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Kale
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Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Government: Republic of Hekat
System: D-447
Location: System D-447 Gateway
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***
Six Hours Ago
***
My head aches as we pass through the gate, the voice from it still rattling around in my mind. The passage was not as violent aboard this craft, perhaps design does play a role. Questions that are irrelevant I realize as I focus my resolve. Soon there will be blood to wet my blade, I need to prepare myself for it.
A familiar voice enters the ship’s comms.
“Vessel RS429-BZ996 I have your moniker marked as Black Falcon. This is Republic Space Command identifier TXCN99-3-48. The planet your vector shows has been designated a Category 3 zone, per regulation SC56902-324 all ships must submit a flight plan and provide proper credentials. No flight plan from you has been received.”
Kotina moves towards one of the panels swiping the holo over it.
“Republic Space Command this is Black Falcon actual. How’s the weather over there?” Kotina asks.
There is a pause on the comms. A new voice enters the channel.
“Black Falcon, weather is good enough to bird watch.”
It is strange, the conversation feels unnatural and different from when Fennec spoke to them.
“Keep an eye out for Sparrows, I hear they are bad luck this time of year.” Kotina says.
“Will do, safe travels Black Falcon.” The voice on the comms says.
Kotina moves over to the main helm display inputting new commands. Saying nothing of the interaction.
“Alright, look here.” Kotina says, swiping her hand on a holo, bringing up a map “The maintenance shaft here should get you to the fifteenth floor. After that, you’re on your own.”
“Understood.” I say, tightening my new boots with a dial like she showed me. They form snuggly to my feet. I would ask her more about the conversation she had, but there is little point in the curiosity of it. I feel the darkness rising inside me, twisting and turning through each fiber of my being.
“You’ll need to get familiar with this.” She says, pulling out a large laser cutter, handing it to me.
It is lighter than I expected, different in its style to the ones we used before the masters forced my people into the Grand Hunt. Similar in size to the one my tribe had hidden beneath the floors. It feels like so long ago now that we tried to open the Black Edict.
“It’s a breaching laser, should be able to cut most doors down to size. You adjust the…” she begins.
“I know.” I say, adjusting the dial of the laser. There is little mechanical difference between it and the ones I am used to. She grunts at me with a tone of what I think is some kind of approval.
“Also, should go without saying, but no killing innocent civilians, you start doing that and I’ll assume it’s that thing driving.” she points to the Black Edict, in its box form upon the table “Fair enough?”
I nod to her, though I see little difference between those who filled the crowds of the Colosseum and those who hold the boot to our necks. To me, they are all monsters, crying out for the song of my blade.
For now, I will play along, as even with this equipment she has given me, I still feel she could snap me in half. Her demeanor is calm, but the way she carries herself tells me her blade was tempered in the blood of many souls.
“What about the soldiers?”
“I wouldn’t take a warrior’s blade before battle.” she says, turning from me now to look at a display “Besides, anyone stationed planet side is directly from House Helenius.”
“Meaning?” I ask, placing the plasma edge blades on my new utility belt.
“Scum, the lot of em.”
If circumstances were different, I get the feeling that she and I would have gotten along well.
“Kale, it’s not too late to change your mind.” Lunara says, breaking her silence, fighting against the restraints.
Kotina rolls her eyes as she opens a case now, from it she pulls a small device, no bigger than my fist. I have never seen anything like it.
“This is a one-time use item. They are stupid expensive, and not to mention very illegal to use outside of wartime.” Kotina says, placing it gently into my hands “Be very selective with how you use it.”
Stolen story; please report.
“You’re sending him to his death Kotina.” Lunara says, her eyes look strained.
“He is already dead.” Kotina sighs, grabbing Lunara and tossing her into a compartment, closing the door.
An audible banging as Lunara pounds against the thick metal door. It is strange, I am almost happy she locks her away. She will only dull the blade I sharpen.
“What does it do?” I ask Kotina, admiring the spherical device.
The formation of a grin slowly rises on her face.
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Quadrant: Darna Quadrant
Government: Republic of Hekat
System: D-447
Planet: Ora
Location: Outside Agora City, Near Maintenance Shaft 4
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***
Three Hours later
***
“We are here.” Kotina says.
The dull thuds from Lunara banging on the metal doors have long since passed. My jaw flexes as I realize I will never see her again, never know what could have been. My heart hurts at the realization. Perhaps it is better like this, not saying goodbye. My people are not fond of it. I need to focus, the musing of my heart must end, so the honing of my blade can resume.
The loading bay door of the small ship opens, wind gusts in towards me. Outside I see metal that shines, organized in panels, forming a massive structure. We move closer to it, a door coming into view.
“Remember what I said. The moment that you lose control, I’m putting you down.” Kotina says to me, her firm voice carrying over the wind.
I do not reply, she has made her intent clear. I am sure I have grabbed everything I will need. Walking out onto the edge of the ships loading bay door, now facing the city of the masters where my people are chained, the wind brushes against me, pushing my hair into its grasp. There is something strange as I walk past the gravity actuators and feel the natural gravity of my home world, it is lighter than I remember. Perhaps the demon has made good on their promise. Perhaps they have made me stronger. I feel the darkness crawls at the edges of my mind, it will not be long until I can’t press it back, time is growing shorter.
“You so much as breathe the name of our House to anyone…” Kotina begins.
“I know,” I say, turning my head to look at her, words falling from my lips “Thank you.”
She looks at me, staring past the flesh, I can feel the hesitation in her. Part of her screams to cut me down where I stand, but the other part, the part which she listens to says something else. It is the same voice that every true warrior hears within them, it tells her to let me have a death of my choosing. In another life, I would have done the same for her.
“If you see Adonius, cut his slagging head off.” She says, a half grin on her face.
I feel my mouth return the grin as I move to jump to the platform next to the maintenance shafts entrance. Behind me I hear a metal door opening on the shuttle, the one that held Lunara back.
“Kotina, if you don’t let me say goodbye, I will never forgive you.” I hear Lunara say.
I still do not turn, even as I hear Kotina grunt and Lunara’s boots slowly walking towards me. My jaw tenses as turmoil in me begins to rise.
“Kale – are you sure this is what you want to do?” she asks, there is a delicateness in her voice even as she raises it to speak over the winds outside.
My heart beats as I hear her boots moving closer. Every step closer she takes, I feel my blade growing duller.
“Kale – look at me please. If this is to be goodbye, let it be proper.” She says, sadness entering her voice now.
Part of me does not want to turn, it wants to leap out of the craft and begin the march towards my people… towards my worthy death. The part of me that hesitates turns my head slowly to meet her gaze. Her eyes speak to me of the sadness that looms in her heart. I feel it stirring in mine. I realize it was a mistake to look upon her one last time. I should have leapt, instead of lingering.
“I am sorry… for everything that has happened, if I could go back, there is much I would change.” She says, coming closer to me, nearly upon me.
My eyes want to leave hers, but they don’t, this is the last time they will take her in. Let her face burn into the memory of my soul that part tells me. The part that wishes to grow into a blaze inside me.
“But I am not sorry for this.”
Closing the gap on me, she grasps the back of my head, pulling me towards her. My eyes ignite as her lips touch mine, warmth spreading from her into me. My heart erupts in a flame that burns the edges of the darkness. I find myself kissing her back, against my better judgement, against everything that has happened, my entire life falls away in this moment as I kiss her. There is no master or slave, only two people locked in the primal embrace that calls to the heart of all people.
“Oh, for slags sake.” Kotina says, moving between us, pulling us apart.
Half in a daze from it, I turn away shaking my head, trying to find my focus and resolve once more. I move towards the ramp.
“I will never forget you… Kale.” Lunara says, my eyes dare not look upon her again. I can hear her holding back the tears that wish to flow. The thought of them falling stings at my heart.
I close my eyes, drawing air into my lungs, slowly exhaling until all that remains is focus. The resolve soon follows behind it. Leaping now from the edge of the platform with the breaching laser in hand. Not turning to look back at the ship, for fear that my resolve might shake under the spell of her eyes. I begin carving the thick metal door.
By the time I have opened it, the ship has departed. It is better this way, no more temptation to spend my last sane moments with a woman who does not understand the ways of my people. If I am to die, it should be among friends, for their sakes I must continue.
The molten metal rolls to the floor as I kick the cut door from frame, it surprises me how far it falls back. My body has grown stronger, and the metal limbs Kotina provided are more than adequate. They follow my commands perfectly, as though I was born with them.
As I begin the long climb up towards the fifteenth floor, I cannot help but think on the past. How many times have I climbed metal to strip scraps from ships to survive, and now I climb upon the metal that those scraps built. Not to survive, but to die. Life is strange, fickle like people.
***
When I finally reach the fifteenth floor, it takes me another five minutes to cut the next door. My body is not even weary from the climb, I have done it my whole life, usually much further. As the door falls, I see it leads to a room filled with tools lining the walls. Some kind of maintenance cache. There is nothing here that I will need, so I move to the next door. To my surprise it opens. The holopad Kotina gave me chimes. I had forgotten she made me wear it, probably to track and monitor me. I do not mind, when the demons take me, I will accept her mercy. Better that she can find me swiftly so I do not kill any of my people. As I open the message, I see it is from Lunara. I almost don’t open it, curiosity forces my hand to open it finally.
Warden Akaria Luto
Luto in the old tongue means simply – Trust them. This confirms my suspicions that they were working together previously. Before I can manage a reply, I get a message from Warden Akaria, my eyes widen as I see it is a location, not far from where I am now. The gears in my mind begin to turn. With her help, perhaps it will be more than a worthy death I find.