Do you ever wonder...
How everything really began?
Not just the visible beginning...
But the True Origin?
Of who was there...
And what happened to them?
Of where it happened...
And when?
Of why it happened...
And how?
Maybe the past is not so far different from the future after all...
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Origin
- Let those Heartfelt days begin
- And let it be so
-
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The Prologue: What (probably) started it all.
-
The Origin. Have you ever wondered about it? Have you ever seen it? Or are you simply content to its other image called a beginning? Trust me; a beginning is simply that, a beginning. But The Origin is the stuff that makes a beginning possible- a beginning of a beginning. And what makes it very interesting is that The Origin is the source of every happening- what happens, who appears, when it occurs- all of it has been determined by it- even the end has been determined long before by it.
I never expected myself to be a part of a very profound and far-reaching story- much less be part of its origins- even my beginning has its own origins, but I will not talk about that, but rather... Her.
Her.
Nanoha Takamachi.
I never thought a person like her has a past that transcends a generation and has drawn an intricate web of relationships that even the Divine Monitors would kill to oversee. Who would have thought that everything that we've done resulted in her being who she was and what she was capable of. It was simply a rare opportunity; a minute change would have caused a great effect to the continuity- altering everything. But enough of commenting on how "perfectly planned" her destiny was and on to the story.
As cliché as it sounds, it all happened a long time ago- at least three and a half decades from the current time- a starkly different time. It was the 40th year of the new century, or officially named MCY 0040- MCY standing for the Midchilda Year. It was a time of relentless transitions here and there, rules, regulations, methods and procedures being quickly removed as they were being put up. It was a starkly different Bureau back then, filled with the chaos, confusion, corruption and craziness one would expect from such an organization in transition. But long before I was exposed to these, I was just a mere civilian child with high hopes to learn magic.
-
MCY 040. Time Space Administration Bureau Military Academy- Base Intro, 1200 gradians (GRD- a sort of Mile equivalent in Ordered Space) Northeast of the Planetary Capital Cranagan.
A bus departs from the Academy's Bus Station, leaving its passengers, a collection of young people and a few adults in what seemed to be dark blue uniforms. The people in uniform usher the group into the main building of the Academy, where the Information Office and its public desk (known as Front Desk) are located. One by one, the people were quickly searched; records checked and were given keycards to their rooms in one of the 4 Dormitory Buildings.
We now proceed to Dormitory A, at the second floor, at the bulletin board, where several female cadets were looking over for the locations of their assigned rooms. And now, we focus to one of them, a girl of about 10 years of age, brown wavy shoulder length hair, crystal green eyes, fair skin, wearing a pair of pants and a shirt and a look of worry on her face.
"Now, where is room 2-14?" the person being focused on asked herself, as people come and go.
"Here it is!" another voice came in beside her, making her look at its owner, a girl with a shoulder length ponytail of green hair, clear blue eyes, wearing a blouse and skirt like she was taking a walk in the park and a look of excitement on her face. "Room 2-14!"
"Eh? Where?" the first girl quickly asked. "Room 2-14?"
"Here..." the green haired one replied, pointing to her air panel's display- or rather, moving the said panel into the other person's field of view- showing the map of the current floor and where Room 2-14 was. "So you're in 2-14 too?"
"Yes." was the quick reply. "I really did not know how these panels work so I'm a bit confused..."
"You're from the farlands then... Hi, I'm Lindy Marks- I'm from the Capital." the green haired one introduced herself.
"Kyla... Kyla Kiramena- from Jurai."
I forgot to introduce her. That was infact, me at that time, a sweet child of 10 and third daughter in a priestly family. My Twin Older Sisters were training to be priestesses for the Royal Family back home and as for me; tradition has spared me the trouble of becoming one- hence my eventual appearance to you. Such sweet memory that one was- but it was not yet the beginning.
"Nice to meet you then Kyla, call me Lindy since we're going to be roomies."
"Okay then Lindy, but look- seems like our room is for three people." Kyla replied and commented at what she saw on the room information section.
"Yeah, the biggest room on this building is ours. But who is this third person- Momoko Kagurazaka... sounds like a folk from where you're from."
Outside, we see a car pull away from the academy main building, leaving another girl with shoulder length straight golden brown hair, with a somewhat nervous face with violet eyes, and wearing a very strange outfit that seemed to be wrapped around her and tied with a wide belt with a big bow at the back. We zoom a bit to a part of her outfit, and on her neck, was a simple cord necklace with a red orb as its jewel. The then turned around and entered the academy main building.
A few minutes later, we now see Kyla and Lindy emerge from their room and chatting happily.
"Ohhh... so that's why you're here- lucky you." Lindy commented. "Being a priestess sounds hard..."
"Hard is an understatement Lindy, believe me." Kyla commented on that comment.
Then at that point in time, that is where everything started for me. My new friend Lindy and I were suddenly curious as to who was still looking at the 2F room assignments, especially when all of us are settling in for now and have to report to whatever place the superiors dictated upon at any moment. When I first saw her, an evocation of strange was filling my mind- those clothes were not unlike any I've seen before- even Lindy was somehow wondering at that. Later on in my life though I would identify those clothes as the Terran Japanese Kimono- but for now, we were wondering as who the late person was and also wondering if our missing roommate Kagurazaka will even appear.
"Uhm, excuse me?" Lindy broke the silence. "Can we help you?"
It was just silence that replied to them.
"Hello... anyone there?"
The late newcomer simply placed a pointer finger on the board and another pointer on her lips- as if lost in concentration.
"Hello? Midchilda calling whoever you are..." Lindy continued to try and grab the attention of the newcomer, now waving her hand before her field of vision.
The attempt still unfazed the newcomer though. It was Kyla's turn to grab attention.
"Uhm, can we help you with something?"
At that time, the newcomer now reacted with a jolt surprise, finally turning around to face them- the lip-pressed pointer still pressed. But as eyes meet, sweatdrops began to form as the awkwardness of first meeting began to permeate the scene. But then, what even made it even funnier was that the most incomprehensible words they would ever hear for a long time.
"!$#!$!#$!#%^^#$^#$#" The newcomer began to speak. (Well in truth, this is Japanese being spoken)
Those huge imagined sweatdrops became real as the silence after the initial line was said.
"^%$%$%$##$%"
"Uhm..."
"$#$$%$$&^&$^"
"Uhm..." Kyla then took the initiative to ask. "We can't understand you..."
"Ah!" the newcomer suddenly squeaked and again began to again blabber. "I'msorrythatIcouldnotunderstandwhatyouweresayingearlierbecauseIjustgotintothisworldaswell."
"Huh?"
"Arere? WhyamIspeakingsofast? FiguresthatI'mstrangehere... hahahahahahahhaha."
"Okay." Lindy grabbed the newcomer by the shoulders and shook her a bit as to get her attention. "Calm down... and speak slowly."
"Lindy, you're scaring her..."
"No... It's... just... I... just... came... here... and... I'm... new... here..." The newcomer quickly replied, now in slow yet clear words. "I was... looking for... my room... assignment..."
"Room assignment huh?" Kyla then asked. "Well, you can tell us your name then?"
"Okay..." the stranger then replied. "My name is Momo..."
As cliché as it sounds, the PA system began to buzz, signaling an important announcement.
"Attention all Newcomer Cadets, please proceed to the South Field in Type A uniform in under 15 minutes or less! All those late will be given demerits and given disciplinary action."
"It's starting." Lindy commented.
"I repeat. Attention all Newcomer Cadets, please proceed to the South Field in Type A uniform in under 15 minutes or less! All those late will be given demerits and given disciplinary action."
"Come on Kyla, we have to hurry..."
"But Lindy how about her?" Kyla asked as she was being pulled.
"We have no choice." Lindy replied, also pulling on the hand of the newcomer stranger. "You can borrow our room for the moment."
The three of us simply rushed ourselves to dress in the prescribed uniform and be at the ordered location- managing to arrive with just a few minutes to simply fix ourselves and be ready. The Entrance Ceremony was fairly straightforward and simple- somewhat based from a school's- introducing the Commandant Bloc of the Academy- namely the Commandant, his assistant the Dean, some important people and as always, rules, methods and procedures.
A few long minutes later, we find the trio near the front desk, waiting for the crowd to thin a bit before looking at yet another announcement board, listing the names of cadets in each "Study Block" (Well that is what they called the groups), their respective Base Instructor and their respective subject and the names of other "Unbased" Instructors and their subjects.
"Thanks for letting me use your room to change in." the stranger whose introduction was not completed thanked the two. "Though it seems like your room is for three and..."
"No need to apologize." Lindy replied. "Well I guess that person will not come then- figures."
"Lindy, not talk about other people like that." Kyla then commented.
Suddenly, the stranger sneezed.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, it happens."
"Okay, let's see where we belong." Lindy then moved towards the board. "Hmmm... Lindy Marks."
The board suddenly opened a new screen displaying her name grouped in a Study Block- Study Block B. She also spots two familiar names in the Block's list- Kyla's and the still missing Momoko Kagurazaka.
"Hey Kyla, you're in Block B too, as well as her..."
"Oh really? Can I see? Can I see?" Kyla motioned over to the board, followed by the stranger.
"Can I check where I am too?"
"Sure." Lindy replied back and stepped to the side. "Have my space."
"You're right Lindy, my name and Kagurazaka's names are also here." Kyla commented on Lindy's observations- making the stranger notice.
"Kagurazaka? Did you just say Kagurazaka?"
The stranger somewhat pushed Kyla a bit and began to scroll down using her finger, eventually stopping and pointing to the name of Momoko Kagurazaka. A smile of relief spread across the stranger's face as she took what seemed to be some writing utensils from a pocket, while the combined expression of relief and surprise were covering the faces of the other two.
"Finally, I thought I would never find anything written in this language..."
It was kind of surreal for me, someone who seemingly knows nothing about this world and probably has no knowledge of what we know of is in this institution before me, taking and reading notes as diligently as a person on his or her first day of school- it was kind of relaxing to see that we are all like her in some way. It was also relieved of our worries that the stranger that we were talking to was in fact our missing room mate Momoko Kagurazaka.
On the way back to the Dorm.
"So you're Momoko Kagurazaka."
"Yes... and I'm sorry." Momoko tried to protect herself from Lindy's prying eyes. "I tried to make it to the bus on time but I missed, so I had to ask for help..."
"So that's why you're late." Kyla commented. "You asked for help."
"Well we just spent a month here so I'm still learning a bit."
"That's okay Momo; everyone gets a bit of shock when arriving at the capital." Lindy then replied. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"Momo? (Trans: "Momo-tte?")" Momoko thought to herself and then replied. "Maybe I can... I just got here you know."
"'Got here'? From where are you anyway?"
"Earth."
"Earth? Never heard of that planet. Have you Kyla?"
"No, but it sounds something the Royals back home would gossip about- seriously." Kyla replied but the other two were laughing. "Hey, I'm serious here!"
"Well it's kind of funny if you ask me." Lindy managed to reply while still chuckling.
"Well I can't help it... even if it's my homeworld." Momoko also replied in the same manner, though her chuckling was discreet.
"You guys..."
And as we proceeded to live our first day in the academy in relative peace, at that very moment; something was happening, something that will later on decide the course of our lives. Something on the reaches of nothing that we have imagined before.
-
Same Time. Green Zone G-21, Sector 582, 40 GM (A GM is an Ordered Space standard unit of interstellar measure equivalent to roughly 1 million Kilometers, sometimes pronounced as "Gems".) from the nearest planet, the icy, yet inhabited world of Varauta Dei.
A lone object was in that particular space at the moment, and it was an object that one commonly versed in the modern magical world could not see except probably in a museum. It was, to the common knowledge of us, called a "Fighter"- to the Bureau they were also called "Angels", as they were known to change their shape to an aerodynamic object to a "winged man" or "angel" at a moment's notice as many of the common people say.
This particular fighter, with the body number 501 and piloted by a certain "Captain Holly", was on a routine surveillance flight, as shown on the fighter's payload of various sensing equipment, as well as the small rotating disk above it as well as the long fin sticking from the bottom, further identifying the model as a Seeker Model.
"Control, 501, Control to 501..." The communications began streaming in. "Everything normal out there Captain?"
"Normal as a day from Ras (June) to Mez (October)..." The pilot responded to the call- a female pilot to be exact. "Radar no contacts, blank on Madar, nothing on Fold-Wave, even Trans-Dimensional shows no signs. The only things I can hear are from the broadcasts- those are always boring, and also from the Listening Taps, mostly radio programs from known and unknown stations- I got one "DWAC" and "XMRT"... how weird does that get?"
"Maybe some outland radio station code or something if I last remember It." the person at the other end responded, a superior to this pilot at least. "It's supposed to be a common occurrence in the Outer Green Zones."
"At least I can be entertained while flying this shift."
"Alright already... come home 501. You're working overtime again."
"Roger that Control, just one more frequency before I head back. I listened to this one for a bit but found nothing so I'll again check this one."z
"Okay, but don't stay too long, you might actually end up empty this time."
Both pilot and control chuckled at that remark, since it was a rarity to actually have an empty fuel tank. With two new compact magical reaction engines, state-of-the art-hardware, software, other bits that are secret and "high-tech" at the time and the best people to command it, the Vinicular Flightsystems R-171 was a state-of-the-line fighter, built to cope with a somewhat waning requirement, the protection of local air, vacuum, fold and dimensional space in a front line role.
There are two kinds of people in the Bureau at that time. The "Soldier" and the "Enforcer". The Soldier was the warrior of old, an adept user of what we now called the "Old Armaments", or "Old Arms" as they were commonly called. They were the weapons that were prevalent during the formation of the Bureau some 190 years ago. They were cheap, and time and time proven reliable and useful. Then the second kind, the Enforcer, was the new kind of fighter that the Bureau wants to have, a practitioner of the so-called "magical arts", ways of harnessing the human capability to materialize, realize and control energy into ways that the person wills to- a very powerful ability if I should say so.
But alas, though unknown to us at that time, times were already changing by that time, and the Soldier began to fell out of favor due to the new thinking of the Bureau at that time, and as the weapons they wield began to fall out of favor not just in the military, but also in the civilians that they came from- not just in terms of practicality but also in terms of statistics- more magically gifted people were being born, more than enough. But there were people that tried to tie both ends into a unified idea, but so far, they fail at each attempt.
Well, Captain Holly began to re-tune her Listening Tap program to the band that she has skipped over previously, hoping that nothing was there as usual- like so many patrols that she has done in the sector. But as soon as the desired frequency was keyed in, a strange hum began to emanate from the speakers in her helmet. It was a sort of electronic hum, really incomprehensible except for some parts, where in those it was like, in the words of another person, like a "slowly varying constant".
"What in the..." Captain Holly uttered over the comms.
"501, what's the matter?" Control began to ask.
"Something in this channel isn't friendly!"
And so the hum continued and it began to emanate at the other end as well. And after a few moments of humming...
[Missile Alert]
"What the fu-"
Holly quickly increased the thrust on her fighter's engines and began to speed away from the...
"Missiles?!!"
"Captain Holly, What do you mean by missiles? Please respond please-" Control tried to get an answer but was suddenly cut off.
Left without someone to talk to and an unknown quantity of missiles on her tail, our pilot had no choice but to swear and evade like hell.
-
Same Time. Green Zone G-21, Sector 580, 10 GM from Varauta Dei.
The Isorion-Class Cruiser, at this location, called the Ra'sulia was in deep trouble, its main communications array was blown clear off by an unknown attacker and the space where it was beginning to fill with unknown and hostile objects. In the CIC or "Control Room", it was almost total panic, if it were not for the ship's master and commander, Commander John Rue.
"Please Respond, 501... Please respond..." one of the communications officers on duty, the one that was actually talking to Captain Holly tried and tried to no avail.
"No good huh?" Commander Rue spoke. "Try once more while you and the others begin procedures... she can fend for herself out there."
"CIC, Conn we're dead ahead to some unknowns!" Someone from the bridge called in.
"Sensors, their range and what types?"
"We have 3 unknowns, possibly cruiser types dead ahead... distance is .752. We also have three more behind us, same possible type and range, including the one that shot our array off." The sensor Officer on Duty responded to the Commander's query. "And they have released what seemed to be fighter type objects."
"Great... All personnel, man Battle Stations." Rue can only utter as he walked towards the bridge.
"All personnel, man Battle Stations." The ship's 1MC rang out. "All personnel are to be in their stations and stand by to repel boarders."
Commander John then entered the bridge of the Ra'sulia, an impressive sight since the Isorion-class was the class of its day, a dream of every aspiring commander to command one, well on their road to command the larger ships and especially the famed battleships of the fleet. He sat on his rather comfy command seat and began to assess the situation.
"Status?"
"Enemy ships are closing fast, and from their firing patterns they seem either dumb at aiming or they are intentionally doing that." one of the bridge crew responded. "Shields are holding."
At that moment, a beam barely streaks by the bridge, the luminosity it had while passing the window and the shield it impacted slightly blinded the bridge crew.
"Shields my foot!" Rue almost swore at that.
"Inbound shortwave calls from Isophor Station... they are also being attacked."
"Damn... this is not my day!"
"Sir I recommend that we turn on the Magic Shields."
"Turn on?" The commander suddenly asked, amidst this rather bad situation. "Aren't they supposed to be always turned on?"
"Well it's off Sir."
"Well, who turned it off?"
"Well you ordered us to turn it off."
"Countermeasures, Make a note to keep that magic shield ON ALWAYS!" The Commander now almost shouted as another beam whizzed by the bridge. "RAISE THEM UP NOW!
"Commander, fighters are now engaging the enemy units."
"At least something is working right." He could only mumble as he began to order his ship to fire in retaliation.
Outside of the cruiser was where the real battle was happening. More R-171s in various models- also included were a few of the Seeker Models, the same model Captain Holly was piloting, were in the thick of it. They were battling what seemed to be enormous winged humanoid objects, their red energy trails streaking across the black void. They seem to be on par with the Bureau fighters, avoiding each and every attack intent with almost the same difficult turns the fighters can come up when they were avoiding the attack intents.
"Damn I got one on my tail!" One pilot called out as he was being chased.
The enemy fighter was closing on his unit, firing what seemed to be small-scale cannons from its "head", trying to shoot its prey down. The fighter was doing its best to turn around and around and roll over and over to simply avoid the attack- and he was doing a rather nice job. But it was starting to wear him down and his attacker was somewhat, by his deduction, not keen of giving up- in short, he was being tailed by a persistent bugger.
"Let's see how you can match an Angel in this!!!"
With a few deft finger movements on the throttle, a sudden change begins to occur in the fighter, a literal transformation from a steel bird to what it was popularly known, an "Angel". The twin engine nacelles that were usually attached to the fuselage began to detach and drop down; forming what seemed to be legs, with the thrust vectoring outlets forming the feet. From the fuselage, arms also drop down from above and extend, on the right hand of the machine was a device that looked like a rifle, though previously it had not been there, probably hidden someplace. The craft now looked like a plane with arms and legs, and it was not the end of it.
With more movements on the stick, pedals and throttle, the now hybrid fighter began to sharply pull up, its legs swinging up to propel the craft backwards. The enemy fighter tried to do the same move but instead of the sharp move, it did a rather large arc in trying to double-back, probably due to the mass it had- though by the way it moved earlier, it was contradicting this assumption.
"Now eat this!"
Parts of the fighter's fuselage began to open up, particularly near the wing roots, wings, arms and legs exposing what seemed to be lenses, about 40 in total. They begin to glow with a bluish light and as the fighter sped backwards, the pilot's systems locked on and he began to unleash a rain of beams, just as the enemy unleashed its own rain of missiles. Seconds later, beams meet missiles in a flurry or explosions, with the remaining projectiles still headed for their intended targets. The beams arrived at their intended target first, since it was closing the fleeting Bureau fighter, with the enemy diving and rolling over and over to try and confuse the beams off. The missiles on the other hand arrived a few seconds later, but our Bureau pilot already knew what to do with them.
Well in the meantime we again refocus to the Cruiser Ra'sulia, which had been in a running gun battle to get back to Isophor Station, its home port in middle orbit around Varauta Dei. As per her Commander's orders, the Magic Shield was now up, a rather impressive sight as the bands of incantations wrapped around the ship, shining in their protective glory. As shots bounced and grazed harmlessly off the shield, the cruiser was returning fire from her primary and secondary batteries and defending herself by means of her defense points- which was very hard considering that it was a battle between the Ra'sulia and 6 other enemy cruiser type vessels, that the cruiser itself was making a beeline for it's homeport, in which it was the only ship it has for the moment- and said station only had limited defenses, and also the enemy cruisers have also carried their own fighters with them- a total of about 5 squadrons worth were attacking the cruiser at that time, not including the ones that the Ra'sulia's own squadrons have intercepted.
But it they were not just the only things in the area at that time. Making their way towards the Ra'sulia and closing in on it were about six assault pods, based on their general design, launched earlier by the enemy as they appeared on the besieged cruiser's sensors. They were, like their fighters and cruisers were colored black, possibly made of the same material- but they were small and were virtually undetectable. And we get a sneak peek of what was inside one of them, armed men in what seemed to be powered armor and toting what seemed to be firearms of various kinds and the looks on their faces were of anticipation.
Back to the Bridge of the Ra'sulia, where Commander John Rue was assessing the situation. To him something was wrong in all of this. He was definitely outnumbered and outgunned, the only thing protecting the ship was the relatively new Magical Shield that was included with the Isorion Class and was being fitted in many of the old ships. The attacking cruisers and the fighters that were swarming around were either dumb or...
"Their plan..." John muttered. "Something's up."
And like a cliché, the ship shook a bit.
"Crap." The commander could only utter as the bridge crew began to report.
"Something has hit our hull... Three, Four... make it six objects."
Commander John quickly moved to press the 1MC button, but it was like slow motion while the other bridge crew members reported in what was happening. But to him, he can only hear selected lines of the usual chaos of battle- these particular lines.
"Hull breach detected at Deck B Section 5 and Deck C Sections 3 and 6."
"We have Breaches in Deck D Sections 2, 6 and 10."
Meanwhile at Deck D Section 10, several personnel immediately hid in the halls when the breach occurred, the cause, a black cylinder punching in thru the side wall. After the escaping air was sealed off with what seemed to be sealing agent, the personnel began to take out what they were armed with, from pistols to rifles and to the newly arrived Enforcers that were there, their staves.
At this time, Commander Rue finally managed to press the 1MC Button, but for the people at the aforementioned sections, it was already too late.
"Attention all personnel, we have Intruders in the ship! We have been boarded! All non-vital personnel please assist in boarder expulsion immediately! All enforcers please proceed to Deck A Section 2 at once!" The 1MC continued to blare as the men from the assault pods began slowly and surely take out any resistance, further infuriating the already angry Commander.
We quickly turn to part of Deck C where several personnel among them lay stunned after the intruders fired what seemed to be a shock bomb at them. One of them, an Enforcer had just managed to contact the bridge when it happened. He lay on the floor, barely able to move- a miracle as he was directly facing the blast, while his other non-enforcer comrades were stunned cold.
"What's going on there?!" Commander Rue's voice flooded in the terminal speakers behind the downed enforcer. "Anyone out there, report!"
Commander Rue suddenly stopped as he heard footsteps from his end. And indeed they were, as our downed Enforcer was now seeing the intruders close up, and a couple of them were pointing at him. He can even hear them as well as they picked up the unconscious and stunned bodies of his shipmates. The same goes for the Commander and his Bridge Crew, as the camera of the terminal was also switched on.
"So there's one of them in this bunch..." one of the intruders spoke, pointing to him, a male, with a hint of superiority- probably the leader in this group. "Kavelia..."
"I'll Deal with it." Another person in the group responded, a female this time, probably a middle subordinate as she did not use any honorifics like "Sir".
Our enforcer began to realize the true gravity of his situation, as the female walked towards him and drawing out a pistol from her hip holster. The glint of the weapon hammered the fact home that he was about to be shot, possibly to death. With his heart racing and adrenaline flooding his systems, he tried to remove the effects of his stunning by sheer willpower, barely managing to raise a hand. The Bridge Crew could only watch as the woman aimed her pistol at our enforcer and pulled the trigger, unloading a single shot of kinetically driven metal towards the almost defenseless enforcer. But then, the enforcer's hand was still up, evoking a small sigh of relief to the Bridge Crew. But it was a wholly different matter for our enforcer, because if he can see the eyes of his assassin, he could tell that those eyes were grinning as if she had expected his little shielding tactic. His hand then lost all of its strength and he had lost all of his willpower and hormone-induced calm, with the deep, intense and real fear of the inevitable quickly flooding in.
"Magic..." She then spoke as she picked the enforcer by the head. "Is such a powerful thing, isn't it?"
She then aimed the pistol dead center between the Enforcer's eyes, letting him feel the cold of the metal, the coldness of the reality that he was in, and the coldness that he was to become.
"Let's see if you can magic this!!!"
The Doomed Enforcer tried to utter even the slightest sound, but it was overtaken by the sound of three... four... five... six power filled cartridges being fired in rapid succession, signs of damage manifesting as a red stain all over the scene- even the terminal's camera was covered in the reddish haze of the blood what was once a living human. A member of the bridge crew could only scream in pain and loss, as this particular Enforcer was a very close friend.
"Great..."
Later, we find our angry commander, now cool and collected, along with the remaining Enforcers and other personnel, in the hallway leading up to the bridge and CIC sections of the Ship in Deck A. The hall before them was littered with a varied assortment of objects to serve as makeshift barricades- tables, chairs, anything that can be stacked one on top of the other and offer some kind of protection due to mass, size or just anything they think can protect.
"Listen, all of you... we may not be leaving this ship alive. I have made preparations just in case we all die. But just in case we live thru this incident, I will have the entire Casbaa reserved just for us."
Despite that somewhat encouraging remark, no one applauded, the reality of the current situation was more a priority than the rewards of a scenario that they will not accomplish. But nonetheless, they were firm and unmoving, as if ready to face whatever was approaching them.
"But... If you have any thoughts of leaving this place now, you may do so... Heck I don't care if all of you should just vanish behind me when I turn my back. But let me remind you this, you are all members of the Time Space Administration Bureau- and we are dedicated to keeping Time and Space in Harmony... for if it is not done..."
"Existence will all vanish!" all of the personnel that are with him responded, evoking a smile from his face. "Chaos will reign and the mutiverse will be no more!"
He then faced towards the direction of where his remaining men were looking at, towards the lift doors at the far end of the barricaded hallway. Their faces already galvanized and their mentalities altered by hormones, they await their attackers.
And then, the lift doors began to slowly open.
Three Hours Later.
A single spatial fold hole opens up and out of it emerged the somewhat battered unit of Captain Rhea Holly. Inside was the weary pilot, who had just somehow managed to either defeat and escape or simply escape from her attacker hours earlier. Too tired to even fly her own machine, she allowed her autopilot system to continue flying towards the active beacon of the Ra'sulia. Holly was thinking of what she will do as soon as she landed, punch that Commander in the face for leaving her in a fight with an unknown, and then a great big hug- he was always a sucker for big hugs, the dumb bastard. She was ready to set her autopilot to even automatically land her unit so that she can rest easy but there was always one thing needed to do, hail the ship to inform that she has arrived safe and sound.
"Control, this is 501." She began to try and hail the ship.
Nothing.
"Control this is 501..."
Nothing but Static.
"Control can you hear me?!!"
The absence of a reply began to remove her sleepiness. She began to use the advanced equipment of her unit to try and find an open channel, but each available channel and a few others that were not normally used had yielded no response, asides from the always active Fleet Broadcasts, which are on a secure channel that normal fighters can't communicate in but can listen.
"Not even news..."
A few moments later, the sensors of her unit began to detect her anchorage, her home for three more days before she was off to have a long vacation, somewhere in a resort planet, probably Azelia, where they say the whitewater rafting was superb as well as the hot springs. But reality at that time had other things in store for her.
What she saw was the battered but still intact yet "lifeless" hull of the Ra'sulia. She began a slow pass around it, documenting each point where a ship cannon's shot grazed or impacted against the hull plates, as well as the holes that the assault pods made. Surprisingly, the only real damage asides from the pod breaches were the primary and secondary communications arrays being blown clear off. after doing her survey of the ship, she then proceeded to land in the cruiser's flight deck. She was surprised at what she saw, not a corpse in sight, and all objects seemed to be untouched. But not willing to take any bad choices, she secured her flight suit, which doubled as a space suit before opening her cockpit's canopy.
She was right, the atmosphere inside this particular area of the cruiser was already gone, but surprisingly, the artificial gravity was still active, it either meant that the boarders were rushing, simply too dumb to even self destruct the ship, on the bad side a trap or on the good side of things, survivors. Holly began a careful check of each deck of the ship, hopeful that someone was still alive. But as soon as she saw the first dead body, her hopes began to fall. So instead of raging emotions, she began to assess the situation with professional demeanor, as she passed more dead bodies, she all noticed that all of them were infact of the same kind.
"Enforcers..." she mumbled as she identified each one by either their already deployed staves or thier undeployed cards. "All shot..."
Room upon room either yielded no atmosphere, nothing or a dead enforcer. Out of respect, she began to say a short prayer each time she passed by a dead enforcer. After almost half an hour of passing by more dead enforcers, she reached the body of that particular enforcer whose death was seen by the Bridge Crew.
"They even got you too..." Holly softly spoke as she stopped over the headless corpse.
She began to rummage thru the bloodied remains for a full minute before pulling out from one of the pockets what seeemed to be a small box, she opened it to reveal a silver ribbon. She could only suppress her tears as she closed and pocketed the box.
"Poor Accela..." she could only mutter as she walked on, still checking each and every space one can get into- rooms, hallways, the undersides of beds and desks, and even the air ducts.
After a full hour of checking and prayovers, she finally entered a lift that would take her to Deck A, the titular "nerve center" of the ship, where the CIC, neighboring Bridge and other command areas where. To her, it was like forever, with all what she has seen and experienced so far. And before long, she had slammed a fist on the wall, denting the metal at the impact zone. The pain and bleeding hand were all minor to what she would see next. As soon as the lift doors opened, a morbid sight appears before The Captain.
Some 200 bodies were strewn on the hallway- men, women, officer, subordinate, solider and enforcer alike. All of them had died in horrible and painful deaths.
Legs blown off.
Arms torn off.
Whole bodies crushed that at first glance, the remains appear to be not human.
Heads blown or sliced clean off the jaw.
And various other horrible ways to be killed that it could not be expressed in any kind of written or spoken language.
As she passed by a corpse whose heart was exposed and unbelievably still beating, not just sadness, but also rage began to fill her thoughts as well. Who could have done it? What was their motive? Did they gain anything? What?
She can hear the voices of pain in her head, wails and screams and cries... all calling for one thing- Justice.
She did what she can only do to this unfortunate person, who was probably in a better place as of this moment. From her one of her pockets out came a bottle of grain liquor- a thing that was prohibited from any work environment, much more on a Bureau Patrol Ship. It was a thing of beauty as she looked at its petite entirety. She had smuggled that particular bottle in from the Station's Bar a day before so that upon her departure for her leave, she can enjoy it while relaxing. But it was now serving a much deeper purpose as she removed the cap sealing the liquid spirit within.
She then carefully opened the mouth of the corpse and then poured half of the liquid in, the somewhat lifeless corpse was somehow drinking it. She then consumed the remainder of the bottle as a sign of respect for the departed. She could taste the blood as the spirit began to mellow her senses and numb her nerves, thus easing the pain that she physically, emotionally and mentally bore at that moment. She could only watch as the exposed heart began to slow down- what she could do to further ease her own suffering was cover the hole with the body's own hand, but she knew that finally, at least one of them was now assured of a better place.
The last few meters began to feel like an eternity for Captain Holly, the sights of death, the pain of loss, the rage of revenge and the numbing spirit were all beginning to cloud her mental stability, as if she just wanted to tear anyone or anything she can get her hands on apart. But the hallway was just a primer of what she was about to further experience. And she finally managed to reach the bridge doors.
What she witness as the same for the hallway, except for one thing, the wide awake, conscious and gravely injured figure of Commander John Rue, who, despite the scale of his injuries and the pool of blood he was sitting on, was still managing to smoke a cigarette in a relatively cool manner.
"Commander Rue!" she cried out and ran to the still conscious commander. "Commander!"
"Rhea..." He could only say weakly. "I'm glad you're still alive."
"Commander, hang in here!"
"Well look at me- only my resemble parts are the things keeping me alive. Soon they will give out and I will really die, so it's no use."
"No Sir, We can still make it back to-"
"Rhea, Isophor Station has Fallen. They... have taken all of the non-enforcers and killed the rest that were or who resisted."
"Who did this? What did this?! John... tell me!"
"I don't know myself... but whatever they did was part of their plan. Bay 13... get her out of Bay 13!"
"Who?"
"No time to waste... get out of here... yourselves out..."
"Commander..."
She could only salute as Commander John Rue, born on the first day of the third month of the 16th year of the New Century, unmarried and youngest of two siblings, breathed his last. He once mentioned that Death was a part of the cycle and that it was the inevitable. What pained our Captain was the fact that he treated death like a casual thing, in a somewhat emotionless manner.
"He never even said goodbye."
She could only do what she was asked to do, the last words of the Ra'sulia's master and commander. She pulled out the Captain's chair and found what she was looking for, the hatch door to Bay 13. It was only guarded by a rather discreet and simple catch that even a toddler can open- if they can find the handle. She then twisted the handle and opened the hatch, and inside of it was the suited, crying, shaking and cowering figure of the Bridge Crew member who wailed at that particular Enforcer's death. From the cries she can indentify who she was.
"Accela!"
The shaking immidately stopped, and the figure was now looking at our Captain with teary relieved eyes.
"Ms. Holly!" She quickly jumped up and hugged her saviour, tears combined sorrow and loss running along her cheeks.
"Accela..."
"Ai! They got Ai! they killed him! the bitches and bastards killed him!!!"
As Accela began to wail, Captain Holly can only do so much- but she knew that it was not enough- infact, nothing in the universe can relieve the pain. She took the box that she had picked from the body of the Enforcer named Ai and gave it to Accela. After taking and opening it, Accela simply wailed even more.
What happened that day was the beginning of what we were about to experience...
We once again set our sights outside of the ship, where a fighting version of Holly's unit emerged from the flight deck of the cruiser, engines at maximum. A quick flash back to the bridge shows all the screens showing the countdown to the ship's self destruction.
"Hang on Accela... we're going to fold out of here quickly!"
[00:30]
"Come on!!!"
And what we were to become as well...
[00:15]
"Let's go! FOLD IN!!!"
Some distance ahead of the fighter, a spatial fold hole begins to open, though to Holly, it was taking forever.
[00:10]
In quick sucession, snapshots of the cruiser's spaces snap in and out.
[00:05]
But we didn't know that it was also the day that everything started...
[00:04]
[00:03]
[00:02]
Holly's unit began to enter the fold hole, like a pile being driven into the strata.
[00:01]
[00:00]
[Self Destruct]
Not just for all of us, but those that will be following in our footsteps later on...
The Isorion Class Cruiser Ra'sulia, Hull number 613, home of 500 personnel and one of the newest ships of the Bureau Navy, Destroys itself. Massive explosions began in the aft section of the ship, starting with the overloaded engines. the fireball then spreads to all the inside areas of the ship, consuming anything flammable with a thousand-degree flame. The shockwave weakens and literally rips apart the hull of the cruiser, reducing it to billions of pieces. The flame is quickly snuffed out by the unforgiving vacuum of space, but the initial force of the explosion hurls the pieces all over, barely missing the fold hole as it closed.
A snap view back to the academy reveals that our trio are now chattering over lunch. And we return to the cockpit of Holly's unit. There they are, Captain Holly and Bridge Crew Member Accela, both of them worse for wear. Accela was the calm one though, as she was already sleeping. Holly had her head bowed down, not just being tired, but also of all that happened.
"I swear..."
And so her fighter speeds on inside the fold, hopeful that they could reach someplace safe.
And that is how The Origin- Our Origin Began...