Emblems Saga: Call of the Emblems
The Katti's Chosen
"In space, beware the shadows shifting in the dark."
Planet Shou'da, Bern Expansion, Elibean Space
Glass awoke from his light doze when the transport he was in finally emerged from hyper-space. The long flight between systems in the Bern Expansion was part of the reason only Bern or Eturia could lay claim to the area. No one else had the resources to patrol such large areas in the Elibean Space.
Glass rubbed his eyes and stood as the transport's inertia pulled at his right side. The craft, in his mind's eye, was banking right as it lined up for approach to the landing platform on an asteroid. Planet Shou'da wasn't unique in having an asteroid belt, but it was extremely isolated and that made it perfect for what Glass' Master wanted it for.
Moments later, the transport extended landing struts from inside its oblong hull and gently touched down onto the landing platform. It was one of five similar platforms that sat embedded in a small valley like space on the large, hollowed out asteroid. Had Glass cared to glance out the portal during approach, he would have seen the entire special body covered with pinpricks of light, dozens of rows and columns of windows giving only a glimpse into the interior.
Walking off of the transport gangway, Glass was stopped by four men wrapped head to toe in black cloth. Only their glowing golden eyes were visible through small open holes in the cloth. None showed any emotion, but looking into those eyes was still unnerving for Glass. It was like they had no souls and were seeking to suck his own out every time he looked.
"The Master was not expecting your arrival," one of the cloaked men said. "Due in… five weeks, you were. To report on your progress. Is your arrival a sign of success?"
Glass nodded. Hardened swordsman as he was, even he was struggling to keep his mouth from curling in disgust from looking into the strange man's eyes. "Yes," he said. "Though I don't believe he would appreciate secrets of this caliber being shared with lowly guards. I will see him personally."
"You're sword," said another of the cloaked men. He held out his hand and waited. "The Master has declared a weapons ban."
"As you wish," Glass said. He wasn't too upset about this, since he wasn't stupid enough to only have one sword on him. There were also other reasons not to be concerned. "Just don't push any of the buttons. The Master doesn't wish to clean up more of his minions off the wall." Glass grinned in small triumph at provoking a reaction from the cloaked man as he unsheathed his vibro-sword from his back and placed it into the man's waiting hand.
"Follow me," the first cloaked man said. He turned and appeared to hover away as his black cloak consumed all sound and sight of his feet. Glass repressed a shiver and followed. Good as he was, even he would be hard pressed to fight a man who made no sounds of movement and blended in with the darkness. There was a good possibility that he'd lose that battle.
The cloaked man stepped onto a platform with a railing mounted onto a monorail that ran the distance of the landing platforms and entered the asteroid interior through a tunnel. Glass leaned against the railing as the platform's motor whined louder and he and the cloaked man started moving. He watched, bored, as the Aero-barrier surrounding the landing platforms disappeared from view when the platform entered the tunnel.
They were in darkness for several seconds, air whipping through the black cloak and Glass' hair. Then the platform emerged from the tunnel into a wide open space, revealing the gigantic hollow interior of the asteroid. Long metal walkways stretched from one side of the interior to the other and the entire space was illuminated by the man lights on the many floors. More monorail platforms zipped about as other men in black cloaks went about doing the Master's business.
Eventually, the platform Glass was on shifted onto a that looped around the interior of the asteroid in a downward spiral. The platform skipped all the off ramps as it continued on its way to the belly of the base. When it finally reached the bottom, the platform slowed to a halt next to the dock where almost a dozen black cloaked men stood.
Glass ignored how all their golden eyes fixed onto him and waited for the platform to fully stop. Then he stepped off and brushed passed the cloaked men. He was fully aware that nearly half of the men from the platform followed in his wake, despite not hearing or seeing their movement.
The dock led to a landing where a stone building was carved from the very rock of the asteroid itself. The building was cut to make it appear to be one of the many ancient temples scattered about the galaxy. This one, glass knew, was not one of those, but rather a fairly decent imitation.
Ascending the wide steps to the entrance of the temple led to the open doors of the building itself. Grand columns stood on either side of the door, as if guarding it. Relief sculptures telling of hard work, death, and war could be seen on the crenulations.
Inside the temple was just one room that took up the whole of the interior of the space. Enormous pots vats of some substance Glass didn't quite recognize blazed brightly and gave the raised dais, upon which a man sitting in a simple stone throne, a shadowed brooding appearance. There was also chanting reverberating through the air, dark and ominous. It sent small chills down Glass' spine.
The man on the throne had a hood around his head, revealing nothing of his face in the shadows cast by the blazing torches. The only thing that Glass could see inside of the hood was a single azure eye with a glint of madness in it. At the very least, Glass wasn't so intimidated by this man as he was of the golden eyed men. There was just something not quite human about them.
"Glass," rasped the Master from his throne, "I feel you've come because of your mission. I can assume that because you don't have them with you that you either gave up or they chose another. So then, what do you have to report about the Katti and their new wielder?"
"You're going to have to tell me how you do that sometime," Glass said. He crossed his arms as he looked up at the Master. "Honestly, I hadn't even said anything and you already knew why I was here. Why did I even bother coming?"
The Master's single eye shrank to a pupil as he stood from his throne. With the movement of his cloak, the Master's face was revealed in the firelight. He was a man, clearly, but his right eye was covered with a grey cloth, an intricate blood red script and symbol painted over where his eye would have been.
"Why I know what I know should be obvious," the Master said. He took slow, steady steps forward toward Glass. His single eye, still wild with madness, was focused on Glass. "I care not for your petty emotions. Nor do I care for your insignificantly trivial concern for travel or comfort. I am the Master here."
By this point, the Master was nose to nose with Glass. Glass, unable to look away, or move for that matter, could only stare into that single madding eye. For a brief moment he felt like his mind was slowly dissolving into nothingness. For that brief moment, he wished for nothing but to slit his own throat, to escape the maddening sea of infinite chaos inside the Master's eye.
But that ended abruptly when the Master pulled away and turned around. Glass fell to his knees and gasped for air as he struggled to keep from passing out. By the time he was able to concentrate on more than his own survival, the Master had returned to his throne and his face was hidden from the light again, save for that eye.
"Lest you forget, Master," Glass said, sneering as he stood again. "I used to kill people like you for a living. And I slept like a baby at night, too."
"Then it is a boon to me that our benefactor sees fit to place more faith in my skills to carry out his plans than you," Nergal sneered right back. "Now, make your report, or I will be forced to rip your soul from your body and sacrifice it to Chaos."
Glass grunted. "Yes, the Katti have chosen. A girl, of the expanse, with blood ties to Lycia, just like it was foretold. She's wields both blades as easily as I once wielded them and yes, they resonate with her spirit. There is no doubt, she is the Katti Chosen at this time."
"I suppose your failure at retrieving the blades was to be expected," the Master said. "Don't assume that I hadn't foreseen this outcome in my planning. I've already set in motion other plans to either capture her, or distract her for years. Even if I cannot have the Katti, they will not be available for the apocalypse."
"Hmph." Glass grimaced and spit. "May the universe burn."
The master grinned, his one eye a single dot again. "Yes. Burn it will. Hahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
The laughter echoed out from the temple and up into the rest of the asteroid. The sinister guffaws echoed about the interior for minutes on end. As the multitude of black cloaked men heard the malevolent sound, their eyes glowed all the more brighter, as if they burned in hatred of all they saw.
Bulgar City General Hospital, Planet Bulgar, Sacean Expanse
A man stood over her. She couldn't see him clearly, only his silhouette and the fiery orbs of his eyes. Behind him lay the smoldering ruins of a once great city, creatures of some kind running amok over the rubble. The man didn't move. Instead he stared at her with those eyes of fire, like he was focusing a laser on her soul. No matter how hard she tried, she could not look away. A pain grew in her head until she cried out. This only made the man grin, revealing dazzling white teeth.
"You'll be handing that over to me now, I think," the man said, his voice sickeningly sweet. She knew that she didn't want to, that if this man got what she had, the universe would end. She'd die. But she couldn't stop herself from walking forward. "That's right. Soon, it'll be all over. Just hand it over to me."
She stretched her hand out, palm up, holding out a medallion of some sort that was covered in blue flames. This fire emblem wasn't burning her skin, instead it felt cool, like water running down a stream. Her arm and body trembled as she held the flaming emblem out toward the man. She stop shaking, not matter how much she tried. Just like she couldn't stop staring into the man's flaming eyes.
Just as the man reached out to grab the flaming medallion, a loud beeping penetrated the fear that had fogged her mind. The man grinned at her again, seemingly leering at her despite how he was currently dissolving into blackness. And then all that was left in her mind was the beeping.
Lyn came into herself slowly. She felt woozy, like she felt after sleeping too much. And it didn't help that she'd had that dream again.
She tried to sit up, but something was strapped to her wrists and she couldn't move very far. Maybe she'd gotten wrapped up in her sheets again… or so she thought until she opened her eyes and found she wasn't in her room at all.
She was on a bed with bars on either side. Around the bed were curtains colored a very ugly green. And the reason she couldn't move very far, as she found when she looked down, was because she had hand cuffs and wrist straps attaching her to the bed.
"Wh-What's going on?" she asked. She tried to sit up again, and struggled against the bonds holding her down. But it was to no avail and she fell back onto the mattress in a huff.
The curtains were suddenly drawn back and she found herself confronted by four people. Two women who wore light green smocks similar in shade to the ugly curtain. A man who wore a long white coat with a Stave Patch on his shoulder, indicating he was a doctor. And another man who wore the standard blue and brown security uniform from the Space Port.
"Finally awake, are you?" asked the doctor as he grabbed her arm and pressed into her wrist. At the same time he lifted his arm and watched a holographic clock tic away. At the same time the two nurses began checking holographic readouts at the foot of the bed. The security guy just stood there, looking bored.
"What's going on?" Lyn asked. "Why am I tied up? Where am I? Where are my friends? Tell me what's going on!"
"Calm yourself, young lady," the doctor said sternly. "You're lucky that you haven't ripped your wounds open again with all that struggling." The nurses finished doing whatever they set out to do with the holographic displays and left. The doctor nodded to himself and dropped Lyn's wrist.
"She's as healthy as a horse, I'd say," the doctor said as he turned to the security officer. "Aside from her residual wounds, she's is in good health."
"When will she be ready for transport?" the security officer asked. "The trial is this evening."
Transport? Trial? What are they talking about?
"She should be ready by then," the doctor said as he walked away and pulled the curtain back closed. Lyn noticed that even though the doctor left, there were two feet still visible under the curtain. The security officer must be waiting for her to finish healing. But healing from… that gut wound?
She looked down at her midsection and focused on that part of her body. It felt normal, nothing was out of place, and she wasn't looking at the hole she remembered Glass putting there. That must be the healed injury that the doctor was talking about.
Why wouldn't they answer any of her questions? Also, the doctor and nurses didn't want to look too closely at her the whole time, as if they were doing everything at arms length. Were they afraid of her? Was that why she was strapped down?
After giving the restraints another once over, she realized there really wasn't anything she could do. That realization left a sour taste in her mouth and the growing heat of anger in the pit of her stomach. They had to be blaming her for everything that had happened since she arrived on Bulgar. She wasn't the one responsible for being kidnapped; it's not like she asked those men to single her out. It was her granduncle's doing.
And then the buffoons at the port arrested her friends without asking anything and just threw them in jail. Sure, escaping was bad but, she didn't blame them for escaping to come save her. How could she?
And now they were going to put her on trial. What did she do besides attempt to save two relics that were held as sacred by all Saceans? What did her friends do that deserved treatment like this?
None of this made any sense. The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. One thing was certain though; she had to find a way out of this. Maybe she'd have to escape just like her friends. But then what about The Lorca? It was probably on lock down just like she was.
One thing at a time, she told herself. She slumped backwards into the bed as a headache from all the thinking pounced.
Outside of the hospital stood two figures dressed in dull brown cloaks. With the hoods up to hide their faces, they were generally ignored by passing vehicles and pedestrians alike. While they stood, they faced the hospital, watching people come and go.
"She's in there," one of the robed figures said, the deep baritone notes of the voice indicating it was a man. "I tracked her here after the med-evac took her."
"That fool of a magistrate plans to assign all the blame for the uproar on her and her companions," the other one said, voice a high soprano indicating it was a woman. "We cannot let that happen. Lady Katti must be rescued. Also, the Bishop has voiced an opinion that someone might be paying them off, though he has no proof."
"I suppose that is why his holiness sent The Faithful," the man said.
"Yes, The Faithful," the woman agreed. "And what of the sacred blades? The buffoons didn't just leave them in the cavern, did they?"
"If only they were so dense," the man said, voice tinged with irritation. "It would have made thing easier. But it is not so bad. The security took them to the evidence lock up at their central station, along with Lady Katti's companions. The Faithful has assured us of success, though."
"Good," the woman said. "Then before the night is out, the Lady Katti will be whisked away to safety. What shall become of her companions?"
"The Bishop said they are to either become her first retainers or her first sacrifices," the man said with a shrug. "No matter in the end. By then, Lady Katti will be safely hidden from all that seek to harm her."
The two fell silent. Within moments, both had vanished. Anyone who saw them standing there before passed the strange disappearance off as them having never been there to begin with.
Raptor's Cry, Taliver Asteroid Field, Sacean Expanse
A small, balding man wearing a very dirty pair of overalls that had several holes ripped into it, scurried down the dingy corridor as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him. He dodged his big, hulking brethren as easily as his fingers swiped their wallets as he passed. True, that wasn't his current reason for hurrying, but it couldn't hurt to look out for oneself while on the job either. Especially because work for a thief normally dried up fairly quickly.
At the end of the long corridor he was traveling was a standing open doorway. The room there was the bridge of Raptor's Cry, the Mothership Class Flagship of the Taliver Armada. That was the thief's final destination.
It wasn't taller than any other of the decks on the ship, but the room walls were covered in projector screens for a panoramic view of the space around the massive ship. In the center of the circular room was the captain's chair, which had a holographic tactical display built into the right arm and the 'Captain's' computer console on the left, on a raised dais. Around the chair, sunk into the floor, three rings of computer consoles radiated out. The inner most ring contained the Communication and Fleet Coordination consoles. In the next ring contained the navigation, propulsion, and engineering consoles. The outer most ring contained the computer consoles that controlled all of the different defense systems built into the massive hull of the Raptor's Cry.
Constructing the Raptor's Cry was no mean feat for the pirates. Any such vessel of Mothership or Dreadnaught class size required the resources and manpower only Bern, Lycia, or Eturia had in this region of space. But ever since the man that the thief was approaching had come to the Taliver Asteroid Belt with his big ideas and persuasive speeches, things had changed. The gangs of bandits and pirates hiding out there started grouping together, working for a cause greater than their own greed. After gaining that much trust, that man pooled the resources and man power that was available and stole what wasn't, in order to start this project.
Admittedly, the thief and everyone else knew that the benefits of amassing such a large hoard meant that they could raid anyone they wanted and beat back the militaries that might try to fight them. Heck, the visions of grandeur alone given to them by that man were worth following just to see if it could be done.
That man, whose real name was Fom Ottis, sat on the bridge in the captain's chair staring out at space while the men at the stations around him continued the work of breaking in the Raptor's Cry. On this bridge, and to the rest of the Taliver, he was known simply as King. King of the Pirates, as some drunken buffoon had coined him. In the end, pirates and brigands being the simple folk they are, that name stuck.
"What have you to report, thief?" the King asked, never looking away from the display of stars. "I assume it is important from the amount of sweat on your brow. You never run that far that fast unless you've stolen something."
"My apologies, my lord," the thief said. "We just intercepted a message from Bug of the Ganelon Mercenary Unit 3. It had to do with the Katti's wielder. It would seem that one of their men, Glass, was attempting to steal them, but a girl got there first and Glass fled the scene. The rest of Mercenary Unit 3 was slain by the girl and her companions."
The King was silent for several long, excruciating minutes. At long last, he stood and motioned toward the man sitting at the communication's station. "Give me a fleet wide audience," the King said. When the communication's officer nodded, the King spoke.
"Fellow men of the Taliver Armada," the King began. "Let it be known that your hard work has paid off, and now we stand ready to conquer richer lands. None shall be spared the wrath of the Taliver!"
"For the Hoard!" roared the pirates in all the hundreds of vessels floating around the Raptor's Cry back to the King.
"Yes!" the King crowed triumphantly. "Our first target will be Bulgar! It is there we shall make our mark on the galaxy. None shall soon forget the name Taliver after we have ravaged that planet."
"For the Hoard!"
"For the Hoard!"
The King smiled as he sat back down. The shouts from the hundreds of ships continued for over an hour. The thief watched all of this curiously, but remained silent himself, even when the bridge crew erupted in chanting as well. Thieves like him weren't known for their revelry and doing things loud or obnoxious. Obnoxious thieves got caught, which was bad for business.
"Set course for Bulgar," the King said. "Alert the fleet and prepare for the jump. Remind the more idiotic captains of the spatial wake a ship of this size makes. We don't need our own men destroying themselves mid jump."
"Aye, aye, my lord," one of the communication's officer's said. By now the chanting had died down, though some were still going at it with gusto.
"And you, thief, get back to work," the King said.
"Yes, my lord," the thief said. He quickly slipped from the bridge. The King clasped his hands together in front of him and rested his chin on them. Amusement dance in his eyes, which oddly enough, the pupils seemed as if they were formed from black flames.
Port Bulgar Security Center Lock-up, Planet Bulgar, Sacean Expanse
"These idiots are beginning to try my even my patience," Mark said. He paced back and forth in his cell as he spoke, shaking his fist in the air as he went. "Who in their right minds believes the words of some… some cutthroat, murderous bastards over actual, law abiding citizens. We didn't do any of this! It's insane!"
"What was it you said last time?" Sain asked from his cell. He lay on his back on the floor with his feet propped up on the wall and his arms splayed out on either side of him. "I think it was, 'Shouting like a drunken outlaw who just made payday won't change my situation, so far as I know,' or something like that."
Mark ignored Sain and ran to the front of his cell. He gripped them with his hands and shouted, "Do you know who I am? I'm the greatest damn tactician in the galaxy! I don't care how long it takes; I'm going to get out of here. And when I do, I'll come back here and make you wish you'd listened to me! Do you hear me?"
The guard standing directly in front of his cell continued staring at Mark, unflinchingly watching him shout right into his face. Mark settled into a glaring contest, which he quickly lost when he blinked. "Shit. I lost the game!"
"You realized that after what we did last time, it was unlikely they'd let us stay in here unobserved," Bob said from his cell. He flicked his tail in annoyance from his seat against the far wall. "Frankly, they're smarter than you give them credit for, though perhaps only in a small way."
"I'm more worried about Lyndis," Kent said, finally speaking up. He sat against the back wall of his cell, much like Bob, but appeared more introspective with his head down. "I know they told us she'd survived, that they took her to the hospital to treat her wounds, but she was really bloody when she was pulled out of the caverns."
The room fell silent after that. Mark grunted his frustration as he slumped down onto the bench in his cell. Slowly, painfully, the seconds turned into hours.
And then the thick metal door at the end of the cell block opened with a metal on metal screech. Everyone got to their feet when they saw Lyn being marched into the cell block by two men, her hands bound behind her back.
"Lyn!" Bob said. She was dressed in her long blue dress, but it appeared to have been cleaned and patched up by someone. There was a dark patch over her abdomen, but the red of blood had been removed. Lyn looked at Bob as she passed his cell and said something in Sacean. He nodded back to her, his face suddenly sad as he replied.
"You know," Sain said as Lyn was put into a cell several spaces away from everyone else. "Chicks love a guy who's multi-lingual. I should learn a new language."
Kent scowled. "Is that really all you can think about, Sain?"
"Oh my," Sain said, feigning innocence, "you believe I've abandoned my duty, my dour companion." Sain straightened up, placed his right hand over his heart, and lifted his left hand into the air. "I solemnly swear that I shall pursue all beautiful women with the tenacity of a Goldoan Bull Dragon, so help me Goddess." After saying that, Sain cracked an eye and peeked at the stewing Kent one cell over. "Besides," Sain said, cracking a smile, "whatever else would I think about at a time like this? It isn't like we've got any pressing engagements we can attend under current circumstances."
"I don't know," Kent said, his voice as flat as his gaze was burning while he watched his partner. "Perhaps attempt to figure a way out of here and back to Caelin. The Governor doesn't have much time, remember. Unless, of course, your vow is more important than your damn duty."
Fate, having been a cruel mistress to this bedraggled group of star-crossed companions, decided that tossing small stones into the pond of life wasn't as fun as big, honking boulders. Said big, honking boulder took the form of a large explosion that rocked the entire facility. Everyone in the prison block was thrown to the floor as the lights flickered once, twice, and then died completely. Emergency chemical lights built into the floor immediately flared to life and the cell block became bathed in dull orange light.
"Is everyone okay?" Kent shouted, once he got to his feet. "What in the hell was that?"
At that moment, another explosion rocked the building, followed by the very characteristic fast stuttering of a rapid fire plasma gun. Piercing whistles appeared and then went lower in pitch until they ended in a fantastic boom that once more rocked the cell block.
"It sounds like a war zone out there!" Mark shouted above the noise. "What the hell is going on?"
"Pirates!" The door burst open and one of the security officers stood there, covered in blood and dust. He was breathing hard and leaned on the door handle for support. "The Taliver Armada is here! Man your sta-Urrrgh!"
The man didn't get a chance to finish whatever he was saying as a glowing blade of white pierced his neck. He gurgled and choked on his own blood as he fell to the floor. The other security officers rushed forward, but then the one who cut down the first man stepped into the cell block. In several seconds of quick hand jabs and the application of a short yellow Vibro-sword, all seven of the guards assigned to watch the group, plus the man with the warning, were on the ground, bleeding out or dead.
"Go with God, my poor brethren of justice," the assailant said. Despite the amount of blood spatter that had resulted from the fight, the man's pristine white and powder blue robes looked clean as clean could be. His vibro-sword was gone, most likely hidden in his robe again. Most striking about the man was his long blond hair and very fine facial features. If not for having heard his voice, everyone still alive in the cell block would have thought he was a she.
"I must apologize for the lateness of my arrival," the man said as another explosion rocked the building. A flash of firelight entered the door indicating how close the explosion was. "I'm afraid the men here were being paid off by your granduncle and the Taliver Pirates chose this time to assault Bulgar."
"Who are you," Kent asked as the building rocked again, but the explosion wasn't as loud. "And how do you know Ludgren is paying off the Bulgar Security Force?"
"Tut tut," the man said as he picked his way down the hallway to the first cell door. With a quick swipe of his hand, the lock had a smoldering hole in it. "I would tell you about my conversation with the man in charge here, but there are more pressing matters at hand. For now, it is highly recommended that we escape, with all due haste."
"Priest robes… Martial Arts… something about this seems familiar," Mark said as he pushed open the now unlocked cage door. He tried looking into his memory for some kind of answer, but none appeared. While the strange priest was 'unlocking' the other cells, he walked out into the hallway to gaze out the window at the chaotic scene enveloping Port Bulgar.
The sun was setting on the scene of hundreds of Mechs flying about in the air. Innumerable glowing rounds of plasma crisscrossed in the air. Vibro-weapons were slashing, slicing, and sometimes falling from destroyed mechs to crash into the houses and streets below.
"They won't last long," Mark said as everyone finally emerged from the cell block into the hallway. The sounds of battle, blasting propulsion engines, humming Vibro-weapons, the rat-tat of rapid fire plasma guns, were furious and angry. The defending forces still launching from the ground in Soldier Class mechs barely got engaged with the vastly more numerous Brigand and Pirate class mechs, with some Mercenary class mechs thrown in for good measure, before they were falling back to the ground in flames.
"I'm afraid I couldn't convince the Magistrate of Bulgar to let you go peacefully," the priest said, drawing attention from the carnage taking place outside.
"That doesn't appeared to have stopped you," Kent said. "Who are you and why are you helping us?"
"Who I am is not important, and neither is why I'm helping," the man said. "Just know that I'm not here to hinder your journey in anyway. For the time being, though, you may call me Lucius."
"Right, Lucius, it's not like we have a choice at this point." Bob said, voicing everyone's concerns. "In any case, we need to get to our ship and escape." He pointed up. "It's docked at the hanger."
"And we need to get our weapons and bags," Sain added as he began jogging down the hallway. Everyone quickly followed as another Soldier mech spiraled down to the ground in front of the Space Port in a ball of fire. "They should be in the same lock-up as last time, if we're lucky. Fortunately, it's on the way to the lobby."
"Sain," Mark shouted from the back of the group. "Lucius appears to be the only one armed. Let him lead, just in case we run into someone unpleasant." Lucius took that as his cue and bounded ahead of the group in three quick bounds. He was fast, Mark noted, very fast.
Lyn's eyes were narrowed as she ran beside Bob. The two of them were talking in Sacean, though from her expressions, Bob was butchering the language severely and she had to think hard to translate. Despite that, the two seemed to be communicating quite easily, which Mark noted as well.
Planet Laramie Research Station, Sienna System, United Republic of Bern Space
The vent cover in the dark control room fell from the ceiling vent and clattered about on the floor in the main control room of the research station some forty feet below. Seconds later two lithe forms, one half the size of the larger, who had long hair whipping behind them as they fell, dropped to the floor and landed in a crouch. The remained in the crouched position they landed in as the door at the back of the square room opened and flooded the dark room with light.
The two security guards, armed with plasma guns, from the hall entered the room and looked for the cause of the noise. As they moved slowly about the room, swinging their flashlights about the room, all they saw was dust and de-activated computer consoles. By the time they had made the circuit back to the door, their guns were holstered again.
"Damn place is haunted," one of the guards said as they both walked out the door.
"Not with that again," the other replied just as the door shut with a soft hiss.
As stillness and darkness filled the room again, the two lithe figure left the shadow and walked to the center of the room. Neither made any sound as they walked, their feet somehow landing perfectly silently. When they met up in the center, the taller held a finger to her lips and pointed to the central console where a holograph projector was placed, both off.
The smaller, wearing a face mask with glowing red eyes that allowed him to see in the infrared spectrum, turned and nodded. He moved quickly to the console and plugged a cable into an open Universal Data Port. The other end of the cable was plugged into his suit arm.
"Data downloading," Nils said quietly, barely above a mumble. He watched the data streaming down the computer screen projected into his goggles. "Approximately fifteen minutes."
Ninian, meanwhile, was at the door that the two guards had burst through. She'd attached her own suit to the door's console. "Good," she said back, mumbling herself. The suit's picked up the sound and amplified it when they spoke, so they heard each other clear as if they were shouting at each other. A orange holographic input console appeared in front of her and she began typing onto it. "The door will be sealed in a couple seconds. With this level of technology, they'll probably never break my algorithm. How's the data look?"
"Hmm…" Nils said as he read a few of the lines of information as it passed by his eyes. "It appears that the Black Fang is infiltrating every corner of Elibean society. Blackmailing those who are useful and replacing those who refuse to cooperate. I bet the President would love to have this- What's this? This is interesting…"
Ninian finished typing and the holographic keyboard disappeared. The lights in the room turned on and the door made a soft clicking as the 'emergency lockdown' engaged. Outside, the two guards pounded on the door a couple of times and started shouting. One of them, according to the thud, tried shooting the plasma shielded doorway. Ninian shook her head. There was a reason this place was the central control room, it was built to be a bunker in space, if it were involved in a space battle.
"What was that Nils?" Ninian asked, speaking in her regular voice. "I didn't hear you over these human's pathetic attempts of entering."
"Ninian," Nils said, excited. He pushed his face mask back as he activated the holographic projector and started digging through files on the console in front of him while the computer in his suit continued the download."Come look!"
Ninian moved silently next to her brother and scanned over the file he'd brought up. It was a memo from the mysterious 'Master' to all Black Fang members. The Katti had chosen and orders were now to capture on sight, kill if possible, capture preferable.
"Now that is interesting," Ninian said. "It's too bad we cannot communicate with Quantum from here. Pathetic human technology. I'm sure we'd get some new orders…"
Ninian let her thought trail off as she glanced at Nils. He had his face mask back down and was scanning the files as they downloaded. "Nils," she said, with a sigh. He was too oblivious yet. More training needed indeed. "Nils!"
"Huh!" Nils jumped and pulled his mask up to look at her. "I'm sorry. I couldn't find any more information on who the Katti is. There might have been a physical message with the electronic one that had more information, but it's not stored here. I-uh… what is it Ninian?"
"Nils," Ninian said quietly, "we aren't here to get excited over what we find, just to find it, and escape without being noticed. And as I was saying, if we could contact Quantum, I'm sure we would get new orders. Since we can not contact Quantum, a decision must be made as to what to do. Though it would appear you plan to follow this trail concerning the Katti, there are other trails that could be followed as well. So, what's your decision?"
Nils fell silent as he thought. Banging on the door broke his concentration and he glanced over at it. There was a steady thumping on the door. A dent was beginning to form as the metal was bashed out of shape.
"Nils, I'm waiting," Ninian said. "Remember, it's your test. You must decide what you will do, as all deep cover agents must."
"Right," Nils said. He turned away from the door and concentrated on his options. The best idea would be to retreat with the data they had and begin going through it, perhaps even reporting to Quantum for new orders. But sometimes, deep cover field agents weren't able to do that, and had to follow their own instincts to accomplish their missions and the greater goals of the Dragon Imperium. Undoubtedly, there were many very important leads on the Black Fang in this data, but the moment he'd laid eyes on the Katti memo, he got really excited.
Every dragon was taught the importance of the Sol and Mani Katti and the prophecy of the Katti. How the Chosen of the Katti would become a great protector of life and justice, as foretold by the Oracle Goddess, Ashunera. Along with that prophecy came the foretelling that the Dragons would play an important part in the Chosen of the Katti's life during a great battle against evil. Every little Dragon boy and girl pretended to be the Katti Chosen's guardian or warrior, or whatever imaginative title they gave themselves while playing.
"They're almost through the door," Ninian said. Her voice was cold like it always was and yet he could hear a mocking tone in it. In any case, she'd snapped him out of his internal debate. And his suit was beeping at him telling him the download was done. It was time to leave and choose.
"If the Katti really has Chosen someone," Nils said, "and the Black Fang are after whoever was chosen, then I think it would be in the Imperium's interests to make sure they fail at every turn. After all, the Black Fang are our enemy, and whatever hurts them, helps us. We must search out the Katti's Chosen."
Ninian nodded and smiled. "Very good, Nils. Though you took a bit too long to decide this time. Keep working on your situational awareness."
Nils nodded gravely as he took her words to heart. She was smiling, yes, but it wasn't friendly advice. It was a warning. 'Take too long again, and I'll kill you.' Yes, he nodded again, message received.
When the banging on the doors finally reached a crescendo, the poor metal panels gave up the ghost and fell into the room. They screamed with a whoosh and smashed into the ground with a loud crash. Five men, wielding plasma rifles and body armor, rushed passed the three men who'd bashed the door open with a door ram, in to the lightless room. Everything was where it was supposed to be. In the ruckus, no one noticed two shadows quickly slipping out of the room past everyone's backs.
Bulgar Space Port Evidence Lock-up, Planet Bulgar, Sacean Expanse
Arriving at the evidence room wasn't as remotely difficult as it should have been. Kent reasoned that was more than ever likely because of the world wide attack by the pirates. Even as he and Sain retrieved their gear and luggage, and Mark his, there were at least seven thunderous, earth shaking explosions.
Everyone knew it was in their best interest to get out of there as quickly as possible. However, once everyone had their things and were about to leave, Lucius pulled Lyn aside and pointed to two katana neatly laid out on a table by themselves. He said something in Sacean, which after a glance at Bob and Lyn's faces, Kent assumed was fluent Sacean instead of the broken speak Bob used.
Lyn looked apprehensively at the swords and then said something back to Lucius. He shook his head and replied solemnly. Kent watched Bob frown, look back at the swords, and then back to Lyn. Then he added something to the conversation.
"Ever think that maybe we're missing something important when they talk in Sacean?" Mark asked from the doorway. He was continuing to glance up and down the hallway. Kent was relieved that he'd had the foresight to think of keeping a look out. His skills must really be rusty if he'd overlooked that.
"Somehow, I don't think we need words to explain what they're saying," Sain said. "Look at her. She looks sad, or maybe she's just afraid. Either way, she clearly wants nothing to do with those swords."
"I suppose we'll have to ask later," Kent said. "For now, we really should get out of here. Lucius, if you would please just grab the swords, we can talk to her about it lat-"
"No," Lucius said firmly and shook his head. "She has been chosen by the Katti. Only she may wield them. Or rather, they only want her to wield them. They're her responsibility now. It is not something to be taken lightly and she is…" Lucius paused as he searched for the right words. "She is accepting the reality of how drastically her future has changed," he said at last.
Another explosion rocked the building and dust particles as well as some small pebble sized rubble fell from a crack that had formed in the ceiling. Kent gave the ceiling a quick once over. It was most certainly not going to last much longer in this battle. Not to mention that there's no telling if the space elevator was still operational. And even if it was, the hanger up top was most certainly under attack.
Lyn squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, marched up to the table and, hesitating only once, grabbed both of the Katti. In that instant her fingertips came into contact with the swords, there was a flash from the swords. The light filled the room for just a moment. Then it was gone, before anyone had a chance to blink.
"Well, now that we've got that out of the way," Mark said, as he and everyone else blinked a couple times to get the flash from their eyes, "I think we have a ship to catch. If you don't mind, I'd like to be on it, and out of here, before some pirates decide I'd look better with my head on a pike."
"What, did you piss the pirates off too?" Sain asked with a grin as they all left the evidence room. Mark grimaced but remained silent.
Local Space, Planet Bulgar, Sacean Expanse
The King, Fom Ottis, watched from his seat on the bridge of the Raptor's Cry as his forces invaded Bulgar's airspace. The resistance that the defense force was putting up was pathetic. True, they probably had better training, but the sheer number of pirates he had under his command could blot out the sky of the whole planet with their mechs. The defense force didn't stand a chance.
"My Lord," one of the communication's officers' said, raising a hand to grab his attention from the tactical display on his chair. When he glanced away from the holographic tactical display, the officer said, "Our men are reporting several carrier class ships leaving the large hangar in orbit. Though most are unarmed and easily boarded, there is one that has two mech units defending it as it makes its run past our front lines. A Myrmidon Class and a Magic Class of the Monk variety. They're destroying every unit that goes at them."
"Hmm…" The King turned back to his tactical display. He tapped a few of the control buttons and then watched as the picture of the battle taking place zoomed into one carrier with two mechs zooming about it. A squad of three Pirate mechs made a run on the ship, however as soon as they got close, the Myrmidon intercepted them and broke their formation, distracting the pirates while the Monk blasted them all with his Fusion Plasma.
"This is annoying indeed..." the King grumbled. "Though I suppose thinking beyond simple attack strategies is too much for many in the Armada." He fell silent as he thought. While he was thinking, another squad made a run, and met the same fate. In minutes, the ship would be out of the planet's gravity well and would be able to jump to hyper-space. Letting them escape would ruin his plans, meaning plan B would be in effect. Unfortunately, his personal options were limited since the Raptor's Cry was observing the battle from the edge of the system.
"The fools are skilled, I'll give them that," the King said at last. As he spoke, he scrolled the image along the carrier's path and found a pirate squad of heavy frigates, seven of them, guarding the missions supply ships. "Sadly, fools will remain fools. Order the frigate squad guarding the supply ship to form up and take them out. No one shall escape our attack."
The King smiled as he continued to watch his tactical display while the officer relayed his commands. The frigates all moved about until they were in a wall formation and then they began advancing on the fleeing carrier. With only two mechs, that beat up old Sacean wreck didn't stand a chance against the high powered rail gun and missiles of the frigates.
The two sides advanced on each other. Then the frigates fired their missiles, which closed the distance twice as fast as the frigates. The King was about to turn his display back to the battle at large when he saw the Myrmidon transform.
Curiosity piqued, he watched the flight mode mech race toward the missiles. Not one to turn away from a train wreck, the King was a little disappointed when the Myrmidon wasn't destroyed. He didn't catch on to what was happening until the flight mode mech blasted past the much slower frigates.
His heart leaped into his throat when he realized that the Myrmidon had all the missiles locked onto it. The pilot was using his own missiles against him! Something wasn't right though. The Myrmidon's flight path was too far away from his frigates to hit them. Then he saw it, the Myrmidon was headed straight for the supply ship!
"Contact the supply ship!" the King shouted. "Tell them to get out of there."
The communication officers scrambled to do as their lord bid, but it was too late. The Myrmidon swooped over the hull of the supply ship and then hid behind it. The missiles lost their lock and continued straight on their path, right into the side of the supply ship. The supply ship went up in a bright ball of fire that quickly died in the vacuum of space.
Dirty deed done, the Myrmidon turned around and started back. When the Myrmidon made its move, the frigates had faltered, opening them to the attacks of the Monk. Now four of the frigates were destroyed and the last three were being engaged by the Myrmidon and the Monk as the carrier passed by uncontested. Moments later, the carrier picked up the two mechs and disappeared into hyper-space.
With the supply ship of that quadrant of the attack sphere destroyed, and none of the nearby supply ships capable of taking over its duties, a hole appeared in the pirate's offensive. The King watched, fists clenched while a raging inferno of anger built up inside of him, as the planet's defense force quickly took advantage of the new hole. It wouldn't be long before they had retaken the planet now, since they were better trained than the bumbling pirate idiots of the Armada.
"Order the retreat," the King ground out. "We'll be heading into Judgral Space now. Our training is complete. Time to start the real war."
Finished speaking, the King stood stiffly and stalked from the bridge into the adjoining living quarters that were reserved for him. Body rigid and fists held tightly together behind his back, the King stood at the large window viewport of the surrounding space and watched the stars twinkle. In his mind, despite knowing that this wasn't really a set back, considering Bulgar was just a training run, the King was swearing to hunt down the one responsible for the events that had just played out. As his imagination played out exactly how his revenge would take place, his pupils turned from brown human to blood red demonic and a grin stretched across his face.
A/N: This chapter is looooooong. It's over 9000... words. :D
This chapter went through several iterations before I settled on this. Initially, I had described Lyn and co fighting to escape, with a badass declaration by Lyn, a better description of Lucius' Monk-Fu, and so on. But as awesome as that would be, the scene just didn't fit. I don't know why, but I was bored with it. So I ended up making the little scene where Mark demonstrates his tactical genius, and Lyn her piloting capabilities when given direction. She's not the best pilot by a long shot, though. The only reason she pulled that stunt off was because she put her faith into Mark's strategy. She'll get better though, as will the others (of course).
Next Chapter: The League gathers new members as Lyn heads toward Caelin. Ludgren makes his another strike. A new face is introduced, along side his equally important blue haired brute of a friend/sparring partner.
Constructive criticism and comments appreciated. Thanks for reading.