AN: So this is the first work that I have published for the 100, and as it is ongoing, I would totally appreciate if you guys and gals have any criticisms or ideas that you would like to leave below in the comment section. If you are interested in Bellarke or Clexa, which I am aware are two of the main ships, this story will not be focused on that. I will however introduce the series characters later on as the story progresses, so stay tuned.
Also, please leave a like and/or comment if you so desire, and if you want this to keep popping up on your dashboard, hit that subscribe button below! (I know its a "follow" button, but whatever.)
Disclaimer: I do not own the 100 (obviously, certain people would not have died if I did), first and last time I will say it here.
Hovering just outside gravity's reach, endlessly circling a world once covered by lush green forests, great expanses of prairie plains and desert sands, and millions of square miles of ocean water, lies the pinnacle of mankind's technology, a testament to our survival, the Ark. The Ark, a conglomeration of twelve space stations, all joined together as one by the peoples' of the earth, in order to ensure the continued existence of the last remnant of humanity above a poisoned world. The predicted wait time for return was two hundred years. For two centuries we would huddle together in space, waiting, hoping, and dreaming of going back to a reborn world, restored to its original beauty, strength, and richness.
Well that's the official story. An advertisement of inspiration driven into our minds over the course of multiple generations that we might come to believe and hold true. And its significance was meant to fuel our very beings into striding forth into a brave new world, free from nuclear weapons, from the horrors of the previous age, into a new era where we would shape the future of our posterity for the better, having learned from the errors of our fathers. But the stark reality is that the best laid plans usually wash up. That's where the term Plan B comes from, also known as Plan Backup. At least I make that assumption, having seen so many old-world movies in my time on the Ark that it seems obvious.
Now, remember all that basic history you took in class? Whether you were on the Ark or not, I'm sure many of you were shown a brief overview of our timeline. Know now that this is not your typical historical record. This will not follow the events that transpired when the first one hundred and one people were sent down to earth, the expendable juveniles. This account begins during the initiation of Project Exodus, when the stations of the Ark disconnected in a final attempt to return to earth, or die trying.
Although the preliminary separation had gone off without a hitch, once M-Station hit the first atmo layers, the structure began to be tossed around every which way like balloon in the wind. Multiple shouts and cries echoed through the darkness as people screamed in terror. Everyone had been briefed about the high probability that they would not make it to landfall, but it seemed as if the reality of their situation had only just struck. Either the station would blow up in the atmosphere, or the thrusters would not engage in time to prevent a fatal crash. Emergency power had not yet kicked in, and it seemed now that just over a hundred and fifty people were hurtling to the ground in a metal coffin.
"Are you with me, Kazia?" A breathless grunt followed the question as the station jerked sideways yet again, threatening to upload the stomach contents of the young woman in question.
"Always, Vera." Kazia responded, reaching for her sister's hand and squeezing it reassuringly.
"I am really not in the mood to throw up right now," Vera gritted out, removing her hand from the embrace in order to grip the arms of her seat, "I'd prefer not to get my clothes dirty, seeing as I'll be needing them once we land."
Kazia let out a dry chuckle. "That's assuming we don't hit water first."
"Three days rations says we'll hit solid ground." Vera stated.
"I'll see you that, and raise you two days rations, we hit water first."
"I guess we'll find out."
The possibility of any further banter was cut short when they were suddenly thrown forward against their seat harnesses as the emergency power finally kicked in, and the thrusters engaged, essentially righting the station.
A few moments later everything came to a stop as the station half landed and mostly crashed into something extremely solid. The unmistakable sound of vomiting followed by pained moaning and groaning erupted shortly after from multiple areas of the room, making Kazia wrinkle her nose in disgust.
She wasted no time her hands going immediately to her harness in an attempt to free herself. Her ensuing pulls and yanks on the nylon strapping after realizing the eject button on the buckle was broken were unsuccessful. "Its jammed!" She grunted in frustration.
"Here, lemme get that." A young brunet came forward grasping at the harness seeking to assist Kaszia.
"Move it squarehead, that's my sister you've got your hands on." Vera roughly shoved the unknown male away, who stumbled backward before hitting the deck hard, squawking in surprise. Turning back to Kazia, she knelt in front of her seat. "What would you do without me, dear sister?" Taking out a small knife she had hidden up her sleeve, she quickly cut the material away, freeing the girl.
Standing up, Kazia brushed the nylon threads off her clothes. "Well for starters, you wouldn't have anyone to share our awesome adventures with. Besides that, you'd probably piss off more people if I wasn't around to hold your leash."
"Stul pysk. Shut up." Came the retort as the older girl rose to her feet lightly cuffing Kazia on the head as she did so.
Kazia snickered, leaping backwards out of range of Vera's reach. "Hey, anyone gonna open the door?" She called out to the front.
"We're working on it." A mechanic by the door release replied. Moments after those words, a hissing sound was heard, and a loud groaning noise filled the room as the door slowly opened, revealing the first rays of sunlight peering in to the people who's whole lives had been lived among the stars, who had never glimpsed the sun from their native sky.
The sight that unfolded itself however, was not what anyone had been expecting.
"Is that, ice?" An exclamation of awe and disbelief rang out from one the older adult females nearer the door.
"I can feel the cold from here." Another voice spoke up in amazement.
The frigid air was a shock to everyone's system, a delight and a wonder to be felt. Many darted forward to the doors in order to absorb the breathtaking scenery surrounding them. For as far as the eye could see outside the door, the land was covered in pure white snow, with nary a bump or mound for a great distance. As people began to venture outside, more of the landscape became apparent. To the west, east, and south they were surrounded by a thick forest of trees, filled in with bushes, logs, and stumps of various kinds and sizes.
Kazia knelt down to the ground and touched it with her hand. Where her fingers were, the snow melted away, leaving a cold wetness in its wake. Grinning, she gathered a clump in her hands and stood up, turning around just in time to receive a cold lump of snow to the face.
The raucous laughter of her sister clued her in immediately. "So that's how you want to play, is it?" Kazia threw Vera a wicked grin before charging her. Caught off guard, Vera received the full force of a hundred and twenty pounds crashing into her, in the process falling heavily to the ground. Effectively pinning her, Kazia wasted no time grabbing a handful of snow and shoving it down the back of her sister's neck. The ensuing screech Vera gave had her bursting with laughter. They continued rolling around in the snow for a few minutes, until roll call was announced and everyone had been reigned in.
By the time nightfall had come around, it was clear no one had the slightest clue of where they were, and just hours before it had been reported that the communications array had been completely destroyed during reentry. A small perimeter had been set up around the station, and guard postings were in the process of being drawn up. Everyone would have to follow a schedule of guard rotations in addition to their previously assigned jobs.
Kazia was in the middle of rewiring her third fuse panel of the evening in order to redirect power to the lighting and security systems when she detected a presence behind her. Whirling around she fixed the would-be intruder with a glare.
"Really Vera? I thought we'd already proved I can hear you every time. You're not as stealthy as you'd like to believe." She smirked at her sister's sheepish expression.
"Maybe if you weren't blessed with super hearing I'd be able to. I can sneak up on everyone else no problem." Came the sullen retort.
Kazia shrugged. "Sorry about your luck. My genes are awesome."
"We share the same genes, genius."
"I thought I told you to stop wearing my clothes."
Vera cleared her throat. "You know what I mean, smartass." She gestured to the door. "It's been like ten hours, you should eat something."
"Six actually, and I thought you won the bet. We landed on solid ground." Kazia turned back to the panel so she could finish up and put everything back together.
"Well lucky for you, there's water beneath us. Therefore neither of us win the bet since ice doesn't count as solid ground."
"Where do you get an idea like that from? Wait, that kind of makes sense, but is this you being soft?"
"As if, dear sister. Now, are you coming or not?"
Kazia waved a pair of wire strippers at her, "Be up in a minute."
"Don't take too long otherwise I'll eat your rations too." Kaszia rolled her eyes at the comment as Vera left the room.
She really did love her sister, even though they were only half blooded, it was better than nothing. In fact, it was the only reason they were sisters. Vera's mother had annulled the marriage to their father when she was only four and run off with some botanist from Agro Station, taking Vera with her. Her father eventually moved on and married again. His unusual situation allowed for a loophole in the strict one-child policy on the Ark. In light of the fact that he had been remarried to someone else, and also no longer retained custody of his daughter from the previous relationship, the Council allowed the birth of another child.
When Vera was twelve, she split from her mother and stepfather, and came back to live with her father, only to find she now had a seven year old sister. At first she had been quite angry, because it felt like her father had betrayed her and gone and had another daughter to whom he would give all of his love and affection instead of her. In time though she came to see that this was not the case. Their father loved both of them equally, but being a realist had never entertained the possibility of having any contact with his first daughter after eight years had passed.
Kazia's mother had died by this point, an unfortunate casualty she was termed. In reality, she had contracted radiation poisoning while working in one of the generator rooms on T-station when a reactor breach caused the door to seal with her and two other engineers on the inside. It was contained, fortunately, however the council would not spare the medical supplies necessary in order to cleanse her system, and as a result, she passed away. Her last hours were not painful however, as someone had apparently taken pity on her and given her a dosage of one of the more common anaesthesia drugs in order to ease her discomfort.
Even with all that had happened to the small family in such a short period of time, it seemed they were not in the clear yet. Kazia remembered the official story in the digi-news of their father being caught tampering with life support systems for supposedly malicious reasons, with wild accusations heaped against him from anonymous parties who testified to seeing him acting strangely for a while before the incident had occurred. It had been enraging for the sisters to see their father treated like a criminal, a saboteur, but his fate had been sealed long before he had been captured.
Erik Orlov had been working in secret for years with only a select few, attempting to uncover and shed light on some of the Council's darkest secrets. The exponential deterioration of the Ark's systems, hydroponics, air scrubbers, water filtration, life support, and even the destruction of the Polaris station were just a few of the blemishes he and his team had uncovered.
Usually people who found out too much had "work accidents." Breached sections, electrical surges, ventilation malfunctions, you name it. Some were given up to the Council by their friends, and even their own spouse, who would then accrue testimonies from certain publicly upstanding people in order to testify against the prisoner of the crime they had committed. Before Erik died he explained to his daughters what was going on, and why. He warned them never to let on to anybody what they knew or suspected, no matter how much they trusted them.
After he was floated, the sisters were kicked out of their living quarters and moved down to the slums of the gathered stations. Most people ostracized them, believing the scandal perpetrated by the Council, thinking in their minds that if their father was a criminal, they probably were too. They just hadn't been caught yet. As a result of these events, Vera developed a highly cynical nature, almost always finding a way to piss someone off just about every day, especially those from the upper class, while Kazia built up a mask without emotion, so that she might not show the contempt and disgust she felt for the dumb sheep she considered most of the Arkadians to be.
The low hum of the panel coming to life pulled Kazia from her thoughts, and she sighed and rubbed her forehead. It wasn't ever meant to be this complicated, not when she was six and life was a blur of discovery and learning, but at some point you have to grow up, she figured. They both had to, faster than most of the other kids their age. Putting the cover back on the switch box she calculated that she had spent enough time for Vera to most likely have eaten both their rations at this point. Kazia sighed again before heading out the door and back up into the main area.
Making her way over to one of the far tables at which sat one sole occupant, she dropped unceremoniously onto the bench opposite the person of interest. Her features lit up in some surprise upon seeing a full plate sitting at her place.
"Huh, I thought you would've eaten my share." Kazia remarked, making herself comfortable before grabbing the fork that stuck up from the sticky mound of mush they called mashed potatoes.
Vera glanced up from reading on her tablet. "Considering how long you've been, I should've."
"Well I won't waste any more time then." Kazia spooned a large forkful of the now lukewarm potatoes in her mouth. Closing her eyes, she rolled the food around in her mouth, trying to get it past her tongue and down her throat. Admittedly the food was not the greatest, but whoever made the potatoes obviously had no clue how to cook. Finally summoning up the mental strength required, she swallowed the mush, and then swallowed again to keep it down.
Opening her eyes to see Vera staring inquisitively at her, Kazia cocked her head. "What? Do I have oil on my face or something?"
"Naw, I was just thinking about how cute you were at seven, all chubby and plumpy and wobbly, running around our livings quarters back when we lived on T-station."
Kazia raised her eyebrow at her sister. Something was off with Vera, she wouldn't just go off and be all sentimental for no reason. "You were nothing but a ball of jealousy for like a year when you came to live with us, I find it difficult to believe that you thought I was cute of all things."
"You still are." Vera halfheartedly parried.
But Kazia wouldn't buy it. "Okay, out with it. What's bothering you? I'm always here for you, no matter what." Laying her hand over Vera's, she gave the older girl a smile of reassurance.
Vera sighed. "It's just, all this, you know?" She said, gesturing around her. "I mean, just a few hours ago I wondered if we were all going to die, and now that we've landed on this beautiful world, I really don't mind the cold so much, but I don't have any idea on how to keep us safe and together. The Ark was easy, we had familiarity on our side, but out here, everything is strange and new, we have no idea what's out there, and I don't know how to prepare for that."
Kazia's concern melted away, and she gave her sister a warm smile. "Vera, look at me." She waited until Vera's green eyes met her blue ones before continuing. "Back on the Ark, we had no chance at life. Sure we knew everything there was to know, how to stay out of harm's way and live under the radar, avoid that person and make a deal with this one, we knew how to survive. But down here, we have a chance, not just to survive, but to really live. The rules have changed, and we can make our way apart from everyone else. The possibilities are endless down here. The entire world is at our disposal, and we can spend our lifetime discovering everything about it. Those old-world vids have nothing on the real thing." She reached over the table and shook her sister excitedly. "We're actually here, Vera! We made it!"
Vera's frown disappeared and she gave a small chuckle. Seeing Kazia all hyped over how far they had come so far lightened her mood, and she could feel the strain of the past few weeks slipping away. Kazia was right, she thought, they actually made it here. The worst of it was over, and now they could focus on building a new life here. It seemed as if the others else felt the same way, because nothing could contain the buzzing energy everyone possessed as they went about their duties for the next few days, eagerly setting up a home for themselves out of the metal ship that had returned them to the ground after so many years away.
The comfortable familiarity that everyone had begun to experience was not destined to last, however. Shortly after dark on the third night of them being on the ground, disaster struck. Vera was on night duty with a handful of others, including Bellatrix and Adrian, when numerous wraith-like creatures appeared out of the night, moving in perfect tandem with the falling snow. Taken by surprise, they were set upon by fearsome warriors clad in animal furs and leather, faces painted white or covered in gruesome masks made of cloth and metal and bones. Battle cries rang through the air, and soon the guards were fighting toe to toe with the grounder warriors.
The battle was mostly one sided, the guards being unable to get a clear shot, due to having to use their gun stocks to block themselves from sword strikes. That and the fact that the warriors' strength was most impressive compared to people who were never allowed to exercise beyond what their job requirements were made it almost pathetic to watch.
Adrian fell back upon seeing they had no chance against the invaders without proper backup, and had just made it to the door in order to sound the alarm when he felt a thunk, and suddenly his hand was pinned to the door by an arrow. Letting out a cry of pain, he whirled around, only to be met with another thunk, this time in the chest. He looked down in shock, unable to cry out, the only sound coming out of his mouth being a strangled gurgle as the air in his chest mixed with the blood pouring into his lungs. A warm thread of liquid ran out of the corner of his mouth as he slumped against the door. The last thing he saw before his world faded to black were the warriors converging as one on the door, already having subdued the guard detail.
Usually a light sleeper, this night Kazia was extra tired from the hard training session earlier in the day in addition to the guard shift she had been scheduled for at the crack of dawn that morning. Therefore, when the shouts and screams echoing through the halls accompanied by the sound of bullets pinging off of metal reached her ears, it took her brain a few moments to realize what was happening. Once she did however, all of her senses were on high alert, and by the time she regained conscious control over her body, she was in the hallway, sporting a large, wickedly serrated dagger in either hand, each made especially for the carving of flesh and muscle.
Making her way to where the sounds of a struggle were taking place, she halted before an intersection, before carefully sticking her head out, just enough to get an overview of what was happening. The hall was littered with bodies, mostly Arkadian, with a few of the attacking grounders interspersed between them. The floor was red with blood in some places, but the eye was drawn mainly to the three struggling forms in the midst of all the disarray.
Assessing the situation and seeing that the two grounder warriors facing off against her fellow Arkadian were rapidly beating him down, she did not hesitate before flinging herself atop the nearest warrior, burying her one dagger into his shoulder, and the other into his back. Without giving him a chance to recover, she yanked down hard, before jumping back in order to create a cushion of distance between her and her adversary.
With a roar of pain and anger the warrior whirled around. Like a bull seeing red he charged, fury and death written clear in his eyes. All time seemed to slow around Kazia, and just as he was almost on top of her, she bent low at the waist while pushing forward with her back foot, and using her right shoulder and back, reared up under the warrior as he made to bring his sword down in a brutal strike. He flew through the air and hit the floor heavily. Pouncing on the warrior before he could get up, Kazia buried the dagger in her left hand into his neck and drew it across viciously, effectively ripping his throat out. Ignoring the hot blood spattering her face, she quickly glanced over her shoulder. As she moved her head, she was met with a hard kick to the face, causing her to fall back onto the dead warrior. A heavy foot was then planted on her chest, and looking up through dazed eyes, she saw a fierce looking woman covered in thick white warpaint scrutinizing her with an unreadable expression. A moment later, a sharp blow connected to her head yet again, and this time, her vision went to black and she lost consciousness.