On the ground in one of Lantea's settlements. I think this is definitely a change of pace for SGD, but I also think the story is going to go in somewhat darker direction going forward. In a lot of ways, SGD was shockingly optimistic, and I have mixed feelings about going against that. On one hand, this is different in theme and tone from the original story. On the other hand, SGD was never very good.
It'll be an interesting experiment, if nothing else.
SGD::Fallen
Harmony had only a bitter laugh for those that waxed rhetorical about how wonderful the galaxy was now.
Once, she was a princess, the favourite to become queen. That had changed when the Ori arrived. Her mother had sent her offworld for safety. Later she realized that her mother thought an Ori conquest was inevitable, and hoped that one day they would be defeated and Harmony would be able to return. Instead, a mere week later, the Ori massacred her people and glassed her homeworld.
She hardly looked like a princess now. Not in her shredded jeans, mud-caked boots, and tattered Navy hoodie. Not with her long, dirty, unkempt hair. Not as she darted through the crowds in what counted as a town square in the Illume settlement- a glorified refugee camp. Not when she bumped into a visiting dignitary, silently slipping his wallet out of his pocket.
"Fuck!" An AESF soldier in their distinctive powered armour was standing by a stall selling shoes, right between her current position and her escape. Somehow, the soldiers had a knack for picking out pickpockets- she wasn't sure if it was training or technology.
She had to risk it. Harmony put her head down and stalked past, minding her own business. The soldier reached out, grabbing her shoulder and stopping her in her tracks. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going home," she answered. The closest thing she had to a home was actually a messy alcove between a prefab shack and the outer palisade of the settlement, but it was a nice, generic answer.
"Not yet," the soldier said firmly. "What's your name?"
"Porcia." It was an alias she used occasionally, vague enough to make pinpointing an origin difficult.
The soldier sighed. "I know things aren't great for you right now, Porcia, but you can't take Mister Woolsey's wallet. You know that."
Silently, she withdrew the wallet from her pocket and slapped into the soldier's outstretched hand.
He opened it and checked that the proper IDs were still inside before pocketing it himself. He assured the teenager, "Things will get better, Porcia."
"You told me that last week. And the week before that. And last year," Harmony snapped at him, referring to the AESF soldiers and their empty platitudes.
"Believe it or not, you have a future here. It's safe from the Wraith, and there's a school-"
"School?" Harmony said bitterly. "You guys can't even provide enough rat-cards to go around."
"We're doing the best we can," the soldier assured her. He opened a pocket and pulled out two silver-wrapped bars, handing them to the girl. "Things will turn out alright, Porcia. Just wait and see."
"Sure." She turned and walked away, and this time the soldier made no effort to stop her.
Once she was sure it was safe, Harmony felt in her pocket again. Two hundred-credit chits she had slipped out of the wallet, plus the energy bars she'd sob-storied away from the soldier. She pulled out one of the energy bars and ripped it open.
Things would turn out alright. Just like they would for her people.