Euna soared high above the clouds at an altitude she had never dared to reach before. She held her breath as she gazed at the ocean of stars that illuminated the night. The stars... so close that she felt like she could simply reach out and touch them, but Euna knew better. Her father had told her that they were worlds away. Farther than she could possibly imagine.
"Re-remember," Hiro shivered, his voice quivering and barely audible. "Gr-green lights, hex-hexagonal pattern. The entrance... You can't mi-miss it."
Euna nodded, then narrowed her eyes. Her vision becoming sharper and clearer despite the darkness. She gazed through the gaps in the clouds as she flew, searching for her destination. Euna had ascended the skies at a considerable distance from the fleet, becoming but a speck of shadow hidden above the clouds. Now, an hour had passed and she was still searching as she drifted in circles above the clouds. She only had one shot at this. She couldn't afford to mess up.
Another heavy gust of wind battered her, pushing her off course. She folded her wings, diving lower in the sky before finding a warm current to lift off higher again. She could feel Hiro's body shiver more fiercely with every passing minute. She wondered how much longer his body could endure the atmospheric conditions of their altitude.
There.
At the far back of the Augmented fleet, one carrier floated outside of the 'V' formation. Her vision lasered in on the hexagonal entance. She made a sharp turn, adjusting her position in the sky.
"Y-you didn't te-tell me your na-name," Hiro sputtered into the winds.
She folded her wings as she answered Hiro. "Euna."
Then she fell.
Now she would descend, free-falling right into the heart of the Augmented fleet. Hiro had told her that it would be virtually impossible for her to infiltrate an Augmented Carrier. That the second she entered their air space, she would be shot down by the very same weapons that had slaughtered dozens of her kin at the onset of the battle. But Euna had Hiro, a designated Augmented pilot of a Vessel and was registered as a friendly on their automated defense systems. Now it was a matter of luck. A matter of not being spotted by a 'live' Vessel, and there were hundreds of Vessels flying in clusters around the fleet. Most of them, however, were engaged in feverish combat with the Altered.
Euna closed her eyes, letting the rush of the winds monopolize her senses. For a moment there was only serenity... then she broke through the clouds and saw chaos. Massive frames of armored plates and fibers, the Vessels shot through the air at full throttle, leaving behind blazing trails of fire. They flew in clusters following the Altered but keeping a distance. They swerved and flanked, looking for openings or weak points to focus their fire on. Euna could see the arsenal of weaponry that they had on display. She had heard the stories, but never had she seen the Augmented weaponry in action. A stream of gunfire and projectile missiles ejecting from shoulder mounts, littering the air as they fired on the Altered. They weren't enough to kill an Altered outright--she could tell. But then she saw, falling out of the sky, the carcass of a monstrous angel decimated beyond recognition.
How?
Euna clenched her fist as she caught a glimpse of the lone Vessel responsible for the murder of her kin. Hanging from its armored fist, the head of an Altered, raised into the air like a trophy.
"W-watch out!" Hiro shouted for the second time that day.
Euna eyes flicked away from the lone Vessel and to the quickly looming hull of the Augmented Carrier. She spotted the green-lit hexagonal gates sitting on top of spires that protruded upwards from the Carrier. There were more than one of them, at least eight from what she noticed.
"Hiro! Which one?!" Euna shouted.
"Any!" Hiro answered.
Euna unfurled her wings, slowing her descent as she steered her fall towards the closest one. The gate was closed, but as she drew closer, the metallic wall retracted almost instantaneously.
Euna breathed a sigh of relief, then she saw more gates. Each one, however, began to retract until Euna could see the exit at the bottom of the hexagonal corridor; the interior of the hanger bay. Euna immediately began to change, her wings of scale and feather molting and shrinking until they were no more. Then she slammed her claws into the walls as she fell. Euna crawled her way down until the corridor gave way to the large interior of the hanger bay. At the edge between the ceiling and the entry corridor she was able to survey the hanger bay with a bird's eye view.
Euna was dumbfounded as she scanned the massive room, taking in the details. She had never seen anything like it before. Technology at a level that was perhaps centuries ahead of her village. Massive display panels hovered around columns of intricate machinery. These columns were connected to the upper and lower floors, and seemed to provide a way of passage between the interior of the ship. There were complex sequences of numbers and symbols littered on the displays and they were constantly shifting and fluctuating. All of which, was meaningless to Euna and only served to confuse her further. It wasn't that she didn't know how to read - her father, had made sure that she had appropriate instructors in all subjects of significance--but it seemed like the Augmented Empire had created a language of their own.
Then she saw. Real live people.
So many, Euna thought. No.
It wasn't that they were any more real than her people She knew that the people below her were Augmented soldiers, it was just that Euna had never seen people besides the villagers that she had grown up with. For all her life, she had wondered if there were really others besides the people in her village. Yes, there was Hiro, and he was bizarre - there was no question about that, but this was Euna's first time seeing so many Augmented people in one place and it startled her. In truth, the Augmented didn't look remarkably different from her people. Just like the Altered, there were people of all sorts of sizes and colors. Their features were of perfection, but it was to a degree that seemed too exaggerated and artificial.
"You shouldn't stay here too long," Hiro murmured.
"Why's that?" Euna asked, upside down with her head peeking out into the hanger bay.
Hiro began to explain, but Euna was too focused on the scene before her.
There were several dozens of partially destroyed Vessels lined up in the hangar bay and just as many--if not more --wounded soldiers strewn everywhere. Even more Augmented soldiers wearing different uniforms scrambled around the hanger bay, some of them tending to the wounding and most of them in the process of repairing the damaged Vessels.
Suddenly the gates that had closed above her, began to retract. Euna blinked once, then twice, and then it was too late. A Vessel loomed above her, quickly descending towards her. Already she could feel the scorching heat from the thrusters of the Vessel.
Euna could hear Hiro screaming something into her back but now she really was too distracted to listen.
Euna made a split-second decision. She crawled upwards, heading straight for the Vessel.
----------------------------------------
"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Hiro screamed for dear life. "We're going to be toasted alive!"
Euna didn't respond, but Hiro could feel her muscles tensing up, and of course--the violent wind pressure of a Vessel's thrusters, threatening to turn Hiro into a roasted shise kebab.
Yes, Hiro was not skewered on a tree this time but this? He was strapped onto an Altered girl, forced to do her bidding and now he was going to be roasted alive. Hiro thought back to his previous close encounters with death. Falling from the sky without his limbs and then plummeting into the arms of an angel. Being skewered onto a tree, nearly puncturing his heart and then being held by the neck and swung around like a plaything for an Altered girl.
...I-it could have been worse right?
"Hold on tight!" Euna shouted.
If only Hiro had hands.
Even one hand, Hiro ruminated of the possibilities.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Then she leaped, arms outstretched in front of her as the Vessel descended the entry corridor and to Hiro's surprise, she managed to latch herself onto the Vessel without being incinerated from the thrusters. As they descended, Euna could hear Hiro's cursing being drowned out by the roar of the Vessel's thrusters.
As the Vessel landed--or more aptly, crashed into the floor of the hanger bay--Euna retracted her claws and leaped off quietly.
"Medic! Please! I'm dying!"
"I need a fucking medic now! God damn it!"
"Vessels D-391 and A-089 out of commission! They are beyond repairs, Sir!"
The hanger bay was filled with shouting, cursing and groans of agony. Engineers and medics scurried around tending to the Vessels and the wounded. Hiro was surprised that there were this many soldiers that had actually managed to make it back, and not being outright demolished like he did by the Altered. But more surprising than anything was that he was back. Hiro looked around him in disbelief. There were the general designation displays hovering on the columns, the soldiers and the Vessels. He was actually back in an Augmented Carrier--he wasn't in one piece, but he was alive. He had thought that he was a goner.
Still strapped to Euna's back, Hiro was still limbless and unable to move around freely.
Currently, Euna was keeping a low profile, crouching next to the Vessel that had landed and staying in its shadow.
For a few moments, Hiro observed Euna. He wished he could see the expression on her face right now.
Like a child in a new place, she peeked her head out sheepishly around the Vessel's leg and withdrew quickly whenever it looked like she would be spotted. Hiro was still strapped to her back so he had to endure about fifty peek-a-boos with Euna before he had had enough.
Hiro nudged Euna, and then whispered, "Uh, your clothes... If you can find a uniform to change into..."
Euna glanced down at her attire, then at the Augmented soldiers rushing to the aid of others around her. She wore a tattered hand-woven linen that draped over her shoulders loosely, exposing most of her midriff and back, along with a pair of shorts. It was a stark contrast to the Augmented uniforms which were full bodied skinsuits.
"You stand out," Hiro said.
Euna nodded in agreement as she undid the makeshift harness that Hiro was in and placed him on the floor.
"A uniform," Hiro said, "you need--"
Without a second thought, Euna tore her clothes off flashing Hiro the full glory of her nude body.
"Oh my," Hiro flushed with surprise before looking away.
"Now I don't stand out as much, right?" Euna asked.
"Right."
"I'm going to see if I can find something," Euna whispered.
"Okay," Hiro nodded absentmindedly. And then it hit him.
What have I gotten myself into? Am I a traitor to the Empire now?
Hiro knew the consequences for betrayal or desertion. The notorious Unaugmentation ceremony, followed by public execution. All family and relatives would be blacklisted-- effectively dropped into the lower rungs of society, and some would even be forcefully moved to Augmented factories where they would spend the rest of their live manufacturing parts for the Empire.
Suddenly, an Augmented soldier crawled out from the severely corroded Vessel and plopped out onto the floor in front of Hiro.
"Fuck! Th-that abomination! It spat on me!"
The wounded soldier had one hand over his abdomen, keeping his innards from spilling out as he began crawling but it looked more like he was clawing at the hard floor. Most of his skin had melted away and his excessive movement only exacerbated his injuries.
"I-I can't see anything, my eyes! Som-someone help!" he screamed, his voice raw and hoarse.
Hiro baulked, scrambling away from the blind buffoon who kept coming closer. "Ba-back off! I'm in way worse condition than you!"
"Y-you! Ple-please save me! I'm--"
Suddenly, the soldier began convulsing and puking blood and bile as pus oozed out of his eye sockets.
Horrified, Hiro scurried away from the dying soldier with his stumps, not wanting to catch anything infectious. He let out a breath of relief after he had moved himself a good distance from that cesspool of blood, guts and unknown fluids.
"Designated code and squad number?"
Hiro froze.
"Soldier, don't make me repeat myself, or have you lost capability of speech or thought?"
Hiro twisted around, trying his best to stay upright without limbs. "Oh no. I mean, yes, I can speak. Code: 7H14093Q8G3H. Squad, DZY-012."
Where did Euna go? Hiro wondered.
He looked up at the woman wearing a medic uniform. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes skimmed over the hologram display on her wrist. "Hm, it seems like your squad lost contact with you not long after deployment. Vessel Status: destroyed, Pilot status: undetermined, KIA or possible desertion. Hmm."
"No, no, nothing like that. As you can see my body, along with my Vessel was ravaged by one of those abominations of mankind. My comms equipment was torn away from me in the process and I was virtually naked ma'am."
The medic frowned, perplexed by something Hiro had said. "Hold on. Something doesn't seem right here. How in the world did you make it back here with out a Vessel?"
Oh shit.
"Urm... you see... uh."
"Wait... is that a feather in your hair?" she reached down and plucked a deep violet, almost black feather out of Hiro's hair.
"Oh wow, how did that get there huh. Oh, I remember now. It must have gotten there when I was all tangled up with the abomination. You see, it was a very, very fierce fight," Hiro waved his stumps at the medic dramatically.
Her eyebrows rose, "Wow, you really got that close? Tha-that's amazing... I wish I could go out there and be a part of the fight too but... I couldn't make it pass the first Vessel Augmentation test..."
Me too! Hiro restrained himself from voicing that particular thought.
"I'm Sarah. What's your name?" she asked as she got on her knees and began inspecting Hiro's body.
"Hiro," Hiro smiled confidently--well he tried, but it wasn't easy when he was just a torso and an abdomen.
"Low internal temps, Low body fluids. Minor puncture wound, but you're stable for now. We can get you aug-limb replacements at the infirmary, I'll put you in queue but it might take sometime,," she said, as she gestured at the general disarray that was currently unfolding in the hangar bay.
"Oh, that's fine. Well, thanks for the help," Hiro said.
Sarah stood up. "Can I keep this feather? I wanna show it to my kids one day, if I do have any. But I would need a partner for that haha."
"Oh, of course! I'm sure I'll find plenty more," Hiro said--this time with real confidence.
"Oh wow, you're a fighter aren't ya," she winked at Hiro before turning around, ready to tend to the next soldier nearby.
Hiro was amazed. Somehow Sarah had forgotten the unsolved mystery of how Hiro had made it back to a Carrier whilst being virtually naked and without a vessel.
"Wait!" Hiro shouted suddenly.
Sarah turned around, a smile already on her face. "Yes?"
"Can I borrow your Comms device? Just a moment will do."
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Do I look weird? This doesn't seem right. Euna wondered as she struggled with the zipper of the Augmented uniform.
Euna shook her head, putting the thought out of her mind. There were more important things to think about. Like how she would single-handedly take over the Augmented Fleet. And then there were the visions.What did they mean? She couldn't make any sense of it, and thinking of it only confused her mmore.The voice that had spoken to her, that had shown her 'a way'. She could remember how it felt but it hurt to think about it. No, it wasn't like physical pain. It was something else entirely. It was something she had never felt in her life before, like the world was suddenly splitting apart.
Euna gave up on the zipper and turned around, facing the direction where she had left Hiro.
Hiro.
She was sure now that he was important. He had fallen out of the skies, miraculously landing into her arms. At first, Euna was doubtful but Hiro didn't seem to be hostile. He was bizarre, no doubt about that, but he wasn't callous, or a bloodthirsty warmonger that she had expected the Augmented soldiers to be. She wasn't sure why but she felt like she knew Hiro and that somehow he would help her see the 'way,' if there was a way in the first place.
Euna started walking, not too fast, lest it would attract attention and made sure to stay out of the peripheral visions of the medics and engineers as much as possible, but it wasn't much of a deal, with them being too distracted with their work. Finally, she made it to Hiro without attracting any attention. As she approached him, she saw that he was treated. A bag of fluids lay on the floor next to him, a tube running into his neck. The loose fibers and broken parts of his mechanical limbs were removed, revealing smooth metallic slots. He looked a lot less paler than before.
"Euna," Hiro said quietly, "You're back, and you've gotten yourself a... uniform."
"Yes. I did. It wasn't too hard. But look what else I found," Euna handed Hiro a mechanical arm and leg. "I found a leg and arm for you."
Euna smiled brightly.
Hiro's eyes went wide, then he sighed. "Okay first, where did you find these? Second, what the hell am I suppose to do with one leg and one arm?" Hiro shook his head. "And third, you're wearing it backwards." Hiro pointed at Euna's chest. "The zipper should be..." Hiro averted his eyes, "at your back, not the front Euna."
Euna flushed, "Oh."
Damn it, I knew something was wrong. What kind of outfit has the zipper at the back?
Then she began zipping down but Hiro held up a hand.
"God damn it Euna, forget the uniform. You should just leave."
Euna frowned. "What do you mean? Aren't you going to help me?"
Hiro looked away, his gaze to the floor. "You should leave now. Use me to get pass the gates. You can drop me on your way out. I'll be fine."
"No... No, I can't do that. I've gotten this far Hiro."
"Well... that's unfortunate," Hiro said, still refusing to look Euna in the eyes.
"Hiro, you're suppose to show me the way to General Corax," Euna said softly.
"How naive can you be?!" Hiro snapped and brought his gaze to Euna's, "I'm not suppose to do anything! I'm your fucking enemy you idiot! You've literally walked yourself into the stronghold of your enemy! Do you even realize what you've done? You've trapped yourself here," Hiro muttered, shaking his head.
Euna turned her gaze to her surroundings, afraid that Hiro's voice had attracted attention. Then she noticed. Euna was suddenly surrounded. There were too many and too soon.
"Wh-what did you do?!" Euna shouted at Hiro.
"The only logical thing a soldier would do, when an enemy boards your ship," Hiro said, his face dark.
The soldiers were armed and fully suited for battle. Euna could hear one of them speak, an Augmented Captain giving orders out to his units. "Subdue her. Non-lethal weaponry only. Doctor Nequiv would be pleased to have a new specimen."
"Yes, Sir!"
Euna took a step back slowly, keeping her eyes trained on the soldiers, watching for any sudden movements.
"Why did you even save me? You should have known better," Hiro muttered quietly.
The soldiers raised their rifles at Euna and aimed.
"Surrender yourself monster. Your false imitation of humanity disgusts me," the Augmented Captain said.
Euna closed her eyes for a moment.
Where did things go wrong? Why are we the monsters?
The Augmented were the ones who came to bring death and destruction to their home. They were the monsters, Euna thought.
Euna opened her eyes that were now the color of blood, only a tint of violet remained. Her pupil turned to slits.
'A monster you will become,' the voice echoed.
"Yes, a monster I will become," Euna agreed.