Star Ocean: Wrath of Heaven

Chapter 5: Sins of the Father

There is a moment that exists, of quiet, almost sublimely perfect tranquility. A subtle moment of peace and solidarity that works to ease the conscious and placate the mind. It is a moment of absolute calm, when all in the universe exhales the bated breath of comfort, followed quickly by the swift kick in the head of reality.

Maria Traydor felt such a moment as she walked the corridors of the Diplo. Since having successfully secured an alliance with the technological planet Expel, she felt as though her mad quest to halt the Vendeeni expansion might actually work, and that was the source of her apprehensions. For in her experience, the universe had the malevolent habit of overcompensating the distribution of karma. When events seemed to be going well, the scales would inevitably even out in the most unfair of ways.

She had become such an expert on the subject in fact, that she knew the very event that would unfairly tip those scales. It became apparent shortly after boarding the Diplo and leaving Expel, moments, in fact, after the emissary of Expel, Ashton Anchors had found his quarters aboard the vessel, that life was about to become infinitely more complicated. Dr. Clive Esteed had awakened from his shock-induced coma and seemed well on the verge of a schizophrenic break.

It took several sedatives from the ship physician to calm the nervous man and even a Hyborian Tranquilizer to put him back to sleep until he could be eased back into the realm of the waking. Within days, however, he had settled back to his usual tendencies and habits, yet still jumped at the tiniest sound that seemed out of place or slightest movement around him. For the times Fayt had visited the father of his best friend, the young man began to believe that that nervousness would never fully leave him.

As soon as Dr. Esteed was able to get about on his own, Maria had committed the brilliant man to meet with her, to discuss the missing information stolen from the Moonbase facility. They were still two days from Elicoor II, and she felt it best to exorcise whatever demons of the universe sought to unravel her life before making it more complicated with forging yet another treaty. It was to that meeting that she currently traveled towards, hoping she would get her answers, and dreading what those answers might be. Sighing in disdain as she allowed her steps to slow to a mild pace, Maria gathered her thoughts while effectively delaying the meeting she herself prompted.

"Captain Traydor," the sound, confident voice echoed the length of the corridor as the young woman was startled out of her thoughts and turned to watch the cloaked form of the Expellian ambassador approach. "I do apologize for my intrusion," the ageless man replied, a self-mocking smile on his face, "but I was rather hoping, if you were so inclined, I'd like to sit in on your meeting with Dr. Esteed."

"Not at all Lord Anchors," Maria said, effectively shielding the disappointment from her voice. There were questions she needed to ask Dr. Esteed, herself and Fayt both, and she did not wish to do so with the dignitary present. "I believe allies should not keep secrets from one another, don't you agree?"

"Certainly," the older man said, nodding his head to emphasize his point. "After all, that's how good relations take root. And please, just call me Ashton."

"Very well, but only if you call me Maria."

"It's a deal," the man said, stepping aside as his arms motioned for Maria to enter. "Shall we then?"

Slightly taken aback at the sudden realization that they now stood outside the conference room, Maria nodded her head once to the warrior and entered. She took a moment to smile a slight, nearly unseen smile that went unnoticed by the blue haired young man seated next to the Geneticist. The act was more a necessity to comfort herself than anything else. Before he had joined, she would have questioned the doctor, and faced the truths alone. It offered a little comfort to know she had a companion in whatever those truths would reveal.

Fayt adjusted his gaze, taking in the captain as she entered the room and was slightly surprised to see the Expellian enter behind her, but a silent look of forced calm from the young woman caused any pending objections from the blue-haired swordsman to fall silent. The quiet hum that sounded as the door slid open for the two visitors however, caused the nervous doctor to jump visibly, spilling a few drops of whatever beverage he ingested from the cup that hovered near his lips. Startled and shaken, the doctor abandoned his attempt to drink the steaming contents and returned the mug to the solid surface of the table.

Smiling sympathetically at the edgy scientist, Maria felt a twinge of growing apprehension as she took the seat across the table from him, wondering what horrors the man had witnessed, and if those horrors were responsible for putting Cliff and Mirage in the med deck for the past week and a half. Another surge of guilt bubbled up from the depths of the young woman as she thought of her two crewmembers, wondering if she should have sent two others to investigate Moonbase, and feeling equally guilty that she would rather have had another crewmember in the hospital than the two Klausians that had become her family.

From last reports, Mirage's body was still healing itself. Cliff, however, had actually awakened from his coma just long enough to ask the condition of the blond-haired pilot before falling back into unconsciousness. She wondered what more she could do for the two, or even what more she could have done when the unnaturally shaky voice from Dr. Esteed intruded upon her voice.

"I imagine I'm here to tell you…everything, correct?"

The choice of words chosen by the scientist did little to calm the young woman's mind, and as she surveyed her companions, found a similar expression to her own feelings painted obviously on Fayt's face. Ashton, however, had taken to standing in the corner, quietly contemplating his own logic. "Y…yes doctor, if you don't mind," Maria said, feeling uneasy with the man's twitching and nervousness. "I want to know…what was it that was so important that was taken from Moonbase that it constituted the massacre of all those people? Does it have to do with Dr. Leingod's research?"

A veil had passed beneath the doctor's eyes, as his mind carried him to the event's that brought him to the understanding of his sins, the sins made for the sake of protecting the universe. "So you know? Yes, of course you do. It's foolish to think otherwise…" he mumbled to himself before raising his eyes to look for the first time at the captain, as the slow realization of her identity came to the forefront of his mind. Rather than comment on the obvious however, he simply closed his eyes and let out a deep breath of resignation. "Before I begin however, I must ask you Fayt, does Sophia know I'm here?"

"Uh…no," Fayt stumbled, as if taken aback by the statement. "I was waiting until you got well before letting her know you were okay…"

"Please, do not tell her I am here." At the stunned look on the blue- haired teenager's face and the accusing expression shining from the young woman's eyes, Dr. Esteed continued. "With what I am about to tell you, she does not need to hear. In fact, it may be more fitting if she thinks I am dead…at least then she will not look upon me as the monster I am, and remember me as a loving father."

"Wha…" Fayt began, his mind certainly unnerved by the man's request, however any further protest was quickly silenced as the scientist continued his confession.

"What do the two of you know about your origins?" Dr. Esteed replied, shifting his gaze between Fayt and Maria.

"Only the reasoning behind it," Maria responded, twining her fingers before her as she focused her attention on her folded hands, as if they were the most fascinating things in existence. "We found out that you and Dr. Leingod and the others discovered the creator's intentions…and therefore created us."

Despite his stoic stance, Ashton moved slightly in the corner, though whether to get more comfortable or out of nervousness at the statement, none within the chamber knew. Nodding his head wearily before taking a moment to delay his further confession, Dr. Esteed took a moment to swallow another mouthful of the beverage set before him before continuing.

"It would…make sense, that you did not observe the full footage of our progress. Dr. Leingod, none of us, ever felt comfortable with what we were doing. But we believed, should the Creator carry out his desire to exterminate us, that what we were doing was right. Truthfully, it was all that sustained us during the early days of our research. Towards the end, the excuses were hardly ever brought up, though we all carried them within us."

The pause that followed seemed palpable; as though the information to follow could well shatter worlds, and not one of the three warriors present had doubt that that was exactly what would happen. "What you saw from that digital record, the information on your…development, was merely a fraction of the actual record, but that was all you were meant to see for that's all that pertained to you.

"You see, when we first learned of the plans the Creator had devised to destroy our universe, we were brought to quandary of whether or not something like that was even possible. The problem soon solved itself however, for even if the Creator did not have the means to destroy us, he certainly believed he did, and that was the attempt we needed to stop. But, then the problem came…how do we stop it?"

Taking a moment to raise the lukewarm beverage to his lips to ease the dryness of his throat, Dr. Esteed continued. "Certainly, the means to defeat such a threat was not within our scope to understand. So we had to…take a liberal approach at devising a defense against the Creator…"

"So you dug up the past," Ashton said, causing the three others within the room to jump, as they all seemed to have forgotten his presence.

"Yes," Dr. Esteed said, bowing his head in contemplative misery, as if the sins of his crimes pressed against the very essence of his faltering will. "We weren't sure what to do, so we turned to the Pangalatic Federation for help. I never spoke directly with the heads of the Federation, that was reserved mostly for your father," Dr. Esteed replied, turning his attention to Fayt before continuing.

"The project was deemed of the highest security, even the leaders of the member worlds were not permitted to know. You of course can imagine the panic that would have ensued had that information been leaked. Anyway…we were given access to top-secret documents that even the military denied. That's where we found what we believed would be our salvation."

A deep, shuddering sigh escaped the Expellian's lips as he gazed at the scientist with the utmost disgust. "Please do not tell me you recreated them?"

"If you are referring to the beings known as the Ten Wise Men, then I'm afraid so…" Dr. Esteed said, dropping his face into the palms of his hands as he fought the bitter desperation that surfaced from the truth of his confession. "When we first obtained the information regarding them, we thought it was a black ops military project…that is, until we did some research on the history…"

"What are the Ten Wise Men?" Fayt asked, hoping to understand the purpose for the doctor's apprehensions and Ashton's suddenly stoic demeanor.

Dr. Esteed paused a moment to eye the cloaked warrior, expecting or perhaps hoping the other man would have some information he himself was unaware of before turning his attention back to the soldiers seated at the table. "Well, truthfully, we weren't sure…at least, not in the beginning." Another pause followed as the scientist took another drink, finishing the contents of his cup and effectively stalling. "When we were first given the data pertaining to the Wise Men, we thought they were biological weapons. Certainly the algorithms encrypted in the data stream was beyond anything we've ever seen before…we had to design a whole new computer system just to crack the code…"

"Professor," Maria chided gently, offering little more than a meaningful look that invited the Genealogist to return to the point of the story in a less than subtle fashion.

"Oh, of course," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as continued. "As I was saying, as we learned that the Wise Men were actually living entities with immense power, we started thinking perhaps we could recruit them to battle the Creator. Obviously though, in our haste we overlooked the true nature of our creations."

"Meaning you failed to realize that eons ago, the Wise Men nearly conquered the known Universe," Ashton replied, crossing his arms as he stared at the professor as if he were an unruly child.

"Its not that we failed to realize that," Dr. Esteed said, closing his eyes with regret as he breathed heavily the remorse that suffocated him. "It that we chose to overlook it. We thought, at the time at any rate, that they would be exceptional soldiers to fight the Creator. But as the development of their regeneration took place, we carefully monitored their dreams and their emotional status. It soon became apparent that we would not be able to control them after all."

Ashton let out a breath that came more as half-laugh of exasperation as he shook his head in disbelief. "How could you be so naïve?"

"All that we did was to save the universe. None of us have ever claimed to be saints, but we had to do something because nothing would have meant our demise. But once we saw the true horrors of the Wise Men's intentions, we stopped all progression on their development…of course; by that time it was already too late. They were regenerating on their own, and we did not have the means to destroy them ourselves, so we kept them in stasis while we initiated our contingency plan…"

"Contingency plan meaning us…" Maria interrupted, her words bitter with emotion as she stared the scientist in the eye. "So basically, you traded a weapon that wouldn't do your bidding with a weapon that would. Is that all we are to you?"

Dr. Esteed sat quietly, trying desperately to find the words to reassure the two victims of the research he helped participate in, but none came. It was Fayt who finally broke the silence. "So, these Ten Wise Men are weapons? And now they're loose? Why didn't you jettison them into a sun or something?"

"From our research, we doubted that would even have destroyed them completely, besides, they served our purpose to implement our…well…to initiate your metamorphosis. You see, when we studied the Wise Men, we realized they were essentially, the living embodiment of Heraldric energy, an archaic form of Symbology. It was that knowledge we gained from them that allowed us to imbue the Crest of Change and the Crest of Destruction to your physiology. Without them…we never would have succeeded in defeating the Creator…"

"Is that how you justify what you did to us?" Maria asked, standing as she towered the nervous man. "Is that how you sleep at night? By telling yourself all is good in the universe because you destroyed our lives to save it. You're a hypocrite and a fool. Dr. Leingod said himself in that recording, that you and the rest of your team felt the need to do this to your children because doing it to any other children would seem cruel. If you really wanted to save the universe, you should have inflicted this power on yourselves!"

"Maria!…" Fayt replied, but was interrupted by Dr. Esteed.

"No Fayt, she has a right to hate what we've done, you both have that right. But it would have done us no good to possess the powers ourselves, we had to do it to children young enough that they would grow with the power…lest it could do irreparable damage. I offer no excuses for what you've had to go through young lady, and my sympathies will be of little comfort as well. In fact, there are no words to erase our sins…"

As the silence weighed heavily on those within the room, Fayt took the opportunity to pose yet another question before Maria could again find the words to throw back at the scientist. "Then, if you wouldn't mind telling us professor, why did the Wise Men strip the information from your computer in the labs…what good would it do for them to have it?"

A puzzled look crossed the brilliant man's features as he shifted his gaze from Fayt to Maria then back again. "I'm sorry…I haven't been told of the theft of information."

However, it was Maria who picked up the conversation. "When we learned that Moonbase was attacked, we hurried to the scene, trying to catch the culprits, or at the very least find if any other information had been missed in the computers. That's where two of my crew…Cliff and Mirage were attacked. It's also the same room we found you in, the lab just outside Dr. Leingod's lab."

"I can't really say why they'd want that information in the computer, that was my own private lab," Dr. Esteed continued, his brow furrowed as he shook his head contemplating the information and what it could mean. "The data in those computers had nothing to do with the research that manifested your powers, it was concerned specifically with the process of reincarnating the Ten Wise Men. I can only speculate that they'd want to keep the information hidden unless it contained a weakness. What do you think Sir Ashton…"

Dr. Esteed fell silent in his question of the aged warrior as he and the other two members of Quark had noticed the Expellian was no longer within the room. A curious look of confusion passed between the captain and the swordsman before removing a communicator from her belt. "Steeg, can you come here?" Without waiting a reply, the cerulean-haired captain closed the communicator and returned it to her belt.

It seemed somewhat frightening as a peaceful silence fell over the three of them, each quietly waiting, as if expecting something to happen they were not entirely certain of. But within that peaceful silence, a tense uneasiness had taken root within the two young adults as both Fayt and Maria seemed unwilling to consider the realization of what was waiting out within the universe.

Yet, the sliding of the door started the three conversationalists as Steeg entered the conference room. "Steeg, could you please escort Dr. Esteed to his room. I think it best if he stay with us for a while," Maria replied, despite the confused expression painting the face of the young man seated at the table. Without protest or objections, the scientist nodded his head slightly, as if uncertain how to address the courtesy the captain gave and simply followed the large Klausian.

"Why…uh, why do you want Dr. Esteed to stay Maria?"

The young woman tilted her head slightly as she considered the question before finally answering. "It seems the best thing to do. After all, he doesn't want Sophia to know where he is, and the information he knows would make him a target by the Vendeeni, not to mention these Ten Wise Men he mentioned. I'm still not sure if I believe that…"

"Ashton seemed to believe Clive's story."

"Yes, well, Ashton also claims to be over 300 years old," Maria sighed, reclining in her chair and pressing her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose in an attempt to relieve the building pressure. "It seems every time I think I'm willing to accept what the universe has to offer, it blindsides me with something wholly unexpected."

Uncertain what to say, Fayt sat silently for several minutes before finally standing and moving around the table, making his way towards the door before being called back by the captain.

"Can I ask you something Fayt?" Her words were soft and though he was unaccustomed to hearing the tremor in her voice, he nevertheless recognized the uncertainty in her question. "What was it like?"

The question was certainly not one that the young man had expected, but the cryptic, almost dodging nature of the question itself made answering it all but impossible. "What was what like?"

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Maria tumbled forward regardless of her own apprehensions towards hearing the answer to be given. "What was it like to have a life? To be able to do anything you wanted to do, without the pressure of knowing the power you possessed. Before we had to fight to save the universe, what was it like to actually live?"

Fayt tilted his head slightly as he stared at the motionless form of the captain; contemplating the meaning of her words and more importantly, the painful hurt he heard resounding from within. He wondered how best to answer when he finally caught onto her underlining meaning. A growing feeling of pity swelled within him as he chewed nervously on his lip and considered what to say. But Maria spoke again before he could fully form his thoughts into words.

"I know I shouldn't say this, but I envy that about you Fayt. Having lived with a family, having made friends that weren't scared of you because of your powers. Having the chance to just be normal. It must have been nice," she said, pausing to consider her words. "You know, when it was all over, I was completely prepared to hand command back to Cliff. I didn't want it any more. I just wanted to be normal…just like everyone else. I'm sure I would have liked the chance." The last few words came out at a bare whisper as she took another shuddering breath.

While listening to her pledge her grief to him, he suddenly understood her reasoning, and could not help but think that she was the lucky one. The power he possessed, that they both possessed, separated the two of them from all others without trying. It would be a constant battle to maintain control over the power to destroy, and though so many things in life had been taken for granted, nothing would be the same now. Only Sophia would be spared their fate, for with the gate to the Fourth Dimension now forever closed, her powers were obsolete, and she could return to being a normal girl with her mother on Hyda IV, or where ever the two had now traveled. But his life had changed beyond measure, and Fayt knew he'd never be able to go back to the way things were.

Maria at least had had her entire life to come to grips with it, where as he had had a few scant months. Though she had never experienced life as a normal girl, he felt gratuitous levels of envy, for within his mind, having lost that life, having all the things taken from him that he had taken for granted was infinitely crueler than never having experienced it at all. Knowledge was a tedious thing, and ignorance, at least in this particular instance, was the more desired path.

Maria's sudden words startled Fayt out of his musings, "I…why can't we just live as normal people? Why does this power mean having to fight? I'm so tired of the fighting Fayt," the young woman's words came in a hitched sob as drew herself into the curve of the chair, grateful that the young man was facing her back and unable to see the tears that moistened her eyes. "Could you leave me alone…please?"

A new wave of pity filled the young man as he heard the pain swelling from the captain's voice. Why was it their responsibility to use their powers to stop the threats that sought to destroy the universe? It wasn't enough that this woman had taken it upon herself to stop the Vendeeni, but now, learning that their powers were developed from the research used to recreate ten universal conquerors and that those ten beings were now lose, caused him to feel as if the weight of the universe had settled itself upon his shoulders once more. In that moment, he truly understood the pain and desperation Maria felt…at just wanting to be normal…just like everyone else. Then perhaps, the burdens would simply not be theirs.

As he watched the small form of the so often strong leader shake in renewed grief over her inability to once again abandon her destiny, Fayt walked further into the conference room, and took the seat beside the captain. He knew tears were nothing new to the captain, the crew had told me she cried before, but she always did so in the privacy of her own chamber, as though unwilling to burden others around her or afraid what they would think of her if they saw her tears. Fayt, however was not going to let her shoulder this weight alone.

"Please Fayt, just…let me be alone…" Maria whispered as her voice hitched in her throat. She was unwilling to face the concerned expression of her friend as she tried desperately to retain the fear from falling from her eyes until he left. But the gentle hand on her shoulder pulled her attention to him as he turned her chair to face him.

"Maria," he said, feeling the weight of his fears and regrets drag at him. "You don't have to face this alone." Tenderly brushing her cheek with the back of his fingers, Fayt used his thumb to wipe away the tears that had already fallen, as he tried to coax to the other to fall so he could catch them as well. "Because you're not alone in this, and you don't have to do this alone."

As the tears came her eyes, Fayt shyly gathered the young woman in his arms, embracing her as he tried desperately to take the burden, at least in part, onto himself. To his surprise, Maria did not wholly reject the contact, though her body stiffened as she was embraced, she soon relaxed into his arms and let the grief of all that she had carried and the regret of all she'd never know or experience fall freely from her. Fayt simply held the shaking form of the captain in his arms, until with sudden realization he noticed his own body had begun to tremor and his eyes had clouded as well. And for the first time since he learned of his powers, he was able to let go of the burdens he carried as well, as his tears and sobs joined Maria's in the union of grief.

The cloaked figure stood on the observation deck, staring into the distant void of space. Even this far from his home planet, he knew where to find it amidst the infinite pinpoints of light that peppered the sky. But neither his eyes nor his mind were focused on his home, but rather on the invisible past that always seemed out of reach, always seemed beyond his grasp.

"So, the Wise Men have stolen information that contained data on their resurrection. Why? What do they plan to accomplish with that information?" Ashton said, desperate in his own musing as the tip of the snout of a red dragonhead poked out from beneath his robe and muttered as if whispering in his ear.

"Yes, I understand my friend, and that is a possibility. However, I hope you are wrong…I pray to any god willing to listen that you are. Because I don't know if we can stop them again."

Turning his eyes to stare at the large cluster of stars, Ashton rested the palm of his hand against the glass and sighed with uncertainty. "Claude," he said, though knew the words were spoken only to ease his anxious worries. "I wish you were here my old friend, I'd like to know how you'd handle this. How would you handle this Claude?" Ashton rested his forehead against the glass and waited patiently for answers he knew would never come.

To be continued

A/N: Woohoo…another chap and I'm kind of happy with this one, though I didn't get the emotional conversation between Fayt and Maria the way I wanted it, mostly because its hard to imagine that kind of responsibility I suppose. Anyway, yeah, not to bash Sophia to anyone who likes the character…but giving her powers in the game seemed useless, especially since her only power was to connect one world to another. So yeah, her powers are not ineffectual and useless…just like her…ha ha. Anyway, hoped this chapter was okay and as always, if you're kind enough to read the story, please be kind enough to review. Next chapter, the group will arrive on Eliccor II. As will an uninvited guest. Anyway, thanks for reading.