I stood on a shuttle pad, before a plain, black ship. An 'Earth to Orbit' shuttle which would soon carry me from my home to dock with a larger voidship. The owner of the shuttle, a tall, robed man, ascended the ramp, leaving me beside a shorter, robed man, and his co-workers, as menials scuttled about performing pre-takeoff checks. Of the five of them, I only ever spoke with three. Long before the plague hit Hive Primaris I remember them barging into my home, claiming that they owned the unit and that we were squatting. I was terrified of them at that time, they looked at my brother Victor and I like we were nothing, and at my mother like a stain that needed removing. I don't know what would have happened if my father didn't shout about the people he worked for, it didn't scare them off, but they seemed to take it in stride. The frontmost of them, a robed, tired looking man, looked at us again then, and his face distorted in anger. With a word to the group they moved together, Victor and I were grabbed, our heads shaved, and we were forced to into a shower and scrubbed with a foul-smelling soap. I didn't understand at the time, but whilst they stayed with us we ate every day, and when my hair grew back it hurt less and I didn't have any bugs in it.
On that shuttle pad I looked at them once more, knowing that this might be the last time. I craned my head upwards to look at Aixa, the tallest woman I've ever met, and the most beautiful. With the smoothest, flaxen hair that draped her shoulders to stop at her middle framing a chiseled face. The white film of blindness over her eyes did nothing to detract from her charm; tattooed runes which started from the base of her full lips, flowing over her chin and disappearing beneath the neck of her fitted shirt gave her an air of mystique. Hands clasping an ornate walking pole as tall as she, she was the picture of grace. A picture that was ruined, unfortunately, by the shrill, throaty voice that escaped from her mouth.
"I suppose this will be farewell, for now." She spoke, gaze fixed straight ahead, yet for some reason I could follow who it was directed towards.
"Yes, the work here is done, but my master has caught the tail of something foul elsewhere in the sector. Rest well whilst you can." A slow, droning voice replied from my side. Turning my gaze downwards once more I observed my teacher, MX. He stood proud, his hands clasped within the long robes of his machine cult, his hood surprisingly down, for once. Brown hair fell from his head, stopping at his tired eyes. His gaunt expression had been cleaning up over the time we spent together, and at this point he looked healthy, if forgettable.
"Try not to get yourself killed." Came a deep, heavily accented voice. It belonged to Castell, a rugged, sharp-browed man who spoke with a strange melody and rhythm to his words. A scar ran along his right cheek, following the shape of a short, well-groomed beard. He stood with a swagger, parting the breast of his fur lined overcoat to clutch at the eagle hanging from a golden chain. His silent prayer spoken, he held his lapel before turning his piercing green eyes in my direction, "the girl's going with you then?"
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"As thoughtful as that advice may be, it means little coming from the man with a price on his head. But yes, she will be enrolled with the Schola." MX replied, with an inflection that I couldn't determine to be humour or ridicule. "Do try to stay off the drink."
A series of beeps and hisses cut him off before he could speak further, and I glanced towards their source. A broad man clad in those same red robes, who, despite his imposing figure, stood a head below Aixa. Going by Kai, I was told this was a human man, but thinking of him as anything but a machine escaped me. From his back arose a heavy iron box, a low whirr and rumbling emmenating from it. Where a face should be was instead a metal plate, dotted with orange lenses, a black hose leading from his supposed mouth to merge with the metal plate on his chest. I as of yet had not heard him voluntarily make a noise, despite regularly sharing a breakfast of cereal with him. Yet despite the lack of words, MX turned to him and replied.
"Thank you, brother Kai. Your concern is meaningful."
Kai directed the mechanical eyestalk bolted to his shoulder in my direction and wiggled it, I could only assume this was his way of comforting me. Castell shared a shocked glance with the last, the only member of the group that my teacher could claim to be taller than. I had heard her name was Cordelia, she brushed her wavy raven hair behind one ear as she stood with purpose, the small features of her face tightly controlled to give nothing of her thoughts away. An impressive rosette was pinned to the breast of her immaculately starched and ironed formalwear, white and black trimmed with gold to give a militaristic air. She spoke with a thick, affluent drawl, her head held high.
"I know this isn't the last I'll see of you. I wish you well in your studies, and on the field." Spoken with authority, as if to deny that any other future would come to pass. With a brief nod, MX reached towards the sword at his hip, unfastening the plain black scabbard from his belt, and placing another hand to support the ornately decorated basket hilt, before presenting it to her.
"If you are so confident then I believe I will have no further use for this, do esnure the good commissar Bernn receives his sabre."
With regality, Cordelia accepted the sword, serenely fastening it to her own belt and wearing it with pride. "I will do so. Take care, Interrogator."
"Likewise, Interrogator." And with that final word, he turned to the ramp, not sparing another look at his former cadre. I followed, making note not to mention how the corner of his mouth turned up as we left.