====== Silence and Sword ======
{{wst>author|Royce Day}}


===== Summary =====

[[characters:Joe Wildmon]] is an electronics repair and tinkerer in [[locations:ambara_down|Ambara Down]]. One day he meets [[characters:Hamia]], a large draconian lizard and his ward, [[characters:Ali]], a 16 year old vixen. They both Joe's assistance in removing a collar placed around Ali's neck by [[elements:pax_machina|Pax Machina]], which shocks her if she tries to speak. Using sign language translated by Hamia, Ali explains she was held underground with other kits, building devices for Pax Machina. She escaped when she was six years old, and was found by Hamia, who has cared for her ever since

Joe determines they can use a signal detector to track where the facility is, and hopefully find a way to remove the collar before Ali grows any further and is choked to death. Upon locating the underground facility, the trio are stymied by the armored front entrance, and Ali's collar shocks her when she argues with Hamia over the need to return Ambara Down to get the equipment they need.

Ali sneaks from their camp in the middle of the night, slipping into the facility through the same vent she escaped from. Hamia and Joe follow, with Joe volunteering to go after Ali, since Hamia won't fit. Joe finds Ali inside the now abandoned facility, and they figure out that Pax Machina was making kits build sound activated bombs, hence the need to keep the kits silent. 

Joe convinces Pax Machina that Ali is "redundant equipment" and it removes the collar from her neck and tries to drop her in a cryo storage unit. Joe asks Pax Machina to open the front door so he can leave, which allows Hamia to rush in and save Ali. Once clear of the facility, Ali uses one Pax Machina's bombs to blow the complex up, and the trio return to Ambara Down. Hamia and Ali vow to search for the remaining missing kits, and Joe wishes them luck. 
===== Important Events =====

Pax Machina has been kidnapping kits and using them to manufacture sound-activated explosives. At least thirty kits were kidnapped around ten to twelve years ago. 
===== Notes =====

===== Related Pages =====
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