Once Awake

[Durandal]

Samuel Locklear rubbed his temples in frustration, or maybe it was just another headache from the old bullet through the skull. "I wonder what old retired bastard let that one slip.. I suppose it was going to come out one way or another." He gripped the railing, his soft gray eyes trained on the Arbiter Fate's Hand, the monster in the mist of the Leniex cloud.

"That's where it all began." He said, gesturing for Thallia to look. "Star Colonel Grace Callahan's ship, one of the finest officers the Legion ever knew. Not that I ever knew her personally mind you.. at least not when she was still flesh and blood."

He turned to Thallia, her face a mixture of curiosity and concern. Fifty fifty? He thought so. She wasn't a doctor for nothing, after all. "Still flesh and blood? Sam, what have your men been doing to these people..?" He stopped her there.

"Not my men. Not my show back then." He clenched his fist, and those soft gray eyes galvanized; sharp steel in a sea of warm orange light through the windows. "You see, Grace was so good at her job that Legion Command back in '17 decided she was too important to simply let die. They threw her in a cryopod on basic life support after a failed attempt at breaching Zone 21 until they could figure out how to preserve her neural patterns.. and they did."

He stole a sip of Thallia's martini before continuing on. "The Legion constructed a computer with enough memory and processing power to not only host a human mind, but to allow it to expand in ways we could never comprehend. You saw it once on the Incursus, when I invited you over for that rendezvous in my quarters." He grinned for the first time since she began her interrogation.

"Anyway, to make a long story short hun.. this became standard Legion practice whenever a particularly skilled officer retired or was mortally wounded. Reynard Joyeuse was the youngest Lord Commander in the history of the Legion, but he earned it by overthrowing the old guard. Reynard gave us our independence, broke our ties with the Outcasts and Hackers.. good kid, burnt himself out though."

"So they wouldn't let him leave without doing what they did to this Grace Callahan?" Thallia frowned.

"That's right. And once we recovered the Incursus from the corona of California's star, 'he' was quarantined here, on Leniex. Or so we thought." Their conversation was interrupted by a young Legionnaire, whose uniform bore the insignia of a Star Captain.

"Lord Commander?" He met Locklear's gaze. Either he wasn't intimidated by the prospect of speaking face to face with him or he did a damn fine job of not showing it. Another good kid, he thought.

"Speak."

"Legion High Command and the Commonwealth have granted your request for one Doctor Thorn to perform a full inspection of.." The young man stopped mid sentence. "I don't understand, this place doesn't exist, sir."

Sam smiled again. First good news he'd had all week. "Don't worry about that. Go catch a shuttle, you've a gala to enjoy."

The young Star Captain nodded, taking the cue and exiting the stage. Sam started off down a corridor towards a maglift. "Come on."

Thallia jogged slightly to catch up with his stride. "Where are we going, dear?"

"Where giants have fallen."