“For Jacob’s sake, I’m going to ask you this only once.. what could you have possibly done to force over a dozen Section Three Agents to go rogue? Time Travel, The Seventh Temple, and that Virus?! Many of them died to allow them to get this far, and I want to know why!”

Subsequently, it dawned on him that she was an Ascendant, only now the fact that she was neither Arcadian nor Curator was rather concerning?

“For my father’s sake and yours.. I ask that you don’t interfere. Suffice to say, I accepted and followed through an assignment. Thus is the nature of those ‘internships’. A single whisper, a single rumor led to what in actuality was a lie to then become ‘truth’. Misdirection, shifting the blame, and indoctrination led to what you saw and heard. The ringleader never participates..”

Ferris calmly explained before ending it with a code phrase and the one truth..

“You’re just like your daddy.. and in more ways than one? I know the handiwork. I spoke to ‘Cassidy’, your old ‘boss’. She sent that Cruiser to ‘pick’ you up. Only that wasn’t one of hers and asking ‘Meredith’ to deal with it won’t deal with the root of the issue. Goto The Crypt, meet Archangel. He’s been out of the loop for the last three centuries. Go alone, and go now”

Angie’s words were far more concerning than he realized as he sighed, and Angie gave him a big fat kiss on his cheek.

“Don’t die..”

Her words weren’t very encouraging as she updated his Hud, surprising him as to how she even managed such a feat.

…

Soon enough however, he quickly purchased a tropical island with a rather luxurious mansion on it, and suggested he’ll be gone for the next two weeks before hoping into a.. decommissioned alliance fighter as per Angie’s suggestion and slipspacing to The Crypt..

The Crypt being a literal ‘hellhole’ of system as the fact alone he could see the wreck of an intact and undisturbed Precursor Dreadnought and a broken fleet that could easily be identified as a Federation Secret Services who too were left intact and undisturbed meant a great deal?

The F.S.S. identifier meant not only were they the match for The Arcadians, but telling but how ancient they were, they likely fought and ‘won’ quite a few battles during The End of The Progenitor War.

And someone managed to take it out and a Precursor Dreadnought?

At this point Ferris felt it was a tomb world system as he saw several insignificant stars in the distance only to realize there were twelve and they looked awfully like particle planetary canons. And considering he just entered the system mere seconds ago, that 'also' didn't bode well..

Before he knew it one of the beams tore through a dreadnought as if poking through a tissue before unceremoniously clipping his wing forcing him to use his afterburners and get into orbit before he’d meet the same fate as those wrecks.

…

Soon everything went black as he would finally wake up only to notice a hole in the cockpit and a great deal of his blood. It took a moment for him to realize the cockpit’s visual screen was still active as he felt the arctic temperatures hit his face.

“Alpha-no Anora-right..”

Subsequently he was alone this time around as he checked his sensors only to realize an Arctic Freeze was inbound, and the only structure or rather what resembled a structure was two thousand meters away and The ETA for the freeze was ten minutes..

After lamenting his life, he kicked open the cockpit, took the dusty survival kit and the rechargeable laser side arm that he found in the compartment and ran like hell.

…

Nine minutes later..

After finding the structure and discovering it was a Section Three Cruiser, he couldn’t help but chuckle as he imputed his father’s command code’s considering how ancient it truly was. And to a certain degree it worked.

Only now he had to budge the docking door open and slip inside before closing it soon after and activating his night vision.

…

Three hours later..

It took some time to reach the reactor room as he budged open the last door. What truly infuriated him was the fact that the only things powered were the locks! It would accept and verify the command codes but do little else as he dusted the power console and reactivated the reactors.

Infuriating him to no end as not only were they not damaged, they were simply turned off as the environmental controls and shields activated without even a hiccup..

He never felt so lucky and unlucky within the same instance as the doors opened and he made his way to The A.I Core to see if he’d get lucky and take its A.I, only for him to hear a familiar voice that froze him in time.

“Jacob?”

His mother’s voice resounded in his head..

“What’s with that look? Don’t tell me Diana forced you to come all this way? She’s as bratty as ever, but.. so am I, especially since I’m just her as an A.I created on a whim. And I’m sorry, she’s not the easiest person to work with-wait.. you’re not Jacob-but you are but not mine.. who are you?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Diana questioned?

“Ferris.. Wright..”

Surprising Diana as she caught on to what that meant.

“Oh.. did Jacob send you? If so, I’ll give him a good shock for sending his child to a place like this-”

Unfortunately, before she could humor him further, he cut her off.

“He’s dead..”

Ferris answered, leaving her silent for several moments as he transferred what he knew to her matrix.

“Oh.. Jacob..”

Her voice hid her devastation before briefly collecting herself and projecting herself despite the static.

“Ferris.. you shouldn't be here. Angie’s the one who sold that Precursor Echo to The Curators. I’m sorry, but you’ve been deceived. It's been three thousand years, Archangel should have left long ago. If not.. I can take you to him. I’m Diana but you can call me Anna..”

Anna briefed, and bursting one of Ferris’s veins considering that Precursor Echo was ultimately what killed his father as he smashed his visor in by smashing his head against the wall, removing his helmet and shattering it into the open corridor.

He felt Angie was not telling him the whole truth, as for Anna she was his mother in A.I form, likely before her or his father even considered entering into a relationship. To put it bluntly, in their youth they hated each other and were the equivalent of that seventh assassin and him getting married.

However, love found its way and the two genuinely loved each other much later down the line, and the fact that The A.I was not at all aware of this was somewhat painful.

As for why he reacted so negatively, he was simply exhausted of this tirade. He had hoped it would have ended with New Harvest.. if that wasn’t all, remaining calm despite everything that had happened was becoming increasingly difficult as he calmly sighed.

“Are the comms still active? I need to make a call..”

…

In the end, he believed it was only right to contact his.. elder sister, subsequently she nearly went ballistic after learning he went there.

As for The Cruiser.. it was merely buried in the snow, the shield took the brunt of the crash and the systems remained intact. Even if he couldn’t leave the planet easily, he could still lessen the travel time to a greater extent?

For the time being he only slept.. and by the time Annalise would finally arrive he had slept for several days straight.

Apparently, Annalise shortly after learning The A.I was a copy of their mother from so long ago, decided to keep her emotions in check without revealing who their mother truly was, having caught on by Ferris using their father’s surname.

…

Outside of Jacob’s Quarters..

“He’s been asleep for the last seventy-four hours? Are you sure my brother is still alive?”

Anne genuinely questioned, leaving Anna to only open her door to allow for her to see for herself as she saw him sitting against the wall with his sidearm in his hand.

“That’s.. something we might need to talk about?”

Her voice was barely a whisper as Anna updated her involving his outburst and what she told him.

“Thanks for the warning.. maybe next time don’t insinuate Angie was our father’s killer. He’s clearly confused enough, he’s brilliant, so say it with me! Brilliant minds are prone to madness! With that in ‘mind’, he’s still twenty-five so he’s infinitely younger and infinitely more prone to.. this?”

Anne quietly reminded before appearing by his side as if moving through space itself and seamlessly disarming him and placing his head in her lap. As for Ferris, he felt rather refreshed as he questioned whose lab he was in..

Only to look up and see Anne smiling away..

As far as appearances went, she had their mother’s pale blonde hair, porcelain white skin, and violet eyes. Oddly enough, she looked more like her mother in the present now than their mother in the past.

“Hey sleepyhead.. do we need to talk about ‘what’ it looked like you were going to do or are you just fine now? Oh, and to clear something up Angie sold a Female Precursor Echo to The Curators centuries ago. What killed our dear old daddy was a Male Precursor Echo if you can catch my drift? Angie ‘did’ earn a proper splash of wine in her face for sending you here though”

Anne all but reassured, leaving Ferris to only sigh as he tried to sit up only for Anne to force his head back down.

“The only time we’ve ever bonded was after I.. tortured you and your crew. That wasn’t my proudest moment so let’s do this, I’ll be taking over from here and you, my little brother, can show me what you’ve learned? Let's become proper siblings! Tell me your secrets! And what’s with that Alliance segment? Who killed those babies?!”

Evidently, the last three days were.. productive and Anne genuinely wondered what that whole New Harvest thing was all about! All she saw was something about him getting shot in the head, and some weirdo killing a bunch of babies?

And as he ‘explained’ his progress thus far Anne couldn’t help but laugh at the first half, and cough at the second half..

“I have a baby niece?! Let’s sort out that poison a bit later, what’s this Calisto like? Do you think I’d like her?”

Anne pleasantly demanded, leaving Ferris little choice but to explain how it all began, and in the end, it left her somewhat somber.

“Oh Ferris..”

Evidently, while he resembles his father to a startling degree and she, her mother, their personalities were undoubtedly the opposite. He inherited their mother’s and she, her father’s, considering Ferris’s actions and the way he displayed them so similarly to their mother’s..

Only their mother would be so indecisive, calm, elaborate, brilliant, and have such difficulty with her emotions. From what Anne knew, she nearly killed their father when she was in her youth and her following wild phase, and seeing their mother now, no one would have ever thought?

And here Ferris was suffering from their mother’s inheritance.. or rather his mother? The two clearly haven’t reconciled considering they haven’t seen each other in several centuries.

While the fact alone that she didn’t realize she had a brother until fairly recently made that abundantly clear..

“Here’s what you're going to do after this little quest of ours.. take a ‘proper’ reprieve, give or take a few months because you’ll surely need it after this. Go back to Arcadia, send me a postcard, transfer whatever you need to transfer using my access codes to my ‘sister’ in law, tell ‘Diana’ I said hi and I hope she had an awful time, and send me baby pictures! I’ll even babysit!”

Anne or rather Annie now considering their newfound familiarity with one another and already existing family chose the straightforward approach! For it to mean anything she’d have to force him to have little choice in the matter, just like ‘his’ mother!

Anna for one believed this method was indeed potent, even if she had yet to realize they were Diana’s children? Naturally, there was also a reason for that. Aside from the three-thousand-year time difference, it was a taboo to do so?

Bloodlines, lineages, and ancestry to The Arcadians were a.. sensitive topic? There was a reason why Jacob became a Welsh rather than keep his surname? The same applied to Ferris..