Hiigaran year 1.
One and a half years after the refounding of Hiigara…
What happened to those forgotten? Certainly, there was a new place in society for all the brave fighters, the determined corvette crews and the courageous capitol ship pilots. All those responsible for maintaining ships… But one.
The cloaked woman – barely a woman, really, hardly over her twenty-second
or third year of life, moved quietly through the marketplace.
"Hey Sala. How're you doing?"
The girl smiled at the aged vendor who was hawking her food and trinkets.
"I'm okay, Telia. Just kind of… Tired. You know?"
The old lady smiled softly. "I do indeed. Here. Take this and cheer
up." The old lady tossed her a juicy fruit, which she fumbled for, but
caught without letting it hit the ground. "Thanks."
The girl sighed softly, looking up at the pre-dawn sky. And felt a
tug, a longing. She didn't feel comfortable on the ground, anymore. She
didn't know why, but… She shook her head, and walked through the market,
eating her apple and putting the core into a waste bin. She looked around,
and shook her head, walking towards her home.
Hiigara was fairly empty these days. The avenging Hiigarans had, truth be told, wrought a few… unpleasentnesses on the previous occupants. The murders were fairly minimal, but it sickened the hearts of those who could feel compassion for innocent Imperial Taiidani citizens. Most had been kicked off the planet, and those who refused to leave were forced onto one micro-continent in the southern sea.
"Sala Soban… What, praytell, are you doing heading towards your apartment,
when it's not even dawn yet?"
The girl looked up from under her cloak, shaking her head. "Is it any
of your business, Taro Sjet?"
The young boy – younger than she, actually, looking around eighteen
or nineteen years, smiled. "Of course it is. We're friends, right?"
She sighed softly, shaking her head. "Yeah, I guess we are. I just
don't feel right… Okay?"
He shook his head. "No, it's not. What's not to feel good about?"
She looked into his eyes, and shook her head. "You were asleep… You
didn't see anything between going to sleep on Kharak, and waking up here."
He shot her a bemused grin. "Really? And you saw, what… The inside
of a cryo pod?"
Blink… Beat… Blink… Beat… Her eyes and heart raced, a flicker in her
eyes. She'd forgotten she was supposed to have been asleep too… She turned
quickly from her friend, dashing through the streets, and sliding through
an alley towards her apartment complex.
Dashing through the lobby, she keyed the elevator to her floor, and
didn't stop to allow herself the luxury of hyperventilating until she was
safe, locked into her bedroom.
Closing her eyes, she shivered slightly. "That was way too close… WAY
too close…"
Sliding the cloak off, she stretched, still shaky, and quickly poured
and drank a glass of water.
She chucked nervously to herself, "You're slipping, Karan…"
She closed her eyes, forcing her body and mind to calm down, then she
looked out the window to the stars.
"I can't stand it here… Something's… missing."
She shook her head, then yelped, dropping the thankfully shatterproof
glass on the floor, when the door announcer rang.
"H-h-hold on. I'm coming."
She quickly put the glass in the washer, then walked to the door, opening
it. "Oh… Taro?"
He drilled her eyes with a stare. "What was the deal, runnin' like
you'd seen a big bad Taiidan?"
She drilled her eyes back at his. "It's… None of your business… Please…
Just go, okay?"
His arm snaked through the doorway before she could shut the door.
He pushed it open, and drilled his eyes again at her. "What's wrong? Really…
You're off, you've been off the last few weeks…"
She looked at him, and shook her head. "N-no, really… I… Oh please…
Just leave?"
Taro shook his head. "I don't think so, Sala. You're my friend, right?
Friends don't let friends hang high and dry… What's wrong?"
She shook her head, then sighed, shaking it again, slower.
"I. I… I can't say. Please…"
Sala shook her head, and pushed him back. "No. Please… I can't. I'm
sorry…" She shut the door quickly, then coded it locked, and to not notify
her of the announcer being pressed…
………
"Damnit… What's Sala's problem… Is she afraid? Of what?"
Taro Sjet sighed, pacing his home. "And why does she seem so damn familiar,
in a way that I don't know?"
He shook his head, and considered going to play some games or music,
then collapsed on a luxurious sofa in his apartment's main room.
"It seems so weird… What did she mean, anyway…"
He shook his head. "What did she mean, she saw… What?"
He shook his head, again. "She seemed so changed…"
Sighing, he sat at his computer, shrugging. "Maybe she's ill or something…
Oh well…" He switched it on, yawning softly, and got back to reading the
historical accounts of the end of Kharak that he'd been reading last night…
………
She shook under her cloak, on the shuttle, thinking, "Maybe this isn't
such a good idea…"
But she had already committed, no way to back away from this trip now.
She was on a tourist ship that ran from Hiigara to various historical places.
She knew what she was doing… She hoped…
Then she saw it out the shuttle's ports, and it stole her breath away.
The Mothership.
She licked her lips, under her cloak's hood. A soft, bemused chuckle…
"I'm acting like a girl who hasn't seen her lover for a year…" She
smiled softly to herself. "But I have to…"
The shuttle landed without incident, inside the massive bays. She smiled
to herself… How many ships had she felt launched and docked there? It had
been almost like what she felt giving birth would've felt like, except
painless… She shook her head at her silly thoughts, as the debarking started.
The tour took them through the massive bay, through the area where
craft had been created and repaired.
She knew it by heart. Every last inch… And she knew her chance.
When they got to the Cryopod bays…
It was a relatively simple prospect to hide behind a pod as the Tour
proceeded onward, downward. She knew where they were going, and it was
nowhere near where she wanted to go…
She slid out of her cloak, and her clothes under it made her look like
any other worker that might have been on the ship. They were few now, but
they wouldn't spot her as anything but one of their own… She grinned softly
to herself. "In the truest way, I am one of them…"
She walked to the door, simply going part of the way, until she hit
the restricted sections. Her heart skipped, as she touched the pad, and
was admitted. "Easy as pie… My security clearance is the absolute highest
in the Fleet…"
She smiled softly to herself, feeling confidence and ease return to
her body. Something that hadn't happened in a long time…
She walked through the corridors with a briskness of purpose, a clarity
of intent that made the two workers she passed certain she was moving on
higher orders. In a way, she thought, she was…
Then she reached a room…
Coding open the massive, armored doors, that opened vertically, she
walked in, looking around the muted green room, dangling wires… Just as
she remembered it.
Walking over to the suspended ring in the center she had sat on, she
gently ran a bare, smooth hand over it's equally smooth metal surface.
She let words slip from her lips. "Fleet Command Online…"
Then a familiar voice from behind her. "I thought I'd find you here,
Karan…"
She felt her blood pressure spike, a startle in her body, as she whirled,
sighting the young man, cockily standing inside the door, hand on hip…
"TARO!"