored her as she remained unconscious for the duration of Spensa's mission. The UrDail tried to contact her; Spensa attempted to explain the situation but the UrDail were also in contact with Cuna and did not seem to know who to trust.

Recovery and Departure

Alanik remained in a DDF medical bay under sedation for nineteen days while her injuries healed. DDF Flight Command had Alanik taken off the sedatives hoping that she could help them contact Cuna, who had sent an emergency message to Detritus after Winzik's coup. With Spensa absent, Cobb suggested that Jorgen and FM speak to her first. After some time for Alanik to adjust, FM struck up a conversation with her. Alanik seemed willing to work with the young pilots, although she became agitated when she learned that the Superiority had tried to contact the humans. She wanted to contact the UrDail regarding her mission to Starsight; Jorgen and FM did not have clearance to tell her that Spensa had taken her place.

“My people were punished because we fought alongside yours. Some on my planet think it is better to go along with the Superiority. To accept their peace. But their peace is a tool to maintain power. ”

—Alanik, to FM

She discussed the oppression of her people by the Superiority, noting some parallels to the plight of the humans. She emphasized that any "peace" treaty offered by the Superiority was false; FM realized that the National Assembly was considering the exact scenario that she was warning against. She told Alanik that she was ready to fight.

Alanik seemed to be connecting with FM, but their diplomatic efforts were put to a full stop when Jeshua Weight intervened, treating Alanik like a prisoner rather than an ally. Alanik immediately took offense and projected a message into Jorgen's mind telling him that he was powerful and should not allow anyone to control him. She then hyperjumped to an unknown location.

Notes

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