Origins

She sat alone in the dimly-lit room, lights flickering as her hands danced over the keyboard before her. With her left hand, she brushed away some of her raven-black hair so that she could see more clearly. In moments, the small crystal embedded in the desk began to glow, and an image of the galaxy appeared before her.

"The Age of Madness – a Synopsis," echoed a voice throughout the room. "In the latter days of the Age of Exploration, the first race not our own was encountered. Still unable to cope with the knowledge that we were not alone in the universe, the ship was attacked and destroyed. The Telcarans – whose name we did not know at the time – defended themselves, thus starting the First Great Interstellar War."

Unnoticed, the door behind her folded open, brightening the lights, and a voice called out - "What are you doing, Shildy-sempai?"

Shildy jumped at the interruption, and turned to face the pony-tailed girl. "A little quieter next time please, Amy," she scolded, pausing the display. "I nearly jumped out of my seat when you shouted my name!"

"Sorry," Amy apologized as she walked into the room. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." She looked at her friend as she got closer. "Do you know when it's coming out? Do you know what it is?"

Shildy looked down with a smile. "The doctor says it'll be another hundred days," she said, rubbing her growing abdomen, "and she says it's going to be a – what were the words she used? - a 'bay-bee boy'. It's basically a little Solnoi... excuse me... a little Solnarian growing inside of me."

"Wow," Amy said in amazement. "What's it like? Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore," she admitted. The nausea and vomiting had frightened her terribly - until Marcus had taken her to a doctor, who explained what her 'illness' really was. "It turns out that some of those 'useless, vestigial organs' that Captain Nebulart talked about weren't as vestigial as she thought. It still surprises me when he moves, but I'm told that just means he's healthy."

Amy shook her head, "I don't understand," she said, her bewilderment showing on her face.

Shildy let out a small laugh. "You will – one day," she admitted. "But – you were saying...?"

"Oh! I saw the display on your projection, and wondered what you were looking at."

Shildy turned her eyes back to the projected image of the galaxy. "Well – we've been learning so much about their society, laws, and technology... I thought it might be a good idea to learn something about their history, too. It's really quite fascinating," she said.

"Oh," Amy said, "that does sound like a good idea. May I watch with you?"

"Certainly," Shildy responded. As she answered, a cushioned seat quickly grew out of the floor beside where she was seated. Amy jumped backwards with a yelp.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Amy," Shildy said with a grin, "It takes me by surprise sometimes, too." Once Amy had settled comfortably into the seat, she turned to face the projection. "Continue, please," she said.

"The Wars began when faster-than-light travel had not yet been developed – as such, casualties were limited. Some ship commanders took it upon themselves to ram their ships, having been badly damaged in battle, into the enemy's planets at high speeds. This caused terrible devastation to inhabited worlds on both sides, increasing the casualty count."

The display shifted, and displayed a vessel that Shildy recognized as looking similar to a Solnoid Planet-Destroyer. "It wasn't until the earliest Nullifier – the G-Canceller - was developed," the voice went on, "that events threatened to spiral out of control. This is because, almost immediately following the capability to travel faster than light, the ability to destroy entire planets was developed."

"Sounds a lot like us, sempai," Amy whispered.

"I noticed that, too," Shildy whispered back.

"The World-Burners were used a total of eight times during the War." The projection shifted back to an image of the galaxy, but several points were brightened as the voice continued.. "The Telcaran worlds of M'rath, Joss, Raytha, and Karran were wiped clean of life, as were the Solnarian worlds of Venea, Frey, Lokh, and Oda. The devastation wrought by these attacks was almost total."

"What does it mean, 'almost'?" Amy asked.

"I'm not sure," Shildy answered, as her eyes took on a far-away look...


Lieutenant Marta coughed as the rock-fall that had blocked the entrance to the cavern gave way, collapsing into a pile of boulders that spilled down the side of the mountain. She crawled up to the hole she had just made in the wall that blocked the cave opening, her grey-green eyes adjusting to the light and haze of what she saw.

Sergeant Patti, her assistant, crawled up beside her and pushed a few more rocks down, widening the gap so that she could see. She gasped at the sight...

Almost nothing remained of the city that had sprawled below the mountain they were climbing. From their vantage point, they could spot a few partly-collapsed towers, and some open areas where parks or lakes had been. Most of what they saw, though, had been reduced to smoking ruins.

"What – what happened?" Patti wondered.

"The World-Burner," Marta muttered, "they must have used it."

"They destroyed Lokh?" Patti whimpered. "Why? What did we do?"

"We're at War, remember?" Marta chastised her for having to even ask the question. "Their goal is to exterminate us."

"Oh – right," Patti answered, still looking out at the devastation. "Do you think there's anyone left?"

"Maybe," Marta replied. "There may have been a few lucky enough to be in closed underground spaces when it hit." Marta and Patti had been exploring the caves of Mount Thaar, checking out their viability for use as shelters, when an earthquake collapsed the tunnel entrance. Thus, they were spared from the planet-wide inferno caused by the World-Burner. Ironically – the caves they wanted to use as future shelters had become a perfect shelter for them.

Marta hardened her expression. "We have to search for survivors," she said. "Come on – help me clear more of this rubble, so we can get out of here..."

Slowly, carefully, Marta and Patti picked their way down the bare rock of the mountain. All of the greenery they had passed on the way up had, seemingly, been reduced to ash. If there had been any animal life on the mountain, not a trace of it remained. They were forced to ration what little food and water they had left, hoping it would get them into the remains of the city to find more.

They got as far as spaceport on the edge of the city when Patti collapsed. "I can't... I can't go on," she gasped. "Leave me here."

Marta grabbed her arm and heaved her up. "On your FEET, soldier!" she commanded. "We got THIS far together – I'm not leaving you now!"

The exertion turned out to be too much for Marta – her knees buckled, and she fell on top of Patti.

Fading in and out of consciousness, she thought she saw a hooded figure approach them, before she blacked out completely.


Marta woke to the feel of water being trickled onto her parched lips. Licking eagerly, she took in the liquid and swallowed. Opening her eyes, she took in the sight around her.

She was surrounded by five figures, clad in ragged environment armour. The bulky, angular armour made it impossible to determine if the wearer was male or female, and their faces were covered by the darkened visors, but the flexible fabric showed holes and tears that would make the suits useless for the purpose they were designed for. As clothing, though, they were better than nothing...

She blinked her eyes, and licked her lips again. "Thank you," she croaked hoarsely, "We didn't think anyone was left. Where are we, and who are you?"

The five figures looked at each other, and removed their helmets with a twist. The person closest to her was a tall woman with long, greying red hair. The others were a blue-haired teen with a darker complexion, a tanned blonde with one eye missing, a pale-skinned brunette, and another dark-skinned girl with a yellow-and-green hairdo. "I'm Ella," the tall readhead said, "This is Rali," she pointed at the blue-haired girl, "Kas," the brunette nodded, "Nami," yellow-green hair, "and Lara," one-eyed girl. "We are... or were... at the spaceport, getting ready to leave. We were preparing an evacuation ship when the World-Burner hit," she explained.

"An evacuation ship, you say...?" Marta asked, as she heard Patti stir beside her. "Is it still functional?"

Ella looked at the other four. "Well – yes," she admitted, "it's in an enclosed hangar, one hundred meters below the surface." She looked at Marta sadly. "But what's the point?" she asked, "With only the five of us left?"

"Seven, now," Marta said flatly. "We leave. We strike out for a distant part of the universe, and leave this all behind us."

"You're kidding, right?" Rali asked, shocked. "Just the seven of us?"

"The ship is built and stocked to house a thousand," Nami countered, "more than enough to get us FAR away from here."

"But... none of us are pilots," Kas pointed out, "or navigators."

"I am," Marta said confidently. "I can take us wherever we want to go."

"Can we get it out, though?" Ella asked. "The hangar door is covered with debris, and we don't have machines to clear it away."

"We'll do it by hand," Marta said confidently. "It'll take longer, but we can do it together." She looked around at the group. "If you're willing, that is..."

One by one, they all nodded.

"Let's get to it, then..."


Ten days of back-breaking work later, they had cleared enough wreckage from the door for it to open without dropping debris onto the ship. Without power to the hangar itself, they needed another two days to open the door manually. Marta oversaw every task, ever fearful that the Enemy might come back to make sure they had finished their task – that all life on Lokh had been snuffed out. She felt an immense surge of relief when she finally laid in her acceleration-seat, looking up at the sky as they made their final preparations for launch.

"Reactor at full power," Ella called out. "Thrusters ready to engage, G-Canceller on standby."

"Very good," Marta answered. "Life support?"

"Life support is green across the board," Patti answered. "Hydroponics in storage until after launch."

"Scanners," Marta called out next.

"Scanners indicate clear," answered Rali. "No Enemy ships detected within the system."

"Ready for launch," Marta announced. "Stand by for acceleration." She pushed a lever in front of her forward as far as it would go, and the ship shuddered as the bay slid past their viewports. Within minutes, the redness of the sky turned into the black of space, and Marta finally allowed herself to think that this might actually work.

Goodbye, Lokh, she thought to herself, and goodbye Solnara. If the Alliance survives, maybe we'll meet again. "Prepare for first Jump," she ordered.

"Before we do that, Captain," Ella interrupted her, "What are we going to do when we get to whatever destination we eventually find ourselves at? There aren't enough of us to rebuild a society."

Marta looked at her. "The ship has cloning tanks, right?"

Ella cocked an eyebrow at her. "Yes," she said slowly, "but we don't have any Y-chromosome material in the gene bank, and we don't have the equipment to synthesize it. Whatever society we build, it will be nothing but females."

"It will have to do," Marta admitted. "Ready to Jump in ten... nine..."

"WAIT!" Patti cried out. "We haven't named the ship yet!"

NAME it? - Marta thought – Of all the,,, "All right," she said, looking at Patti impatiently, "What do you want to name it?"

Patti looked down at her feet for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "I've GOT it!" she said, "Let's call it the Persion!"

Kas, Nami, and Lara looked at each other and nodded. Ella looked at Patti. "The Seven Sisters," she said, translating the name. "Quite apt, I think. But – why name it?"

Patti again looked downwards. "Well... it IS Solnaran tradition, isn't it?"

"It is," Marta agreed. "But from now on, we're going to form our OWN set of traditions, our OWN society."

She slammed her hand on the console before her.

"We're not Solnarans anymore – we're SOLNOIDS."

In a brilliant burst of light, the seven of them Jumped into their uncertain future...


"Sempai... SEMPAAAAAIIIIII!"

Shildy blinked to bring her eyes back into focus. "Hmm?" she muttered, looking at Amy.

"You looked like you were somewhere else – I thought something might be wrong," Amy said to her, a slight quiver of nervousness in her voice.

"No, no, I'm fine," Shildy told her, "I was just wondering what those ancient survivors would think of us, now that we've completed the circle – returning to the society they abandoned to create their own... last survivors, just like they... oh!"

"What? What's wrong?" Amy asked, concern clear in her voice.

"Nothing is wrong, Amy," Shildy reassured her, "the bay-bee boy just moved."

"Really?" Amy cried, concern changing to excitement. "May I feel it?"

With a smile, Shildy leaned back and guided Amy's hand to where she had felt the life inside her move. Gently resting her hand on Shildy's abdomen, Amy waited. "I don't feel anything," she said.

"Wait for it..." Shildy reassured her.

"OH!" Amy exclaimed as she felt the shift under Shildy's clothing, "It MOVED! That's incredible! And it doesn't hurt when it does that?"

"It's more surprising than painful," Shildy admitted. "The doctor is teaching me how to interpret the movements, so I can figure out what it wants."

"It WANTS things?" Amy gasped, "What do you think it wants now?"

As if to answer the question, Shildy heard her stomach rumble. She smiled at Amy. "I think it's telling me that it's time for me to have something to eat." She stood up, and the chair melted itself back into the floor. "Come on," she said, offering Amy her hand, "I'll buy you lunch. There's a little diner nearby that I've been meaning to try – but with Marcus off-world, I didn't want to go alone."

Taking Shildy's hand, Amy stood up and let her chair melt back into the floor as well. "Sounds nice," she admitted. "Let's go."

Folding the door open, the two of them walked out into their bright future...

- FIN -