Keram shrugged, unsure, while appreciating the backside of the naked woman gazing out of the
wide panorama window of the observation deck into the endless depths of space.
'Fifteen-hundred, maybe two-thousand.' He did not sound particularly
affected by the idea of so many dead people.
'And on their side?' she asked.
'Probably about ten times as many.' the
Amarrian replied. 'A good part of them died when you turned off life
support on that Nyx before self-destructing.'
'Self-destructing.'
she echoed with a bitter chuckle. 'As if there was anything left of me to destroy.' She did not turn to face Keram, and if she minded him staring at
her nakedness then she showed no sign of it.
The former pirate shook his head. 'I got to say, turning off life support was one thing, but locking down the escape pods, that was just cold.'
Now the woman turned her head to look
at him. 'Do you realize how many I saved by letting none of them
live?' she said with an intensity that belied the low whisper of her
voice.
She turned back to stare into the void.
She turned back to stare into the void.
'Well.' Keram said with mocking
cheerfulness. 'You clearly cared enough to commit mass
murder.' He drew his eyebrows together and
continued more seriously. 'Actually, so did we, and we sacrificed a
lot too. Don't forget that.'
'Forget.' she repeated introspectively,
hugged herself and shivered. It was not a tremor caused by chill. In
fact the interiour of the Tombship was rather hot and humid due to
its aged and struggling climate control systems. The woman ran her hands
along her body like she had to remind herself that it was
actually there. 'I remember my name.' she said only slightly louder.
'Good.' Keram answered sarcastically.
'I wasn't sure whether the burn scanner was still working properly.'
The olive skinned woman turned around
fully and now fixated his eyes with her own. 'My real name.' she
breathed in a low voice. Keram found that he could not hold her gaze.
Since he had known her, she had never been a person he felt at ease with,
but now there was something decidedly unsettling in her eyes. He
distracted himself by looking lower and following the swell of her
breasts while she slowly approached.
'The Hive had erased me. The Ida nuns
gave me a new name, but it was not mine. When they released me to go
back to the stars they gave me another. It was also not mine. Year
after year I have lived a life as another woman. Now that they wanted
to destroy me again, I finally remembered who I once was.'
Due to her tall Gallente physique she ended up face-to-face with Amarrian man and the intensity of her presence forced him to look into her eyes. 'I will not ever forget anything again.' she finally added.
Due to her tall Gallente physique she ended up face-to-face with Amarrian man and the intensity of her presence forced him to look into her eyes. 'I will not ever forget anything again.' she finally added.
Keram pressed his lips together. With
uncharacteristic seriousness, and suddenly not interested in her body
at all anymore, he finally looked at her directly. 'Sandrielle, or
whatever your real name is, you know I have suffered a lot too. We
all have. It is a fucked up universe out there, and being immortal
does not make us gods. If anything, it makes us even more fucked up.'
he put his hands on her shoulders. There was nothing but sincere
concern expressed by the gesture and his voice.
'Don't go crazy on us Sandrielle. We need you. You are one of us. We came for you because of that. Tenshin Noy and all the men and women in his fleet came for you because of who you are. It doesn't mean shit who did what and when to make you that person. That you are here today and talking to me, alive, that's all that matters. If you lose it then everyone who died in that battle gave their life for nothing.' he grasped her shoulders more forcefully and almost shook her. 'Do you hear me?'
'Don't go crazy on us Sandrielle. We need you. You are one of us. We came for you because of that. Tenshin Noy and all the men and women in his fleet came for you because of who you are. It doesn't mean shit who did what and when to make you that person. That you are here today and talking to me, alive, that's all that matters. If you lose it then everyone who died in that battle gave their life for nothing.' he grasped her shoulders more forcefully and almost shook her. 'Do you hear me?'
'Tenshin Noy?' Sandrielle looked perplexed.
Before Keram could reply, a multicoloured flare outside
illuminated the Amarrian's aquiline features and he looked over
Sandrielle's shoulder. 'What in the name of the empress' tits?' he
growled and let go of Sandrielle to approach the panorama window.
At the center of the crackling energy field a spindly ship with solar panel outriggers floated motionlessly. Seconds later, space erupted with ships. A whole fleet with the massive discus shape of a red-and-green patterned Nyx supercarrier at its centre suddenly floated right in front of the Tombship.
At the center of the crackling energy field a spindly ship with solar panel outriggers floated motionlessly. Seconds later, space erupted with ships. A whole fleet with the massive discus shape of a red-and-green patterned Nyx supercarrier at its centre suddenly floated right in front of the Tombship.
'Great!' Keram shouted and threw up his
arms in defeat. 'So much for the secret hiding place of our clone
store.'
***
'Sandrielle!' Tenshin Noy increased his
pace to be the first to reach her after entering the expansive
observation deck together with several of his commanders and the
Awakened Industry capsuleers in tow. The Intaki was spurred on by the
excitement of seeing the woman he had once loved back among the
living. Upon reaching her, he immediately threw his arms around her
now robed body and rested his cheek against hers with unrestrained
affection.
The woman who had always displayed the
most incredible self-control for as long as her wormhole-settler
companions could remember, now appeared utterly surprised and incapable of
any reaction. Then, tentatively, Sandrielle returned the
hug. At last she wrapped her arms around him more tightly and kissed
his face. 'Tenshin.' she breathed. 'It has been so long.' she ran her
hand through his black hair and it looked like tears were clouding
her eyes. 'I can not even say how that makes me feel now.'
Overwhelmed by her own reaction she shook her head.
'Then say nothing.' Tenshin Noy replied
with an affectionate smile and pulled her closer again. Tears rolled
from his eyes, and against his shoulder Sandrielle spilled her own.
Cedrien remained at a respectful
distance from the two former comrades, friends and lovers embracing each-other. Of all the Awakened Industries capsuleers he had known Sandrielle best. Yet he could not make sense of her reaction at that moment and wondered how she had changed. He looked at Keram with that unspoken question written on his
face. The Amarrian leaned back in the chair he occupied at a seating
area off to the side and shrugged helplessly. It looked like he would
come up with something witty, but he never made it. Alira came at him
faster than that and straddled him with her slender frame.
'It's good to feel you again.' she said with a saucy smile and a wink.
Keram displayed a crooked grin. '... said no Minmatar to an Amarrian ever.' he took the opening to finally deliver a snarky oneliner. The red-haired Sebiestor playfully slapped his face and then leaned down to plant a kiss on his lips.
'It's good to feel you again.' she said with a saucy smile and a wink.
Keram displayed a crooked grin. '... said no Minmatar to an Amarrian ever.' he took the opening to finally deliver a snarky oneliner. The red-haired Sebiestor playfully slapped his face and then leaned down to plant a kiss on his lips.
At the rear of the group who had entered, Kassina Vikkonen smirked sourly. She switched to her native Caldari, addressing
Shisei Kanioota who stood next to her and smiled beatifically at the emotional reunions. 'I reckon we
can all be thankful for the passion of Gallente, Minmatar and Amarr
people and the great adventures that has provided us.' The tall
bounty-hunter frowned. 'As long as they don't forget to pay their
debts to me.' she added.
Shisei's smile did not falter. 'Sarcasm? And I
took you for such a strictly professional woman.' he paused.
'Sometimes achievement is its own reward.'
Kassina shook her head slowly. 'Spare
me your Achura motivational quotes.' she sighed.
As Cedrien looked on, sadness cast
a shadow over his features while he watched Sandrielle showing a side of
herself that he had never seen and while Alira and Keram kissed wildly.
'She used to be very much in love with
you.' a soft voice suddenly said next to him. He hadn't noticed
Sylera appearing at his side. Bewildered he looked at the pale
young Amarrian. 'I shared my mind with her. I felt the memory of it.'
Sylera elaborated further and nodded in the direction of Alira and her Amarrian lover.
Cedrien nodded. 'I know.' he sighed
heavily. 'But I couldn't. I am her commander.' He took a deep breath.
'And you might remember what happened to the last woman I loved.'
'You can not always live in the past commander.' Sylera said firmly. 'None of us can afford to do so. Actually, it was Sandrielle who made me realize that.'
Cedrien looked at the fine-featured
Amarrian again, and she looked back up at him with those light gray eyes, smiling softly. Even affectionately, it seemed to him.
***
Darkness. Cold, damp metal against her
skin. The skimpy dancing costume she had worn during the last moments
she remembered hung in tatters from her. The depleted air stank of
urine, faeces and the cloying, sweet odour of menstrual blood. She
heard sobs and groans, pleas for mercy, names being called out,
prayers and offers. A medley of female despair in all languages of
the cluster. Slowly her fingers crept along the metal wall she must
have been propped up against during her unconsciousness. She recoiled
when she touched something that felt like hair.
For a split second the image of another
young woman was illuminated by an impossibly bright light. It would
have burnt itself into her retina, but before that could happen, she
and everything around her had become vaporized.
***
With his chest thrust out in pride, the bridge adjutante approached the tall, straight backed figure wearing a long red coat trimmed with grey and white. He stopped at a respectful distance from the man viewing a tactical holograph of the fleet assembled at the newly spawned wormhole.
'Archdeacon-Commander. The Lord has
accepted our sacrifice! Our scouts report that we have found the
right place!'
'Finally our prayers were answered.
Order the fleet to proceed and move up behind them.' The Archdeacon-Commander replied calmly.
Ok, I know I'm late on the praise front, on how good the new chapter starts... But where's the sequel?!? We can't live without one! We want work, food (and stories)!
ReplyDeleteOh right... I'll rather just wait for it. :-D
No apologies necessary my most faithful of readers.
ReplyDeleteI was very uncertain about that little interlude, but at least you liked it. I have thought about my next main storyline and I have finally come to the point where it has manifested in my mind. I will do something which I wanted to do for a long time.
You will see what that is.
It should be coming out this week after all that time.