Heart of the Forge

Chapter 1: Fanning Flames

Ryder clutched her head in agony, the ringing in her ears intensifying and sending fire shooting down every nerve – but most puzzling of all with seeing a double vision of Akksul waver unsteadily before her. She was on Havarl, near to an angaran settlement, but just far out enough for a covert meeting with an informant to go unnoticed; at least, that had been the her intention. Worse, the giant leaves and glowing canopy of Havarl's beautiful fauna was not enough to entirely filter out the drizzle of rain and at the moment every drop on her skin felt like acid.

"SAM… SAM?" she gasped, biting down hard on her lip to stop the moans.

White noise.

"What did you… do… to me?" she forced out, eyes swimming as she tried to focus on the angara standing around her. Their voices were strangely muted, as if she were listening to them underwater.

Path— SAM's voice came as if through a haze, but it cut off and was swallowed again by an ominous silence. Still, Ryder felt a burst of relief; SAM was still connected to her… but why couldn't he speak? Nothing could stop a quantum entanglement connection as far as she knew, unless there was some kind of RemTech that could do it. Thinking hurt, profoundly; but she was cognizant that it was also the only thing keeping her conscious.

One of the angara abruptly seized her arm and thrust it over the console before her and she was convinced that she was going to finally pass out, left to the mercies of the Roekaar – if they could be said to have any – but remarkably the console didn't vanish into the peaceful void of oblivion. Nothing else happened, either.

"Open it, human," a woman's voice said close to her ear. Slowly, articulately. It was still excruciating as the sounds vibrated through her enflamed mind.

"I… can't… without SAM," Ryder said through gritted teeth.

"Turn it off!" the woman commanded to someone behind her.

The pain suddenly ebbed considerably and sense slid back into place. Ryder blinked, shaking her head to clear her mind and with a shaky hand she wiped sweat mingled with rain out of her eyes as she blinked around. The Moshae! The thought slammed into her as she registered angaran face after face; she had been summoned to this place, alone, to receive sensitive information about a plot to assassinate Moshae Sjefa. At least, that explained Akksul's presence; but it did not explain anything else about the situation.

Why were the Roekaar holding Akksul, their former leader, captive as she was? There was no mistaking it, now that her vision wasn't doubled and her brain wasn't scrambled by the pain of losing SAM's connection. The man was alternatingly snarling and trying to reason with the Roekaar that held him, obviously just as confused as she was as to why his own people would tread him so. More importantly: what could possibly cut her off from SAM in the first place, yet still leave enough of the connection not to kill her? Ryder was sure that was the case.

Pathfinder, SAM's voice was blessedly clear and a painless presence in her mind once more. Communication has been reestablished. I have alerted the Tempest, however it is unlikely they will reach here in time. I believe the Roekaar want to use our abilities to activate Remnant technology, but not to kill you until they have achieved their goal. Please do not resist. I will attempt to break through the dampening effect to aid you, but it will take some time. Please do not attempt to use any of the Remnant technology while our interface is weakened.

Ryder trembled from head to toe, muscles still spasming from the experience, but now the pain was more like a distant echo of what it had been. Her eyes travelled around as she made use of the moment they gave her while SAM fully regained control and she surreptitiously evaluated her surroundings as best she could, feigning that the process took longer than it actually had. She didn't have to pretend much, though, she thought ruefully.

Her appraisal told her as much as she had expected from the moment it became clear that the message she had received all those hours ago from an unnamed informant had been a trap laid by the Roekaar. There were dozens of them, far too many to fight, especially with their ability to shut SAM down. It surprised her a little that they would come in such numbers this close to the settlement, where anyone could come along and spot them and force them to kill their own; it was one of the reasons why Ryder had agreed to come alone in the first place. She wouldn't underestimate them like that again.

Or rather, perhaps she should reevaluate them, now that this woman, her captor, was in control of what remained of the organization; she couldn't have had many more fighters than what she saw here, but it was enough and they clearly followed her with unquestioning zeal. Studying the faces of the guards restraining Akksul, she guessed that whatever influence Akksul had with them in the past, it had melted considerably in the face of their confrontation at the Forge, although their affection and belief in the man strangely seemed to be intact; it puzzled Ryder, but she put the question aside. There were far more pressing matters to attend to, such as escape and, of course, gaining as much information as she could.

"The Moshae," Ryder said aloud; she addressed SAM, but the look she gave her captor made it seem as though she was asking her. After all, it would be something Ryder would ask in that situation; the angaran scientist was the lure they used to get her here and from what she had heard, nothing convinced her that the Moshae wasn't in real danger. I should have let the others come with me, she thought, but it was not an angry thought. She had had good reason to come alone and just because it had turned out badly didn't mean her logic hadn't been sound.

"Is none of your concern any longer," the woman finished her sentence with a sneer.

I have already contacted the Resistance to increase security around Moshae Sjefa, SAM intoned. That was good to hear; she was still in grave danger of course, but at least there was a much higher chance that she could reach the Moshae in time.

Akksul glared at the woman, struggling futilely. "Zivrel, what have you done?" he demanded.

"Nothing yet," Zivrel answered, turning to study him almost sadly.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, almost pleading.

Ryder stared at him. Was this the same man who had not so very long ago arrogantly demanded that she martyr him? Perhaps it was simply that she did not know the man beneath the cloud of hatred that had oozed from him constantly. Its quality had changed and she saw more pain in his eyes than before, though she certainly recognized that almost petulant glare of outrage he leveled at his former follower. He wasn't entirely a changed man.

"Because you were once a great leader," Zivrel said, lips twisting, though Ryder couldn't tell if it was from scorn or regret. "It is my intention to make you one again."

"By killing the Moshae?" Akksul demanded, snarling. "What does that accomplish?"

"By taking away the things that make you weak," Zivrel snapped.

"I am not weak," Akksul retorted, but his anger was indication enough that Zivrel had hit her mark. "The Moshae of all people doesn't make me weak!"

"It is not just the Moshae, Akksul," Zivrel shook her head. "We followed your every command, but you have sent us to protect individuals important to you despite all it has cost us, more than once you have shown too much concern when you should be more ruthless. Thaldyr was one such, the Moshae another. We were at our best when you have been willing to step over foolish boundaries those who call themselves our leaders would have us follow, yet you have held back… if I can show you how little these people and these ideas mean, you will finally understand. You will finally, truly become one of us as you were meant to be."

"Zivrel, if you resented watching over her for me, you should have shared it before now," Akksul said more calmly and Ryder saw glimmers of the old Akksul she was more familiar with as he found his footing in the conversation. Not charming exactly, but compelling, trying to draw the woman in; though, Ryder suspected that Zivrel had known the former Roekaar leader too long to be fooled by that.

A muscle twitched in Zivrel's jaw. "I should have been at your side at the Forge, I would have killed Jaal if you didn't have the stomach for it!" Ryder blinked. Perhaps she underestimated how well Akksul knew his own people in return, provoking a strong response like that.

"I was wrong to try that," Akksul said solemnly. His eyes slid to Ryder then for some reason and his expression hardened.

Was he angry that she hadn't shot him? Well, Ryder supposed it made sense; if she had killed him, he wouldn't be in this uncomfortable situation now of having his own followers apparently turn against him for not being harsh enough when, she was beginning to suspect, he had no desire to fight his own the way he had been forced to that time. It was his own fault, thinking he could fight his private war without killing angara in the process, but Ryder still felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for the man.

Akksul was irritating and deeply misguided, mired in hatred and he had certainly done unforgiveable things, yet he also realized and acknowledged that he went too far and that made her want to help him. It was an uncomfortable thought, but she supposed the Moshae had had a deep impact on her as well; Sjefa's words about her former apprentice certainly haunted Ryder now as she studied him.

Zivrel shook her head again. "No, Akksul, you did not go far enough. Your plan was genius and yet it failed because you were weak." Abruptly she grabbed Ryder's hand again, shoving it over the console. "You've had enough time. Do it," her eyes fixed on Ryder coldly.

Establishing the connection, SAM's voice said in her head and the panel came alive with shimmering light, dancing to the motions of her fingers.

Immediately a rumble spoke of massive doors opening and the soil began to tumble where a chasm yawned open at their feet. It was similar to the vaults she had visited, yet there was something different about it that suggested it was a different kind of Remnant structure. Despite herself, Ryder peered down, trying to get a look beyond the expected glowing pillars to see what was down there, though it seemed that like the vaults, it held its secrets too deeply underground to glimpse anything meaningful from ground level.

"Take him," Zivrel commanded and the Roekaar holding Akksul dragged him to the lip of the chasm. "We will come back for you, I promise," she smiled reassuringly, stepping up to him.

"Zivrel, please, not the Moshae," Akksul tried again, his expression that of a man imploring a friend, perhaps someone even closer.

"Don't let your curiosity get ahead of you, Akksul. There are dangers down there." The two guards stepped away and without another word, Zivrel shoved him over the edge, stepping back to avoid his snatching fingers trying to grab hold of her.

Ryder frowned. Perhaps her chance would come soon, while they were distracted; if she could figure out which one of them was disabling SAM, she could attack that one first, taking away their greatest advantage…

Abruptly Ryder's guards seized her in similar fashion to Akksul and dragged her to the same place where Akksul had gone over and where Zivrel still waited. She struggled, dragging her feet and trying to get out of their grip, but her body was still in shock from her brief severance from SAM and she might as well have been a kitten batting at a mastiff. Perhaps fighting her way out had never really been an option to begin with.

"What are you doing?" Ryder demanded, not caring if she sounded panicked. She was panicked. "You still need me! How are you going to save him if…"

"Silence, human!" Zivrel barked at her coldly. "We can't have you doing damage up here or escaping. You will keep him safe and you will know when to let him out. The field will be removed and you will make your AI do what you just did."

Before Ryder could react or respond, Zivrel aimed a kick at her midriff, sending her flying backwards into air as it seemed. She flailed, twisting and gasping, but the familiar ripple across her skin told her that she was in a gravity well at least. She should have realized that, they clearly didn't wish harm to Akksul and he had gone over first; but her instincts couldn't help but react and send adrenaline pumping through her anyway. Though, it was definitely still true that landing on her back would be undignified and, considering Akksul, dangerous.

Pain. SAM was gone again, like an aching emptiness in a corner of her mind that sent shuddering flames through her body and she screamed despite herself. The fall was agonizingly slow, but the landing was even worse; the moment her body made contact with the cool floor she convulsed, not able to breathe. When her eyes opened, though, she forced every ounce of strength into herself to roll aside as huge containers came hurtling down after her.

"Damn it," Ryder coughed, then groaned, aching from head to toe and heart racing from exhilaration. At least it seemed that she had begun to acclimatize to SAM's absence; this time she didn't feel quite so weak and her mind wasn't nearly as foggy as before. Well, the human brain is amazingly adaptable, she thought, getting to hands and knees that trembled and wanted to buckle. She wished it were a little more adaptable; at least if the pain would stop, she would take it.

"You?" Akksul exclaimed, emerging from the shadows, eyes flicking across the containers and up the gravity well. Clearly he had been studying the walls, trying to see if he could climb out. Snarling, he reached down and grabbed her, trying to drag her to the gravity well's controls. "Send us back up!"

Ryder groaned in pain, hands futilely pushing at his, but her glare seemed to catch his attention better anyway. "Get your hands off me, Akksul! They severed my connection as soon as they threw me over!"

"You're useless," Akksul spat, shoving her back to the ground, closing the distance and trying to make the well work by himself.

Ryder just lay there for a moment, breath short, waiting for the spots to go away from her eyes. "Your girlfriend has some serious issues," she muttered at him. "How did you ever manage to lead that group if you don't even agree on the most basic things?" She was a little surprised the excruciating agony washing through her didn't show in her voice, but she was grateful. She didn't relish the idea of appearing weak before this man, it was bad enough that he could manhandle her like a ragdoll. If I don't want to appear weak, lying in a heap is not helping, she thought, already hating the concept of dragging herself upright; but, she gritted her teeth and rolled over.

Akksul grimaced. "She's not my—" his eyes sharped and stabbed at her. "You're trying to get to me! It won't work, human."

Ryder sighed, slowly clambering to her feet; she wavered unsteadily and didn't dare take a step, but as the seconds passed she felt her body subtly begin to adjust. The pain didn't subside, but she was certain now that SAM wasn't wholly gone and she would be alright, with a little time. Eyeing Akksul, she wondered whether she would get that time; if he didn't kill her, there were plenty of dangers in any Remnant structure just waiting to snare them. At least it looked as though Zivrel really did intend to keep them alive; the containers looked to be full of food and basic supplies needed to survive for a time.

"What possible, logical reason can you name why I would want to 'get to you'? Unless you think that Zivrel or whatever her name is secretly plotted this out with me?" Ryder snorted derisively, giving the man a flat look. "Besides, your Roekaar are finished. Whatever Zivrel says, those men were hers, not yours, so I'm not the one you should be angry at here."

"Stop talking!" Akksul said forcefully, but before either of them could get another word out, the gravity well activated once more and weapons rained from the sky.

Their eyes met and Ryder saw in his gaze the same conviction, the same fury she had at the Forge, as well as the deep mistrust. Both of them moved simultaneously and snatched the weapons out of the air, aiming for one another the second their fingers touched each trigger and they gained control.

"Well," Ryder said, trying to force her breath to stay steady, but she couldn't stop the hand she was aiming with from trembling. "This is an interesting situation."

"You won't catch me off guard, human," Akksul said coldly, smiling in satisfaction.

"You need me, Akksul," Ryder frowned. "I'm the only one who can get us out of here and save the Moshae from your old friends. I, on the other hand, don't need you, so I would be careful where you aim that thing."

Akksul's smile faded into a grimace, but his narrowed eyes still held conviction. "You can barely hold your weapon steady, human. I would say you need me more, if you want to live."

Ryder blinked, eyes flicking to her gun, which was most definitely shaking. "Very well, we need each other. How about we stop this and agree not to kill each other until we escape?"

A long moment of silence stretched between them.

"If I must," Akksul said finally, but he did not lower his weapon.

Ryder sighed. "Can we call a truce? I will cooperate with you if you do the same for me." Akksul still didn't lower his weapon and Ryder's patience snapped. "'To hate blindly is as dangerous to trust blindly,' remember?" she quoted, glaring at him. "This is one of those moments, Akksul! Put it aside and damn you, see that I am not your enemy here!" Unable to hold her arm out any longer, she let her arm drop, holstering her weapon.

Akksul glanced away, lips twisting bitterly, but at long last he, too, put his weapon away. "A truce," he nodded.

It was a start.