Awakening

The sun shined upon the golden fields of Ares, as a little, white haired, girl played in the tall stalks. She ran after the fluttering butterflies, and spring beetles. She loved chasing the insects in the spring. The little girl had just caught a grass hopper, when she heard her mother calling. She ran back to her house, a large ornate mansion. Her mother was waiting in their garden, wearing a beautiful white silk dress. Her smile was magical, and her eyes, shimmering emerald.

Steele opened her pale eyes and looked up at the white ceiling above her. Medical machines hung idle from it, and the room smelled of disinfectant. The steady beeping of a heart monitor filled the room. She tried to sit up, only to be stopped by a jolt of pain from her mid section. She looked down and saw her stomach heavily bandaged. She rested her head back on the table and looked out the wall window to her right. She was looking into the vastness of space, and she recognized several of the star formations.

As Steele was looking out the window, she heard a door open to her left. With out looking away from the window, she asked, "We are above Pandora, are we not?" A woman's voice replied, "Yes Madam. We are glad to see you finally awake." Steele let out a sigh as she looked towards to woman. "I did not spend twenty years in the Crimson Lance to be called madam. I am Commandant of D Company, 3rd Starborne Brigade and you will address me as such," she said with a hint of irritation. She closed her eyes and tried to relax again, but when the young girl was silent for longer than expected, she glanced at her visitor.

Her face was a mask of calmness, but Steele looked past it. She saw a hint of fear in the girls eyes, and something else. "Speak, child! It's apparent you have something on your tongue." The woman stiffened as she said, "Commandant Steele, the Crimson Lance is no longer in operation. After the closing of the Atlas..." The woman's voice caught in her throat, when Steele bolted from the table and stood in front of her. Steele stood head and shoulders above the woman, and her gaze was thick with anger. "Finish what you were saying," the Siren said.

The woman swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. "The Atlas corporation closed after the destruction of the Crimson Lance armory, Atlas withdrew from the planet and closed shortly after your death." The woman flinched when she saw tendrils of energy drifting up from the Sirens eyes. The swirling tattoos, that ran along her arm and torso, began to glow, and the bandages around her stomach burst into flames before they fell to the floor.

A ball of energy began to form in Steele's left hand as she glared at the young woman, her glowing gaze burning holes though her. "How long?" Steele asked through gritted teeth. The woman swallowed visibly. "Tell me!" Steele's voice was dripping with rage. The energy in her fist grew brighter. The woman's eyes grew wide form fear. "Five years, and six months. We were able to recover your brain, but your body had to be completely reconstructed. Luckily we acquired your medical records from the remnants of the Atlas corporation." Steele would have been impressed by the woman's emotional control, if she wasn't so enraged. She tried to take deep breaths, but something inside her wouldn't stop.

Steele let out a rage fueled roar, and hurled the ball of energy at the wall. The screeching sound of tearing metal filled the room, followed by hissing as the melted bulkhead cooled. While the liquified metal cooled, Steele took several deep breaths, until her heart slowed and her tattoos faded back to blue. She looked back to the woman, who's mask of calm was shattered as she starred at the gaping hole in the wall.

"I want a shuttle to the surface, and my clothes," Steele said as if nothing had happened. With a shaking hand, the woman pointed at a row of shelves on the other side of the room. Steele quickly dressed and braided her hair into four long strands. She stepped up to the woman and looked into her still shocked eyes. "Which way to the shuttle bay?"