Epilogue
Twenty three vorns later…
The complex was quiet as a well-recognized face traversed the empty halls. A much younger quint trailed behind him, eyes widened at the grandeur of the mostly abandoned building. The elder quint navigated confidently through the many twists and turns, weaving in and out of the bare laboratories with determined ease.
He had long since memorized these halls and wasted no time in reaching his destination.
The quint smirked to himself at the surprise he had in store for his old friend.
In his eagerness to reach his destination he sped up fractionally, leaving his young shadow behind.
"Mentor! Wait up!" Came the high-pitched cry from behind him.
"Well keep up then!" The older quint threw back cheerily, not at all bothered by the waves of irritation coming from his apprentice.
He did slow down just a fraction though, knowing that his ward's thrusters had never been able to function at peak efficiency. Besides that, he had just reached the entrance to the lab he had been looking for.
"Are you ready, Kanah?" he asked carefully, watching his apprentice suddenly look apprehensive as she approached the entrance way into the lab.
She quickly snapped out of it though, her feisty personality rearing up at her mentor's show of concern. "Of course I am! Now will you hurry and show me whatever it is you drug me way out here for?"
Her mentor smirked, "Watch your tone youngling." He scolded lightly, more a warning tease than anything else. He knew from many orns of trying that attempting to correct her behavior was a lost cause and accepted her words for what they were. She was more than a little nervous after all.
"Whatever you've heard about the quint behind this door is probably right," the quint stated seriously, internally chuckling when her face paled, "But keep in mind that he's really more bark than bite." He finished lightly before running a tentacle over the sensor to open the door.
He was absolutely sure that his old friend would love her. She was so much like someone he knew a long time ago –it was ironic really that he wound up with her as his apprentice.
The doors slid open slowly, sticking slightly from disuse and lack of maintenance.
Once they were open though, the two quints filed in quietly, the latter following behind at a more hesitant pace.
"Helllooo, hellooow?" The older quint called out boldly, "Tiron, get your rusty thrusters out here you crotchety old aft!"
The quint chuckled out loud at his ward's completely stunned expression and maneuvered around to where a series of loud bangs and crashes had come from.
"HEMIR!"
The quint only grinned at the outraged yell coming from the farthest edge of the lab.
"How many times have I told you to STAY. OUT. OF. MY. LAB!?" an even older quint shouted roughly as he shuffled through the piles of haphazardly organized equipment and tools.
"Now now, is that any way to greet a visitor old friend?" Hemir chuckled and shrugged, "Besides, it's more fun to pop in and annoy the slag out of you anyways."
Tiron grumbled something along the lines of 'I'm not that old' before approaching the one quint who continued to visit him despite of everything.
"It's been a while Hemir-Attra." The older quint stated softly, clasping Hemir's shoulder lightly.
"Yeah, yeah it has." Hemir said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with a spare tentacle. He normally made a habit to visit at least every few quartex, but the last time he saw Tiron was nearly two vorns ago by now. "I got kinda busy with a project old crazy has been working on." Hemir offered by way of explanation.
"I see." Tiron hmmed lowly, glad that Professor Inquirata had kept his onetime apprentice around.
The older quint glanced around Hemir suddenly, having caught sight of movement behind him. Hemir hovered over to the side, leaving his apprentice out in the open.
Kanah yelped slightly and dodged back around so that she was hidden behind her mentor. Hemir was having none of that though and guided her gently forward with a tentacle, keeping a loose grip on her shoulder guard.
"I want you to meet my new apprentice Tiron." The technician stated, no small amount of pride coloring his tone. "This is Kanah N'mern."
Tiron eyed the young femme, his unwavering gaze briefly scrutinizing her. She was young, very young –too young. Hemir must have pulled her out of the youngling centers to have her as his apprentice at so few vorns. She had a certain sharpness about her though, and she met his eyes with a burning gaze that was painfully familiar.
Tiron didn't look away, but rather greeted her formally. "Good joor, Kanah N'mern, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Kanah's eyes narrowed marginally before she looked away, bowing slightly, "It is mine as well."
Tiron looked up to find Hemir grinning like a fool at their interactions. Tiron sighed and pinched the bridge of his face. He wondered if Hemir wasn't still far too young, mentally that was, to already have an apprentice.
Still, he thought as he observed the youngling, she seemed like she was very bright.
And more than enough of a challenge for Hemir.
Hemir then turned to address his ward, "Kanah, would you mind leaving us for a moment? I'm sure you can find all sorts of interesting stuff around here." He added when she made a face.
Kanah considered this momentarily before nodding curtly and making her way to the far side of the lab.
The two quints watched her go, silently enjoying each other's company.
"I missed you, you know," Tiron started, his voice deepened from disuse, "When you stopped coming I worried that something had happened to you."
Hemir frowned, having already felt extraordinarily guilty for having forgotten his old friend. He played it off well though and responded cheerfully, "Aw, Tiron you know me! Always getting in over my head and making trouble for Professor Quirky."
Tiron smirked at the use of the younger quint's various nicknames for Professor Inquirata. All of them were quite apt, although he would never tell Hemir that.
"Alright, I'll believe you for now –If only because I'm curious about your young apprentice." Tiron changed the topic smoothly, "How did you come across her? She's far too young to have been out of the hatchling center for long."
Hemir hummed lightly, "Yes, well that's quite a story. It was actually her that came looking for me, surprisingly enough."
Tiron raised an eye ridge, "Really now, that sounds awfully familiar." The older quint stated, referring to how Hemir had originally approached him so many vorns ago.
"Does it? I hadn't realized." Hemir bantered back lightly before sobering, his expression serious. "She actually tried to coerce me into taking her out of the hatchling center. In her own words, she said 'that she found the place dreadfully boring and no place for a quint of her intelligence'."
"So you took her on as your apprentice?" Tiron asked skeptically.
Hemir shrugged, "More or less."
The two quints went silent for a short klick.
"She doesn't happen to remind you of anyone does she?" The younger quint asked slyly.
Tiron didn't respond immediately, choosing instead to observe the object of their conversation as she picked through the piles of technology strewn through the lab. The resemblance was uncanny, save for the fact that the youngling was not a three facer and would not face the instability that… that Alchana did.
Tiron felt a pang go through him.
Even after all this time, it was still hard for him to think about his one-time colleague.
After that fateful cycle the trial was held on, Tiron had done all he could do reach her down in the cells. He was, of course, blocked at every turn. It wasn't until two orns had passed that the notice went on the news reels that the Honorable Professor Alchana-Duani had passed in the Eastern Yaos Medical center from genetic destablization. Her own trial just so happened to have been scheduled the rotation after her death.
Tiron was under no illusions that it was simply a coincidence.
The Judges had purposely put off the trial until she was too far gone for them to worry about.
"I suppose." Tiron stated impassively, continuing after brief pause. "She is willful, bold and extraordinarily brilliant; no doubt just as stubborn and fiery I'm guessing." Tiron described slowly, being completely honest with the only quint he still had contact with.
Hemir laughed weakly, sensing his old friend's change in mood.
"And which one are you describing?" He asked tentatively, trying to keep the mood light.
"Both." Tiron responded simply, looking over at the younger quint by his side.
Hemir nodded, acquiescing and falling silent.
It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, rather a companionable lull. Tiron had spent vorns in silence with only himself as company, so he found it hard to find words to carry on a meaningful conversation. So instead, he chose to remain silent and wait for Hemir to say something, as he always inevitably did.
The younger quint, while respectful, had no fondness for sitting still and staying silent.
"A3 has been adapting well, along with Beta." Hemir started on a whim.
Tiron smirked, surprised at how long the quint had lasted before bringing up his favorite topic. The two prototypes were the technician's life –he took every chance he could to tell Tiron about their progress. Not that Tiron minded. He was actually quite fond of listening to Hemir describe the development of the two prototypes.
"We are currently working on another batch of units to be developed and placed into the consumer technology market." Hemir continued happily, "A3 and Beta of course have been more than eager in helping put them together. Professor Inquirata has plans in the works to start a self-sufficient factory on Cyber:Tron so that resources are more readily accessible when producing more units."
Tiron quirked an eye ridge up at that statement, thoroughly impressed with the amount of work the Professor had done to get the prototype units to where they were today. However, he wasn't entirely sure why, but it worried him on some subconscious level.
Quintesson's, as a general rule, never really did anything without an alternate motive and Inquirata was no exception to that rule.
"You weren't kidding when you said you've been busy then." Tiron stated wryly, a teasing undertone to his words.
Hemir made an exaggerated expression, "Have I ever been one to joke around, Tiron?"
"The pink paint on my workbench says otherwise youngling." The older quint growled.
Hemir laughed out right at that, going over to investigate said paint. "You still haven't managed to get this stuff off?" He asked, slightly impressed with himself.
"Whatever slag you used bonded with the table's metal." Tiron explained. He was still a little annoyed by it actually, even if it had been several vorns ago.
A loud yelp and a series of crashes distracted both quints from whatever conversation they were having as both rushed to the source of the clamor.
What they found sent Hemir into a fit of laughter, even as the young Kanah pulled herself out from underneath a pile of crates that had fallen over. Luckily, most of them had been empty when they fell.
"It's NOT funny!" She whined, serving only to amuse her mentor further.
The young femme grumbled loudly, using a few choice words to describe her ire, as she attempted to free herself with limited success.
Tiron also had an amused look on his face, but rather than just levitate he moved forward to help the youngling up. Once free, she shot both of them a heated glare and proceeded to ignore them in favor of digging through the collapsed pile, searching for a certain item in particular.
"What have you got there, Kanah?" Hemir asked, having finally gotten a grip of himself.
Tiron looked over her shoulder curiously, recognizing the smallish box that she held. "Ah, that would be a set of Klavion class instruments." He stated slowly. Alchana's personal instrument kit.
Tiron had collected a few of her things from her lab when she died and brought them here. They had been sitting there unused for the entire twenty three vorns he'd been in his isolated lab.
Kanah's eyes went wide as she recognized the make of the instruments and promptly found the official Klavion production stamp. "Do you have any idea how much these are worth! No one makes instruments of this quality anymore!" She ranted excitedly, her voice rising happily.
It wasn't often Hemir saw her act so… so youngling like. She was still so very young, but most quints could never tell with how serious and focused she was. It made him smile warmly, something Tiron caught onto instantly.
It was then Tiron realized just how much Hemir cared for this young ward of his.
"You can keep them if you'd like." Tiron offered genuinely, "It's not like they get used around here."
Both Hemir and Kanah gaped openly at him, but it was Kanah the responded the fastest.
"Really? Do you really mean it?" She asked hopefully, her face looking so very much like Alchana's pointed blue one.
Tiron smiled a true, sincere smile. "Of course. I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it."
Hemir and Kanah stayed for nearly another groon while Tiron taught the young apprentice how to operate her new instruments and tools. It pleased Hemir to no end how well the two had hit it off once Kanah got past her original wariness.
They couldn't stay forever though, and Hemir was soon called back to his lab by the professor.
The two older quints briefly bid their goodbyes with arrangements to meet up again. As Hemir maneuvered back down empty halls he noticed Kanah was somewhat subdued.
"Everything alight, youngling?" He asked carefully.
She mumbled something along the lines of 'I'm fine' and weakly flared her thrusters. Hemir smirked, knowing better than to believe her.
"You can visit with me again if you'd like." He told her, watching as her eyes lit up momentarily.
She nodded and flashed his the briefest flicker of a smile. The two quints then continued making their way back to the main portion of the complex.
Alright guys, thats a wrap!
I have mentioned previously that this story is going to be the first in a extensive G1/IDW universe that I have planned. However, these may not necessarily be written in their chronological order. For now, I'm going to take a short break from the Quintessons and write something a little different. The reason for this is simple: I feel like my writing style has improved a lot since I started this story and I would like to continue to improve my writing skills. This means expanding the content that I'm writing. Or in other words, writing with constant undertones and hard science gets tiring after a while.
So keep your eyes peeled for any new stories!
'Till all are one!
-muse