Emblems Saga: Call of the Emblems
The Katti's Chosen
"The tapestry of Fate is not known until it is weaved. You'll never know where your fate will take you because the Threads of Fate and the hands of the weaver are invisible."
Planet Talos, Snoverial System, Illian Space
A young girl of middle teenage looking years walked alone out of the hangar, despite the twenty or so other young girls of similar age also walking beside her. They more or less felt as alone as she did. Behind her the fond farewells of her family and friends yet to leave on their own pilgrimages still hung in the air.
It was a crisp, warm morning on the third planet of the Snoverial system. The blue sky was alive with ships approaching and leaving the Talos Starport and there were several flocks of the long winged Flitty Bird, known for their short chirpy calls, floating on thermal updrafts.
The girl stopped just in front of her craft, taking in the moment that was now and marveling at the beauty that was being entrusted to her. To any young Ilian, going on the pilgrimage was a great honor as well as the customary coming of age trial. The fact that her family was wealthy enough to afford her a brand new, state of the art, CL ZX-7 Pegasus Class Fighter meant she was one of the lucky few who could skip having to earn enough money to buy a fighter. Most of that wealth was in thanks to her sister, Farina, who's made a lot of money contracting with mercenaries during her own pilgrimage. A grimace crossed her face as she thought of her eldest sister. Farina had yet to retire from her mercenary group, something which had been entirely expected, but not as easily accepted. Fiora, her only other sister, rounding out the Three Thundra Girls, had returned and joined the military. She was here, to witness the Pigrimage take off with her parents.
"You're a beauty," she said, reaching up to run a hand along the belly of the fighter craft. The composite skin was smooth and cool to the touch, even with the grey and blue paint. The way that the colors were painted onto the body and single pair of swept back wings made it look like the craft gradually became darker from the white tipped nosecone to the near pitch black navy blue tail fins. "I think… I'll name you Huey," she said after a moment of thought. "My name is Florina Thundra. Let's have a good pilgrimage together and bring our family lots of honor, okay?"
She didn't receive an answer but smiled sweetly as if she had anyway. She continued to walk around the craft, inspecting it just as she'd been taught at school. Memories of her two older sisters berating her for improper care continually filtered through her head as she made sure that every last thing was in place. Once she was sure everything was set to go, she climbed up the short side ladder into the open cockpit.
Almost as soon as she sat down, the computer came to life and began booting up, listing pre-flight checklists and confirming them almost as fast. While the computer completed its automatic warm-up check, she strapped herself into the pilot's seat. She made sure to pull the straps tight after adjusting them, but making sure they were loose enough so that she could still reach the controls. She wasn't that long-limbed, so she needed to be able to lean forward to reach some of the console buttons.
Once she was finished settling in, she looked outside of the canopy and, spotting her parents and older sister Fiora, waved. They returned the wave, though her mother stopped waving soon after starting so she could bury her face into her father's shoulder. Her father continued waving and hugged her mother.
Taking a deep breath, she checked the fuel level and set the navigation computer to take her, like the rest of the young pilgrims, to Lycia. From there, she knew, she'd set out to look for work as a delivery-woman or something else safe to last her a year. Once done, she could come home and finish her schooling.
She pulled back on the control stick and gave a soft cry of surprise when the retro-rockets fired and she lifted slowly off the ground. After taking several moments to get used to the sensation of flying, she looked back out of the canopy and watched as the ground began to get farther and farther away. Her family went from dots to invisible as the entire continent came into view.
"Hey! Can you hear me? Girl in the new Pegasus! Put up your Rad-Screen!"
She jerked back into her seat from looking at the planet below and sputtered as she tried to find the correct control switch. Once she found and flipped the switch, the glass like canopy around her went opaque and image projections of what was beyond appeared. The autopilot computer automatically created a three dimensional pathway on the screens indicating her charted course.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Florina turned to the communication's console and punched up the signal that had warned her. The image of a blue haired young man appeared on her left. He smiled once the connection stabilized.
"You were almost a goner there."
"Oh. Um. Yes… Sorry. I," she said. The fact that it was a stranger and a man brought out her shyness in the hardest way. "I just-"
"Oh you don't need to apologize to me," the man said with a soft chuckle. "I'm not in your flotilla over there, but I saw you were the only one who'd not put up your Rad-Screen. It wasn't long ago that I went on my first space flight, so I know how… exhilarating it can be."
"Oh… thank you."
The man looked at her skeptically before he shrugged. "My name is Toby Niskavow. Us spacer's got to watch out for each other, right? Look me up if you're ever in Bern."
"Y-yeah," she mumbled. She gave the man a weak nod and said, "Thank you," and then cut the connection. As soon as Toby's face disappeared, she slumped forward and groaned. "How am I ever going to succeed if I can't even talk to one man?"
Florina reached into the cockpit storage box and fished around until she pulled out a small dragon pendant. The dragon was made of a bluish purple metal with white gold "sparks" scattered across its hide. She clutched the pendant close to her chest and then put it back into the storage box.
Somewhere on the Lycia-Sacea border…
"Dan, I got the two on the right in my sights."
"Copy Wil. I'm just about to drop down on these two over here on the left. Then we can race to the leader of these bandits. Winner buys."
Wil shook his head, his brown hair falling back into his face from where he'd blown it seconds before. "Copy that," he said as he squeezed his trigger finger and felt his Archer shudder as the Helix Canon fired. The beam of white ionized plasma splashed onto the unsuspecting Brigand unit and caused the craft to implode.
The shot alerted the remaining four bandits that they weren't alone in the airspace over Teloom. They immediately broke apart and began to make a turn to head toward Wil, but not before he got off another shot from his Helix Canon and blew a second Brigand to pieces.
"Nice shot buddy! Now it's my turn."
Wil watched as a Fighter Class mech rocketed up from below and smashed into and through one of the Brigand's with its green Vibro-axe blazing. The Brigand exploded and while the remaining two bandits were swerving around, trying to regain a semblance of order, the Fighter emerged from the explosive ball of burning gasses and layed into the closest Brigand. The Brigand didn't have enough time to transform out of its flight mode before Dan's Vibro-axe smashed through the pilot's canopy.
That left just the leader of the bandits, which Wil was lining up a shot on as Dan was working on the last bandit. Dan used the now defunct Brigand as a platform to push off of toward the leader of the bandits. The bandit leader had transformed and brought his own red Vibro-axe to bear. The two traded blows before Dan's axe finally out maneuvered the bandit's and cut through the bottom half of the Brigand, lopping it completely off. Seconds later, another shot from the Helix Canon consumed the Brigand in a ball of plasma.
"Wow," Wil said. "That was pathetic. Even the last guys lasted longer than a minute."
"Yeah… This is boring! I want a real battle where I can test my mettle… Argh… See you planet-side. You're buying."
"As I remember it, you only got half his mech. I took out the pilot with the rest of it. Dan… Dan? Ugh." Wil shut down the link to Dan's Fighter and turned his mech toward Teloom. As he descended into the atmosphere he wondered how Dan was going to explain his way out of this one… and where they'd go from here.
They'd been picking off bandits as mercenary work along the border for a couple months now. At first it was an exciting experience as much as it was a learning experience. But after a while, the excitement of outwitting the vile but stupid bandits had worn off. It was too… easy.
After leaving the star port, Wil met up with Dan at a bar just down the road. The big man appeared to already be on his third glass of whiskey and had several more lined up next to a rather full looking bottle. Dan cracked a grin at him as he sat down next to him and downed one of the glasses sitting on the counter.
"Haaa!" Dan said. "Another day-hic- another grand success!"
"At least we're getting paid for the work," Wil said. "Better than we could say back home."
"Yeah…" Dan lifted another shot glass but stopped with it touching his lips. Then he put it down again and turned to Wil. "Hey buddy, listen. I've been thinking lately."
Wil rolled his eyes. "Last time you did that, Rebecca nearly gouged your eyes out with a spoon. I still have scars from when I stopped her."
"Hey man, I'm being serious here," Dan growled, clenching his fist. "We've been going around doing no name jobs for the past few months and I'm tired of it. I want bigger challenges than these measly pieces of crap bandits."
"You'd have better luck finding a pirate crew to hook up with," Wil said just before he tossed another shot down the hatch. "And you're no pirate Dan, so they'd probably hang ya and use you as an example."
"Grrr… You don't think I can do it? Is that it?" Dan smashed his fist down on the counter, making several of the remaining filled shot glasses fall over and spill their contents on the counter. The bottle jumped about an inch into the air before it settled back down onto the counter. "I'm leaving our group Wil. I'm heading out to make a name for myself and if that means being a pirate, then so be it. I don't care if I have to even change my identity to do it, I'll get it done, you'll see!"
With that said, Dan stood up and stalked, staggered, and walked out of the bar. Wil shook his head and poured himself another glass of whiskey, which quickly disappeared down his gullet. He ended up staying at the bar until the bottle was empty.
The next morning, Wil awoke to find a message waiting for him at the hotel desk. It was from Dan.
"I'm sorry for bursting out like that last night," Wil read, "But I really don't feel like we're getting anywhere as a group. Nothing against you, you're a great Archer pilot. But I think we both feel cooped up here in this backwater part of the galaxy. I'm going to find greener pastures. If I find anything, I'll send you a note to let you know where the grass is greener. Till then, tell my sister I love her. Dan."
Wil groaned and crumpled the note in one hand. "Damn, he was serious." He looked up and pulled apart the note to read again. Shaking his head, he tossed the note into the trash bin as he made his way back up to his room. "Now what do I do?"
He entered his room and fell backwards onto his bed. As he stared at the plastered ceiling he tried to figure out where to go next, but his mind was blank. Dan was the one with the nose to find trouble, or trouble found him, but it was usually he who found the work that went with it.
"I guess," he said to himself, "I'll just head to the next port over and see if there's any work. If not, I'll just move on. I should have enough money to hold me over for at least a year of travel."
As he set to packing and working out how to get to that next port of call, he idly wondered where Dan would end up. And why did Dan expect him to tell Rebecca that? It's not like he was heading back that way. He shrugged as he continued to pack his things.
Planet Ostia, Capital System, Lycian Space
It was raining dragon sized drops of water outside the windows of the President's Office. The President himself stood at the window looking out the water streaked panes of glass as if he were trying to decipher a meaning in their random patterns and swirls. Behind him stood two men, both in Ostian military regalia.
"Generals," the President said, his neatly combed, swept back blue hair shook as he turned away from the window to face the men. "I understand that our men in the international force occupying Daein Space have done excellent work and are respected by the locals, loved even. Which one of you is responsible for this feat?"
The sardonic tone of voice and the withering glare that the President used made it clear that he was being sarcastic when describing the conduct of the army in Daein. The truth was that Ostia was, like the rest of the international occupying force, almost universally despised. The Daein citizens felt, with good reason, abused by those occupying their space after the fall of their mad king.
"I have received intelligence, sir," said the general on the left, Frum, "that one of our regiments in the Occupying force has been infiltrated by Begnion spies. It's my belief that their influence is what has corrupted the image of our men and more than likely the rest of the force."
"So I am to believe that just a handful of spies have corrupted the entire occupying force of five hundred thousand. Do you take me to be an idiot, general?"
"It's because the troops are so far away from home," the other general, Alex, piped up suddenly, his voice hot. "It's difficult to maintain discipline so far away from home space. The men should be recalled. Besides, the Occupying Force has become bad publicity for Lycia. Our people don't want anything to do with it now that the war is over. Daein should be left to the Tellians to deal with."
"And have us reneg on a sworn allegiance signed by me, personally, and by every member of the congress. General, you may have your thumb up the political butt of Lycian politics, but you seem to have no idea what foreign policy means to the people of Lycia. We owe those Tellians as much as they owe us. Pulling out of the alliance means no one outside of Elebian space would buy our products. That might not be so bad if Bern hadn't decided to produce and buy only locally made things and Eturia has done the same. That leaves only Sacea and Illia, neither of which buy enough to sustain our economy at all."
There was a knock at the door and the head of a red headed old woman wearing square framed glasses popped in. She nodded at the President and he nodded back. Then she pulled out of the room and closed the door.
"Generals," the President said, "it appears our time is up. Please see yourselves out, I've an important call to make."
Both Generals saluted, turned on their heels, and walked from the room. Once the door clicked shut, the President picked up the black phone on his desk and waited for the other side to pick up.
"Yes, Mr. President?"
"Would you please send up one of your best agents, I have an urgent mission that needs taken care of with the utmost secrecy and care."
"Right away, Mr. President."
Almost as soon as the President put the phone back onto its receiver, the door opened and in walked a man of average height in a suit. His sandy blond hair framed a serious if otherwise carefree face. The President gestured for the man to sit.
"Mr. President, I understand you have need of the Information Bureau?"
"Yes," the President said. "What's your name, son?"
"My name is Mathew sir," the man said. "I'm the best that we've got, sir."
"Well you're mighty confident."
"I have to be, or else I might start second guessing myself, which would lead to a failure, which isn't acceptable."
"I see…" The President rested his chin on his chest for a few moments, tapping his fingers in front of him. "A while ago, I asked Gallian Ambassador Ranulf to look into some troubling readings coming from the dead center of the Sacean Expanse. He's since run into trouble and I've lost contact with him. The Gallian King has contacted us asking for his whereabouts. Apparently he's needed back home for one thing or another and have given Ambassador Ranulf until two weeks from now to contact the embassy to receive the message waiting for him. I want you to go find Ranulf and see if he's dead or just lost without power somewhere."
"That's quite a tall order, Mr. President," Mathew said. "But not impossible. I should be able to get it done in less than a week if favorable winds prevail."
"Very well," the President said. "You'll leave immediately. Shirley has the credentials you'll need to travel and where to start looking, so see her on the way out. Good luck."
Mathew stood and nodded at the President. "Thank you, Mr. President, but I don't believe in luck that I don't make myself. If that is all, I'll be on my way."
"That's all," the President said. He watched Mathew leave, waited several minutes, and then picked up the white phone on his desk and said, "Shirley, please contact Hector for me and tell him I should be able to make dinner tonight."
"Sure thing, Uther."
A/N: Whoever said Uther was an ineffectual statesman was clearly not saying it in his presence. In this story, I'm not sure what I want for Uther. There's so many characters to choose from and it's quite a dangerous galaxy. And that's besides the bad guys out to get them. I guess that bridge will be crossed when I get to it.
On another note, a reviewer pointed out that Lyn's a bit grittier than in the game, and correctly chalked it up to the Sci-Fi setting. The truth is, I've applied the mythology of the games to a space age setting, so hopefully everything is like that, just a bit grittier, but in a good way. Hopefully the adventure is just as good as it was in the games.
I can't believe it took three chapters to get back to her, and at this point, I'm wondering how good of an idea it actually was.
What's you're opinion? Was putting all this in between to break up the action a good idea or a bad one?
Next chapter: The last few introductions of Lyndis' Legion, and then back to the conclusion of Lyn's first battle.
Please review, I love constructive criticism. Thanks reading.