Redemption of the Dark kind
Chapter 4: Ultimatum and Breaking Point.
Pandora, Alpha Centuari system, 25th September 2899.
As the Dark Hunter glared emotionlessly at the Tree of Souls, the crew of the shuttle began unloading the cargo. Equipment was set up inside the craft, and cables were fed out into the opening, towards the centre of the basin, where the glowing tree stood imposingly.
Aboard the shuttle, the extra generator was started, the fusion reaction kept at low enough levels to self sustain only, at least for now. The robot soldiers dropped the ends of the power cables at their commander's feet, before standing at attention by the shuttle.
The Dark Hunter turned to his captive charges, and stated in a boastful voice: "We came here today to demonstrate the lengths we will go to end this war. In order to demonstrate our willpower, we must first show how serious we should be considered by both sides. What better way than to strike a critical blow, which would attract attention across the galaxy. In this case, a blow o the central part of one species culture."
He gestured to the tree: "Here lies the centre of Pandora's biosphere, where an intelligent super-organism stretches its web of influence over the planet, integrated with all life on the planet. Such a magnificent thing was worshipped as a deity by the Na'vi, with perfectly good reason. Actual physical things are often centres of cultures, as Cybertronians can relate to with the Allspark. However, damaging these precious objects can cause a major morale blow to the species it is tied to."
He grinned evilly, and said venomously: "Once Eywa is subjected to our 'treatment', people will think twice about crossing paths with the KI, and we shall be able to fully instigate our enforcement of peace on this galaxy. Now though, this planet will be subjected to a kind of, shall we say, SHOCK and awe treatment."
The dark figure stepped forwards, and roughly grabbed some of the tendrils of the tree of souls, which flashed dangerously as he grasped them. He hooked each power cable to a separate tendril, and then stepped back. He called to his troops: "Set to 20% output power to start. See what this girl can handle first."
H'nuptec realized what was about to happen, and he began to struggle against his captors. He shook about, managing to move the robot soldier about. He looked at the tree, and saw the tree begin to flash sporadically, as the electric current poured into the tree. He took his braid, and connected it to the ground beneath him, momentarily ceasing his struggles. He heard Eywa's pain, though it was small at first.
Up at the tree's base, Alex saw the Na'vi hunters connecting their queues to the ground, and saw this as a way to gauge the pain Eywa was taking. He turned to his troops, and said: "50% output, I want her to feel this!" The troops obliged, and the power surged.
Through their queues, the Na'vi felt Eywa's pain grow, as she began to slightly scream in pain in their connections. The electrical power was lost over the vast network, but Eywa's screams reverberated for miles across the network.
H'nuptec stared up at the Dark Figure in rage, and to his horror, he saw him call to further increase the power to 70%. As Eywa's screams worsened, H'nuptec tore free of hi captors, and ran to the Dark Figure, moving to stop this madness and evil.
But the figure had heard him coming somehow.
As H'nuptec drew his knife to stab the man in the back, the much shorter commander sidestepped, and whirled around H'nuptec as he stumbled past, surprised at the figure's speed. H'nuptec drew a second knife, and grabbed the first in his right hand, and threw with all of his might. It sailed dead on target, heading for the dark figure, too quick for him to dodge.
Reacting quickly, Alex's computerized brain implants helped him gauge the knife's path, and his hand shot out, managing to barely catch the spinning blade in his hand. In his black gloved hand, the knife was nearly a foot long. He looked at H'nuptec, as if mocking him, and with a quick turnaround he slashed the knife at the nearest tree tendrils, severing them like pieces of paper. As the sacred tree was mutilated like this, H'nuptec flew onto a blind rage, and charged at the Dark Hunter with his other knife.
Perfect.
Alex sidestepped, his adopted father's knife sailing past his masked head with inches to spare. As H'nuptec stumbled past, Alex stuck his foot out, tripping the nearly middle aged Na'vi male onto the ground. Quick as lightning, Alex leapt onto H'nuptec, and punched him hard in the side of the head. The punch dazed the Na'vi man, and he showed little resistance as 4 of the robots from the shuttle restrained him.
Now, H'nuptec was held down by 4 robots, kneeling before the Dark hunter beside a tortured Eywa. The Dark Hunter spoke quietly, barely enough for all to hear: "I must say, if you wanted to suffer with your deity to show your compassion and belief in her, you should have just asked."
With a sense of vengeance for H'nuptec's indifference and second rate parenting, Alex took one of the power cables off of the Tree of souls, and clipped in onto the queue if his adoptive father. As soon as the clip contacted H'nuptec he started screaming, as the electric current flowed through his body. His screams were a physical equivalent of those give off by Eywa herself through her network.
For five minutes, Trion, Sru'sky, Firi'sry and the other Na'vi hunters watched as the chief Omaticaya hunter was senselessly and horrifically tortured. All the while, the Dark Hunter prepared himself for the final act, and drew his two swords, only activating the vibro-function, not bothering with the plasma coating.
After five minutes, the cries of Eywa had been heard planet-wide by anyone listening to her, and at last Alex signalled for the power generator to be switched off. As it did, the power cables detached from both H'nuptec and the Tree. Now, the Tree was glowing weakly, drained of energy from the overwhelming electrical surge it had just felt.
H'nuptec was exhausted, and was temporarily paralysed by the electrical current. He gazed up at his soon to be killer, his face mirrored in the man's polished, featureless helmet. He then saw the helmet retract, as he placed himself between him and the other's present, so only he would see the man's face.
H'nuptec's reaction was akin to Quirinth's. He froze in shock, before scrambling backwards, until he hit the trunk of the Tree of Souls, where he was trapped. He continually looked back and forth between Alex's body, still slung on the robot commando's shoulder, and the face of the man who would now kill him. The face was exactly the same, even down to the eye colour. Those red eyes were now boring holes into his soul, the hatred shining a violent star. However, behind them, H'nuptec could see another emotion.
Regret.
In many cultures, the eyes or optics are said to be the gateways into the soul of a person. H'nuptec had always been good at reading eyes for signs of emotions.
He looked into the eyes, realizing fully that this was his son, returned. That beneath the twisted, tortured and spiteful visage he had donned, he was lonely, misunderstood and reluctant to do this.
Over his father, the one who had neglected him for his won flesh and blood, Alex raised his double swords in a V-shape, and placed them in above H'nuptec's forehead. He decided to try to make peace, and made fit to explain before he did this act. In a voice quiet enough for only H'nuptec and himself to hear, Alex muttered: "I never wanted it to come to this. I wished that I could let you go, but my feelings of resentment towards you outweigh any feelings of sorrow for what I'm about to do. I'm sorry."
Now, as the dark areas under Alex's feet grew larger, he spoke two words that shattered the worlds of all present, and in one person's case, would be the last words he ever heard.
"GOODBYE, FATHER!" The blades fell, and the sound of flesh and skull being stabbed and burnt simultaneously echoed through the basin. As the Dark Hunter retracted his swords, the corpse of H'nuptec collapsed, leaning against the tree of souls, with one gaping, cauterized hole marring his forehead. His body had died instantly, his brain no longer controlling his body.
A quick and painless death.
The entire basin was silent, and no one moved a muscle or servo for what seemed an eternity. The Dark Hunter stood over the fallen form of H'nuptec, his face, exposed only to the corpse, silently contemplating his next move. He knelt down, and placed a hand onto the fresh hole in H'nuptec's head, and muttered a silent goodbye, as he rose up, to complete his next, personal objective. All the while, Quirinth lay motionless and lifeless in front of Sru'sky and Trion, the former of whom now shed silent tears down her cheeks, glaring in shock and rage at the dark figure. Trion was too glaring at the figure, his processor contemplating tearing this monster limb from limb. Firi'sry had gone into shock, as the torture of her goddess and the brutal murder of hr mate had left her in an unstable mind state. The subconscious connection she had felt to her mate was severed, and a small part of her had died.
The Dark Figure now spoke to them: "Fool. Had he not decided to act so valiantly, he would be here still alive. He made his choice though, as I did my own all those months ago on Ki'ristalis, when I stabbed the president in the back in front of you all."
He turned around, and faced the captives, his exposed face now plain as day for all to see. He bore an evil smirk as he looked down at his old body, his crimson eyes scanning the lifeless husk intensely: "To think I was afraid of death when I inhabited that husk, and yet now, after death, I have become more powerful than I ever could have been in m first life."
He glared up at Sru'sky and Trion, and said to them: "I warned you that I would let nothing stand in the way of me installing true justice in the galaxy, and your comatose friend there paid the price for her meddling in my affairs! Not even death will stop me! I was brought back for the exclusive purpose of bringing true justice to an otherwise unjust and corrupt galaxy, and I have now demonstrated the lengths the Knight Initiative shall go to in order to achieve our goals!"
He then glared at the two, sending a look of inhuman hatred and sadism, and said in a voice to venomous to be natural: "And now I shall show you what you unleash upon yourselves should you stand in not just the KI's path, but my own also. You may have killed me in a past life, but I have been reborn as a true Dark Hunter! And now even death submits to my power!"
He then reached out a black gloved hand, and the nightmare began.
Firi'sry watched the body of her mate, begging to Eywa for this all to be an illusion, a dream. She watched H'nuptec's body, while sometimes stealing glances between Alex's body and that of this person, this thing that had just committed vile acts. The two were exactly the same in appearance, right down to the hair, eyes and scars. Even their personalities were similar, except for the matter that this new person was a twisted, demented version of the person her son had once been. And yet, she felt a fragment of the same connection she had felt with Alex to this new person, and the signals from Eywa had only confirmed it.
This dark figure, this manifestation of evil, was her son. This was Alex.
As Alex finished speaking, Firi'sry heard her son call out his new name to the world. The name which he had embraced as part of his reputation. The Dark Hunter. With his speech finished, the Dark Hunter stretched out his gloved hand, and appeared to go into a deep focus.
On the ground, movement was seen.
In a scene reminiscent of a horror story, the freshly killed body of H'nuptec, his forehead having sent a river of blood down his chest from the head wound, flexed its arms. It awkwardly moved itself to a kneeling position, and began to slowly stand upright. As it rose, the blood dripped from the wound and body, and the blank, deathly stare of the dead gazed at the terrified individuals present.
The other hunters began to panic, and Firi'sry began to scream, seeing her mate being used as a slave to new abilities Alex had garnered from his return. H'nuptec rose up, and stood tall beside the Dark Hunter, slumped over slightly while still dripping blood.
Beside her, Sru'sky and Trion had stared in horror as the dead rose up to serve the killer. Then, from their front, Quirinth began to move onto all fours, her limbs moving in unnatural ways, as she too pushed herself to a standing position. Sru'sky broke free of her captor robots, and retreated to the edge of the basin, with Trion following quickly too, to get away from this nightmarish sight.
Finally, the third and final servant rose. Alex reached out in his mind, and his former body, still enclosed in its armoured shell, staggered to its feet, the armour creaking slightly from rust and corrosion. It was such a novel ability, thought Alex, to use two bodies at the same time, even after the death of one. Seeing the looks of terror on his friends faces, he remembered gleefully the way Quirinth had reacted to this very same intimidation tactic, as she had watched in horror as her fallen comrades advanced on her, the sight of them torture for her, before Alex silenced her screams.
He looked around at the others present, and noted uncaringly that the other Na'vi hunters would help spread word of this. However, one look at Firi'sry, and Alex paused for a few seconds.
Firi'sry was a wreck, her face now covered in tears, silently crying from shock and horror. She must think I'm a monster, killing her mate, my adoptive father, and then using his body for my own ends. Alex remembered that Firi'sry had always been there for him, supporting him in whatever she did, and had always been first to voice her pride in him and his accomplishments, never once placing one of her children as superior in her mind, unlike her late mate.
She has suffered enough. Its Sru'sky and Trion I'm after.
He commanded the three bodies: "The green eyed Na'vi female and the silver cybertronian mech are enemies. Attack."
The bodies began to advance on them, moving quickly in an unnatural manner. Quirinth, having being closest to the two, reached them first. She swiped at Sru''sky, who ducked away to avoid the engaged wrist blade. As Sru'sky rolled away, Trion moved to engage his fusion cannon, but not before the Dark Hunter yelled out:
"If you value the decency of my former body or H'nuptec, you will not harm them. However, it would do you no good anyway. No matter how many times you attack, they will always come again and again so log as their body s intact. As for your comatose friend though, be careful. You just might end up killing her anyway by fighting."
The Dark Hunter cackled in a low tone, as H'nuptec and his old body leapt onto the mech, and began clawing, biting and punching at Trion's armour. Meanwhile, Sru'sky was avoiding every one of Quirinth's attacks, never once launching one herself.
The fight lasted a minute, and at one point, Trion threw H'nuptec's body to the floor, and in an uncontrollable panic, he stabbed it's torso with his cannon's blade. Firi'sry and Sru'sky screamed out loud, both when H'nuptec was stabbed, and when H'nuptec grabbed the blade a few seconds later, his dead face now a feral, unnatural snarl. As this happened, Quirinth slashed Sru'sky on the arms, leaving deep scratches, which began bleeding profusely.
She fell to the floor in pain, just as Alex's body also came and ripped out some motor wiring from Trion's shoulder. He lost the use of some of his servos, and in his shock, he recoiled, freeing H'nuptec from the blade.
Now free from the blade, H'nuptec tackled Trion, the blood from his abdomen wound dripping onto the ground as he did. Trion fell down hard, and now H'nuptec, old Alex and Quirinth stood menacingly over them, their blank stares horrifying to them.
Just as they feared it would end, the Dark Hunter called out from the central tree: "Enough, we're done here!" The corpses and coma victim staggered to face him, and he flicked his wrist, which to the immense shock of all here, flew Alex's old body through the air, to land in the Dark Hunter's outstretched hands. He hoisted his old body over his shoulders, and faced H'nuptec's corpse, waving his hand and saying: "You served your purpose, now be gone." H'nuptec's body crumbled to the floor, now with a head wound and a torso wound. He turned to Quirinth's controlled body, and walked up to it, whispering in a deathly tone: "I release my hold over you now. Let the nightmares of my wrath torture you evermore, and serve as a warning to those who dare oppose me."
She too crumpled to the floor. He scanned her body-signs from his helmet's HUD, and began to walk away when he was sure she was still just in a coma. He walked back over to the Tree of Souls, and handed over his old body to his Robot Commando, and transmitted the command:
"Load this body onto the shuttle. Keep it in perfect condition."
The Commando took the body gently and nodded, before turning to walk off to the shuttle. As the commando boarded the shuttle, Alex heard Firi'sry, and turned to face his mother. She was looking at him now, her eyes searching his own for any possible reason for why he was doing such things. He answered her in a harsh tone of voice:
"My decisions are of my own accord. I chose to follow orders to torture Eywa and retrieve my old body, but quite frankly I was happy to commit these acts and more."
He stepped towards her, and gestured to the wildlife around him:
"Do you honestly think I ever felt truly welcome on this world? I never mixed with the clan because I couldn't connect with Eywa, I would never be a full member of the Omaticaya. And simply put, I wish to not be a part of it ever again. I struggled, I was weak compared to the others, when out there I could have led a much better life! If you had handed me out to an orphanage or something when my family were killed, this would not be happening! I chose this path because I chose to pursue true justice, unhindered by petty laws and factions, and your opinion of my actions now means NOTHING!"
His helmet engaged, shrouding his face once more in the smooth black helmet, and the harsh voice of the Dark Hunter spoke: "I was never truly a part of the clan, so my leaving is of no consequence to its history. Goodbye Firi'sry." As he stalked off towards the shuttle, Firi'sry wrestled with the emotions she felt. Sadness, at her son's fall from grace and her mate's death. Anger, for what her son had done and those who had likely convinced him to do so. Hurt, as her son, whom she had raised for 15 years, had just told her she was never truly a mother figure to him."
Off in the corner, Trion struggled to get up, saw that Sru'sky was still in great pain on the floor. He looked over at Firi'sry, who was now silently staring at the ground, her tears long since run out. Off to the other side of the tree, a shuttle's engines started up, and the Dark Hunter boarded the craft, but turned to face Trion once more. Suddenly, Trion got a text message over his comms system from him:
"Be grateful I let you live, unlike when you three attacked me. The same will not happen when we next cross paths."
Overhead, the shuttle rose into the sky, heading towards the hanger doors of the destroyer floating overhead. All of Alex's troops were onboard, including his old body as the precious cargo. Within a minute, the shuttle was in, and he hanger doors, shut.
With a mighty rumble, the destroyer powered up its fusion engines, propelling it into outer space with its corvette escorts close by. Below, the recovering group slowly absorbed what happened.
Alex had risen from death, tortured one of his closest friends and a planet wide deity, committed even worse acts than before, and killed his own father. Worse still, he seemed to have found a way to gain access to unnatural abilities, and used them to desecrate the dignity of his father's corpse, his own previous body and the comatose body of Quirinth, who would probably not wake up for a long time.
What all realized was that Alex had truly changed, and had become a twisted, sociopathic version of his former self, now unwilling to let anything stand in his way.
On top of this, he had just declared the existence of the Knight Initiative, which meant war would escalate with this new, third faction. And judging by the determination of Alex to fulfil their goals, if more of the faction were this dangerous and devoted, the cost of the war would only worsen.
As they all absorbed this, Firi'sry had run over to H'nuptec's body, and had thrown herself on top of it, her sobs echoing through the basin. She cried for her dead mate, her wounded daughter, and for the son who had lost his way, and fallen so far as to cause them this misery.
It would be another 10 minutes before a UIP security force arrived, having being dispatched immediately after detecting the craft entering Pandora's flux vortex. By that time, Alex was long gone, his small fleet having jumped to supralight speed minutes before. Again, they split up, to cover their tracks.
They were not followed, for the damage they had dealt was a priority to the UIP support and recovery teams.
Omaticaya Hometree, the next day/26th Spetember 2899.
It was now mid afternoon, and H'nuptec's funeral had finished an hour ago.
His burial had been like many others. He was buried in the earth with a seed of the sacred tree, to have his spirit reabsorbed by Eywa. Before the burial, Sru'sky and Firi'sry had come forward to give a last goodbye, with Sru'sky merely standing over his now calm face, her tears dotting its serene features as they spilled forth, and Firi'sry gently weeping as she kissed her mate goodbye, telling him that they will not be parted forever.
After the burial, the Ole'tycan had made a speech in honour of one of their finest warriors:
"H'nuptec was a courageous, devoted and honourable person. He never placed the well-being of himself before others, whether it be family, friends or clan members. His death is a great tragedy, in which we realized that the death of another clan member had taken place."
Before continuing, he looked over at Firi'sry and Sru'sky, the latter of which was being comforted by a now sombre looking Trion. He pressed on with the speech, for the clan needed to know why H'nuptec had died so needlessly:
"H'nuptec was killed by one who used to be a member of our clans, one whose mind was twisted and corrupted from the beliefs he cherished. He had died already, his body resting with our other passed on, as merely a clan member who lost his way, and died for his misunderstanding."
"However, this new person, one whose motives were vile enough to torture Eywa as service to his leaders, is not Alex. Alex died months ago, and now this demon has sprung forth, resurrected from the darker confines of Alex's mind, and given physical form. He robbed us of a clan member, and his own body. His evil is as plain as day, and knows no bounds. He is not part of this clan, for Alex was dead, and after his acts yesterday, he shall never be a part of this clan!"
Yells of agreement reared up from the clan, and Firi'sry, despite a part of her disagreeing with this, reasoned that the person she has seen yesterday truly wasn't Alex. This Alex was veiled in a maelstrom of anger, rage, sadism and sorrow. The true Alex had been shackled and stored, and was somewhere in that creature's mind, deep down.
The rest of the funeral was quiet, as the clan remembered the good things that happened due to H'nuptec. His skills at hunting, some stories of being friends with him as a child.
Firi'sry turned to face her daughter, and embraced her gently, cherishing one piece of H'nuptec that still lived on in her.
Later that day, Firi'sry and Sru'sky were returning from the evening meal, only to find Trion staring blankly at H'nuptec's grave. They approached him, silently looking also at the now shattered grave where Alex's body had once rested.
Sru'sky placed a hand carefully on Trion's armour, and looked him in the optics, luminescent bleu meeting shining emerald. He looked at the grave, addresign both of the Na'vi women:
"I feel horrible. I maimed his body when it attacked me, I made the damage inflicted on it worse."
Firi'sry walked to his other side, and patted his arm in a comforting manner, fighting back the tears herself:
"You acted instinctively, he was being controlled, you had no choice."
Trion then began to think to himself, voicing his thoughts: "How is it that Alex gained those abilities. To manipulate dead bodies, and to move objects without touching them. I did detect some mass between him and the bodies when he controlled them, so there was something he was using."
Sru'sky then spoke, a hint of anger dancing on each word: "HE must have learnt it either before he died, or between his return and yesterday. Either way, he is now a very dangerous threat."
Firi'sry spoke, sadness still obvious in her voice: "But how did he come to be this person? You two said he had spent two months training before he returned to you, before he died. What was the cause for changing him?"
Trion's optics narrowed suspiciously, and he looked up to the sky, and said: "I think the question is: WHO was responsible for changing him?"
Teranthos Nebula, 27th September 2899.
Nostith had just returned from the deeper bowels of the Emancipator, training with his two other pupils. They had advanced far, and were nearly ready to fulfil their purpose. But for now, his greatest pupil had returned.
As Alex entered the room, Norstith's avian eyes widened in surprise, in seeing him carrying a body on his shoulders.
Alex walked into the meeting room, his bodysuit and helmet masking his appearance. Over his shoulder, his old body, still encased in the old bodysuit, limply hung. Alex placed it on the floor gently before his feet, and spoke to his master as his mask retracted, revealing his face.
"My master, the task is done. I successfully delivered the cultural blow to the Na'vi species, and alerted them to the KI's existence."
Norstith nodded, but still stared at the old body. He asked: "Well done on a successful mission, but could you kindly explain why you chose to become a graverobber?" At this, Alex chuckled in an amused way, something he hardly did anymore. He explained: "As this mission took me to my childhood world, and my old body was there, I figured I might 'repossess' it. That's why I took Quirinth's comatose form. A trade if you will. I give them their friend's incapacitated body, and a warning should they cross me like she did, and in exchange I take my old body as payment for that 'delivery'."
Norstith looked at his apprentice, and saw that there was a slightly pained expression on his face. Concerned, he asked: "That wasn't all that happened on the mission though, was it?"
Alex sadly looked at his old body, and slowly picked it up, and carried it over to the table, where he rested it. He then pulled up a chair, and slumped down in it, before saying in a sad tone: "Things got slightly out of hand. They did come to the basin yes, but who it was who came caused me some problems. Trion and Sru'sky were there, but so were H'nuptec and Firi'sry."
Norstith pulled up his own chair, and sat down on the opposite table end, and said in a reassuring tone: "You are worried about what they think of you now?"
Alex lowered his head even more, and said: "Only Firi;sry's opinion of me worries me now. H'nuptec has been removed from the equation. He charged me when I was torturing Eywa, and he would have killed me, had I not done what I did."
Norstith's eyes widened, realizing what had happened: "You had to kill him?"
Alex nodded, and said: "I was consumed by feelings of rage and jealousy, considering he always seemed to favour Sru'sky over me. But he was also the quickest to lose faith in me in whatever I did. I said I was sorry to do it to him, but I killed him in front of Firi'sry. She was the first one to treat me for what I always wanted to be, an equal, someone who wanted to do well and good, but merely asked for support and guidance. She never favoured Sru'sky or me, but now that I killed her mate and my father, I feel that she will hate me, and Sru'sky will hate me more so."
Norstith then said something that surprised Alex: "If that be the case, then they are not your true family."
Alex snapped his head up, and asked in mild anger and confusion "What?"
Norstith continued, unhindered by Alex's exclamation: "A true family is supposed to support one another, no matter what choices or mistakes they make. If they truly hate you and view you even less, then they are not your true family."
Alex understood, but was still saddened by what he had to do. Keeping guilty thoughts bottled, he stood up, and said: "Thank you master, those kind words of wisdom really helped me."
Norstith then surprised Alex once more: "Enough with calling me master. I have deliberated on this decision for a while, and I feel that with this new success, and having confronted your feeling of vengeance and dealt with them, I feel you are ready to be an apprentice no longer."
Alex's red eyes widened, and he asked: "Are you saying-"
"Yes Alex. You have finished your training. Only you can further your abilities now. My task is done, and you are no longer my apprentice, but rather, my partner now."
The feeling of euphoria overwhelmed any feeling of depression, and Alex fell to his knees, in gratitude of this honour: "Thank you, thank you! I promise not to fail you!"
Norstith laid a hand on his armoured shoulder, and said: "I don't expect you to fail me, for you haven't yet. Now get some rest, I'm sure you are tired after that mission."
Alex nodded, and proceeded to the door, but not before calling a service robot to seal his old body in a preservation capsule, and ship it to his quarters.
Later that night, when many of the ship's occupants had gone to bed, and the Emancipator sat in the nebula, its lighted windows now mostly blank, alex lay on the floor of his room.
In the corner, he sat gazing at a collection of old holo-photos, of his friends in the academy, or them on the multiple worlds they visited. He lingered momentarily on two pictures, one a group shot of him, Quirinth, Sru'sky and Trion on a couch in their shared Ki'ristalis apartment, and another of him, Sru'sky, Firi'sry and H'nuptec in a family photo, with H'nuptec embracing them all in a big hug.
For the first time since his awakening, Alex shed tears of regret and sadness, as they slowly dripped through the holo-photo projections. His body became wracked with silent sobs, as he wrestled with his emotions internally.
What have I become. This is the only home I have left now, I'm a disgrace everywhere else.
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