Romana System, Nikaia
Winter, 3015 GSC
The world is so bright.
Ginger stood on top of the skyscraper with her hand pressed against her forehead as she looked into the distance. The city was on fire beneath a darkening sky. Smoke permeated the air and it hurt to breathe. Sweat plastered her hair against her face as a strong wind whipped around her.
It is full of death.
She sensed the voice more than she heard it. The timber of the voice coiled around her and she looked for the speaker. It was her gift and her curse, she could see what was not meant to be seen by human eyes. It made her both valuable and dangerous to keep in a government building.
“You won’t find me, Child.”
“Why not?” She turned her head to glance over her shoulder and found a lengthening shadow at the edge of her vision. “Those that wish to remain hidden don’t speak.”
“Do you hate the people that did this to you?”
Ginger crossed her arms in front of her chest and ran her hands against the gooseflesh. She wondered if it was it fear that made her hair stand on end, it was too warm for chills. She stared at her hands, watched the pulse and color of her circulatory system course through her flesh. She was warm, her blood still flowed, she was alive.
She turned to the open doorway behind her. The shadows lengthened and the air rippled.
They are coming for me.
She took a step towards the edge, maybe, they would let her jump and just end it all. No more monsters, no more abuse, freedom from pain. She felt the cool stone beneath the torn skin of her feet. The pain had dulled to an ache and she closed her eyes as she listened to the wind, the distant cries and gunfire.
Let it end.
She tipped forward.
Don’t let them catch me.
And was violently ripped backwards by unseen hands. No!
“Hey! We got you! It’s okay.” The voice was metallic and muffled but the woman sounded concerned.
Ginger opened her eyes and looked up at the armored figure. The air shifted with color, taking on more substance, becoming brighter, the figure was becoming visible again.
“Do you want to live, little one?”
I don’t want to hurt any more.
“It won’t always be like that. There is a balance.”
Ginger watched with uncertainty. Was this adult one of the nice ones that had tried to save her? Or was she one… of the others?
The helmet’s seals released with a gasp of air and revealed a pale face covered in soot. Friendly eyes, Ginger decided. “Don’t be scared. I’m Ember. I have to get you off this planet. Were there any others with you that are trapped?” Ember smiled.
Ginger wanted to believe in her. She shook her head, no.
“There is good in life too.”
Ember frowned and closed her helmet again. “Ok, I’m going to place this sort of helmet on you to protect you when we jump.” The woman waited for Ginger to nod before placing a bowl over her blonde hair and pressed something on it, causing the bowl to extend and cover her entire face.
Ginger had a moment of panic until the clean oxygen flowed into her lungs. The visor of the helmet was tinted and muted the hues of the world. Ember shifted Ginger in her arms to hold her more securely with one arm so she could still use her rifle. “I have you but hold on tight. The magic will protect us so long as we’re together.”
Magic?
“Can you sense it?”
The strings?
“There is magic in a promise. You’ll understand in time.”
Ginger’s stomach lurched as the armored suit sped away. She closed her eyes again and felt for the pulse of the world around her. It flowed over and around her with the wind, it was charged and alive. She listened for the chaos and heard only the hurried heartbeat of the woman trying to save her.
[WCS La Lueur - 3015 GSC] Into the Fire
[WCS La Lueur - 3015 GSC] Into the Fire
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of
& 
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Winter, 3015 GSC
The ship was a patchwork of black, white and red sheets of metal of varying textures, that must have been salvaged from commercial shipping containers. The original paint had been blackened and pockmarked with holes. It was a miracle that the thing was able to be safe operated in any environment, let alone space.
Luckily, small miracles were Ember’s forte. Rosalee supposed that if luck were a form of magic, Ember Connelley would be a mage to rival any Jordian tatya hinya. After all, isn’t that why her callsign was for the magical beings of Jord? The more poetic called Admiral Connelly a “radiant light” but Rosalee was a little jaded, and called her “unnaturally lucky”.
There had been whisperings in the shadows of the various bunkers they had cowered in, that if anyone was still out there looking for them, it would be Ember. There had been rumors of course, and as the days turned to months listening to static on the radio channels, many doubted that they would be saved.
Then suddenly, when Rosalee was ready to give up, a squad of Tianshi had arrived, sent by Admiral Connelly. She had survived, gathering what forces she could to mount rescue missions to recover Wangdaio colonists trapped by either Xenos or the Heise insurgency. She shivered and looked to their saviors, clad in blackened and pockmarked grey and white Tianshi armor. There were only three that had survived the trip planetside. Rosalee had watched them fall to the talons and gnashing teeth of the Xenos.
Those that had hid with her were all civilians, low level workers and children that didn’t know what to do. They were gaunt with hunger and pale from months hidden underground. It was lucky, that Ember’s rescue party had even found them beneath the rubble of a fallen skyscraper.
Relieved silence had filled the shuttle and was broken by the hiss of the airlock door opening into the ship, the name had been burned away on the hull but Rosalee knew it to be the La Lueur. She winced and remained in the shuttle at the sight of the ship.
Wires dangled haphazardly from the overheads; sections of the passageway were dark except for moments when sparks briefly illuminated the shadows. The deck plates were rusted and the rubber matting was broken and stained a dark red. Rosalee felt a surge of desperation and loss as she stepped into the ship. At the back of her mind, she could hear the distant shouts of technicians scurrying around the ship to try to keep it operational under a hail of enemy fire.
Her hesitation caught the attention of the rescue party.
“Please,” the woman in the lead Tianshi, marked with a black lion on the right shoulder, finally spoke, “It’s not the prettiest right now but, I promise you, it’s safe.” She gestured for them to move into the ship. Even with the helmet on, Rosalee had the sense that the woman was smiling at her. “We can dress your wounds in the medbay. We have some rations for you as well. You must be hungry,” her voice was edged with exhaustion.
Rosalee obediently nodded and finally stepped into the corridor. They were led in relative silence, only the clunking of the hard suits against the deckplates pierced the intermittent gloom.
The medbay was brightly lit, it seemed that most of the power had been redirected here. The woman in the lion Tianshi spoke again, her helmet hissing as the air seals released, “I know you must be exhausted but I need to know, what happened?” Her face was pale, made paler by curly crimson tresses spilling about her shoulders with the removal of her helmet.
Rosalee stared at her. The woman’s face was impossibly young. The woman’s emerald green eyes glittered in the light as they caught hers.
“Please, maybe if you can tell me what you know, I can figure out if anyone else is down there before we get driven away,” the lioness pressed.
“You’re Admiral Connelly?” Rosalee said dumbly.
“And you’re Rosalee Katsura. You were Prime Minister Morita’s assistant. Please. I need to know, what happened to her?” The Admiral nodded as Rosalee sank onto the cot.
There was so much to explain. Rosalee didn’t understand it all. “I.. I don’t know. So much happened at once. There was an explosion, then… silence.” She held up her hands exasperated.
Ember Connelly frowned, she tapped the helmet lightly against the hip of her hard suit. “I have a way to retrieve the information, it was experimental before the blackout, but if you will permit me, I need to see it to understand it all.”
“Retrieve it?”
“Our minds are analog, but we were working on a method to share human memories to improve tactics,” Ember leaned forward as she lowered her voice. “We can’t filter it to only see specific things, I need you help and permission to see what you saw.”
“You need my memories.”
“I need to find Ayana but I can’t without knowing what happened,” Ember’s hand was on her shoulder, firm and reassuring. “This isn’t the easiest way but it is the fastest. Please.”
Ayana. What had happened to Ayana? Rosalee looked down, suddenly ashamed. She hadn’t thought of the Prime Minister, she had been too terrified for her own life. Finding her would stabilize and reunify their forces.
“Rosalee, please, I need you,” Ember implored softly.
Rosalee looked up again and nodded. “Whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” A gloved hand caressed Rosalee’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” came the whisper as she sank into cold darkness.
Winter, 3015 GSC
The ship was a patchwork of black, white and red sheets of metal of varying textures, that must have been salvaged from commercial shipping containers. The original paint had been blackened and pockmarked with holes. It was a miracle that the thing was able to be safe operated in any environment, let alone space.
Luckily, small miracles were Ember’s forte. Rosalee supposed that if luck were a form of magic, Ember Connelley would be a mage to rival any Jordian tatya hinya. After all, isn’t that why her callsign was for the magical beings of Jord? The more poetic called Admiral Connelly a “radiant light” but Rosalee was a little jaded, and called her “unnaturally lucky”.
There had been whisperings in the shadows of the various bunkers they had cowered in, that if anyone was still out there looking for them, it would be Ember. There had been rumors of course, and as the days turned to months listening to static on the radio channels, many doubted that they would be saved.
Then suddenly, when Rosalee was ready to give up, a squad of Tianshi had arrived, sent by Admiral Connelly. She had survived, gathering what forces she could to mount rescue missions to recover Wangdaio colonists trapped by either Xenos or the Heise insurgency. She shivered and looked to their saviors, clad in blackened and pockmarked grey and white Tianshi armor. There were only three that had survived the trip planetside. Rosalee had watched them fall to the talons and gnashing teeth of the Xenos.
Those that had hid with her were all civilians, low level workers and children that didn’t know what to do. They were gaunt with hunger and pale from months hidden underground. It was lucky, that Ember’s rescue party had even found them beneath the rubble of a fallen skyscraper.
Relieved silence had filled the shuttle and was broken by the hiss of the airlock door opening into the ship, the name had been burned away on the hull but Rosalee knew it to be the La Lueur. She winced and remained in the shuttle at the sight of the ship.
Wires dangled haphazardly from the overheads; sections of the passageway were dark except for moments when sparks briefly illuminated the shadows. The deck plates were rusted and the rubber matting was broken and stained a dark red. Rosalee felt a surge of desperation and loss as she stepped into the ship. At the back of her mind, she could hear the distant shouts of technicians scurrying around the ship to try to keep it operational under a hail of enemy fire.
Her hesitation caught the attention of the rescue party.
“Please,” the woman in the lead Tianshi, marked with a black lion on the right shoulder, finally spoke, “It’s not the prettiest right now but, I promise you, it’s safe.” She gestured for them to move into the ship. Even with the helmet on, Rosalee had the sense that the woman was smiling at her. “We can dress your wounds in the medbay. We have some rations for you as well. You must be hungry,” her voice was edged with exhaustion.
Rosalee obediently nodded and finally stepped into the corridor. They were led in relative silence, only the clunking of the hard suits against the deckplates pierced the intermittent gloom.
The medbay was brightly lit, it seemed that most of the power had been redirected here. The woman in the lion Tianshi spoke again, her helmet hissing as the air seals released, “I know you must be exhausted but I need to know, what happened?” Her face was pale, made paler by curly crimson tresses spilling about her shoulders with the removal of her helmet.
Rosalee stared at her. The woman’s face was impossibly young. The woman’s emerald green eyes glittered in the light as they caught hers.
“Please, maybe if you can tell me what you know, I can figure out if anyone else is down there before we get driven away,” the lioness pressed.
“You’re Admiral Connelly?” Rosalee said dumbly.
“And you’re Rosalee Katsura. You were Prime Minister Morita’s assistant. Please. I need to know, what happened to her?” The Admiral nodded as Rosalee sank onto the cot.
There was so much to explain. Rosalee didn’t understand it all. “I.. I don’t know. So much happened at once. There was an explosion, then… silence.” She held up her hands exasperated.
Ember Connelly frowned, she tapped the helmet lightly against the hip of her hard suit. “I have a way to retrieve the information, it was experimental before the blackout, but if you will permit me, I need to see it to understand it all.”
“Retrieve it?”
“Our minds are analog, but we were working on a method to share human memories to improve tactics,” Ember leaned forward as she lowered her voice. “We can’t filter it to only see specific things, I need you help and permission to see what you saw.”
“You need my memories.”
“I need to find Ayana but I can’t without knowing what happened,” Ember’s hand was on her shoulder, firm and reassuring. “This isn’t the easiest way but it is the fastest. Please.”
Ayana. What had happened to Ayana? Rosalee looked down, suddenly ashamed. She hadn’t thought of the Prime Minister, she had been too terrified for her own life. Finding her would stabilize and reunify their forces.
“Rosalee, please, I need you,” Ember implored softly.
Rosalee looked up again and nodded. “Whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” A gloved hand caressed Rosalee’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” came the whisper as she sank into cold darkness.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
Jardin de Lys, Planet: La Fleur, Saint-Yves System
Wangdaio Colonies
Mid-Summer, 3010 GSC, day before the black out.
This planet, this city is beautiful.
A warm wind caressed the petals of the vast garden, making the rainbow colored sea dance as it cast its sweet bouquet into the air. It was hard to believe that two years ago this garden was red, barren earth. A woman’s laughter carried across the flower tops, tinkling like a silver bell as it reached Rosalee. It was hard to not smile and long to be a part of that happiness.
“Rosalee!” The woman called as she noticed Rosalee’s presence. If she minded, Rosalee could not tell as the woman waved from the snowy white blossoms she had been tending, the crisp black of her dress cast her like a shadow, but that radiant smile, was more like the sun.
Rosalee stood frozen for a moment as she clutched the small datapad to her chest, she was intruding on the morning’s serenity and she wanted it to last for a few moments longer. She sharply inhaled and slowly exhaled as she crossed the garden along the cobblestone path, enjoying the warmth of the morning. She came along side the elf, no, tatya hinya, beside the large white flowers and waited.
After all these years working alongside the Second Children, Rosalee still had to correct herself on the proper terminology, while “Second Children” was what the name translated into Trade, they called themselves, “Tatya hini” or “tatya hinya” for a singular being. “Elf” was almost derogatory but it was humans had dubbed the tatya hini after first contact since it was easier to remember and say. She had not been old enough to appreciate the failed independence movements that the Liang tatya hini had attempted from the Taianese but she had been a part of this new movement, the Wangdaio Colonies.
Wangdaio was meant to be a Taianese slur against the colonists, we are the “Forgotten”, the unwanted undesirables of the Empire of Tai Pan. They, tatya hini and other 3rd class citizens, were forced to leave Liang for the furthest systems from the core of the Empire. It did not matter that many of the systems weren’t habitable as they were, the colonists were given the barest of supplies and expected to fail. If the colonists realized this truth, they did not say anything. Only the lead colonists for the project seemed to grasp the concept. But there is something to be said for necessity, tenacity and creativity. The tatya hinya along with a destroyer caste member that were designated to oversee the colony project formulated a plan.
Only a Liang tatya hinya could take a derogatory term for a collective and make it into something positive, Wangdaio became a unifying identity for the colonists. They took the project and made it succeed against the expectations of the Empire and then they made a daring move by declaring independence from the Empire of Tai Pan. Somehow, perhaps by the same magic that tatya hini are blessed with, the Wangdaio Colonies were let go without a fight.
Years of bloody struggle for independence and a tatya hinya leader rose from that legacy to garner some sense of freedom in exile from her homeworld. The Black Empress was not one to surrender without a fight but it was rumored that the Emperor had stayed her hand. Perhaps, they weren’t valuable enough for the Empire of Tai Pan to want to clutch. Perhaps, they were truly the Forgotten. All of it had been possible because they had a passionate and motivated leader, Ayana Morita had been their beacon in the darkness.
“Rosalee, is everything okay?” The tatya hinya asked gently, watching Rosalee’s face.” She was slender like many of her species with long, pointed ears. Her hair reminded Rosalee of the lilacs that tatya hinya also favored in her perfume and her eyes were reminiscent of polished amethysts. It never failed to amaze her that the gentle soul before her was their, her leader.
“Everything is fine, Prime Minister Morita,” Rosalee smiled as opened up her volumeric screens on her datapad. Business could not wait any longer, she would have been a poor assistant to the Prime Minister if she was not conscious of the time.
“Am I about to be late for a meeting?” Ayana asked as she knelt down to retrieve a towel from a intricately woven basket at her feet. “Please, we’ve been over this, call me Ayana.” She carefully wiped soil from her slender fingers.
“Not yet, Prim.. Ayana. You still have 20 minutes before the trade guild meeting,” Rosalee replied as she tapped one of the volumeric screens and projected the schedule on on side and the pictures of those Ayana was to meet on another. “The Prince will be upset if he finds out you were gardening again.”
Ayana dropped the cloth back into the basket before she collected the basket, settling it on her arm as she waved her free hand dismissively. “Yue is still locked in the Taianese caste mindset, he can’t let it go as one of the Destroyer caste. I however, have the benefit of being branded a 3rd class citizen by virtue of being a tatya hinya of Liang; I don’t have a function in Tai Pan society so I can do whatever I wish. I can be the Prime Minister and still tend my crops and gardens.”
“Yes but, Lord Ziyi would still like to remind the Lady Morita that his function is honorary for those that require the presence of the Tainese 1st class citizen in a position of leadership,” Rosalee paraphrased from her notes. Ayana, bless her heart, did not roll her eyes as Rosalee had done when she had received the voice message.
“I suppose he’s penciled himself in then?” Ayana mused as they walked towards the Prime Minister’s office on the opposite end of the garden.
“Yes,” Rosalee waved her hand, highlighting the Prince’s appointment and expanding the details for Ayana to see. A picture of the dark haired and blue eyed Prince glared at Rosalee from her screen above a picture of a restaurant terrace overlooking the ocean. “Dinner tonight at Haifeng, 6pm. He’s arranged for a car to pick you up at 5:45pm.”
“Rosalee, why are you showing me this particular moment?”
I wanted you to understand Ayana, who she was then. You probably don’t understand being from the Shouwei fleets but Yue hid the fact that Ayana was a gardener and still working on her fields from the public. She refused to concede to his demands that she stop. She said it was her honor to dirty her hands. Their relationship was strange, the nature of the caste system would have forbidden them from being together and having a child but.. Edmund happened. This was the day before she disappeared.
“My apologies, please continue.”
Rosalee paced the living room of Ayana’s home, bouncing Edmund in her arms. The boy was two now and he was almost too big to carry but she enjoyed it. Edmund reminded her of her brother, Tristan, when he was still a toddler. While she loved Edmund and Ayana, she did not trust Yue. Yue had made it clear that while Ayana considered Rosalee family, to him, she was just the help. Her eyes searched the quiet street outside the large bay windows for the presence of the vehicle that would pick-up Ayana. Her instructions were to turn over care of Edmund to Yue’s people tonight and take the night off.
The idea of Edmund with a stranger made Rosalee uneasy, but Ayana had mostly soothed her fears. Heise were not babysitters in the truest sense, they were the Prince’s personal guard. The monochrome black of their elaborately embroidered high collared black jackets worn over black slacks and boots had earned the guards the nickname of “Heise”. They were to be nameless shadows trailing behind the Prince and the Prime Minister; but much to Yue’s constant annoyance, Ayana had learned all of the names for the Heise that served them.
Rosalee remembered how Ayana and Yue had argued about the need of the Heise before the Colonies were established. She suspected part of that argument had much to do with the fact that Yue had initially hand selected only the most attractive women to be his personal guard. It was after Ayana’s insistence that Yue eventually selected some men. It gave credibility to the rumor that Yue was a womanizer. The fact that no male Heise ever guarded Ayana made it salient that Yue would not suffer another man in close proximity to his lover. There were hardly any men in the Prime Minister’s staff, only the Prince was in her inner circle.
Even as she understood her purpose in the overall scheme of things and Rosalee recognized that Yue barely tolerated her presence. Her genetic profile had been scrutinized as critically as her resume when she had been selected to be Ayana’s assistant. She was an unmodified human, descended from Interstellar Alliance colonists that resisted the Taianese oppression of Liang and the tatya hini, therefore her loyalty to a tatya hinya of Liang was more credible than if he had selected someone from the 2nd Class ranks. Her family had bled and died alongside the tatya hini on Liang, so in Yue’s eyes, she was trustworthy though he looked on her with disdain. To him, she was disposable but he was unable to get rid of her because Ayana favored her.
Ayana. Everything boiled down to Ayana. She had been selected by Yue just as everyone else in the administration her. Her lineage was of some forgotten Jordian tatya hini mage nobility although, she was raised an orphan following the failed rebellions. She rose up from the desolation of the camps, the crumbling gated cities and gained a following. She was kind, charismatic, and there was some magic about her that made you trust her. She led where others followed and did it without a sense of entitlement.
This is what I want you to understand Admiral Connelley. There is something more to Ayana that was hidden from us. Otherwise why else would…
I’m sorry. I’m having a hard time focusing. I’m drifting… I .. I can keep going.
Rosalee had Edmund in her lap and was reading him the ancient tome from which his mother had chosen his name. Edmund Dantes had just been thrown into Chateau D'lf to be forgotten. She felt that the Count of Monte Cristo was inappropriate for reading to a toddler but Ayana had insisted, the novel held some meaning for her. The Heise on duty, a dark haired woman with crimson eyes that Ayana called Emily, silently watched her from the back of the room. She knew that Emily’s blonde partner, Inari, was upstairs shadowing Ayana.
At 5:40, Ayana came downstairs wearing a thin silk black dress with a plunging neckline with her heels in her right hand. Her hair fell loosely on her shoulders with small braids pulled back over her ears to keep it out of her face. The Prime Minister wore a pair of glittering chandelier earrings, set with what Rosalee knew to be a form of faceted black diamonds with a brilliant white flower pinned over her right ear. Save for the hair flower, the outfit was entirely Yue’s choosing. He must have sent it in that box earlier for Ayana to wear tonight.
“Ayana, what type of flower is that? I don’t think I recognize it,” Rosalee asked as Ayana knelt down to kiss Edmund. She smiled as Edmund reached up to touch the earrings. A soft spark arced between Edmund’s small fingers and the stones.
Ayana froze for a moment before she responded to Rosalee’s question, “It’s an ancient Japanese flower that the Alliance brought with them from Sol. They called it a egret iris but this one is just silk.” The tatya hinya met Rosalee’s eyes, there was something like regret in the Prime Minister’s amethystine eyes. Long slender fingers brushed a lock of straight crimson hair behind Rosalee’s ear. Ayana’s hand was warm against her cheek. “If you like the egrets, tomorrow we can start planting some in the garden outside your bedroom window. What do you say?”
Rosalee beamed as her face flushed. “I.. I’d love that. Oh! Edmund seems to like the Count of Monte Cristo so far, he’s so bright for a little one.”
Ayana smiled proudly as she rose from in front of Rosalee, her hand trailed upwards until it came to rest at the Prime Minister’s side. “It reminds us to not lose ourselves to despair and anger, lest we lose all that we hold dear for the sake of revenge.”
At 5:45pm, a glossy black hovercar arrived. Its doors soundlessly opened as a single Heise woman with soft white cat ears peaked over short dirty blonde hair approached the house. Inari moved to the door and quietly exchanged words with the Tiger form guard before they looked to the Prime Minister and gestured towards the car.
The Prime Minister’s smile faltered for a moment at the sight of the new Heise as she stepped into her heels. “Emily and Inari are going to take over for you, Rosalee. Please enjoy your night off and go do something fun.”
It was Rosalee’s turn to rise as Emily scooped up Edmund. Rosalee felt a pang of loss as she followed Ayana outside. She stole a glance at Edmund before the door closed behind them.
Rosalee watched Ayana get into the car and wave.The tiger Heise glared in her direction before disappearing into the vehicle. According to the Prince’s security protocols, Rosalee was only allowed to walk away once the Prime Minister was out of sight. All she could do was watch the hovercar fly away before she turned and started her walk home.
Wangdaio Colonies
Mid-Summer, 3010 GSC, day before the black out.
This planet, this city is beautiful.
A warm wind caressed the petals of the vast garden, making the rainbow colored sea dance as it cast its sweet bouquet into the air. It was hard to believe that two years ago this garden was red, barren earth. A woman’s laughter carried across the flower tops, tinkling like a silver bell as it reached Rosalee. It was hard to not smile and long to be a part of that happiness.
“Rosalee!” The woman called as she noticed Rosalee’s presence. If she minded, Rosalee could not tell as the woman waved from the snowy white blossoms she had been tending, the crisp black of her dress cast her like a shadow, but that radiant smile, was more like the sun.
Rosalee stood frozen for a moment as she clutched the small datapad to her chest, she was intruding on the morning’s serenity and she wanted it to last for a few moments longer. She sharply inhaled and slowly exhaled as she crossed the garden along the cobblestone path, enjoying the warmth of the morning. She came along side the elf, no, tatya hinya, beside the large white flowers and waited.
After all these years working alongside the Second Children, Rosalee still had to correct herself on the proper terminology, while “Second Children” was what the name translated into Trade, they called themselves, “Tatya hini” or “tatya hinya” for a singular being. “Elf” was almost derogatory but it was humans had dubbed the tatya hini after first contact since it was easier to remember and say. She had not been old enough to appreciate the failed independence movements that the Liang tatya hini had attempted from the Taianese but she had been a part of this new movement, the Wangdaio Colonies.
Wangdaio was meant to be a Taianese slur against the colonists, we are the “Forgotten”, the unwanted undesirables of the Empire of Tai Pan. They, tatya hini and other 3rd class citizens, were forced to leave Liang for the furthest systems from the core of the Empire. It did not matter that many of the systems weren’t habitable as they were, the colonists were given the barest of supplies and expected to fail. If the colonists realized this truth, they did not say anything. Only the lead colonists for the project seemed to grasp the concept. But there is something to be said for necessity, tenacity and creativity. The tatya hinya along with a destroyer caste member that were designated to oversee the colony project formulated a plan.
Only a Liang tatya hinya could take a derogatory term for a collective and make it into something positive, Wangdaio became a unifying identity for the colonists. They took the project and made it succeed against the expectations of the Empire and then they made a daring move by declaring independence from the Empire of Tai Pan. Somehow, perhaps by the same magic that tatya hini are blessed with, the Wangdaio Colonies were let go without a fight.
Years of bloody struggle for independence and a tatya hinya leader rose from that legacy to garner some sense of freedom in exile from her homeworld. The Black Empress was not one to surrender without a fight but it was rumored that the Emperor had stayed her hand. Perhaps, they weren’t valuable enough for the Empire of Tai Pan to want to clutch. Perhaps, they were truly the Forgotten. All of it had been possible because they had a passionate and motivated leader, Ayana Morita had been their beacon in the darkness.
“Rosalee, is everything okay?” The tatya hinya asked gently, watching Rosalee’s face.” She was slender like many of her species with long, pointed ears. Her hair reminded Rosalee of the lilacs that tatya hinya also favored in her perfume and her eyes were reminiscent of polished amethysts. It never failed to amaze her that the gentle soul before her was their, her leader.
“Everything is fine, Prime Minister Morita,” Rosalee smiled as opened up her volumeric screens on her datapad. Business could not wait any longer, she would have been a poor assistant to the Prime Minister if she was not conscious of the time.
“Am I about to be late for a meeting?” Ayana asked as she knelt down to retrieve a towel from a intricately woven basket at her feet. “Please, we’ve been over this, call me Ayana.” She carefully wiped soil from her slender fingers.
“Not yet, Prim.. Ayana. You still have 20 minutes before the trade guild meeting,” Rosalee replied as she tapped one of the volumeric screens and projected the schedule on on side and the pictures of those Ayana was to meet on another. “The Prince will be upset if he finds out you were gardening again.”
Ayana dropped the cloth back into the basket before she collected the basket, settling it on her arm as she waved her free hand dismissively. “Yue is still locked in the Taianese caste mindset, he can’t let it go as one of the Destroyer caste. I however, have the benefit of being branded a 3rd class citizen by virtue of being a tatya hinya of Liang; I don’t have a function in Tai Pan society so I can do whatever I wish. I can be the Prime Minister and still tend my crops and gardens.”
“Yes but, Lord Ziyi would still like to remind the Lady Morita that his function is honorary for those that require the presence of the Tainese 1st class citizen in a position of leadership,” Rosalee paraphrased from her notes. Ayana, bless her heart, did not roll her eyes as Rosalee had done when she had received the voice message.
“I suppose he’s penciled himself in then?” Ayana mused as they walked towards the Prime Minister’s office on the opposite end of the garden.
“Yes,” Rosalee waved her hand, highlighting the Prince’s appointment and expanding the details for Ayana to see. A picture of the dark haired and blue eyed Prince glared at Rosalee from her screen above a picture of a restaurant terrace overlooking the ocean. “Dinner tonight at Haifeng, 6pm. He’s arranged for a car to pick you up at 5:45pm.”
“Rosalee, why are you showing me this particular moment?”
I wanted you to understand Ayana, who she was then. You probably don’t understand being from the Shouwei fleets but Yue hid the fact that Ayana was a gardener and still working on her fields from the public. She refused to concede to his demands that she stop. She said it was her honor to dirty her hands. Their relationship was strange, the nature of the caste system would have forbidden them from being together and having a child but.. Edmund happened. This was the day before she disappeared.
“My apologies, please continue.”
Rosalee paced the living room of Ayana’s home, bouncing Edmund in her arms. The boy was two now and he was almost too big to carry but she enjoyed it. Edmund reminded her of her brother, Tristan, when he was still a toddler. While she loved Edmund and Ayana, she did not trust Yue. Yue had made it clear that while Ayana considered Rosalee family, to him, she was just the help. Her eyes searched the quiet street outside the large bay windows for the presence of the vehicle that would pick-up Ayana. Her instructions were to turn over care of Edmund to Yue’s people tonight and take the night off.
The idea of Edmund with a stranger made Rosalee uneasy, but Ayana had mostly soothed her fears. Heise were not babysitters in the truest sense, they were the Prince’s personal guard. The monochrome black of their elaborately embroidered high collared black jackets worn over black slacks and boots had earned the guards the nickname of “Heise”. They were to be nameless shadows trailing behind the Prince and the Prime Minister; but much to Yue’s constant annoyance, Ayana had learned all of the names for the Heise that served them.
Rosalee remembered how Ayana and Yue had argued about the need of the Heise before the Colonies were established. She suspected part of that argument had much to do with the fact that Yue had initially hand selected only the most attractive women to be his personal guard. It was after Ayana’s insistence that Yue eventually selected some men. It gave credibility to the rumor that Yue was a womanizer. The fact that no male Heise ever guarded Ayana made it salient that Yue would not suffer another man in close proximity to his lover. There were hardly any men in the Prime Minister’s staff, only the Prince was in her inner circle.
Even as she understood her purpose in the overall scheme of things and Rosalee recognized that Yue barely tolerated her presence. Her genetic profile had been scrutinized as critically as her resume when she had been selected to be Ayana’s assistant. She was an unmodified human, descended from Interstellar Alliance colonists that resisted the Taianese oppression of Liang and the tatya hini, therefore her loyalty to a tatya hinya of Liang was more credible than if he had selected someone from the 2nd Class ranks. Her family had bled and died alongside the tatya hini on Liang, so in Yue’s eyes, she was trustworthy though he looked on her with disdain. To him, she was disposable but he was unable to get rid of her because Ayana favored her.
Ayana. Everything boiled down to Ayana. She had been selected by Yue just as everyone else in the administration her. Her lineage was of some forgotten Jordian tatya hini mage nobility although, she was raised an orphan following the failed rebellions. She rose up from the desolation of the camps, the crumbling gated cities and gained a following. She was kind, charismatic, and there was some magic about her that made you trust her. She led where others followed and did it without a sense of entitlement.
This is what I want you to understand Admiral Connelley. There is something more to Ayana that was hidden from us. Otherwise why else would…
I’m sorry. I’m having a hard time focusing. I’m drifting… I .. I can keep going.
Rosalee had Edmund in her lap and was reading him the ancient tome from which his mother had chosen his name. Edmund Dantes had just been thrown into Chateau D'lf to be forgotten. She felt that the Count of Monte Cristo was inappropriate for reading to a toddler but Ayana had insisted, the novel held some meaning for her. The Heise on duty, a dark haired woman with crimson eyes that Ayana called Emily, silently watched her from the back of the room. She knew that Emily’s blonde partner, Inari, was upstairs shadowing Ayana.
At 5:40, Ayana came downstairs wearing a thin silk black dress with a plunging neckline with her heels in her right hand. Her hair fell loosely on her shoulders with small braids pulled back over her ears to keep it out of her face. The Prime Minister wore a pair of glittering chandelier earrings, set with what Rosalee knew to be a form of faceted black diamonds with a brilliant white flower pinned over her right ear. Save for the hair flower, the outfit was entirely Yue’s choosing. He must have sent it in that box earlier for Ayana to wear tonight.
“Ayana, what type of flower is that? I don’t think I recognize it,” Rosalee asked as Ayana knelt down to kiss Edmund. She smiled as Edmund reached up to touch the earrings. A soft spark arced between Edmund’s small fingers and the stones.
Ayana froze for a moment before she responded to Rosalee’s question, “It’s an ancient Japanese flower that the Alliance brought with them from Sol. They called it a egret iris but this one is just silk.” The tatya hinya met Rosalee’s eyes, there was something like regret in the Prime Minister’s amethystine eyes. Long slender fingers brushed a lock of straight crimson hair behind Rosalee’s ear. Ayana’s hand was warm against her cheek. “If you like the egrets, tomorrow we can start planting some in the garden outside your bedroom window. What do you say?”
Rosalee beamed as her face flushed. “I.. I’d love that. Oh! Edmund seems to like the Count of Monte Cristo so far, he’s so bright for a little one.”
Ayana smiled proudly as she rose from in front of Rosalee, her hand trailed upwards until it came to rest at the Prime Minister’s side. “It reminds us to not lose ourselves to despair and anger, lest we lose all that we hold dear for the sake of revenge.”
At 5:45pm, a glossy black hovercar arrived. Its doors soundlessly opened as a single Heise woman with soft white cat ears peaked over short dirty blonde hair approached the house. Inari moved to the door and quietly exchanged words with the Tiger form guard before they looked to the Prime Minister and gestured towards the car.
The Prime Minister’s smile faltered for a moment at the sight of the new Heise as she stepped into her heels. “Emily and Inari are going to take over for you, Rosalee. Please enjoy your night off and go do something fun.”
It was Rosalee’s turn to rise as Emily scooped up Edmund. Rosalee felt a pang of loss as she followed Ayana outside. She stole a glance at Edmund before the door closed behind them.
Rosalee watched Ayana get into the car and wave.The tiger Heise glared in her direction before disappearing into the vehicle. According to the Prince’s security protocols, Rosalee was only allowed to walk away once the Prime Minister was out of sight. All she could do was watch the hovercar fly away before she turned and started her walk home.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
Jardin de Lys, Planet: La Fleur, Saint-Yves System
Wangdaio Colonies
Mid-Summer, 3010 GSC; First day of the blackout
It was still dark. Ribbons of deep purple rippled through the ebony of the night sky washing out the twinkling starlight. The moon’s face was hidden by dark heavy clouds. The ground was damp and the air smelled like rain. The beachhouse was a pale shadow, its porchlight a guiding beacon along the blackness of the winding shore road.
Rosalee walked quietly, her eyes were fixed on the sky when the smell of burning oak assaulted her senses. She scanned the horizon for smoke, she thought that someone was having a bonfire along the beach.
There was a loud crack as the ground shook with a thunderous percussion. A wave of heat struck Rosalee and threw her into the street.
Ears ringing, her body shaking, and the world spinning she stared blurrily towards where Ayana’s house had been. A wooden beam fell onto the burning ruins, blackened, blistered and burning. It was gone. All of it. Panic drove her towards it.
“Ayana! Edmund!” She screamed but heard her voice muffled like she was suddenly underwater. It hurt to move, her throat felt raw, her eyes were burning. She scrambled, stumbled towards the ruins with the vain hope that maybe, just maybe, the Prime Minister and Edmund had been in the basement. Maybe they made it out , that they were okay.
A light at her wrist pulsed as an a floating volumeric screen appeared in front of her face. The video was distorted, she couldn’t make out the face, nor hear the voice. She saw the person’s mouth move but she couldn’t understand them. She screamed into the void not caring if her voice wasn’t reaching the speaker on the other side of the transmission, “Help the Prime Minister!”
The fiercity of the fire prevented Rosalee from getting closer. The screen blinked off as she fell to her knees. Sweat rolled down her face and evaporated. Her vision cleared but the heat obscured it, she tore her eyes away and saw dark shadows moving along the horizon.
There were no flashing lights. Had she missed the fire department responding? She rose shakily back to her feet and started to wave her arms. Something felt wrong. Her eyes ached as she squinted.
Are those Heise ships? If so why were there so.. Many? Smaller shapes spilled out of the ships along the beach. She took a couple of steps back, something was very wrong. Her back hit something and as she turned to face it, an explosion of red and white stole her last fragments of vision before it faded to black.
WCS La Lueur
Winter, 3015 GSC
The sounds and glimpses of colors that penetrated the darkness of Rosalee’s memory afterwards were a tangle. The only clarity was constant pain and the ragged wail of her screaming. Flashes of teeth, of red, of blurry faces, grey metallic walls overlaid with memories of the garden. Phrases entangled: Edmund Dantes had been thrown into Chateau D’lf without knowing his crime, Ayana was giving the speech about the Colonies withdrawing from the Colonies, the embarrassed confession from Ayana that she was pregnant with Yue’s son; hissed unintelligible threats; the demand for information.
Ember associated what she was seeing to a corrupted file playing on a broken screen, each successive memory deepened the crack and fractured the glass further, the mind wasn’t meant to endure this way. But she had to make sense of what it all meant, what Rosalee had actually bore witness too. She broke the connection, removing the wires from her temples as she leaned back in the hospital chair, wiping the moisture from her face.
The erratic beeping of the machine reminded Ember that Rosalee was still dreaming. Her eyes moved from the heart monitor towards the frowning face of Mikomi, the medical technician that was overseeing the procedure. Mikomi said nothing as she waited for her orders.
Admiral Connelly tapped her fingers against the chair’s armrests and she noted that the smooth texture was now ragged. She glanced downward and saw that chunks were missing, freshly crumbled on her uniform slacks. She frowned, she had down that attached to Rosalee, the connection had allowed her to endure alongside the patient.
Her gaze shifted from the chair towards the machine that rested over Rosalee, or rather, what was left of her.
Another survivor had explained that they found Rosalee in a stasis chamber heavily injured. Their assumption was that she had endured endless hours of torture at the hands of the Heise. When they roused her, Rosalee was incoherent and rambling about not knowing where Ayana was. It had taken sedatives to calm her down but even then, she was unable to talk of anything about what had happened to her only about life before the Colonies fell. The Shouwei that was with their group had only the basic medical training and they had failed in their attempts to keep Rosalee whole; amputation was the only way to keep the gangrene from spreading.
They were all seeking the same thing: information about the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. Ayana Morita was the key to all of this. Efforts to find Yue Ziyi were also as pressing, but there was a bounty on his head as the leader of the Heise. The fall was a result of the Heise rebelling against the Colonies. No one knew why Yue had done it or where he had disappeared to. Five years she had been searching for answers, Ayana, and other survivors. Where the Heise hadn’t wrecked havoc she had found monstrous alien beings that they broadly classified as “xenos”, ravenous, insatiable, and vicious as they ravaged isolated colonies, enslaving, murdering or eating the colonists they found.
Rosalee was lucky to have survived being so mutilated by the Heise and gods knew what else. The excursion to recover Rosalee and the others in that bunker had cost Ember six of her men and left her with barely enough combat trained forces for another search planetside. But, the information she had gained was valuable. It meant that Ayana and Edmund were likely still alive somewhere too. In five years of searching, she was closer to an answer than she had been at the beginning of the black out.
Ember leaned forward and touched the cold, smooth metal of the machine. She frowned at the knowledge that Rosalee would never walk again and was ignorant of her mutilation. There was a solution to prolong and improve the formal political aide’s life but it was experimental like the memory sharing had been. They needed Rosalee to give consent for the procedure.
Maybe it would be more merciful to let her pass in ignorance.
“What are the odds this will work, Mikomi?”
“30% that she will survive the transplant; 10% that her body will accept it, the odds aren’t good for her not fracturing further at the truth of her medical condition,” came the doctor’s concerned reply.
“Rosalee?”
“Yes?” Came the weak reply.
“We need to operate to keep you alive but it’s risky. You are in a delicate state and the odds of surviving this are small. But if it succeeds, you will be in better health than you were before all of this,” Ember explained, leaning down to smooth a blanket down over the ruined torso.
“Will I able to see her again?”
“Yes, when we find her. You gave us some good information. You would be able to join us in the search… if..”
“If I survive?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have much left to lose. Please Admiral, let me help you save Ayana.”
Ember moved away and gestured to Mikomi to begin. “Doctor Seto will take care of you now.”
Barely hanging on to life and she’s still not worried about herself. Laima, don’t let this suffering go unpunished.
Wangdaio Colonies
Mid-Summer, 3010 GSC; First day of the blackout
It was still dark. Ribbons of deep purple rippled through the ebony of the night sky washing out the twinkling starlight. The moon’s face was hidden by dark heavy clouds. The ground was damp and the air smelled like rain. The beachhouse was a pale shadow, its porchlight a guiding beacon along the blackness of the winding shore road.
Rosalee walked quietly, her eyes were fixed on the sky when the smell of burning oak assaulted her senses. She scanned the horizon for smoke, she thought that someone was having a bonfire along the beach.
There was a loud crack as the ground shook with a thunderous percussion. A wave of heat struck Rosalee and threw her into the street.
Ears ringing, her body shaking, and the world spinning she stared blurrily towards where Ayana’s house had been. A wooden beam fell onto the burning ruins, blackened, blistered and burning. It was gone. All of it. Panic drove her towards it.
“Ayana! Edmund!” She screamed but heard her voice muffled like she was suddenly underwater. It hurt to move, her throat felt raw, her eyes were burning. She scrambled, stumbled towards the ruins with the vain hope that maybe, just maybe, the Prime Minister and Edmund had been in the basement. Maybe they made it out , that they were okay.
A light at her wrist pulsed as an a floating volumeric screen appeared in front of her face. The video was distorted, she couldn’t make out the face, nor hear the voice. She saw the person’s mouth move but she couldn’t understand them. She screamed into the void not caring if her voice wasn’t reaching the speaker on the other side of the transmission, “Help the Prime Minister!”
The fiercity of the fire prevented Rosalee from getting closer. The screen blinked off as she fell to her knees. Sweat rolled down her face and evaporated. Her vision cleared but the heat obscured it, she tore her eyes away and saw dark shadows moving along the horizon.
There were no flashing lights. Had she missed the fire department responding? She rose shakily back to her feet and started to wave her arms. Something felt wrong. Her eyes ached as she squinted.
Are those Heise ships? If so why were there so.. Many? Smaller shapes spilled out of the ships along the beach. She took a couple of steps back, something was very wrong. Her back hit something and as she turned to face it, an explosion of red and white stole her last fragments of vision before it faded to black.
WCS La Lueur
Winter, 3015 GSC
The sounds and glimpses of colors that penetrated the darkness of Rosalee’s memory afterwards were a tangle. The only clarity was constant pain and the ragged wail of her screaming. Flashes of teeth, of red, of blurry faces, grey metallic walls overlaid with memories of the garden. Phrases entangled: Edmund Dantes had been thrown into Chateau D’lf without knowing his crime, Ayana was giving the speech about the Colonies withdrawing from the Colonies, the embarrassed confession from Ayana that she was pregnant with Yue’s son; hissed unintelligible threats; the demand for information.
Ember associated what she was seeing to a corrupted file playing on a broken screen, each successive memory deepened the crack and fractured the glass further, the mind wasn’t meant to endure this way. But she had to make sense of what it all meant, what Rosalee had actually bore witness too. She broke the connection, removing the wires from her temples as she leaned back in the hospital chair, wiping the moisture from her face.
The erratic beeping of the machine reminded Ember that Rosalee was still dreaming. Her eyes moved from the heart monitor towards the frowning face of Mikomi, the medical technician that was overseeing the procedure. Mikomi said nothing as she waited for her orders.
Admiral Connelly tapped her fingers against the chair’s armrests and she noted that the smooth texture was now ragged. She glanced downward and saw that chunks were missing, freshly crumbled on her uniform slacks. She frowned, she had down that attached to Rosalee, the connection had allowed her to endure alongside the patient.
Her gaze shifted from the chair towards the machine that rested over Rosalee, or rather, what was left of her.
Another survivor had explained that they found Rosalee in a stasis chamber heavily injured. Their assumption was that she had endured endless hours of torture at the hands of the Heise. When they roused her, Rosalee was incoherent and rambling about not knowing where Ayana was. It had taken sedatives to calm her down but even then, she was unable to talk of anything about what had happened to her only about life before the Colonies fell. The Shouwei that was with their group had only the basic medical training and they had failed in their attempts to keep Rosalee whole; amputation was the only way to keep the gangrene from spreading.
They were all seeking the same thing: information about the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. Ayana Morita was the key to all of this. Efforts to find Yue Ziyi were also as pressing, but there was a bounty on his head as the leader of the Heise. The fall was a result of the Heise rebelling against the Colonies. No one knew why Yue had done it or where he had disappeared to. Five years she had been searching for answers, Ayana, and other survivors. Where the Heise hadn’t wrecked havoc she had found monstrous alien beings that they broadly classified as “xenos”, ravenous, insatiable, and vicious as they ravaged isolated colonies, enslaving, murdering or eating the colonists they found.
Rosalee was lucky to have survived being so mutilated by the Heise and gods knew what else. The excursion to recover Rosalee and the others in that bunker had cost Ember six of her men and left her with barely enough combat trained forces for another search planetside. But, the information she had gained was valuable. It meant that Ayana and Edmund were likely still alive somewhere too. In five years of searching, she was closer to an answer than she had been at the beginning of the black out.
Ember leaned forward and touched the cold, smooth metal of the machine. She frowned at the knowledge that Rosalee would never walk again and was ignorant of her mutilation. There was a solution to prolong and improve the formal political aide’s life but it was experimental like the memory sharing had been. They needed Rosalee to give consent for the procedure.
Maybe it would be more merciful to let her pass in ignorance.
“What are the odds this will work, Mikomi?”
“30% that she will survive the transplant; 10% that her body will accept it, the odds aren’t good for her not fracturing further at the truth of her medical condition,” came the doctor’s concerned reply.
“Rosalee?”
“Yes?” Came the weak reply.
“We need to operate to keep you alive but it’s risky. You are in a delicate state and the odds of surviving this are small. But if it succeeds, you will be in better health than you were before all of this,” Ember explained, leaning down to smooth a blanket down over the ruined torso.
“Will I able to see her again?”
“Yes, when we find her. You gave us some good information. You would be able to join us in the search… if..”
“If I survive?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have much left to lose. Please Admiral, let me help you save Ayana.”
Ember moved away and gestured to Mikomi to begin. “Doctor Seto will take care of you now.”
Barely hanging on to life and she’s still not worried about herself. Laima, don’t let this suffering go unpunished.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Winter, 3015 GSC
Mikomi felt sick. The operation had gone well; although, it felt more like butchery, carving off the prime cuts of meat than surgery. She disposed of her gloves and washed the blood from her arms. Her hands would never be clean again. The Heise and the damn blackout had seen to that but she had to try. The lights had flickered once during the procedure but someone, Jolene, she suspected, had managed to keep the electrical feed to the medical bay consistent enough to not put the patient in danger. She didn’t like the experimental procedure, but the patient had consented.
Admiral Connelly was waiting outside in the flickering lights of the passageway for Mikomi’s report. She was puzzled by the Admiral. How Ember gathered her information about locations of survivors was as mysterious as the secrets the patient might have locked away in her fractured memory. Something felt off about all of it, not just the blackout but the rescue efforts as well.
Even with fully powered scanners, there was something that prevented them from finding lifesign readings from orbit and in atmosphere. But yet, the Admiral insisted and guided them to the hidden caches- to the people concealed in the twisted, blackened husks of buildings; or shivering in darkened bunkers and damp caves. It was wonder any of them survived for so long. Malnourished, heavily injured and many driven mad by fear and isolation it was a miracle that so many had survived. Their rescue efforts had strained what few resources the La Lueur had on hand. Medicine was the thing in the highest demand that they were unable to synthesize. At least, it was until the Admiral found an elf. If there was ever a time to believe in the Gods, miracles and the truth of magic, it was now. Ember had made Mikomi a believer.
“Doctor, how is Rosalee doing?” The Admiral’s tired voice came across the commslink.
“The patient should make a quick recovery barring any unforeseen circumstances.”
“Take a nap if you can, I want to go over the footage from Rosalee with you in a few hours. Perhaps, you can help me figure some things out.”
Mikomi glanced back to her patient and frowned. “Of course, I’ll have Ashlyn take over, I don’t want to leave the patient alone for too long.” The commslink broke away to silence leaving her alone with the sounds of the patient’s soft breathing and the beep of the monitors. Her gaze was drawn to the blanket covered body beneath the monitoring machine. It was all just a shot in the dark, there was no telling if any of this would work. All she could do now was pray.
====
Winter, 3015 GSC
Mikomi felt sick. The operation had gone well; although, it felt more like butchery, carving off the prime cuts of meat than surgery. She disposed of her gloves and washed the blood from her arms. Her hands would never be clean again. The Heise and the damn blackout had seen to that but she had to try. The lights had flickered once during the procedure but someone, Jolene, she suspected, had managed to keep the electrical feed to the medical bay consistent enough to not put the patient in danger. She didn’t like the experimental procedure, but the patient had consented.
Admiral Connelly was waiting outside in the flickering lights of the passageway for Mikomi’s report. She was puzzled by the Admiral. How Ember gathered her information about locations of survivors was as mysterious as the secrets the patient might have locked away in her fractured memory. Something felt off about all of it, not just the blackout but the rescue efforts as well.
Even with fully powered scanners, there was something that prevented them from finding lifesign readings from orbit and in atmosphere. But yet, the Admiral insisted and guided them to the hidden caches- to the people concealed in the twisted, blackened husks of buildings; or shivering in darkened bunkers and damp caves. It was wonder any of them survived for so long. Malnourished, heavily injured and many driven mad by fear and isolation it was a miracle that so many had survived. Their rescue efforts had strained what few resources the La Lueur had on hand. Medicine was the thing in the highest demand that they were unable to synthesize. At least, it was until the Admiral found an elf. If there was ever a time to believe in the Gods, miracles and the truth of magic, it was now. Ember had made Mikomi a believer.
“Doctor, how is Rosalee doing?” The Admiral’s tired voice came across the commslink.
“The patient should make a quick recovery barring any unforeseen circumstances.”
“Take a nap if you can, I want to go over the footage from Rosalee with you in a few hours. Perhaps, you can help me figure some things out.”
Mikomi glanced back to her patient and frowned. “Of course, I’ll have Ashlyn take over, I don’t want to leave the patient alone for too long.” The commslink broke away to silence leaving her alone with the sounds of the patient’s soft breathing and the beep of the monitors. Her gaze was drawn to the blanket covered body beneath the monitoring machine. It was all just a shot in the dark, there was no telling if any of this would work. All she could do now was pray.
====
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Winter, 3015 GSC
For Ginger, living on the La Lueur was like being locked inside the laboratory; she had no sense of time. She never knew what planet they were on before, she only remembered the dark horizon illuminated by fire and breathing the acrid smoke. The colors of the moonless sky were still beautiful and the air delicious, though it had hurt to breath. She had been outside, felt the wind against her skin and all of it was real. Inside the La Lueur all of the colors were dim, muted and many parts were absent of all color. She remembered the hushed murmurings of the other survivors when they noticed she was around.
Don’t go into the locked areas. They are doing something dangerous in there.
It isn’t safe.
Finding the Prime Minister is hopeless.
The Admiral is hiding something.
The adults were uncertain of what to do with Ginger, she had no parents and they had no other children on the ship. Ember had told her that she was free to explore the ship so long as she stayed out of people’s way so Ginger roamed. She was good at hiding, someone called her a cat but GInger had never seen a real cat and they had given up on trying to explain. Her favorite place to hide was the medical bay but she had been forbidden from going in there until the newest survivors were safe.
Quarantine, is what the Shouwei had called it. Even then, she had been told to play somewhere else by the doctor. Ginger did not like the doctor, and the lady that hid behind Ginger could not convince her otherwise. But, the doctor had finally left. She had time to slip into the medical bay. She hoped to get some stories from the survivors inside. They always had stories of what had happened. The people that had her before did not talk of what was going on, only what they were doing to Ginger and the others.
She snuck into the room, certain she was unnoticed. She saw the patient and crept closer. Ginger paused and stared, the woman’s colors were all wrong. She climbed onto the bed beside the heavily bandaged woman to get a better look. She puzzled over the kaleidoscope, it was all fractured and patchy.
“What did they do to you?” Ginger asked. The patient on the bed stirred but did not respond.
“ She’s been reborn.” The voice behind Ginger whispered.
“She’s broken.” Ginger leaned forward and tucked her legs under the edge. “It says her name is Rosalee.”
“Isn’t everyone broken here?”
“Not like this.”
“Who’s there?” Rosalee groggily called, not shifting position.
“G1-NG-3-R, was my designation… everyone calls me Ginger though,” the little girl replied.
“Designation?”
“Yes. We all had one. What happened to you, your..”
“It’s not normal to talk about their colors.”
“You’re all wrapped up. Miss Ember found you on the planet,” Ginger quickly added.
Rosalee awkwardly sat up and touched her bandaged face. Ginger couldn’t make out Rosalee's features beneath all the stained gauze, only one of her eyes visible, it was a vibrant green. “Admiral Connelly… she.. Saved me.”
“She did! What happened?” Ginger asked again.
Rosalee looked at Ginger. The woman tried to get a better look at the little girl and sighed. “You look like you had a time of it yourself. Your hands…”
Ginger held them up, they were unbandaged and heavily scarred- angry, jagged red lines against pale skin. “Yes. I think the bad people had you too. Did they make you too?”
Winter, 3015 GSC
For Ginger, living on the La Lueur was like being locked inside the laboratory; she had no sense of time. She never knew what planet they were on before, she only remembered the dark horizon illuminated by fire and breathing the acrid smoke. The colors of the moonless sky were still beautiful and the air delicious, though it had hurt to breath. She had been outside, felt the wind against her skin and all of it was real. Inside the La Lueur all of the colors were dim, muted and many parts were absent of all color. She remembered the hushed murmurings of the other survivors when they noticed she was around.
Don’t go into the locked areas. They are doing something dangerous in there.
It isn’t safe.
Finding the Prime Minister is hopeless.
The Admiral is hiding something.
The adults were uncertain of what to do with Ginger, she had no parents and they had no other children on the ship. Ember had told her that she was free to explore the ship so long as she stayed out of people’s way so Ginger roamed. She was good at hiding, someone called her a cat but GInger had never seen a real cat and they had given up on trying to explain. Her favorite place to hide was the medical bay but she had been forbidden from going in there until the newest survivors were safe.
Quarantine, is what the Shouwei had called it. Even then, she had been told to play somewhere else by the doctor. Ginger did not like the doctor, and the lady that hid behind Ginger could not convince her otherwise. But, the doctor had finally left. She had time to slip into the medical bay. She hoped to get some stories from the survivors inside. They always had stories of what had happened. The people that had her before did not talk of what was going on, only what they were doing to Ginger and the others.
She snuck into the room, certain she was unnoticed. She saw the patient and crept closer. Ginger paused and stared, the woman’s colors were all wrong. She climbed onto the bed beside the heavily bandaged woman to get a better look. She puzzled over the kaleidoscope, it was all fractured and patchy.
“What did they do to you?” Ginger asked. The patient on the bed stirred but did not respond.
“ She’s been reborn.” The voice behind Ginger whispered.
“She’s broken.” Ginger leaned forward and tucked her legs under the edge. “It says her name is Rosalee.”
“Isn’t everyone broken here?”
“Not like this.”
“Who’s there?” Rosalee groggily called, not shifting position.
“G1-NG-3-R, was my designation… everyone calls me Ginger though,” the little girl replied.
“Designation?”
“Yes. We all had one. What happened to you, your..”
“It’s not normal to talk about their colors.”
“You’re all wrapped up. Miss Ember found you on the planet,” Ginger quickly added.
Rosalee awkwardly sat up and touched her bandaged face. Ginger couldn’t make out Rosalee's features beneath all the stained gauze, only one of her eyes visible, it was a vibrant green. “Admiral Connelly… she.. Saved me.”
“She did! What happened?” Ginger asked again.
Rosalee looked at Ginger. The woman tried to get a better look at the little girl and sighed. “You look like you had a time of it yourself. Your hands…”
Ginger held them up, they were unbandaged and heavily scarred- angry, jagged red lines against pale skin. “Yes. I think the bad people had you too. Did they make you too?”
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
“I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘making me’?”
Ginger idly swung her legs as they dangled at the edge of the bed. She considered what to say as she looked at her feet for a moment before she returned her gaze to Rosalee. “Well, I don’t have a mom or dad. I came out of a tube. Did you come out of a tube too?”
“N..no. I had parents. I was born, I am human.”
Ginger’s lip twitched and she looked down once more.
“She doesn’t know.” The voice whispered in Ginger’s mind.
Rosalee pressed her hand against her forehead. “Who said that? What don’t I know?”
Ginger’s eyes went wide as she gaped at Rosalee.
“You can hear me then?”
“Yes, I can hear you. Where are you? I can’t see you and you’re so quiet,” Rosalee searched the room for the hidden speaker but only saw the little blonde girl in the ill fitting Shouwei uniform.
”Perhaps, if you focus, you’ll be able to see me behind Ginger.” The woman’s voice suggested.
Ginger glanced over her shoulder. “You should at least tell her your name.”
“Call me, Arce. Can you see me, Rosalee?”
“I… see a shadow behind Ginger, if that you? I can’t see you more clearly? What are you?” Rosalee winced and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling a surge of pain.
“ The shadow beneath a rainbow.” Arce mused.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ginger asked from beside Rosalee.
Rosalee thought the little girl’s blue eyes contained an impossible depth, they were unlike anything she had ever seen. Ginger struck her as strange, and what was going on with Arce? What did Rosalee not know? The questions made her headache, she pressed her finger tips against her temples. Her fingers felt different- they were too smooth. She peeled away a layer of loose gauze to reveal smooth digits. She flexed her hand and saw round joints, like an old fashioned doll’s.
Horror rippled through Rosalee. “What did they do to me?” Her voice trembled as a chill seeped into her bones.
Ginger idly swung her legs as they dangled at the edge of the bed. She considered what to say as she looked at her feet for a moment before she returned her gaze to Rosalee. “Well, I don’t have a mom or dad. I came out of a tube. Did you come out of a tube too?”
“N..no. I had parents. I was born, I am human.”
Ginger’s lip twitched and she looked down once more.
“She doesn’t know.” The voice whispered in Ginger’s mind.
Rosalee pressed her hand against her forehead. “Who said that? What don’t I know?”
Ginger’s eyes went wide as she gaped at Rosalee.
“You can hear me then?”
“Yes, I can hear you. Where are you? I can’t see you and you’re so quiet,” Rosalee searched the room for the hidden speaker but only saw the little blonde girl in the ill fitting Shouwei uniform.
”Perhaps, if you focus, you’ll be able to see me behind Ginger.” The woman’s voice suggested.
Ginger glanced over her shoulder. “You should at least tell her your name.”
“Call me, Arce. Can you see me, Rosalee?”
“I… see a shadow behind Ginger, if that you? I can’t see you more clearly? What are you?” Rosalee winced and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling a surge of pain.
“ The shadow beneath a rainbow.” Arce mused.
“Are you feeling okay?” Ginger asked from beside Rosalee.
Rosalee thought the little girl’s blue eyes contained an impossible depth, they were unlike anything she had ever seen. Ginger struck her as strange, and what was going on with Arce? What did Rosalee not know? The questions made her headache, she pressed her finger tips against her temples. Her fingers felt different- they were too smooth. She peeled away a layer of loose gauze to reveal smooth digits. She flexed her hand and saw round joints, like an old fashioned doll’s.
Horror rippled through Rosalee. “What did they do to me?” Her voice trembled as a chill seeped into her bones.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& 
Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS Caliburn
Winter 3015 GSC
While holding the formal rank Captain, Acting Admiral Yelran Jandar, One of the Shouwei's Tatya-hini officers, sat on the wide and long bridge of the Caliburn, his eyes staring at the projected map of the colonies with his small fleet shown as a blinking green chevron with a star. The once sleek and functional look of the six year old warship was now a ragged, discolored franken-ship with parts and chunks of smaller vessels pressed into the sides as extra armor and weapons. In formation was a handful of smaller vessels, mostly cruisers and destroyers with one large fleet tender staffed by an unholy mix of Shouwei, still-loyal Heise and a few civilians pressed into service.
His internal thoughts were interrupted by his sensors operator's voice breaking the relative silence of the bridge. "Sir, sensors are picking up a large vessel. It seems to be about our size if the mass reading is correct. It's a bogey for sure."
Yelran turned to his intelligence adviser with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if he knew about this vessel.
The adviser shook his head, "The last reading we picked up did not note this ship in any of the intercepted logs. It could be anything. Without IFF, we won't know who it is unless we get a visual confirmation."
This was both intriguing yet troubling. They'd already fought the Heise insurgents, the multiple Xenos at their extreme borders, and now had something that they knew nothing about. Yelran's rapped his fingers against the arm of his chair as he thought.
He stopped after a moment and turned towards the projected map, zooming it in to center on this unknown ship. "Inform the fleet to change course and arm weapons. If it's nearly our size, it's a threat."
In a matter of minutes, the fleet of warships turned in FTL, the Caliburn ahead of all of them, towards the unidentified vessel. They closed fast, the Caliburn dropping from FTL almost three seconds ahead of the rest of the fleet. Yelran and his fleet could physically see the vessel through the Caliburn's bridge windows. While familiar to him in the slightest regard, he could not match the name of the ship in his mind. With the rest of the fleet in battle formation around the flanks of the battlecruiser and its fleet tender, Caliburn powered its mighty guns.
Yelran turned to the communications operator, "Transmit on visual band." The comms operator nodded, turning to his console and bringing the bands to life. He held up a thumb towards Yelran to signal that he was transmitting.
"This is Admiral Yelran Jandar of the Wangdiao Shouwei Forces. Identify yourselves or be fired upon."
Winter 3015 GSC
While holding the formal rank Captain, Acting Admiral Yelran Jandar, One of the Shouwei's Tatya-hini officers, sat on the wide and long bridge of the Caliburn, his eyes staring at the projected map of the colonies with his small fleet shown as a blinking green chevron with a star. The once sleek and functional look of the six year old warship was now a ragged, discolored franken-ship with parts and chunks of smaller vessels pressed into the sides as extra armor and weapons. In formation was a handful of smaller vessels, mostly cruisers and destroyers with one large fleet tender staffed by an unholy mix of Shouwei, still-loyal Heise and a few civilians pressed into service.
His internal thoughts were interrupted by his sensors operator's voice breaking the relative silence of the bridge. "Sir, sensors are picking up a large vessel. It seems to be about our size if the mass reading is correct. It's a bogey for sure."
Yelran turned to his intelligence adviser with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if he knew about this vessel.
The adviser shook his head, "The last reading we picked up did not note this ship in any of the intercepted logs. It could be anything. Without IFF, we won't know who it is unless we get a visual confirmation."
This was both intriguing yet troubling. They'd already fought the Heise insurgents, the multiple Xenos at their extreme borders, and now had something that they knew nothing about. Yelran's rapped his fingers against the arm of his chair as he thought.
He stopped after a moment and turned towards the projected map, zooming it in to center on this unknown ship. "Inform the fleet to change course and arm weapons. If it's nearly our size, it's a threat."
In a matter of minutes, the fleet of warships turned in FTL, the Caliburn ahead of all of them, towards the unidentified vessel. They closed fast, the Caliburn dropping from FTL almost three seconds ahead of the rest of the fleet. Yelran and his fleet could physically see the vessel through the Caliburn's bridge windows. While familiar to him in the slightest regard, he could not match the name of the ship in his mind. With the rest of the fleet in battle formation around the flanks of the battlecruiser and its fleet tender, Caliburn powered its mighty guns.
Yelran turned to the communications operator, "Transmit on visual band." The comms operator nodded, turning to his console and bringing the bands to life. He held up a thumb towards Yelran to signal that he was transmitting.
"This is Admiral Yelran Jandar of the Wangdiao Shouwei Forces. Identify yourselves or be fired upon."
Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Winter 3015 GSC
The hull of the Luer had also suffered from a series of hasty repairs from salavaged cargo containers and bits of commerical cargo vessel. The once smooth dark grey of the hull had been marred and ruined by the crude welds and uneven pieces of corrugated metal.
Inside a gaggle of Shouwei clustered on the ramshackle bridge of the La Leur. One of the younger ones squinted through smeared "glass" of the viewport. "Admiral Connelly, to the bridge! We have another vessel identifying as the Caliburn, Admiral Jandar or someone claiming to him is threatening us!"
In her quarters, Ember sat up on her bed and ran a hand through her hair. She glanced over at the children that had gathered there, all plagued with nightmares seeking a mother. She smiled at the tufts of blonde and black hair that poked out from beneath the heavy quilt. Holes had been hastily patched with scraps of shredded uniform and undershirts giving the formerly green pattern a new diversity of black leather and grey spots. "I recognize the name, I got it. Launch the away team and wait for my signal." She rubbed her eyes and opened the visual band on her RCOM.
The pale face of the curly copper tressed Fleet Admiral appeared on screen before Jandar. She was only half dressed in a thread-worn grey tanktop and black panties. "This is Fleet Admiral Molly Connelly. Stand down or be gutted from stem to stern." Her green eyes glittered in the dim light. "What in the name of the Gods did you do to my ship?" She offered Jandar a half-smile. "You look like you've lost weight. How many are you towing? It looks like you've been busy."
Behind her a little blonde girl with large blue eyes hugging a large Tianshi side arm came up alongside Ember. Her small body was clothed in a grey Shouwei undershirt that fell to her ankles and off one shoulder. "Their colors are all weird," the little girl commented with a yawn. She held up the gun for Ember who smiled and patted the little girl's head.
"Thank you. You can go back to bed, Ginger."
Winter 3015 GSC
The hull of the Luer had also suffered from a series of hasty repairs from salavaged cargo containers and bits of commerical cargo vessel. The once smooth dark grey of the hull had been marred and ruined by the crude welds and uneven pieces of corrugated metal.
Inside a gaggle of Shouwei clustered on the ramshackle bridge of the La Leur. One of the younger ones squinted through smeared "glass" of the viewport. "Admiral Connelly, to the bridge! We have another vessel identifying as the Caliburn, Admiral Jandar or someone claiming to him is threatening us!"
In her quarters, Ember sat up on her bed and ran a hand through her hair. She glanced over at the children that had gathered there, all plagued with nightmares seeking a mother. She smiled at the tufts of blonde and black hair that poked out from beneath the heavy quilt. Holes had been hastily patched with scraps of shredded uniform and undershirts giving the formerly green pattern a new diversity of black leather and grey spots. "I recognize the name, I got it. Launch the away team and wait for my signal." She rubbed her eyes and opened the visual band on her RCOM.
The pale face of the curly copper tressed Fleet Admiral appeared on screen before Jandar. She was only half dressed in a thread-worn grey tanktop and black panties. "This is Fleet Admiral Molly Connelly. Stand down or be gutted from stem to stern." Her green eyes glittered in the dim light. "What in the name of the Gods did you do to my ship?" She offered Jandar a half-smile. "You look like you've lost weight. How many are you towing? It looks like you've been busy."
Behind her a little blonde girl with large blue eyes hugging a large Tianshi side arm came up alongside Ember. Her small body was clothed in a grey Shouwei undershirt that fell to her ankles and off one shoulder. "Their colors are all weird," the little girl commented with a yawn. She held up the gun for Ember who smiled and patted the little girl's head.
"Thank you. You can go back to bed, Ginger."
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS Caliburn
Winter 3015 GSC
Yelran smiled, a rarity for him. "Minus us, we have six cruisers, three destroyers, and one lost fleet tender. We also have been to Saint-Yves and mounted a raid. I have something to show you that we've been working on." The battlecruiser's captain looked off screen for a moment and nodded. "I see your away team, I'm bringing my flotilla alongside." He muted himself to give actual orders, his hand pointing in different directions off screen. The effect of the war on his physique much more obvious as he turned. He was gaunt and pale, somewhat starved and insomniac. He finally looked back towards the screen as if looking past her while his orders were executed.
The battlecruiser's batteries went from full alert to a calm standby state with only the point defense guns being in any state of operation. Yelran's other ships began to follow suite and bank into formation. The Caliburn itself began to move towards the La Lueur, pulling alongside as gracefully as the flying wreck could.
Jandar unmuted himself as the rest of his fleet began to fall into formation with Connelly's. His face suddenly grew a little lighter and warmer. "So, do my eyes deceive me or did uniform regs change while I've been off trying to win this war?" He grinned to make it well known he was joking. "In all seriousness, it's good to see you Admiral. We didn't think you'd made it."
Winter 3015 GSC
Yelran smiled, a rarity for him. "Minus us, we have six cruisers, three destroyers, and one lost fleet tender. We also have been to Saint-Yves and mounted a raid. I have something to show you that we've been working on." The battlecruiser's captain looked off screen for a moment and nodded. "I see your away team, I'm bringing my flotilla alongside." He muted himself to give actual orders, his hand pointing in different directions off screen. The effect of the war on his physique much more obvious as he turned. He was gaunt and pale, somewhat starved and insomniac. He finally looked back towards the screen as if looking past her while his orders were executed.
The battlecruiser's batteries went from full alert to a calm standby state with only the point defense guns being in any state of operation. Yelran's other ships began to follow suite and bank into formation. The Caliburn itself began to move towards the La Lueur, pulling alongside as gracefully as the flying wreck could.
Jandar unmuted himself as the rest of his fleet began to fall into formation with Connelly's. His face suddenly grew a little lighter and warmer. "So, do my eyes deceive me or did uniform regs change while I've been off trying to win this war?" He grinned to make it well known he was joking. "In all seriousness, it's good to see you Admiral. We didn't think you'd made it."
Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Winter 3015 GSC
"Only if you sleep in your uniform," Molly returned the smile as she held the large side arm idly at her side, visible on the screen beside her leg. The little girl, Ginger wandered into the shadows of the room behind the Admiral and disappeared from view. "It's been a rough five years. I didn't think we'd make it this long but that's something for another discussion, possibly involving pants. I can meet you if you can stand to leave the Caliburn for a few hours. The Lueur isn't as glamorous for certain but we can talk mostly in private."
She paused and leaned forward, against the bulk head she was projecting the screen on. She met his gaze across the broadcast and flashed a mischievous smile. "What do you say? Or have you grown so bold in your victories that you would force me to order a meeting?"
The away teams stood ready to help the Caliburn dock with the La Lueur. The Tianshi teams were maglocked to the hull of the Lueur as they waited for further orders. On the bridge, the specialists scanned the fleet Yelran brought with him, trying to get a head count.
Winter 3015 GSC
"Only if you sleep in your uniform," Molly returned the smile as she held the large side arm idly at her side, visible on the screen beside her leg. The little girl, Ginger wandered into the shadows of the room behind the Admiral and disappeared from view. "It's been a rough five years. I didn't think we'd make it this long but that's something for another discussion, possibly involving pants. I can meet you if you can stand to leave the Caliburn for a few hours. The Lueur isn't as glamorous for certain but we can talk mostly in private."
She paused and leaned forward, against the bulk head she was projecting the screen on. She met his gaze across the broadcast and flashed a mischievous smile. "What do you say? Or have you grown so bold in your victories that you would force me to order a meeting?"
The away teams stood ready to help the Caliburn dock with the La Lueur. The Tianshi teams were maglocked to the hull of the Lueur as they waited for further orders. On the bridge, the specialists scanned the fleet Yelran brought with him, trying to get a head count.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS Caliburn
Winter 3015 GSC
"It might be beneficial to get some 'fresh' air, it stinks of blood and sweat in these old halls. We'll attempt to dock with you, assuming that our portside collar wants to act right and seal and I'll be right over." Yelran gave a two-fingered salute and another slight smile as his side of the channel went dead for him to execute proper orders. He did look more alive than he did at the beginning, which to a very large point he was.
The mighty battlecruiser, mismatched hull and all, flashed up its navigation lights. The green and red lights as well as white illumination around the portside docking collar. Two very damaged Tianshis clambered out from the collar and floated next to it as it was extended and brought towards the similar collar on the La Lueur. Once they were in range, the floaters guided the collar in and the Caliburn's techs attempted to get a seal and failed the first time but got a hard seal on the second attempt. Caliburn labored her weight performing manual thruster adjustments to keep absolutely level and connected. All of this was done instead of using a connection between both ships' navigational links, which on the Caliburn were visibly severed on their side of the collar.
While this was happening, the number scans began to come back to the La Lueur. It showed a very mixed level between every ship except for the Caliburn and the fleet tender. Both the battlecruiser and tender were loaded almost full to the gills, with weaker signals coming from the general area that the medical bays as well as the brigs were situated. The last thing that showed up was something strange, interference muddled the scans around the Caliburn's power plant, as normal for ships without long term service, but also in the forward missile battery in a much smaller but noticeable scale. It was odd, but nowhere near dangerous.
WCS La Lueur
Twenty Minutes Later
Yelran was tall, even to Elven standards and since the last time that Admiral Connelly had seen him he'd lost a fair amount of his weight. His condition was more visible here, he wasn't just starved he was malnourished and he'd looked like he'd last slept the day before everything went wrong. Though despite all of this, we was still standing tall and had done his best to look clean and uniform. He was wearing a uniform that had somehow managed to be pressed and was mostly clean.
He was flanked by two armed guards, but by their stance they were almost comfortable to be leaving the ship. They did not carry any weapons minus their sidearms, and were wearing similarly clean uniforms. They had almost the same condition as Yelran, tired and hungry, but had done their absolute best to appear to the now fallen Shouwei standard. They'd even shaved.
As Yelran and his party stepped through the collar's airlock from the zero-g to the La Leuer's gravity, they stood in a small triangle with Yelran at the head. He seemed comfortable, and he immediately began searching for Connelly to salute.
Winter 3015 GSC
"It might be beneficial to get some 'fresh' air, it stinks of blood and sweat in these old halls. We'll attempt to dock with you, assuming that our portside collar wants to act right and seal and I'll be right over." Yelran gave a two-fingered salute and another slight smile as his side of the channel went dead for him to execute proper orders. He did look more alive than he did at the beginning, which to a very large point he was.
The mighty battlecruiser, mismatched hull and all, flashed up its navigation lights. The green and red lights as well as white illumination around the portside docking collar. Two very damaged Tianshis clambered out from the collar and floated next to it as it was extended and brought towards the similar collar on the La Lueur. Once they were in range, the floaters guided the collar in and the Caliburn's techs attempted to get a seal and failed the first time but got a hard seal on the second attempt. Caliburn labored her weight performing manual thruster adjustments to keep absolutely level and connected. All of this was done instead of using a connection between both ships' navigational links, which on the Caliburn were visibly severed on their side of the collar.
While this was happening, the number scans began to come back to the La Lueur. It showed a very mixed level between every ship except for the Caliburn and the fleet tender. Both the battlecruiser and tender were loaded almost full to the gills, with weaker signals coming from the general area that the medical bays as well as the brigs were situated. The last thing that showed up was something strange, interference muddled the scans around the Caliburn's power plant, as normal for ships without long term service, but also in the forward missile battery in a much smaller but noticeable scale. It was odd, but nowhere near dangerous.
WCS La Lueur
Twenty Minutes Later
Yelran was tall, even to Elven standards and since the last time that Admiral Connelly had seen him he'd lost a fair amount of his weight. His condition was more visible here, he wasn't just starved he was malnourished and he'd looked like he'd last slept the day before everything went wrong. Though despite all of this, we was still standing tall and had done his best to look clean and uniform. He was wearing a uniform that had somehow managed to be pressed and was mostly clean.
He was flanked by two armed guards, but by their stance they were almost comfortable to be leaving the ship. They did not carry any weapons minus their sidearms, and were wearing similarly clean uniforms. They had almost the same condition as Yelran, tired and hungry, but had done their absolute best to appear to the now fallen Shouwei standard. They'd even shaved.
As Yelran and his party stepped through the collar's airlock from the zero-g to the La Leuer's gravity, they stood in a small triangle with Yelran at the head. He seemed comfortable, and he immediately began searching for Connelly to salute.
Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
The Admiral stood outside of the air lock, waiting for decompression for Yelran and his people. Her curly auburn hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, the tip of it brushed the back of her shoulders. Her black and grey uniform was worn but bore no rank insignia. If one did not know better, you would not pick her out as the Admiral of the 4th fleet among the ragtag crew of Shouwei that stood behind her. They had a harrowed look to their eyes, pale but they lacked the gauntness of people ill nourished. They were notably armed and many of them looked far too young to be in the uniform.
The lights above Admiral Connelly flickered, further down the corridor wires dangling from the overhead sparked and panels blinked out. The freshness of the air was questionable, rust and dry rotting rubber sheeting wafted through the acrid scent of industrial cleaning fluid. Connelly was the closest to the doors as Yelran emerged. The scent of her shampoo, he supposed, cut through all the other scents as Ember moved to greet him. "Yelran, Bienvenue a la Lueur." She smiled though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Exhaustion still hung around her features, he had woken her with his call, he suspected that no one had slept much during this prolonged... war, invasion, chaotic cluster that they had found themselves in.
The Admiral stood outside of the air lock, waiting for decompression for Yelran and his people. Her curly auburn hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, the tip of it brushed the back of her shoulders. Her black and grey uniform was worn but bore no rank insignia. If one did not know better, you would not pick her out as the Admiral of the 4th fleet among the ragtag crew of Shouwei that stood behind her. They had a harrowed look to their eyes, pale but they lacked the gauntness of people ill nourished. They were notably armed and many of them looked far too young to be in the uniform.
The lights above Admiral Connelly flickered, further down the corridor wires dangling from the overhead sparked and panels blinked out. The freshness of the air was questionable, rust and dry rotting rubber sheeting wafted through the acrid scent of industrial cleaning fluid. Connelly was the closest to the doors as Yelran emerged. The scent of her shampoo, he supposed, cut through all the other scents as Ember moved to greet him. "Yelran, Bienvenue a la Lueur." She smiled though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Exhaustion still hung around her features, he had woken her with his call, he suspected that no one had slept much during this prolonged... war, invasion, chaotic cluster that they had found themselves in.
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Lueur
Yelran had dropped his salute just about as fast as it went up, taking a long inhale and exhale before seeming to shift his stance. His eyes drifted around the members of Connelly's fleet and he was almost immediately suspicious of something. His men were all fleet regulars with a mix of volunteers and survivors pressed into service to crew his vessels, yet the relatively young and fed faces compared to the starved and weaker rooted into the back of his mind. It was something he was going to ask about later.
"Thank you, Admiral," His voice was off, slightly noticeable but without any easily known motive. "It does seem that you were shown much more favorable odds than we were. We are not so lucky."
Yelran smelled of an unholy mix of sweat doused in deodorant, a very sterile smell. He looked at one of Ember's guards as if choosing them as the person to base his assumption of the remnant Fourth Fleet forces. It was obvious he was much better fed and much younger looking than some of Yelran's younger enlisted personnel. He didn't know why, but it began to eat at him. He had questions, questions that could get some controversial answers, answers he wanted to know.
The Captain's eyes moved to stare into Ember's with both curiosity and an air of a defensive posture. He was going to ask his questions, but he wasn't going to start something that he did not want to win.
"Is there somewhere we can... discuss the matters at hand?"
Yelran had dropped his salute just about as fast as it went up, taking a long inhale and exhale before seeming to shift his stance. His eyes drifted around the members of Connelly's fleet and he was almost immediately suspicious of something. His men were all fleet regulars with a mix of volunteers and survivors pressed into service to crew his vessels, yet the relatively young and fed faces compared to the starved and weaker rooted into the back of his mind. It was something he was going to ask about later.
"Thank you, Admiral," His voice was off, slightly noticeable but without any easily known motive. "It does seem that you were shown much more favorable odds than we were. We are not so lucky."
Yelran smelled of an unholy mix of sweat doused in deodorant, a very sterile smell. He looked at one of Ember's guards as if choosing them as the person to base his assumption of the remnant Fourth Fleet forces. It was obvious he was much better fed and much younger looking than some of Yelran's younger enlisted personnel. He didn't know why, but it began to eat at him. He had questions, questions that could get some controversial answers, answers he wanted to know.
The Captain's eyes moved to stare into Ember's with both curiosity and an air of a defensive posture. He was going to ask his questions, but he wasn't going to start something that he did not want to win.
"Is there somewhere we can... discuss the matters at hand?"
Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Leuer
Connelly's body language was open, friendly as she nodded to Yelran after lowering her own salute. The green of her eyes were reminiscent of spring, when the leaves start to bud on trees. "Yes, of course. Come this way," she looked off to the right down the corridor of darkening lights. "I still have an office that isn't being used for storage or survivors. Have your men talk to my Seconds and we can see about resupply. You look like you've had a hard time of this prolonged war." She glanced back over her shoulder and a silvery blonde Shouwei stepped forward to talk to Yelran's men.
The young woman smiled. "Yes, ma'am, we will see that they get some breakfast. If you gentlemen would follow us." She gestured towards the straight away part of the corridor, the lights flickered dimly but were stable. The hum of the bulbs were barely audible above the drone of the pneumatics of the airlock as it cycled and stabilized back to what he knew to be locked. Connelly's Shouwei remained silent. He supposed that the survivors Connelly referred to were secured elsewhere. He would have put all of his none essential personnel in a state of lock down until he determined the status of the newcomers. Yelran's fleet had been attacked through a similar attack time and time again. It was just strange to be on the receiving side of suspicion for once.
Admiral Connelly was taller than he remembered. Her back was certainly more muscular, her hips more defined. She met his eyes again as she looked back over her shoulder. "You're men will be taken care of." She started down the corridor, the motion of her approach caused the shadows of the the corridor to flicker as the lights came on to guide her way. Her stride had a bit of a limp, which he never remembered her having. Had she been wounded in such a way? Yelran speculated that the fresh faced youths were survivors that she had recruited to replenish her ranks. From the few glimpses that he was able to steal, her crew was mostly female. Another oddity.
How had they gone on this long this well fed? They were also amazingly clean? Water rationing was the first thing he had to consider and here Connelly was, freshly showered in a clean uniform. Had she figured out a better method of keeping fresh water stores on board? Surely, she hadn't been harvesting water from the neighboring planets?
Their bootfalls echoed down the corridor and the murmur of conversation between their personnel started up behind them. The door of the office scraped as it opened. The sound was cringe worthy, it must have been bent. It took a few seconds but the lights flickered on with a buzzing hum. The room smelled lightly of must and age. Crates were piled up at the corners of the room but a large desk with a small plush chair sat in the center of the room. A layer of dust had settled over top of the smooth black surface of the desk.
"Please have a seat. Please excuse the mess, there isn't much call for private meetings these days." Ember's voice was soft as it broke the silence that had built up from the walk from the airlock into the office. The door closed behind them less gratingly then it had opened. All other sound was muffled. He wondered if the room was sound proofed. Ember stood behind the desk and took a cloth and wiped the layer of grime away. "I am sure you have many questions."
Connelly's body language was open, friendly as she nodded to Yelran after lowering her own salute. The green of her eyes were reminiscent of spring, when the leaves start to bud on trees. "Yes, of course. Come this way," she looked off to the right down the corridor of darkening lights. "I still have an office that isn't being used for storage or survivors. Have your men talk to my Seconds and we can see about resupply. You look like you've had a hard time of this prolonged war." She glanced back over her shoulder and a silvery blonde Shouwei stepped forward to talk to Yelran's men.
The young woman smiled. "Yes, ma'am, we will see that they get some breakfast. If you gentlemen would follow us." She gestured towards the straight away part of the corridor, the lights flickered dimly but were stable. The hum of the bulbs were barely audible above the drone of the pneumatics of the airlock as it cycled and stabilized back to what he knew to be locked. Connelly's Shouwei remained silent. He supposed that the survivors Connelly referred to were secured elsewhere. He would have put all of his none essential personnel in a state of lock down until he determined the status of the newcomers. Yelran's fleet had been attacked through a similar attack time and time again. It was just strange to be on the receiving side of suspicion for once.
Admiral Connelly was taller than he remembered. Her back was certainly more muscular, her hips more defined. She met his eyes again as she looked back over her shoulder. "You're men will be taken care of." She started down the corridor, the motion of her approach caused the shadows of the the corridor to flicker as the lights came on to guide her way. Her stride had a bit of a limp, which he never remembered her having. Had she been wounded in such a way? Yelran speculated that the fresh faced youths were survivors that she had recruited to replenish her ranks. From the few glimpses that he was able to steal, her crew was mostly female. Another oddity.
How had they gone on this long this well fed? They were also amazingly clean? Water rationing was the first thing he had to consider and here Connelly was, freshly showered in a clean uniform. Had she figured out a better method of keeping fresh water stores on board? Surely, she hadn't been harvesting water from the neighboring planets?
Their bootfalls echoed down the corridor and the murmur of conversation between their personnel started up behind them. The door of the office scraped as it opened. The sound was cringe worthy, it must have been bent. It took a few seconds but the lights flickered on with a buzzing hum. The room smelled lightly of must and age. Crates were piled up at the corners of the room but a large desk with a small plush chair sat in the center of the room. A layer of dust had settled over top of the smooth black surface of the desk.
"Please have a seat. Please excuse the mess, there isn't much call for private meetings these days." Ember's voice was soft as it broke the silence that had built up from the walk from the airlock into the office. The door closed behind them less gratingly then it had opened. All other sound was muffled. He wondered if the room was sound proofed. Ember stood behind the desk and took a cloth and wiped the layer of grime away. "I am sure you have many questions."
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
& Re: [The Forgotten] Into the Fire
WCS La Leuer
3015 GSC
Connelly's body language was open, friendly as she nodded to Yelran after lowering her own salute. The green of her eyes were reminiscent of spring, when the leaves start to bud on trees. "Yes, of course. Come this way," she looked off to the right down the corridor of darkening lights. "I still have an office that isn't being used for storage or survivors. Have your men talk to my Seconds and we can see about resupply. You look like you've had a hard time of this prolonged war." She glanced back over her shoulder and a silvery blonde Shouwei stepped forward to talk to Yelran's men.
The young woman smiled. "Yes, ma'am, we will see that they get some breakfast. If you gentlemen would follow us." She gestured towards the straight away part of the corridor, the lights flickered dimly but were stable. The hum of the bulbs were barely audible above the drone of the pneumatics of the airlock as it cycled and stabilized back to what he knew to be locked. Connelly's Shouwei remained silent. He supposed that the survivors Connelly referred to were secured elsewhere. He would have put all of his none essential personnel in a state of lock down until he determined the status of the newcomers. Yelran's fleet had been attacked through a similar attack time and time again. It was just strange to be on the receiving side of suspicion for once.
Admiral Connelly was taller than he remembered. Her back was certainly more muscular, her hips more defined. She met his eyes again as she looked back over her shoulder. "You're men will be taken care of." She started down the corridor, the motion of her approach caused the shadows of the the corridor to flicker as the lights came on to guide her way. Her stride had a bit of a limp, which he never remembered her having. Had she been wounded in such a way? Yelran speculated that the fresh faced youths were survivors that she had recruited to replenish her ranks. From the few glimpses that he was able to steal, her crew was mostly female. Another oddity.
How had they gone on this long this well fed? They were also amazingly clean? Water rationing was the first thing he had to consider and here Connelly was, freshly showered in a clean uniform. Had she figured out a better method of keeping fresh water stores on board? Surely, she hadn't been harvesting water from the neighboring planets?
Their bootfalls echoed down the corridor and the murmur of conversation between their personnel started up behind them. The door of the office scraped as it opened. The sound was cringe worthy, it must have been bent. It took a few seconds but the lights flickered on with a buzzing hum. The room smelled lightly of must and age. Crates were piled up at the corners of the room but a large desk with a small plush chair sat in the center of the room. A layer of dust had settled over top of the smooth black surface of the desk.
"Please have a seat. Please excuse the mess, there isn't much call for private meetings these days." Ember's voice was soft as it broke the silence that had built up from the walk from the airlock into the office. The door closed behind them less gratingly then it had opened. All other sound was muffled. He wondered if the room was sound proofed. Ember stood behind the desk and took a cloth and wiped the layer of grime away. "I am sure you have many questions."
Yelran’s right index finger tapped relentlessly at his thigh before to took the offered seat. His eyes level with Ember’s before he spoke, “I must congratulate you, Admiral, on surviving this hellscape that’s befallen our beloved colonies. It’s not been easy on us, but we have made some great breakthroughs. I must ask, we’ve not seen head nor tail of your fleet in the five years we’ve been operating in the core colonies. Where have you been?”
She sat once Yelran was seated. Her hands interfaced under her chin as she leaned forward, settling on her arms. Silence preceded her reply, her shoulders were relaxed. He had expected tension not the Admiral looking like some schoolgirl about to whisper some innocent secret. “Have you seen it? Felt it?”
“What do you mean?” Yelran’s left brow arched high. He was indeed confused.
“You are a hinya,” the Admiral calmly considered him. A dull hum filled the silence as the woman met his gaze. Something caused the hair on the back of his neck to prickle, it suddenly felt like ice water had been poured over his head. “You should notice it stronger than anyone else. Perhaps, it has been too loud.”
Someone whispered in his ear.
It had been a long while since he’d felt anything related to magic since he left his homeworld long ago. Maybe he’d been deaf to it as it wasn’t in his mind. He sat up straight and his eyes were now locked onto Ember’s. “I’ve not heard anything… until now…” He was visibly uneased.
“Interesting. Let me ask a different question then, did you uncover what the Heise were researching in your travels?” The whispering quieted and the sensation slipped away. Ember’s eyes remained a calm shade of green. To his knowledge, the Admiral was not an Ember like her nickname nor did she wield the Word or Liang’s Song. She should have been a human, a high ranking Fleet Admiral but not a magic user. Her posture shifted as she lowered her hands and tapped the top of the desk.
Small lights blinked to life in the obsidian glass before a round volumeric interface appeared between them. The circle rotated and blinked with strange glyphs on the edges, they reminded him of some distant childhood lesson on the minya hini.
“We found a field lab during our expedition on Saint Yves, we have logs based on abductions of different people and different ages. Besides that, our raid of Headquarters found that someone upset FleetCom and locked themselves in the bunker below. They had some sort of jamming system, and the same system is what’s keeping us all in the dark.” His right hand felt near where his sidearm would be, but he had neglected to bring it as an act of goodwill. Instead, he hooked a thumb in his pocket and blinked slowly. “I have a feeling there is a reason on why you know so much of the Heise’s operations.”
Ember placed her hand on the circle and the projection shifted to a view of the stars and planets of the system they were in. The color was off, rather, it was a rainbow of colors instead of the vast darkness he was assumed to. “We’ve uncovered a few different research facilities in our search for the Prime Minister. The Eodum were experimenting with something that they found buried in the desolate places. No research node knew what the others were doing, so it’s been a puzzle. No one had records of where the other labs were actually located.”
She motioned with her hand and an object appeared from what he thought was the planet, Nikia. Its opaque blue facets glittered in the projection and pulsed. “We found this and many others of varying shades. At first we thought it was heartstone but.. It’s something else.”
His question about Ember’s reason for being so quiet was answered but his curiosity was still far for sated. He remained silent as he had nothing to say, it perplexed him. He’d been over planets that looked like this, but had elected to continue on without risking an investigation. “I’ve seen things like this, I always assumed them to be the results of some kind of weapon.”
“From the notes, it’s called a ‘Soulstone’. It’s a product of what looks to be some alien form of magic. They.. were testing it as a power source but.. Magic calls out to magic. I found that they were embedding these into automations to hunt down magic users. Embers respond to these the strongest,” her tone was somber. “If these are embedded into a living being it does.. Something strange.”
“It’s not the results of a weapon, it is one.” His expression was equally grim, “We have a few Embers that we rescued onboard our fleet tender. They are nice folk, runaways from somewhere.” He noticed after he stopped that he had gone off on a tangent, “What does this stone do?”
“Just one can give an automation life. But it is made from the essence of living things. Just a single stone can be made of 30 sentient beings. It’s not a weapon, it’s more like a battery. It can grant a non-magic user the ability to use magic that was available to the beings that were used to make it. Do you believe in ghosts?” As Ember spoke the projection showed a shaky video of a ritual where living being were thrown into a vat of molten metal as an indistinguishable shadow brought down a hammer on an anvil.
Yelran was pale, paler than before. “What this is… is... “ he trailed off without finishing, lost in the video’s subject. “This is unholy. As if this war wasn’t already a slaughter, now it can be used as a factory to craft these stones and then do what other unjust things?” He looked her dead through the projection and spoke, “And we are going to do what about this?”
“Rescued who I could. The Heise implanted alien DNA into children as well. I was only able to find one survivor at the facility on Nikia. That little girl was about to throw herself off a building when we got there, she sees strange things. Has nightmares about the experiments,” Ember shook her head. “Long term exposure also has an impact. Just destroying the damn things doesn’t free them.”
She dismissed the projection. “We’ve been on the run. Following clues, rumors, listening to whisperings and changes in the flow of energy to find other strongholds. The Heise found these things somewhere. It’s monstrous. Something more horrible lurks out of view but at the edge of our vision. I pray, we don’t find them now when we’re at the edge of sanity.”
“And I surmise that this was all done over the last four years? All we have found is what’s jamming us and a large group of very confused and lost civilians.” He was back at square one, none of his glaring questions were answered, “I want to know something that you might know. Where is the rest of the fleet? We’re on our own here, Caliburn is one of the only ships in the whole fleet that can stand almost on her own and we’ve not seen anyone minus you and the ships we’ve had join us.”
His hand moved out in a motion towards the walls, “We can’t be all that is left, and now you’re telling me there is someone out there who may or may not be building a magical gods-know-what-strength weapon or army out of our ashes?” It was clear that Yelran had more blurted out words that spoke what was on his mind, and at this point he was ready to hear it.
“The Prince is at large. I do not know how large his fleet is. I could not name all of the xenos that have laying siege to our people. I have not found more of us. The 10th has disappeared. I do not know if the First and Second fleets are even aware of what’s happened to us. They are us, so they know how we operate. It’s been difficult to trust other vessels we’ve come across. They pose as stranded forces and kill anyone that doesn’t side with them.”
“Then we really are all that’s really left. I called myself an admiral by courtesy, I didn’t want it. I woke up that day thinking that I was probably going to retire within the coming years, now here I am one of the last captain’s of the fleet.” Yelran looked away from Ember for a moment to take in a labored breath, “We need food, we don’t have any. We’ve turned one of the cargo holds into a garden, but that has begun to strain our water supply. The only other ship we’ve been able to get stocks from is our tender, but even they are beginning to run low.”
The Captain’s left eye twitched as his mind began to show its stress, “To those ships out there with me, Ember, I’m still in charge. I don’t want to cause more bloodshed within our tired and broken ranks, but I am going to need to get a little more information on food and water.”
“What is your aim? How much more blood do you want on your hands? We’ve lost this war,” the
projection shifted back to the image of the system. “Take our people and get out of here. They will have a better chance if you make a run for Alliance space. Topia is the closest rendezvous point but I don’t know if Sam Andreas is still alive. I haven’t ventured that far north to see if the 3rd Fleet has fared any better. Jeanne refused to leave Leloup unguarded, even with her fleet decimated.”
Yelran began to try to say something but went blank. “I refuse to abandon hope, because hope is all we have left. I might not be able to load hope into the Caliburn’s launch tubes, but I can use it to keep our moral up just high enough where I don’t have to receive more reports of suicides among my battlegroup. The blood on my hands has ruined me, for I have no choice but to fight. There are pockets of resistance on Saint Yves, Gavreau, and no doubt every rock this side of hell. I swore an oath to protect these Colonies and I do not intend to break it.”
“The Wangdaio isn’t just a place. It’s a people. As long as they are alive, we have not been forgotten. If the fighting continues there will be nothing left but ashes and ghosts,” she rose to her feet. “As you might have noticed, most of my crew is dead. I have mostly children on board with me. The ones that had no value to Heise that were left behind to starve, to be ravaged, to be torn apart by the monstrosities unleashed in those unholy labs. They are the future of what the Prime Minister’s vision.” She rounded the desk and was standing directly before him.
“This fleet is crippled and hobbling along on lost time. I need to get these civilians out of here. I might have the means to keep them alive but I lose more trained personnel every engagement. You can hear them all crying out. People want vengeance, they want their children to survive, they don’t want to be forgotten. No one has come to save us. No is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves and get out of hostile territory if we ever hope to break this blackout and regroup. Ayana is alive. If you need hope, hold onto that.”
Yelran seemed to let go of everything, burying his face in his hands and gripping into his hair. He really was just a broken man leading a band of broken ships in a war already long over. “I…” He was lost for words, just electing to keep what little composure he had left. He leaned back up with all emotion left to his eyes alone, “I can’t keep doing this, Admiral. I’ve lost myself in this sea of chaos. All I’ve done for four years in kill, I haven’t slept in days, we’re always at condition one, and I’m losing my damned mind.”
Ember wrapped her arms around Yelran and pulled him into a hug. “The war is over. All that’s left is to save who’s left. We can get regroup and come back. If we keep them here, they will die- we all will.”
After a moment of stiffness, the man finally regained his composure. He broke gently away from Ember, standing up and moving to a crisp attention and giving an equally crisp salute. “Captain Yelran Jandar, reporting with WCS Caliburn, Acadia, Nandaka, Bachmann, Fless and others; 9,723 souls.” He dropped his stance back to where it was when he came in, “I’m no admiral, but I’m still a line captain. I will await your orders and fall in formation. Let’s loose the sails and get our people home.”
Admiral Connelly returned his salute. “Very well, Captain Jandar. If you follow me, I can show you some of our supply system. It’s unorthodox and experimental but we’ve made the best out what we’ve salvaged from the research laboratories.” She tilted her head as she looked towards the closed door behind him. “It seems, my adopted daughter is interested in visiting with you. You remember the little blonde girl?”
Yelran nodded, turning to look at the door as well. “How… do you know she’s there?”
“I can sense her. That’s the easiest way to explain it.”
The dumbfounded Captain took a step to his left, letting Ember have an easier way at the door. He couldn’t sense anything, but he was far from home and the Song was very quiet to him.
The door scraped open once more and a small, blonde child wearing what might have been Shouwei physical training sweats and a t-shirt, held up a small can of what might have been oil. “Miss Molly! Circe said this would help make the door stop screaming.”
Ember smiled and took the can. She tended to the door, which closed more quietly than it had opened.
The was something about the girl, Ginger that seemed off. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of blue that seemed to stare through him as her attention shifted from the Admiral to him. “Hi!” She waved, the jagged red scars on the palms of her hands were glaringly obvious from where she stood. “I’m G1-NG-3-R! You’re col.. You look like you are feeling better?”
“Bime i minya...” Yelran was quiet and his eyes went ever so wider. If he didn’t feel it earlier, he felt it now. He looked to Ember and then back to Ginger in the span of a heartbeat before he let his face relax again, “Hi there! Yeah, I feel much better.” He was jovial but his eyes were uncomfortable, it was as if he was staring at a ghost.
Ember ruffled Ginger’s hair and the presence eased back. “We call her Ginger since it’s better to have a name rather than a designation but she’s helped us find other survivors. She’s a big help on the observation deck but you wanted to see the stores?”
Ginger smiled and reached for Yelran’s hand. “You have to hold our hand so you don’t get lost! It’s a game but Miss Molly doesn’t want us to play it with you here.” She pouted like a normal child. “It’s really cool! We promise!”
As the presence faded, so did Yelran’s uncomfortable look. He gave the girl a smile and offered her his right hand, “It is a big ship, I don’t want to get lost.” He looked back to Ember with a warm look as if he’d just seen the light of day for the first time. As if he’d forgotten that they were all on the run from chaos itself.
Ginger’s hand was warm and tiny around Yelran’s. She could not have been more than 7 years old. He wondered what exactly had been done to this child to make her this way. Ember had not named her but the designation was enough of a clue for him to not press for more information in front of Ginger.
Ginger reached out and took Ember’s hand in her other one and looked up at her guardian.
“Getting lost would be bad. We have been conserving power by only directing power to areas where we are living and working. Not all of the deckplating has survived, so it could be dangerous to wander the corridors in the dark,” Ember added with a smile.
The walk down the corridor was fairly quiet aside from the hum of the electricity and the overhead lights. This particular corridor had many of its exposed wires tied back and the holes in the deckplating had metal cargo siding covering them. The metal creaked but it held their combined weight as they crossed over it.
Lights flickered off as they passed and slowly flickered on as they advanced. The delay meant there were a few seconds where they walked into darkness. At the edges of his vision, there was movement that disappeared as soon as he redirected his vision. It grew more humid as they turned towards what looked to be a dead end. Water droplets struck the top of his head as they finally stopped in front of a largo cargo bay door.
Admiral Connelly raised her free hand and for a moment, there was a brief spark. The cargo doors slid open to rolling fog. “Be careful in here. Stay close.”
“What… is this?” Yelran was being extremely careful, stepping exactly where Ember stepped while his eyes fought to try and see her. His only thought was that this was some sort of dark greenhouse, but even then it was a mystery to him.
“An experiment. We harvest chunks of ice and put it into this system, the process here makes it safe to use and helps us keep a breathable atmosphere. But we mostly keep plants in here.” The doors closed softly behind them and the fog settled at their feet as Ember guided them deeper into the bay. He couldn’t even see the overhead lights or the grey of the bulkheads anymore. It was mist and the sound of water dripping.
“We just took soil from some of the decorative plants in the wardrooms and conference rooms and tilled part of our cargo hold. Add in the water from our water cyclers and we have a garden. It’s grown over the years as we gained dirt. But this is.... Pretty ingenious.” Yelran kept up, still trying to see if he could actually see anything. He was beginning to wonder where on the ship they actually were from his limited memory of what the La Leuer looked like before the fall.
Ember stopped in front of a bench that came into focus in front of them. “This is a bit more complex than that. A touch of technology, and magic. We have a way to keep our people fed. It can be tricky.”
Ginger let go of their hands and disappeared behind a bush that was to the left of the bench. A forest took shape around them, large tropical trees and dense bushes covered in blue fruit materialized out of the fog.
“Are you feeling brave and hungry? You look like you could use something,” Ember commented as she took a seat on the bench. She didn’t seemed concerned about Ginger disappearing. She pulled free a couple of large berries and offered it to Yelran.
Yelran didn’t hesitate, he trusted her. He took them and ate a single one to gauge the taste before eating the rest in close succession. “You don’t just have a forlorn wheat field like we do, you have a forest. We have to ration out our own emergency crashdown rations to add some sort of variety, this can’t be real.” The berries tasted like a cross between a blueberry and a strawberry.
Ginger appeared behind Yelran and held up a strange grey, fluffy creature. “Say hi to BUN-CHAN!” The creature’s tiny nose twitched but he could not identify anything else besides the dense fur of its coat.
“It can be a dream or a trick of technology. We grow what we can and sometimes, we can breed creatures for dinner. Smaller ones that reproduce quickly like Bun-chan are easiest. We can’t get something large like a cow to stay alive out here.”
“This is… something.” Yelran’s eyes wandered around his vision until they settled on Bun-chan. He gave the young girl and her pet a warm smile, “Well, Bun-chan is something too.” His mind was aloft with all of this, it would save his ships and his dwindling crews. “Is this something easily repeated?”
“It depends,” Ember softly replied as she watched Ginger. “On what you are willing to believe in. What do you have faith in?”
Ginger beamed before she set the fluff ball down once more. “He has to want to open the door, right, Miss Molly?”
Yelran raised an eyebrow. “I will be honest, I’m willing to believe in anything if it means that life will prevail over death. Too many have died to pander otherwise.” His look was sincere as he looked down to Ginger, “Door?”
Ginger rocked on her heels and nodded. The shadow behind the little girl lengthened as the light shifted. “Of course!” Her tone made it sound like it was something obvious that he was missing. “If you open the door, you can pass through it to get to the other side! How else do you go from one place to another?”
3015 GSC
Connelly's body language was open, friendly as she nodded to Yelran after lowering her own salute. The green of her eyes were reminiscent of spring, when the leaves start to bud on trees. "Yes, of course. Come this way," she looked off to the right down the corridor of darkening lights. "I still have an office that isn't being used for storage or survivors. Have your men talk to my Seconds and we can see about resupply. You look like you've had a hard time of this prolonged war." She glanced back over her shoulder and a silvery blonde Shouwei stepped forward to talk to Yelran's men.
The young woman smiled. "Yes, ma'am, we will see that they get some breakfast. If you gentlemen would follow us." She gestured towards the straight away part of the corridor, the lights flickered dimly but were stable. The hum of the bulbs were barely audible above the drone of the pneumatics of the airlock as it cycled and stabilized back to what he knew to be locked. Connelly's Shouwei remained silent. He supposed that the survivors Connelly referred to were secured elsewhere. He would have put all of his none essential personnel in a state of lock down until he determined the status of the newcomers. Yelran's fleet had been attacked through a similar attack time and time again. It was just strange to be on the receiving side of suspicion for once.
Admiral Connelly was taller than he remembered. Her back was certainly more muscular, her hips more defined. She met his eyes again as she looked back over her shoulder. "You're men will be taken care of." She started down the corridor, the motion of her approach caused the shadows of the the corridor to flicker as the lights came on to guide her way. Her stride had a bit of a limp, which he never remembered her having. Had she been wounded in such a way? Yelran speculated that the fresh faced youths were survivors that she had recruited to replenish her ranks. From the few glimpses that he was able to steal, her crew was mostly female. Another oddity.
How had they gone on this long this well fed? They were also amazingly clean? Water rationing was the first thing he had to consider and here Connelly was, freshly showered in a clean uniform. Had she figured out a better method of keeping fresh water stores on board? Surely, she hadn't been harvesting water from the neighboring planets?
Their bootfalls echoed down the corridor and the murmur of conversation between their personnel started up behind them. The door of the office scraped as it opened. The sound was cringe worthy, it must have been bent. It took a few seconds but the lights flickered on with a buzzing hum. The room smelled lightly of must and age. Crates were piled up at the corners of the room but a large desk with a small plush chair sat in the center of the room. A layer of dust had settled over top of the smooth black surface of the desk.
"Please have a seat. Please excuse the mess, there isn't much call for private meetings these days." Ember's voice was soft as it broke the silence that had built up from the walk from the airlock into the office. The door closed behind them less gratingly then it had opened. All other sound was muffled. He wondered if the room was sound proofed. Ember stood behind the desk and took a cloth and wiped the layer of grime away. "I am sure you have many questions."
Yelran’s right index finger tapped relentlessly at his thigh before to took the offered seat. His eyes level with Ember’s before he spoke, “I must congratulate you, Admiral, on surviving this hellscape that’s befallen our beloved colonies. It’s not been easy on us, but we have made some great breakthroughs. I must ask, we’ve not seen head nor tail of your fleet in the five years we’ve been operating in the core colonies. Where have you been?”
She sat once Yelran was seated. Her hands interfaced under her chin as she leaned forward, settling on her arms. Silence preceded her reply, her shoulders were relaxed. He had expected tension not the Admiral looking like some schoolgirl about to whisper some innocent secret. “Have you seen it? Felt it?”
“What do you mean?” Yelran’s left brow arched high. He was indeed confused.
“You are a hinya,” the Admiral calmly considered him. A dull hum filled the silence as the woman met his gaze. Something caused the hair on the back of his neck to prickle, it suddenly felt like ice water had been poured over his head. “You should notice it stronger than anyone else. Perhaps, it has been too loud.”
Someone whispered in his ear.
It had been a long while since he’d felt anything related to magic since he left his homeworld long ago. Maybe he’d been deaf to it as it wasn’t in his mind. He sat up straight and his eyes were now locked onto Ember’s. “I’ve not heard anything… until now…” He was visibly uneased.
“Interesting. Let me ask a different question then, did you uncover what the Heise were researching in your travels?” The whispering quieted and the sensation slipped away. Ember’s eyes remained a calm shade of green. To his knowledge, the Admiral was not an Ember like her nickname nor did she wield the Word or Liang’s Song. She should have been a human, a high ranking Fleet Admiral but not a magic user. Her posture shifted as she lowered her hands and tapped the top of the desk.
Small lights blinked to life in the obsidian glass before a round volumeric interface appeared between them. The circle rotated and blinked with strange glyphs on the edges, they reminded him of some distant childhood lesson on the minya hini.
“We found a field lab during our expedition on Saint Yves, we have logs based on abductions of different people and different ages. Besides that, our raid of Headquarters found that someone upset FleetCom and locked themselves in the bunker below. They had some sort of jamming system, and the same system is what’s keeping us all in the dark.” His right hand felt near where his sidearm would be, but he had neglected to bring it as an act of goodwill. Instead, he hooked a thumb in his pocket and blinked slowly. “I have a feeling there is a reason on why you know so much of the Heise’s operations.”
Ember placed her hand on the circle and the projection shifted to a view of the stars and planets of the system they were in. The color was off, rather, it was a rainbow of colors instead of the vast darkness he was assumed to. “We’ve uncovered a few different research facilities in our search for the Prime Minister. The Eodum were experimenting with something that they found buried in the desolate places. No research node knew what the others were doing, so it’s been a puzzle. No one had records of where the other labs were actually located.”
She motioned with her hand and an object appeared from what he thought was the planet, Nikia. Its opaque blue facets glittered in the projection and pulsed. “We found this and many others of varying shades. At first we thought it was heartstone but.. It’s something else.”
His question about Ember’s reason for being so quiet was answered but his curiosity was still far for sated. He remained silent as he had nothing to say, it perplexed him. He’d been over planets that looked like this, but had elected to continue on without risking an investigation. “I’ve seen things like this, I always assumed them to be the results of some kind of weapon.”
“From the notes, it’s called a ‘Soulstone’. It’s a product of what looks to be some alien form of magic. They.. were testing it as a power source but.. Magic calls out to magic. I found that they were embedding these into automations to hunt down magic users. Embers respond to these the strongest,” her tone was somber. “If these are embedded into a living being it does.. Something strange.”
“It’s not the results of a weapon, it is one.” His expression was equally grim, “We have a few Embers that we rescued onboard our fleet tender. They are nice folk, runaways from somewhere.” He noticed after he stopped that he had gone off on a tangent, “What does this stone do?”
“Just one can give an automation life. But it is made from the essence of living things. Just a single stone can be made of 30 sentient beings. It’s not a weapon, it’s more like a battery. It can grant a non-magic user the ability to use magic that was available to the beings that were used to make it. Do you believe in ghosts?” As Ember spoke the projection showed a shaky video of a ritual where living being were thrown into a vat of molten metal as an indistinguishable shadow brought down a hammer on an anvil.
Yelran was pale, paler than before. “What this is… is... “ he trailed off without finishing, lost in the video’s subject. “This is unholy. As if this war wasn’t already a slaughter, now it can be used as a factory to craft these stones and then do what other unjust things?” He looked her dead through the projection and spoke, “And we are going to do what about this?”
“Rescued who I could. The Heise implanted alien DNA into children as well. I was only able to find one survivor at the facility on Nikia. That little girl was about to throw herself off a building when we got there, she sees strange things. Has nightmares about the experiments,” Ember shook her head. “Long term exposure also has an impact. Just destroying the damn things doesn’t free them.”
She dismissed the projection. “We’ve been on the run. Following clues, rumors, listening to whisperings and changes in the flow of energy to find other strongholds. The Heise found these things somewhere. It’s monstrous. Something more horrible lurks out of view but at the edge of our vision. I pray, we don’t find them now when we’re at the edge of sanity.”
“And I surmise that this was all done over the last four years? All we have found is what’s jamming us and a large group of very confused and lost civilians.” He was back at square one, none of his glaring questions were answered, “I want to know something that you might know. Where is the rest of the fleet? We’re on our own here, Caliburn is one of the only ships in the whole fleet that can stand almost on her own and we’ve not seen anyone minus you and the ships we’ve had join us.”
His hand moved out in a motion towards the walls, “We can’t be all that is left, and now you’re telling me there is someone out there who may or may not be building a magical gods-know-what-strength weapon or army out of our ashes?” It was clear that Yelran had more blurted out words that spoke what was on his mind, and at this point he was ready to hear it.
“The Prince is at large. I do not know how large his fleet is. I could not name all of the xenos that have laying siege to our people. I have not found more of us. The 10th has disappeared. I do not know if the First and Second fleets are even aware of what’s happened to us. They are us, so they know how we operate. It’s been difficult to trust other vessels we’ve come across. They pose as stranded forces and kill anyone that doesn’t side with them.”
“Then we really are all that’s really left. I called myself an admiral by courtesy, I didn’t want it. I woke up that day thinking that I was probably going to retire within the coming years, now here I am one of the last captain’s of the fleet.” Yelran looked away from Ember for a moment to take in a labored breath, “We need food, we don’t have any. We’ve turned one of the cargo holds into a garden, but that has begun to strain our water supply. The only other ship we’ve been able to get stocks from is our tender, but even they are beginning to run low.”
The Captain’s left eye twitched as his mind began to show its stress, “To those ships out there with me, Ember, I’m still in charge. I don’t want to cause more bloodshed within our tired and broken ranks, but I am going to need to get a little more information on food and water.”
“What is your aim? How much more blood do you want on your hands? We’ve lost this war,” the
projection shifted back to the image of the system. “Take our people and get out of here. They will have a better chance if you make a run for Alliance space. Topia is the closest rendezvous point but I don’t know if Sam Andreas is still alive. I haven’t ventured that far north to see if the 3rd Fleet has fared any better. Jeanne refused to leave Leloup unguarded, even with her fleet decimated.”
Yelran began to try to say something but went blank. “I refuse to abandon hope, because hope is all we have left. I might not be able to load hope into the Caliburn’s launch tubes, but I can use it to keep our moral up just high enough where I don’t have to receive more reports of suicides among my battlegroup. The blood on my hands has ruined me, for I have no choice but to fight. There are pockets of resistance on Saint Yves, Gavreau, and no doubt every rock this side of hell. I swore an oath to protect these Colonies and I do not intend to break it.”
“The Wangdaio isn’t just a place. It’s a people. As long as they are alive, we have not been forgotten. If the fighting continues there will be nothing left but ashes and ghosts,” she rose to her feet. “As you might have noticed, most of my crew is dead. I have mostly children on board with me. The ones that had no value to Heise that were left behind to starve, to be ravaged, to be torn apart by the monstrosities unleashed in those unholy labs. They are the future of what the Prime Minister’s vision.” She rounded the desk and was standing directly before him.
“This fleet is crippled and hobbling along on lost time. I need to get these civilians out of here. I might have the means to keep them alive but I lose more trained personnel every engagement. You can hear them all crying out. People want vengeance, they want their children to survive, they don’t want to be forgotten. No one has come to save us. No is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves and get out of hostile territory if we ever hope to break this blackout and regroup. Ayana is alive. If you need hope, hold onto that.”
Yelran seemed to let go of everything, burying his face in his hands and gripping into his hair. He really was just a broken man leading a band of broken ships in a war already long over. “I…” He was lost for words, just electing to keep what little composure he had left. He leaned back up with all emotion left to his eyes alone, “I can’t keep doing this, Admiral. I’ve lost myself in this sea of chaos. All I’ve done for four years in kill, I haven’t slept in days, we’re always at condition one, and I’m losing my damned mind.”
Ember wrapped her arms around Yelran and pulled him into a hug. “The war is over. All that’s left is to save who’s left. We can get regroup and come back. If we keep them here, they will die- we all will.”
After a moment of stiffness, the man finally regained his composure. He broke gently away from Ember, standing up and moving to a crisp attention and giving an equally crisp salute. “Captain Yelran Jandar, reporting with WCS Caliburn, Acadia, Nandaka, Bachmann, Fless and others; 9,723 souls.” He dropped his stance back to where it was when he came in, “I’m no admiral, but I’m still a line captain. I will await your orders and fall in formation. Let’s loose the sails and get our people home.”
Admiral Connelly returned his salute. “Very well, Captain Jandar. If you follow me, I can show you some of our supply system. It’s unorthodox and experimental but we’ve made the best out what we’ve salvaged from the research laboratories.” She tilted her head as she looked towards the closed door behind him. “It seems, my adopted daughter is interested in visiting with you. You remember the little blonde girl?”
Yelran nodded, turning to look at the door as well. “How… do you know she’s there?”
“I can sense her. That’s the easiest way to explain it.”
The dumbfounded Captain took a step to his left, letting Ember have an easier way at the door. He couldn’t sense anything, but he was far from home and the Song was very quiet to him.
The door scraped open once more and a small, blonde child wearing what might have been Shouwei physical training sweats and a t-shirt, held up a small can of what might have been oil. “Miss Molly! Circe said this would help make the door stop screaming.”
Ember smiled and took the can. She tended to the door, which closed more quietly than it had opened.
The was something about the girl, Ginger that seemed off. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of blue that seemed to stare through him as her attention shifted from the Admiral to him. “Hi!” She waved, the jagged red scars on the palms of her hands were glaringly obvious from where she stood. “I’m G1-NG-3-R! You’re col.. You look like you are feeling better?”
“Bime i minya...” Yelran was quiet and his eyes went ever so wider. If he didn’t feel it earlier, he felt it now. He looked to Ember and then back to Ginger in the span of a heartbeat before he let his face relax again, “Hi there! Yeah, I feel much better.” He was jovial but his eyes were uncomfortable, it was as if he was staring at a ghost.
Ember ruffled Ginger’s hair and the presence eased back. “We call her Ginger since it’s better to have a name rather than a designation but she’s helped us find other survivors. She’s a big help on the observation deck but you wanted to see the stores?”
Ginger smiled and reached for Yelran’s hand. “You have to hold our hand so you don’t get lost! It’s a game but Miss Molly doesn’t want us to play it with you here.” She pouted like a normal child. “It’s really cool! We promise!”
As the presence faded, so did Yelran’s uncomfortable look. He gave the girl a smile and offered her his right hand, “It is a big ship, I don’t want to get lost.” He looked back to Ember with a warm look as if he’d just seen the light of day for the first time. As if he’d forgotten that they were all on the run from chaos itself.
Ginger’s hand was warm and tiny around Yelran’s. She could not have been more than 7 years old. He wondered what exactly had been done to this child to make her this way. Ember had not named her but the designation was enough of a clue for him to not press for more information in front of Ginger.
Ginger reached out and took Ember’s hand in her other one and looked up at her guardian.
“Getting lost would be bad. We have been conserving power by only directing power to areas where we are living and working. Not all of the deckplating has survived, so it could be dangerous to wander the corridors in the dark,” Ember added with a smile.
The walk down the corridor was fairly quiet aside from the hum of the electricity and the overhead lights. This particular corridor had many of its exposed wires tied back and the holes in the deckplating had metal cargo siding covering them. The metal creaked but it held their combined weight as they crossed over it.
Lights flickered off as they passed and slowly flickered on as they advanced. The delay meant there were a few seconds where they walked into darkness. At the edges of his vision, there was movement that disappeared as soon as he redirected his vision. It grew more humid as they turned towards what looked to be a dead end. Water droplets struck the top of his head as they finally stopped in front of a largo cargo bay door.
Admiral Connelly raised her free hand and for a moment, there was a brief spark. The cargo doors slid open to rolling fog. “Be careful in here. Stay close.”
“What… is this?” Yelran was being extremely careful, stepping exactly where Ember stepped while his eyes fought to try and see her. His only thought was that this was some sort of dark greenhouse, but even then it was a mystery to him.
“An experiment. We harvest chunks of ice and put it into this system, the process here makes it safe to use and helps us keep a breathable atmosphere. But we mostly keep plants in here.” The doors closed softly behind them and the fog settled at their feet as Ember guided them deeper into the bay. He couldn’t even see the overhead lights or the grey of the bulkheads anymore. It was mist and the sound of water dripping.
“We just took soil from some of the decorative plants in the wardrooms and conference rooms and tilled part of our cargo hold. Add in the water from our water cyclers and we have a garden. It’s grown over the years as we gained dirt. But this is.... Pretty ingenious.” Yelran kept up, still trying to see if he could actually see anything. He was beginning to wonder where on the ship they actually were from his limited memory of what the La Leuer looked like before the fall.
Ember stopped in front of a bench that came into focus in front of them. “This is a bit more complex than that. A touch of technology, and magic. We have a way to keep our people fed. It can be tricky.”
Ginger let go of their hands and disappeared behind a bush that was to the left of the bench. A forest took shape around them, large tropical trees and dense bushes covered in blue fruit materialized out of the fog.
“Are you feeling brave and hungry? You look like you could use something,” Ember commented as she took a seat on the bench. She didn’t seemed concerned about Ginger disappearing. She pulled free a couple of large berries and offered it to Yelran.
Yelran didn’t hesitate, he trusted her. He took them and ate a single one to gauge the taste before eating the rest in close succession. “You don’t just have a forlorn wheat field like we do, you have a forest. We have to ration out our own emergency crashdown rations to add some sort of variety, this can’t be real.” The berries tasted like a cross between a blueberry and a strawberry.
Ginger appeared behind Yelran and held up a strange grey, fluffy creature. “Say hi to BUN-CHAN!” The creature’s tiny nose twitched but he could not identify anything else besides the dense fur of its coat.
“It can be a dream or a trick of technology. We grow what we can and sometimes, we can breed creatures for dinner. Smaller ones that reproduce quickly like Bun-chan are easiest. We can’t get something large like a cow to stay alive out here.”
“This is… something.” Yelran’s eyes wandered around his vision until they settled on Bun-chan. He gave the young girl and her pet a warm smile, “Well, Bun-chan is something too.” His mind was aloft with all of this, it would save his ships and his dwindling crews. “Is this something easily repeated?”
“It depends,” Ember softly replied as she watched Ginger. “On what you are willing to believe in. What do you have faith in?”
Ginger beamed before she set the fluff ball down once more. “He has to want to open the door, right, Miss Molly?”
Yelran raised an eyebrow. “I will be honest, I’m willing to believe in anything if it means that life will prevail over death. Too many have died to pander otherwise.” His look was sincere as he looked down to Ginger, “Door?”
Ginger rocked on her heels and nodded. The shadow behind the little girl lengthened as the light shifted. “Of course!” Her tone made it sound like it was something obvious that he was missing. “If you open the door, you can pass through it to get to the other side! How else do you go from one place to another?”
I also write webcomics~
Author of
Co-Author of &
Author of
Co-Author of
&