The roars of military ships above were all too prevalent in the otherwise quiet night. High in the air, they circled the settlement with spotlights and watched over the town.
They claimed it was for their own safety, and it may have very well been what with the rising feelings of unrest shared by man amongst the frontier; there might be some who chose to take drastic measures. But for now, it was simply a source of fear for a mother and her young son.
Peeking through the curtains once again, the woman sighed with a mixture of stress and frustration. She knew that these measures were necessary, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy them. And she knew that he certainly wasn't-
"Mom, when are they going to go away?"
She gave another sigh, but not one of consternation; this one was full of sympathy for her son's anxiety towards the ships and looming threat of danger.
"I don't know," she admits, "but you know it's for the best, sweetie. They only have our safety in mind." She wished she could believe those words as easily as she said them.
He seemed just as unconvinced as she was unenthused to say it. "What are they keeping us safe from?"
"Life on the frontier can be dangerous, but it can also be freeing. Now though, the IMC are trying to protect us at the cost of adding a few restrictions." More than a few, but the law was the law; she would abide by it.
He tilted his head. "So are they right or wrong to protect us?"
That was a loaded question. But as he looked into his mother's eyes, she knew he didn't really want an answer, but some sense of comfort and security. She was happy to provide those for him … but maybe she could teach him something too.
"The world isn't black and white," she said gently. "And they aren't good or bad; they're just doing a job. And the people who don't like them aren't really good or bad either, they just feel what they're doing is right."
"But if no one's good or bad, how do you know who's right and wrong?" he questioned.
She took pause, and thought on how best to explain this to a child with no real concept of the world and its issues. Maybe …
Giving a small hum, she smiled and sat on his bed where he lay curled up in his covers. "Can I tell you a story?"
He tilted his head curiously, but nodded all the same.
"Long before we journeyed to the stars, everyone lived on Earth. It's where we first came from, and it has a lot of history behind it. Before technology and all the things we have today like cars, and ships, and that cool stuff you play with nowadays, times were much simpler. People fought over land."
"Really? But there's so much of it!" he exclaimed. She laughed slightly.
"Maybe now there is, with so many worlds. But remember, we only had one back then. So people would try to have as much land as possible, and people would go there for places to live. Oftentimes, when there was enough land and people, they would come together and form a town, or even a kingdom."
"What kind of story is this?"
"This is the story of one such kingdom, with a castle and its inhabitants. See, the people were very happy with what they had, and their king was happy with his people. And so, there was peace. But that kind of happiness attracts greed, others who would want to steal from them and hurt them. So, they had one warrior to defend them from evil; a knight."
He likely had only the barest idea of what a knight was, so she didn't feel surprised when a confused expression came over his face. But she wouldn't tell him if he didn't ask; she'd let him imagine whatever he wanted.
"Every time someone came to ruin the peace, the knight would fight them off and protect the people. And so the people loved him."
Her son's face was full of wonder now, he was eager to hear the rest of the tale. He didn't even notice the ship's engines overhead anymore, thankfully.
"As time went on however, fewer and fewer dangers came to challenge the kingdom and its people. They entered a new era of peace and enjoyment. They told the knight to leave, and so he left the people that he'd protected so bravely over the years."
"What?" He seemed nonplussed. "Why did they tell him to do that? He did so much for them!"
"They thought they didn't need him anymore," she explained, "that they were fine without him. And so they enjoyed their peace for a time, celebrating their newfound way of life. But it wasn't long before something else came along; everyone who had ever been fought off by the knight had arrived, now that he was no longer there to protect the people. Together, they began to steal from the kingdom."
"Serves them right for throwing out the knight," her son muttered in a satisfied tone.
She held up a finger. "Not quite. Because just when all hope seemed lost, the knight returned and began to fight harder than he'd ever fought in all his life. Though he was alone, he managed to defeat them at the expense of his own life. He sacrificed himself to save the kingdom, and the people realized what they'd done was wrong. After that, he was remembered as the greatest hero they'd ever known."
She pretended to finish, and waited for his reaction. She wasn't disappointed.
"But that's not fair!" he cried. "They made him leave, but then he came back anyway and died? What kind of story is that? Why did he come back, didn't they deserve it?"
"Maybe they did," she agreed, "but that's not the point. The knight didn't have to come back at all, he knew the army was too big for just him; he knew he would die if he returned."
"Then why did he?"
"Because it was the right thing to do. The people weren't good and they weren't bad, they were both. In life, you'll find that this is true for everyone; no one is completely good or bad. But he knew that letting them perish was wrong, even if they might have deserved it. Before, he protected them because it was his duty. But then he did it because, even if they didn't love him, he loved them. And in years to come, that love and heroism inspired others to stand up to evil just as he had done."
He stared at her in awe, finally understanding the message. She chuckled and leaned down to kiss his head. "As you grow up, I just want you to know that people aren't always good or bad; but even if you know it's hard, you should always do the right thing."
He nodded with a small smile on his face, happy with her explanation. "Thanks, mom."
"You're welcome. Good night, Toby." With that, she left his room and closed the door.
He wasn't afraid of the ships anymore, even if he didn't really like them here. He took what his mom told him, and applied her wisdom here; maybe they weren't all good or bad, and maybe the people rising up on the frontier weren't all good or bad either. But peace was good, and the IMC wanted peace. That was enough for him.
He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the knight. Maybe there wasn't any kingdom for him to save right now, but … all the same, he wanted to be like that knight. To be brave, and strong … internally, he made a promise to himself and to his mom.
He would always do the right thing.
Alarms blared, echoing throughout the halls of the frigate as it entered high-alert. Ember forces darted through the passages, squads of riflemen grabbing weapons and preparing to meet the boarding parties which swarmed around the ship, soon to be docking. The bridge was a clamor of communication and orders being barked out by Fenrir.
Tobias examined the Pilot suit he now wore, similar to his old one save for the helmet, which looked narrow at the front with a small area for the optic lens. He stared at it held in his hands, almost frozen.
This certainly wasn't the first time he'd worn a Pilot suit recently, but the weight of the moment still affected him. He knew what he'd said back on Ceto, but … the impact of his words was finally hitting him.
He was going back into the fight, back into the seemingly endless onslaught of warfare that he was destined to wage-
No, that wasn't quite right. Other people waged war, he was just the one who rose up to stop them. It seemed that every time some conflict arose, he was at the center of it. Was that just a coincidence? Destiny? Maybe some consequence of being the Inferno?
Next to him, Gates stared at him, worried about his silence. "Tobias?"
Taking a deep breath, he asked himself a different question; who cares?
Whatever the reason, something needed to be done and he knew that he wasn't about to sit back while others tried to fix it. Maybe he didn't have any obligation, but that didn't mean it was right to do nothing.
The worst part about having a choice was that there was really no choice at all.
He swept his hair to the side, and placed the helmet on. A different HUD greeted him, not really new though; he supposed that there weren't any current-day models of Pilot firmware since Spyglass had confiscated most tools as such.
He glanced towards Gates and nodded firmly. "I'm fine, El."
"I hope so," said Barker, walking towards them. "Because we're gonna need a lot of luck to get out of this one. What's your plan here?"
"Get Kay off the ship, allow you guys to jump and meet you there when I can. Will the researchers put up any argument?"
"They shouldn't," piped up Mayfair, jumping into the conversation. "I'll send word right away that you're coming to get her." She tapped on a small device wrapped around her wrist, and spoke into it. "This is Mayfair, Admiral Four is coming to retrieve the subject. Do not stop him."
He'd forgotten about the last rank he'd been given; it still felt weird to hear others call him that.
More concerning, however, was the lack of response from Mayfair's comm device. She tried again, furrowing her brow in confusion. "Mayfair to medical bay, respond."
Silence.
He didn't have anything even close to a good feeling about this.
Barker quickly turned to the monitor which they'd watched Carson's video logs on, and pressed a button on the console beneath it before retrieving the Cinder from the receptacle and facing them again. "Take this with you, the boarding parties will be trying to get in any minute now. Best not to let them get their hands on it."
"You don't think it's safer here?" Tobias asked, glancing down at it doubtfully.
Barker gave a nervous chuckle. "Call it a hunch, but something tells me luck is on your side. It has been every other time, anyway … whatever, just get going!"
Understanding that now was not the time for disputing an order, Tobias grabbed the Cinder and motioned for Gates, Mayfair, and Rye to follow him. Hurriedly, they ran through the halls with the two Pilots in front and the two researchers trailing behind them.
Gates quickly accessed the comm channels as they ran. "Gray, Davis, get to the Leatherback and prepare it for launch! We're going to be hauling some cargo again!"
"Oh, man … I really don't like what you're implying."
Gates shook her head with a groan at Davis' remark, and terminated the connection. "We'll have to move fast if we want to get her down to the hangar before the New Humanity forces board! Then things will get about ten times more diffi-"
She cut off mid-sentence as the four of them stopped in front of the medical bay, too shocked for words.
The security lockdown had been activated, as evidenced by the red light above the door; but the door itself was open, completely contrary to what should be the case during a lockdown. Inside lay a scene of carnage, all the more ominous due to the poor visibility and flashing red lights inside. Cautiously, Tobias walked in.
He looked around the scene, noting the mangled bodies on the floor. Some were better off than others.
The gentlest appeared to be a woman whose neck had apparently been broken. Another one that lay closer to the door, however, had a fist sized hole that had been punched through his back and out his chest. He and another researcher lay next to one another in a continuously growing pool of blood.
Mayfair and Rye peeked into the room behind him, and immediately darted out again. From the sounds of retching he heard, he would guess that one of them had just become rather ill at the sight before them. He wished he wasn't so desensitized to such violence, but as was the case in his line of work.
He looked over at the restraining table and grimaced at the very obvious vacancy upon it. "She's gone."
"Gone?" echoed Gates. "Where would she have gone? How did she even get out of the lockdown?"
That was a question he didn't have the answer to; it shouldn't have been possible to deactivate the lockdown door without clearance from the commanding officer onboard. But it had been opened without force, as easily as one would open a wooden one. Fortunately, he only needed the answer to the first question to know how to proceed.
"In any case, she's still on this ship and she wants two things; me, and the Cinder." He glanced in both directions of the corridor they stood in. "We need to get you three to the hangar and off this ship before the boarding parties make it onboard."
Gates crossed her arms. "And where exactly do you expect them to focus their boarding efforts?"
He realized what she was getting at and sighed frustratedly. "Dammit."
"What are we going to do?" cried Mayfair, her pitch raised slightly higher than she likely wanted it to be.
Suddenly, several large impacts could be felt throughout the ship's hull, like several objects had just slammed into it. Gates glanced at him.
"Boarding parties are here."
He clapped his hands together. "Right, so we need to find Kay, get her and Cinder off the ship, all while fighting off the New Humanity forces." He huffed violently. "How hard can it be?"
Surprisingly, a smug tone began to creep into Gates' voice. "Well, I'm sure it'd be a bit easier with some Titans to help out, don't you think?"
Tobias narrowed his eyes at her, though she obviously couldn't see. "What exactly do you have in mind?"
A/N: Been a while since the last chapter, sorry about that.
Shoutouts to Corion for doing some fanart of KT from Tempest, HeliumFilaments for sending me a small excerpt of some Cinder fanfiction, and DisobeyedBowl6 for writing "Kappa 4-5", a story that takes place during Tempest, specifically the Amalgamation event on Harmony. If anyone else does something similar, be sure to let me know and I'll give you a shoutout.
Until the next time,
- Matteoarts