Thanks for the review! Sophie Starlight, I like your idea but will I put it in the fanfiction? - Who knows? -
/
Starling felt a certain amount of relief as her skimmer touched down. The fact that the feeling came across inside of a Murk Raider's ship still struck her as ironic. Then again, she'd just fought alongside the Dark Ace, if that wasn't proof that someone somewhere had a twisted form of humour, she didn't know what was. The sight which greeted them however threatened to put all that into a new form of perspective.
Never before in her life had she laid eyes upon such a varied and mixed group as the one which was before her. Ordinarily, she would only have expected to see only Murk Raiders here. They weren't exactly reknowned for their hospitality after all but then neither were Raptors, she could see quite a few of them here as well. Those she might have somehow expected, other factions which had once lay claim to parts of the Atmos and who now found themselves being pushed back by the tidal wave which was Cyclonia. It was more the civilians which she found surprising.
She called them "civilians", she couldn't see what else they would be. They ranged in ages from obviously newly born babies to elders who could only stand with the use of canes. These people would have been useless in a fight. No doubt that was why they were here, sheltering in the last place which might have offered them a sanctuary. They were from all races, from all over Atmos: blizzarians stood along side raptors and merbs. One look told the sky knight that many here were all too accustomed to the reality of living in a world ruled over by Cyclonis: they were thin, pale and their eyes were wide with a mixture of surprise and a terrible fear which seemed to have become common place.
Slowly, she dismounted from her skimmer. By her side, Aerrow did the same. He winced with pain slightly, no doubt the wound he had sustained was causing him some suffering. A few mutterings were exchanged in the crowd. They had been recognised. It had been a few years but if the Dark Ace had recognized them, then it was a fair bet that some of these people would also. Her gaze scanned the crowd, regrettably the only familiar faces she came across were those of her enemies.
For a moment, they simply stood there. The three of them gawking at the crowd and being starred back at, unsure what to say or what to do. No doubt, these people had expected more than two slightly scruffy sky knights who had only narrowly avoided being shot down but on the other hand, they were the leader of the Storm Hawks and the last of the Interceptors. Two titles which still held a certain amount of power over desperate hearts.
"Dark Ace?"
The voice carried a certain French accent to it. From the crowd came a young woman. People seemed to part to allow her through. They did so, she could tell out of respect. For a moment, the Interceptor wondered if she might have been looking at the leader of the Resistance. Starling guessed her to be about Aerrow's age. Probably a little younger, although her thin face spoke of many hardships. She walked slowly, almost uncertainly with a cane in front of her. It only took her a moment to realize why.
The stranger stopped a few feet in front of them. She hesitated a moment before turning towards Aerrow and Starling.
"You brought friends." It was a declaration more than anything else.
"Dove?" Aerrow asked in an almost trembling voice.
"It has been a long time Aerrow." The young woman declared with a knowing smile.
"What happened to your eyes?"
Perhaps an insensitive question but one which Starling guessed more for Aerrow who so obviously knew this person. She turned away at the question for a moment before looking back at the sky knight. There was a thin milky veil in front of her eyes. It was obvious to Starling that she was blind and had been for a while now judging by how she seemed to be still relatively confident on her feet. No doubt this was something new since the last time the two of them had met considering Aerrow's reaction.
"A gift from Master Cyclonis." She declared bitter hatred marking her voice. "To serve as an example."
"I'm sorry..." The Storm Hawk let out in a sigh.
"Don't be. I got off lightly compared to the others." Dove informed them sorrowfully.
"The Rebel Ducks?-" Aerrow couldn't quite complete the sentence.
"Puppets." The young woman virtually spat. "Almost every squadron Atmos has to offer are now under her control."
Starling didn't respond. She'd been free for a little longer than Aerrow had. She knew how bad the outside world had become after the Storm Hawks had been defeated. When she had gone undercover, there had only been a handful of squadrons remaining, most of them were running scared and practically none would dare to oppose Cyclonis. She supposed that some of them had hoped to be spared the fate of becoming her slaves, the Interceptor doubted they had been successful but couldn't begrudge their reasoning.
"Perhaps it's time for you to see the grander picture." The Dark Ace suggested before looking behind him and whispering in a quiet voice so that he wasn't overheard. "These people are desperate enough, no need to scare them further."
"Of course..." Dove agreed with him before turning to the sky knights. "Come. You must meet the other commanders."
Aerrow and Starling exchanged a look. It wasn't as if they had anything immediately better to do. Whilst they were here, they had might as well get to know who was in charge of this rabble. Perhaps they would be greeted by some other more familiar and friendly faces, although neither of them were holding out too much hope. After seeing Dove and her now sightless eyes, they almost wished not to see the state of any of their old friends.
They were lead through the ship up to what was the command deck. Both sky knights instinctively froze as they saw just who was there to greet them. Given that they were in the company of the Dark Ace on a Murk Raider ship, Starling supposed that they shouldn't exactly have been expecting model citizens but the group which were standing there were something else entirely. Captain Scabulous, she was hardly surprised by, this was his craft after all but the Colonel and a large wallop chieftain weren't exactly a pleasant sight to behold.
They looked rather surprised to see the two sky knights standing there. For a moment, nothing was said as they simply gawked at each other. Instinct told both groups that the others were their enemies and yet circumstance had decided the opposite. What a strange world they lived in.
"Sky knights..." The Colonel scoffed after a little while. "Well this is a surprise."
"To all of us, I'm sure..." Starling muttered stepping forwards into the room.
She said nothing as her eyes fell upon a series of maps and charts which were laid out upon the table. They showed the Atmos. One which she seldom managed to recognise. Where once there had been many different terras in various colours, now there was nothing but a few large blobs all belonging to the same one or two factions. She ignored the fact that she was approaching people whom she would once have considered enemies, focused instead on what her eyes were telling her about the new world which they now found themselves in.
"Not quite the world you remember, eh?" Asked Captain Scabulous.
"Not really..." Starling replied starring down at it. "I'm guessing this isn't good."
"Everything that's red is Cyclonia." The Colonel explained waving his hand over it on the map.
"That's a whole lot of red..." Aerrow muttered looking at the massive sways of territory. "And the yellow?"
"Terras subjugated to Cyclonia." The captain of the Murk Raiders informed them. "No troops but that only makes them more dangerous to us. They're fighting over themselves to 'prove their loyalty' to the witch."
Starling examined the map intently. Red and yellow pretty much covered the entirety of the known Atmos, perhaps all of it. Her green gaze ran over all of the charted lands, so many had fallen now that it was hard to imagine just how they could possibly find a way to fight back. In a way, she told herself that she shouldn't have been all that surprised or at all really: Dark Ace was right, this was Cyclonis' world. They had simply missed most of the part where she had claimed it. So many friends must have been gone now.
Despite everything, the Interceptor couldn't help but search the map for one particular place that she knew all too well and yet she couldn't find it.
"Terra Mesa is gone." The Dark Ace informed her noticing that she was searching for something.
"What?" It was Aerrow who spoke rather than her.
"Cyclonis took that scratch rather personally." He turned to Starling who hadn't raised her gaze from the map. "You're top of her hate list. When she couldn't find you, she took it out on your Terra."
Starling fixed the empty spot of the map for a few moments. Terra Mesa wasn't much, too small to pose much if anything of a threat, its inhabitants were a fairly peaceful bunch making their living for the most part off of the fertile land. It was a simple place but one which she had called home. To imagine it gone proved to be a difficult task for her. For a few seconds, she couldn't help but stare at the emptiness of the map and feel that something else had just been torn from her.
"Its inhabitants?" She asked after a few more moments silence.
"Dead or scattered." Came Dark Ace's stoic reply.
She closed her eyes briefly. She had been expecting as much. Deep down however, Starling couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. She was the sky knight of the Interceptors and Tera Mesa had been their responsibility. For decades, she and those before her had kept its inhabitants safe from all manner of threats. Although her intention when she had left to infiltrate Cyclonia had ultimately been to protect her people, it had also failed and she had left them at the mercy of Cyclonis' bitter revenge. She had failed them and by extension the memories of her squadron.
There was nothing that could be done. Save to avenge them. Starling opened her eyes turning back to those in the room.
"How many squadrons does she have under her control?" She asked seeking to know the extent of their enemy's strength.
"All of them." The Colonel informed her casting his gaze out of the windows for a moment.
"All?!" Aerrow questioned not even attempting to hide the shock.
"We picked up a few stragglers." Dove let out in a sigh. "Literally one or two who had managed to escape their squadron's capture but that's it and certainly no sky knights."
"Were they all turned?" Starling remained fixing the map as she attempted to work out just how many squadrons they were talking about.
"Yes. I'm afraid Cyclonis has become rather proficient at turning people into her puppets." The Dark Ace told them. "Now it only takes her a few minutes."
Yet more good news. At least when Cyclonis had first got her hands upon that damn crystal it used to take her quite some time to turn even one person. It would seem that she was simply getting to grips with it.
It had taken the sky knights quite some time to figure out just what was going on. Initially, it had been a couple of squadrons who had been captured by the Cyclonians. Whilst this was concerning in itself, it wasn't exactly something unusual. In the past, the Sky Counsel would simply mount a rescue party. It wasn't necessarily a clean operation but it tended to free the prisoners. This time though, the rescuers had found themselves being attacked by those whom they were trying to save. After that it had been like dominoes, the more that fell to Cyclonis' power, the larger her army grew and the more easily they overpowered others who would almost inevitably end up being turned as well.
Still putting the pieces of the puzzle which was the new world Atmos together, Starling turned back to the other Resistance members.
"And you're the entirety of the Resistance?" She asked them.
"There are a few other cells scattered around the Atmos but we're the bulk of it." Captain Scabulous admitted not even trying to hide how dire the situation was.
Starling frowned looking back at the map. Even if they assumed that it was only the squadrons of the terras now under Cyclonis' control who had been turned against them, that still left them hopelessly outnumbered. That was to say nothing of the fact that from what she had seen, most of the people on board this ship hadn't fought a day in their lives, they were refugees, not soldiers. Many of them physically wouldn't be able to fight so it wasn't as if they could train them. That of course was to say nothing of the rest of Cylonia's might. They had been a formidable force even during the best of days, the sky knight dreaded to think what they might have become unopposed.
As she saw it, unless the Resistance was concealing something from her (and she couldn't see why they would do that) they were outnumbered, outgunned and likely running out of time. Sooner or later, Cyclonis was going to find these ships and she would do so with enough men to bring them crashing down into the wastelands and all those on board with them.
"I'll be honest." She declared looking back at the map. "I've seen better odds."
"So have we all." The Dark Ace responded fixing her with his cold red eyes which she loathed. "But beggars can't be choosers I'm afraid."
"There has to be something we can do." Aerrow declared stepping forwards.
He stopped suddenly, his wide with pain and let out a sharp hiss as he tried to avoid yelling. No doubt his wound from earlier was beginning to hurt now that the adrenaline from the fight was dying off. Stubborn, the younger sky knight straightened himself attempting to mask his discomfort and began coming towards them once more. Starling rolled her eyes, somewhat exasperated. There was a time and a place for heroics, right now, she doubted that the Storm Hawk could contribute much to the conversation – well, nothing that couldn't be said later of that was.
"Go and get that wound of yours checked out." She snapped at him. "There's no point in you standing around in pain."
Aerrow lowered his gaze but said nothing before slowly leaving the room, hopefully to go and seek out an infirmary or at least someone to tend to his injury. She turned back to the others in the room who were starring at her with somewhat surprised expressions, asides Dark Ace who seemed to find all of their interactions amusing in his own twisted way. She didn't care to find out why. The man was scum as far as she was concerned. There was little else that could be said here that she could think of. Basically, they were in trouble and were going to have to think of an inventive solution that didn't involve brute force if they wanted to stand even half a chance of defeating their foe.
"Basically… We need a plan." Starling muttered eager to get things moving once more.
"If you happen to have one little Missy..." The Captain spoke not trying to hide his scepticism. "We're all ears..."
"Where exactly have you been all this time?" The Colonel questioned leaning forwards slightly.
"Trapped." Starling replied thinking back strangely fondly to the terra. "We've been completely cut off from the rest of Atmos these past three years."
"She's telling the truth." The Dark Ace spoke simply.
Starling looked at him out of her peripheral vision for a moment. There were many questions she would like to ask the former Talon, least of which was just what he was doing here. She grasped that he'd been kicked out of Cyclonia but Starling was also aware that up until the last time she had seen him, he had been Cyclonis' favourite and lost loyal servant. What had changed in that time which had caused him to now be acting actively against her? She would have to ask him at some point but not right now.
There were a couple of things which she could suggest to help the Resistance, starting with the large number of civilians they appeared to be carrying around with them.
"Correct me if I'm wrong..." She started looking at the group before her. "But you seem to have a lot of people here who can't and frankly will never be able to fight."
"They are running from Cyclonis." Dove explained gesturing once more towards the map. "Not taking them in would be a death sentence."
"Yes but they are going to make fighting more complicated." Starling replied keeping her calm.
"So what would you suggest?" The Colonel questioned.
"The terra where Aerrow and I were stranded, it's not much but it's safe and off of Cyclonis' radar for the moment." She declared looking back out at the sky before turning back to them. "That way, at least they'll be able to rest and you won't have to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire."
"I don't suppose you could guide us there." The Captain seemed genuinely interested in her proposal. Perhaps having all these people on board the Blood Crow was beginning to grate on his nerves.
"I can." The Dark Ace declared stepping forwards.
Starling soon found herself no longer required and came up with a quick reason to excuse herself. She wouldn't have thought it but being around other people again felt… Strange… With only Aerrow for company for the past three years, seeing so many faces and hearing so many voices came as something of a shock to her. She would get used to it, it was only a matter of a few hours maybe a day or so but until then, she found herself longing for some time alone.
Dove was kind enough to give her directions to a cabin which she was going to have to share with the young woman and a few others whom Starling didn't know. It was better than sleeping on the floor she supposed. With any luck, nobody would be there at this time and she would be able to gather her thoughts a little. God knew, she needed to.
On her way there, she passed by a room and caught sight of a familiar mop of messy red hair. For a moment, Starling considered leaving him be, aware that she had snapped at him and shouldn't have. She fixed the young man for a few moments, eager to ensure that he was alright none-the-less. He was standing up in what she guessed to be an infirmary, struggling with some bandages and his wound. Se hesitated for a moment, wondering how he could be having so much difficulty performing such a seemingly simple task. Pushing the door open somewhat, the sky knight entered. So far, Aerrow appeared to be largely oblivious to her presence, too busy trying to tend to his wound to notice.
"Couldn't you find anyone?" She spoke out eventually.
"The nurse is on one of the other ships." Aerrow replied not turning around to face her. "I'll cope..."
"Not very well..." She declared softly heading over to him. "Let me see..."
Delicately, she undid the bandages which he had succeeded on applying to his upper forearm near his shoulder. She could already see some of the injury which he hadn't managed to wrap up. It was quite a nasty burn: not life threatening by any means but painful enough to cause him a fair amount of discomfort. Cautiously, she touched the wound aware that it would cause him some pain but eager to see just how he had treated it. The Interceptor only maintained the contact for the briefest of seconds as she noticed Aerrow grit his teeth in a poor attempt to hide his suffering. She let out a sigh feeling the heat which was still originating from it.
Without saying another word, she got to get feet and headed over to the sink. Her eyes trailed around the room looking for things that she could possibly use. This was hardly the best stocked infirmary that she had ever seen. She found a bucket which looked clean enough and set about filling it with the coldest water which would come from the tap. A drawer yielded a cloth which actually looked hygienic. With the bucket full, she came back over to the injured sky knight who sat patiently on the bed.
"Honestly..." She muttered somewhat exasperatedly wetting the cloth. "Did no one ever teach you how to tend to a burn?"
"Piper and Junko were the ones who always used to deal with the injuries." He muttered in a the quiet voice which he adopted when thinking back to his old friends. "I never really had to."
"This is going to be cold." The Interceptor warned him without responding to his initial comment.
Aerrow nodded almost imperceptibly bracing himself somewhat. He tensed up from a mixture of pain and shock as she applied the cold and wet cloth to his exposed wound. Whilst she did that, with her free hand, she set about undoing the bandage taking note of the rather poor job he had done of it. Maybe if she ever had time, she would teach him how to properly treat such injuries.
She had to keep on reminding herself as she had been doing these past three years that he wasn't like her. Aerrow had always had his squadron, in essence his family to fall back on when the going got tough. She had been stripped of that chance early on in her career as a sky knight. When he got injured, the Storm Hawk could turn to his friends and they would patch him up and if the need be protect him until he was back on his feet. Since the terrible day that had seen the last battle of the Interceptors, Starling had been forced to tend to her own injuries, mending them as best as she could with nobody to help her through the pain. There was a lot which being alone had taught her which he plainly didn't know because it had never been required of him.
The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes. The Rex Guardian who had got the luck shot in certainly hadn't missed. A few more inches and Aerrow would have most definitely regretted it. It was an ugly thing and would likely leave a scar or at least a mark for quite a few months. The younger sky knight shifted slightly but kept his eyes fixed firmly ahead of him.
"We're going to help them. Aren't we?" He asked in a voice so quiet she had to practically strain her ears to hear him.
Starling didn't initially respond. There were two questions there. The first one was obvious: were they going to do anything? The answer to that, she didn't feel needed to be given. They were both sky knights after all, that gave them both a responsibility and an obligation to help those who turned to them. The second matter was rather a lot more delicate. It was a question which she didn't particularly want to answer because she didn't know if she could do so truthfully. For the life of her, Starling didn't know if they could actually help these people in the sense of defeating Cyclonis. It was a big ask by any standards and so far their efforts had been in vain to say the least.
"Why do you always turn to me for answers, Aerrow?" She asked him in a quiet voice dabbing the wet towel against his skin once more.
"When I do, it's because I don't have them." He explained looking down at his feet. "I wish I did but I haven't known what to do for a long time now."
"Welcome to the club." Starling muttered a little bitterly.
The red haired sky knight shifted slightly, his gaze came to rest upon her through his peripheral vision. She tried not to take any note of the young man's green gaze as she got up and retrieved a bottle of antiseptic from a cabinet. It was clear to her that he was thinking, pondering her words and wondering if there was any truth behind them or if she was simply being pessimistic. There was a time when Aerrow would never have accepted defeat, when he would have fought tooth and nail in order to gain back the Atmos, even against impossible odds. Sadly, without his squadron, much of his fighting spirit had been taken from him.
"This is going to sting." She warned him.
The young man braced himself aware that it was going to hurt a fair bit. In Starling's experience, sometimes antiseptic could actually sting more than the wound itself. With a burn like this however they had little choice, they were notoriously prone to infection which was something which he couldn't afford. Aerrow tensed up as she sprayed the product onto his injury. She could see him biting his lower lip to avoid physically screaming; letting out a hiss of pain accompanied by a curse instead. She prevented him from swatting her away or touching his wound which would likely only exasperate the pain.
After a few moments, he seemed to calm down as the stinging sensation slowly faded away. He must have been in a considerable amount of pain as she heard his rapid breathing gradually return to normal. It allowed her to slowly get back to bandaging his injury properly this time.
"I think we have to at least try." He declared breaking the silence which had settled in. "If we don't do anything, then nobody else will."
Starling smiled softly. Something which caused Aerrow to frown wondering just what on Earth she could find so amusing that warranted such a gesture. They had very little, if anything to be smiling about: most of the world was now turned against them, they had almost no allies and those that they had were former villains which they would once have clashed with willingly. Everything about this situation struck them as both wrong and not very promising for their futures. Yet she was smiling; a gentle and kind smile which he had trouble placing.
"What is it?" He asked after a few moments.
"You..." She muttered maintaining her soft smile. "You've grown up."
For a moment, this only confused him further. She should have noticed that considering that they had been trapped together for three years straight. He was what, nineteen now? Hardly the bold kid who had initially formed the Storm Hawks, perhaps that was what she meant rather than the physical details although he was aware that he had grown in both height and stature since becoming trapped he got the feeling that that wasn't what she was referring to.
Starling wondered if he cold see the change himself: the boy who had become a man. Tragedy was a hard way to grow up. She'd discovered it herself, now that she thought about it, they had both been torn from their squadrons, the last of their family essentially at around the same age. Too young to have to deal with such pain. Despite that, they had grown up; leaving behind their childhood along with their loved ones. Maybe it had made them stronger, maybe it had left them fragile. She couldn't have said but it had made them survivors. The small smile which she noticed on her friend's face told her that he had understood.
They spent a few moments in silence with only a smile passing between them. After a few seconds however, Starling cleared her throat, averting her gaze suddenly.
"That's quite enough of that." She declared standing up. "We're going to drop off the civilians on that backwater of a terra we were stranded on. That should free up those who can fight a little."
"Good thinking..." Aerrow muttered looking down at his feet a serious expression on his face.
"You should rest." She advised heading back towards the door.
"I plan to." He declared as she left the room. "Starling… Thank you."
She smiled softly before leaving. She stopped outside. Hesitating slightly as she glanced back towards the door to the infirmary. No… This simply wouldn't do… She wasn't going to make the same mistake again.