Shadows of the Past

[Capt. Henry Morgan]

Ye-jin had honestly tried to start a new life it the Coalition. She had honestly tried, but it was not to be. Since her nerve staple had come back to life in that bar on Zvezdny Gorodok, her fate had been decided. Once again, she was no longer in control of her life. The station's doctor had hardly even tried to look into her problem, simply declaring it impossible that the staple could be acting up and dismissing her from his office. Any further complaints, as well as her attempts to see other doctors were ignored. All she could do was try to ignore the pain and do her duty.

No amount of willpower was sufficient, however. The nerve staple was a devilish piece of engineering, designed to break down the strongest will. It inflicted pain and dispensed pleasure, spoke in the subject's mind, even modified the subject's dreams. It did whatever was needed to mold the subject's innermost thoughts until they were nothing less than a pure expression of the Volkhan's will. Each day that passed saw Ye-jin's reeducation broken down just a little more.

She had finally reached her breaking point after a patrol alongside Premier Selim himself. It was the purest chance that saw her flying at his side. During the patrol, she had done her duty, as was expected of her. During the post-patrol in-flight debriefing, however, she suddenly felt a rush of hatred for the Premier. That Katzist counter-revolutionary was a traitor to the revolution, and only she remained to dispense the Volkhan's justice! Before she could stop herself, she had released a mine toward his fighter. In that moment, she was certain that she had been exposed and was going to die. It was her lucky day, though. The Premier himself dismissed it as a mere misfire, no harm done.

On that day, she knew her time with the Coalition was at an end. If she stayed, she would die a traitor's death. At the end of the day, however, it wasn't a hard choice. The Coalition she knew was gone anyway, betrayed by those dedicated to themselves rather than the Revolution. She asked for a week's leave to visit Gran Canaria, Her immediate superior didn't really want her around anyway, and approved the leave. She packed her meager belongings, and stepped aboard the shuttle, never to return.