The Wrong Crowd - Part 1

Alira was leaning backwards in a recliner chair, her legs stretched out and her unlaced boots resting on the handrail at the lower end of the sickbay bed. She absentmindedly cleaned her fingernails with a utility knife while she watched the sleeping figure stretched out there through lowered eyelids. Slowly she considered the finely shaped elfin features of the other woman. Her long ivory hair lay fanned out around her almost like a halo. A quick glance at the medical data readout told her that the slender girl was likely to wake up any time now. The Sebiestor woman had sat there for at least an hour, brooding over the things she would say to this Amarrian once that moment came.

She still didn't really know.

The medical staff were still off duty at this early hour, she was alone with the young capsuleer 'An Amarr loyalist capsuleer' she reminded herself 'How many of my kin might she have killed? How many desperate slaves who might have commandeered a ship to flee from their bondage did she catch and return them to face punishment at the hands of their masters?'

Presently the eyelids of the pale-faced girl fluttered and opened slowly. At first she only registered the room around her. The clean and austere interiour of the Caldari-constructed recovery ward caused a reaction more like confusion than uneasiness to express itself on her features. When her traveling gaze finally landed on Alira's functionally clad form, she jarred slightly and raised herself up on her elbows.

'Where have you brought me?' she asked apprehensively with a brittle voice.

Alira swung her legs off the bed's edge and heavily dropped her booted feet to the ground. She pivoted the chair into it's upright position, snapped her knife shut, and ironically sneered at the girl. 'Back to freedom' she replied.

The young Amarr woman drew herself up to sit straight and opened her small mouth in an expression of disbelief and surprise. She swallowed once. 'You are not one of the people who caught me?'

Sylera shuddered at the memory. The forced modification of her spinal plugs. The feeling of helplessness as the Minmatar scientists connected her to the invasive neural interface which made her an instrument without free will. She could not remember anything coherent from the moment on that her mind was overpowered.

'I am – as a matter of fact – one of the people who saved your life.' Alira answered sardonically and tucked away the knife in a breast pocket of her heavy utility jacket.

The brows of the young Amarrian drew together in a bewildered look. 'But you are …'

'Yes, Minmatar.' Alira interrupted 'Seems your treatment at least left you with a grasp of the obvious.' she leaned forward in her chair 'But I am not with the people who used you for their experiments. You are in an isolated sector of Wormhole-Space, and this' she made a short sweeping gesture into the room 'is the sickbay inside a control tower of the independent capsuleer corporation I am with'

The expression of confusion on the other woman's face changed into one of anxiety again 'So you are pirates.' She concluded hastily 'If you want money, my family will surely pay any ransom, even the Empire itself … I am …'

'Sylera Aulithe, volunteer for the 24^th Imperial Crusade. We know' Alira interrupted her again. 'And we don't quite work like that. Although … ' she reconsidered for effect '… more ISK sounds much better to me than another Amarrian to deal with'

'Well, I am also certain that you will get a reward if you return me to my people. I am – after all – in the service of a legitimate Imperial …'

'Don't you dare speak of legitimacy to me in reference to your murderous Crusade' Alira launched at her with a suddenly intense glare in her angrily narrowed eyes. She stood up and was about to continue with a tirade when a swish of the sliding ward-door announced the arrival of a third person.

'Alira, they told me you were down here.' sounded Keram's voice from behind 'Come on we need to … Oh look what we have here! My favorite canbait has woken from her slumber.' Keram laughingly exclaimed after he became aware of the scenery before him.

Sylera relaxed momentarily at the appearance of another Amarrian, at least she was not completely at the mercy of hateful Minmatar. The menacing amusement on the aquiline features of the man, however, immediately dampened her relief again.

Even though she had only ever heard of Wormhole-Space incidentally, she was all too familiar with corporations of unaffiliated capsuleers. The majority of them were amoral, crafty and highly dangerous. Their only loyalty was to their own corporation, and even then many betrayed their partners regularly for ISK, or just because of sheer reckless abandon.

The young man now entering seemed vaguely familiar to her. She studied his unshaven face, the unkempt mane of dark reddish-brown, the sharp eyes like splinters of shiny carbon-compound. 'You are the outlaw Keram Themas!' she burst out as she finally recognized him from the criminal register she had always memorized. 'Excommunicated and declared Enemy of the Empire'

'You've come to collect the bounty?' Keram asked mockingly.

'Sounds like you are popular back-home' Alira wisecracked.

'Ahh well' Keram replied with a gesture of feigned humility 'She's Crusade. They get constant updates about types like me and are supposed to shoot us on sight. He bent over Alira. 'I don't remember this one, but back with the pirates we had us a nice collection of clone corpses. Quite a few of them were loyalist capsuleers.' he leered 'Their ships also make for great salvage and loot. They get the best Imperial Navy equipment on discount prices for their services.'

'You had a collection of corpses?!' Alira sounded disgusted.

Sylera glared at the man speaking so disrespectfully of her brothers and sisters dedicated to service in the name of the Empress. 'Even the Minmatar woman despises a vile traitor like that one' she observed inwardly.

Keram shrugged 'Sure, they are worth ISK.' he stated nonchalantly 'Biomass reclamation for cloning, you know. And then there are always the people with 'special' hobbies.' he grinned insinuatingly.

Alira shook her head in revulsion but Keram jostled her out of it. 'Anyway, let's stop gloating over this do-gooder here and get to work. The beta exit is about to end it's cycle and the two of us are on the scout roster.

Alira nodded affirmatively, laced her boots, and then they left Sylera to contemplate the disconcerting situation she was in.

The Wrong Crowd - Part 2

The man sitting across from Sylera seemed like the first normal human being she had encountered here so far. Despite being Gallente he had a distinct air of conviction and honour about him. His lightly bearded face and the dark blue eyes instilled an impression of honesty during the time he had spent explaining how she came to be in the current situation. 'So it is true, a despicable criminal and a worthless Minmatar nomad were among those I owe my life to.' Sylera despaired at the thought.

'For now, you can stay in these quarters. You are free to move about as much as security permits' the Gallente man, who had introduced himself as Cedrien Roucellis, told her.

The quarters in question were anything but appealing. A small cube dominated by a viewport into space on one side. Light from a white-dwarf star outside made the run-down spartan lodging seem even more plain and bereft of atmosphere. A sleeping bunk on one side, accompanied by some sparse metal furnishings. A small shower and restroom recessed into the opposite wall. The food dispenser and simple table they were sitting at, rounded the arrangement off. A typical example of dispassionate Caldari mass-production. The nondescript coverall Sylera had been given to replace the disposable sickbay tunic, even made her look like an integral part of this impersonal space.

'Once we chance on an exit that leads to Amarr space, we will escort you there and you can return to your former life.' Cedrien said with a tone that expressed how glad he would be to have this unwelcome chore behind him.

Sylera felt a small surge of anger well up inside her. 'How typical of a Gallente to see everyone else just as a burden' she thought while she contained her feelings. 'I still owe those people respect for the decisions they made on my behalf' she reminded herself inwardly. ' I thank you for your help, Captain Roucellis. I will see to it personally that you are rewarded for it.'

'Well, we can always need more ISK.' he stated simply, as he got up and straightened his old Federal Navy uniform jacket, which bore no insignia. The title captain was clearly an indication of function rather than rank here. 'Make yourself at home, it could take a few days time until we find a suitable route.' Cedrien added before he left.

'So he's a mercenary after all.' Sylera noted with disappointment 'Material reward is but a symbol for the worthiness of a task. The righteous will forgo it for the glory of achieving virtuous ends' she remembered a passage from the scripture.

***

Sylera had spent the last two days exploring the dreary repetitiveness of this Caldari station, as far as the security protocols would allow her to. 'In all efforts thou shalt reflect the grace of god's creation' was a quote that had come to her mind. To the Caldari, beauty meant nothing. All they aspired to was efficiency and functionality. The Gallente at least understood about beauty and aesthetics, but they wasted it on their frivolous hedonistic lifestyle. And the Minmatar … the Minmatar were just scroungers.
With reflections like these, interrupted by times of prayer, as well as physical and mental exercise to aid her re-convalescence, Sylera had spent her time.

Now she had an idle period ahead of her, and so she returned to the one spot which offered some inspiration. That place was the main hall of the habitation deck. It had a wall-sized viewport to the isolated region of space outside. Wide enough to show the full spectacle of cataclysmic interplay between the two stars outside. Sitting on an unavoidably simple bench, Sylera looked out at the hazy mass of the giant red star and allowed her eyes to drift along the veil of glowing matter that was spun from it's outer shell by the pull of the white dwarf. Eventually this cloud of solar vapour braided into strands which finally spiraled into an accretion disk around the cold ember of the small supermassive sun.

'It is possible that eventually this system will start a runaway fusion, shedding so much matter from the red star that it's impact on the white dwarf could cause a nova explosion' a silken voice said from behind her. It carried a hint of weird amusement in the statement, despite it's catastrophic implications.

Sylera started and looked up over her shoulder at a soft-featured face that carried both detached amusement and dark intensity in it's large almond eyes. She had never seen this woman before, and something about her immediately disturbed Sylera.

'Yes we have not met.' the other woman said, her obvious Gallente accent gave the words a smooth inflection. It made her voice even more uncannily compelling 'My name is Sandrielle' the woman added, as she walked around Sylera like a sleek predator sizing up potential prey, and finally took a seat next to her. 'What do you see out there disciple?' she asked wistfully, using the title given to students in Imperial capsuleer training.

'I assume you already know who I am?' Sylera ignored the question and tried to hide the nervousness she felt because of the acute statements and deep gaze of the Gallente woman. It was as if her very personality was peeled away in layers under the scrutiny of those dark eyes.

Sandrielle nodded and displayed a cryptic half-smile on her face.'I rather wonder whether you still know who you are.'

'What in the name of the Lord's hosts is she talking about?' Sylera wondered at the strangely perplexing statement 'What do you mean?' she asked with more annoyance than puzzlement forced into her voice, but inwardly she also now felt a sense of inexplicable dread at those words.

'Well, we shall all find that out soon.' Sandrielle got up and tilted her head at the elevator bay

'Come' she offered a hand to help Sylera get up, as if she were a good friend or sibling 'We have found a suitable exit that leads to a border system of the Amarr Empire. It turns out that forces of the 24^th Crusade are stationed there at the moment.'

Without even knowing why she did it, Sylera took the outstretched hand and watched the slender but strong fingers of the Gallente woman close around hers. Some vague intuition inside of her gave rise to a feeling of being caught in a grasp that she would never again be able to slip from.

The Wrong Crowd - Part 3

Considering that their known-space destination lay on the Amarr side of the border between the low-security regions of Solitude and Aridia, it was unwise to appear there with either a Gallente or Minmatar ship for a peaceful rendezvous. Keram, as the wanted man that he was, would also not be a good choice. So the lot fell on Shisei to fly out a small Caldari shuttle and meet with the locally deployed detachment of the Crusader fleet. It appeared that a contingent of the Imperial Paladin Order had been taken off it's usual duties at the border with Minmatar space, to fight the increasing smuggler-trade moving across this barely controlled frontier region between Gallente Federation and Amarr Empire.

The small bird-like craft emerged from the wormhole into the Shirshocin system. Sylera regarded the unmoving face of the Achura man at the helm beside her in the dusky glow of the small yellow sun. He had not said a word or quirked a facial muscle since they undocked. Even when he was told by Cedrien what his task would be, he had only uttered a small grunt of approval and nodded. 'The restraint and discipline of the Achura is well known, but I did not expect such stoicism.' she reflected. 'What a strange and diverse group those wormhole capsuleers are'

Presently Shisei engaged the communication systems. 'This is Shisei Kanioota of the Caldari shuttle designation A-IND-2 calling the Crusader fleet' he transmitted via holographic link on a frequency Sylera had provided.

The holo-projector on the control board of the small bridge activated and showed the bald and stern-faced head of an Amarr Templar wearing a segmented metal skullcap. 'This is Tribunus Colonel Temerel Nash-Kelar of the Imperial Paladin Order – commander of the Crusader battleship Deliverance. How do you know this frequency?'

'It was entered by my passenger' Shisei answered truthfully 'One Sylera Aulithe, a member of your forces.' he specified.

Wary surprise knotted the wrinkled brow of the veteran Amarr commander. 'How is it she became your passenger?' he inquired with suspicion.

'She was found captive aboard a Minmatar ship.' Shisei replied impassively. 'She wished to rejoin the cadres of the Crusade'

The Templar nodded. 'Very well. We will transmit the coordinates for a rendezvous. We expect you to come unarmed and alone' he emphasized.

Shisei simply nodded wordlessly and aligned the small craft to warp as soon as he received the coordinates.

***

'The reward was quite substantial for such a young capsuleer' Shisei said thoughtfully after he had finished his report to Cedrien several hours later.

'Maybe she comes from an important noble family' Cedrien shrugged dismissively. 'I am not complaining about them paying us more than we expected.' he added. 'In any case, she's back where she belongs now.'

'Captain Roucellis, we have an incoming fluid-router transmission for you' sounded a crewman's voice over the intercom. 'Allright, pass it on through' Cedrien replied.

The holographic projector on Cedrien's smoothly rounded office table came to life and presented the rendering of a mature and hardened Jin-Mei man, wearing the uniform of an Aegis Commander serving in the Federal Defense Union. 'Greetings Cedrien' he said with a slow nod of respect 'It is good to see you after all this time' he added.

'Yun Wei-Chian' Cedrien exclaimed joyfully, then caught himself 'Sorry, Aegis Commander Yun' Cedrien amended with a salute.

Wei-Chian waved away Cedrien's military formality with a small chuckle. 'Forget about that, we both know that you are no longer under my command.' he sighed nostalgically 'A regretful circumstance that nevertheless came to pass for all the right reasons'

Shisei quirked a brow at the ambivalent statement, but Cedrien knew which meaning it carried and bowed his head thankfully at the elder officer. 'So, how come you contact me at this particular time … Wei-Chian?' he obviously felt awkward using the man's given name.

'Well, it so happens that my Defense Union fleet got an anonymous tip about an unregistered secret Amarr convoy that would move across Solitude to reach the Intaki Syndicate. We intercepted them in the Faurulle system.' he paused and operated some control off the display. A familiar young elfin face appeared as a portrait next to Commander Yun's holographic representation. 'This is one of the survivors. She was held captive on a Crusader ship, and she mentioned your name. Is she one of yours?'

Cedrien knotted his brow and stroked his close-cropped beard 'Held captive?' he pondered 'Well, we ended up rescuing her some time ago. Eventually we returned her back to the Crusader fleet for a reward, because that is where she wanted to go.' he explained, still confused.

'As it looks, she was subjected to some harsh interrogation. We found mind-controlling chemicals as well as pain-amplification substances in her bloodstream. She is barely recovered at this time.' the Jin-Mei officer elaborated. 'In her stupor she repeated your name several times, so this is why I sought to get in contact with you.'

Shisei looked at Cedrien across the table with an unspoken question on his calm face. Cedrien sighed. 'Well. We still have that exit to Shirshocin. I guess we can send out a covert-ops craft to meet with you.' Cedrien paused 'Actually, I will come myself. If an offender like me is welcome on your ship, that is' he added with a smile.

Commander Yun laughed 'Don't be ridiculous. You are more welcome on my ship than several superior officers I could think of. I will have my best tea ready for you. I am looking forward to seeing you in person again my young friend'

***

Again Alira sat in the sickbay, looking into the gray eyes of that fine-featured Amarr visage. 'So I guess it was not the welcome you expected' she jabbed at Sylera

The young woman's face was overcast with desperate anger. 'They drugged me and interrogated me. They planned to bring me to a secret facility hidden in Intaki Syndicate space to conduct experiments with me.' she squinted her eyelids together, squeezing out tears of rage 'They treated me no better than the Min … the people who had originally captured me.'

Alira had to smile involuntarily at how Sylera had stopped herself from saying 'Minmatar' Despite herself she began to feel a bit of sympathy for the girl. 'I know many who have experienced worse at the hands of the Amarr Empire.' she said emphatically.

Sylera wiped away the tears with the sleeve of her tunic. 'How could my own people, my own brothers in the Crusade, do this to me? At the same time, a group of … renegades like you show more compassion than they do?' her breast heaved with a shuddering sigh 'I don't know where I belong anymore' she said and suddenly came to a stop 'I rather wonder whether you still know who you are' Sandrielle's words echoed through her mind. 'Did she know that this would happen, and if so, how?' cold shivers coursed over her body at the unsettling thought.

'Looks like you fell in with the wrong crowd, young lady' Alira said as she stood up to stretch her lithe body languidly. 'Well, seems you're stuck with us now. Guess we have to get you a ship to fly.' she turned to leave. 'Report to Cedrien about that when you are ready' Alira added on her way out.

***

Elsewhere on the station, Sandrielle finished a final check to make sure all traces of her anonymous messages to Tribunus Colonel Nash-Kelar and Aegis Commander Yun had been erased. Satisfied with the results she disconnected from the fluid-router terminal. 'That one will make a good student' she thought to herself and returned to her duties.