Tia had been listening intently, absorbed in the stories being told around the table. For a rare moment, she had let herself slip into the rhythm of the conversation, the back-and-forth of shared experiences. It wasn’t often she found herself in such company, and for a brief stretch of time, she had almost forgotten about the ghosts of her past.
Then reality hit her like a sudden decompression warning, her eyes widening slightly as she realized it was her turn.
“Oh, it’s my turn?” She blinked before exhaling, leaning back into her chair, her fingers idly tracing the rim of her glass. "Well..."
She took a measured sip of her drink, letting the burn settle before she began.
“I was born on Freeport 7, about ten years before it was destroyed.” Her voice was steady, but there was something distant in the way she said it, like recalling the memory from a data drive rather than from her own life. “Back then, life was simple. My parents were traders, moving cargo from one side of Sirius to the other. One of those routine journeys to Kusari ended in disaster. We were en route when our ship was intercepted by independent pirates. They weren’t even affiliated with the big-name groups—just desperate scum looking for an easy target."
Her hand curled into a loose fist against the table, the only outward sign of the weight those words carried.
“My parents stuffed me into an escape pod before the ship was torn apart.” She let that statement hang in the air for a second before continuing. “I don’t remember much of the explosion, just the sudden force and the way my body felt weightless in all the wrong ways. I drifted in space for days. Time doesn’t make sense when you’re just a kid alone in a metal coffin, staring at the void, waiting for something—anything—to happen.”
Tia leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table as her tone shifted.
“A group of Golden Chrysanthemums found me and took me in. A child they could raise as one of their own. They made me into a weapon under Kusari tradition—trained me in ways that most would consider extreme, but to them, it was just their way of life.” Her fingers tapped against the wood of the table absently. “But I never truly felt like I belonged. No matter how much I learned, no matter how well I fought, something always felt... off. So I left. I set out to travel, searching for something I couldn’t quite put into words.”
Her eyes darkened slightly, the glass in front of her becoming the center of her focus as she continued.
“I ended up in the Omicrons again, only to be attacked by Nomads. It should’ve been the end of my story right there.” A pause. A slight smirk. “But fate had other plans. A certain captain saved me. At the time, he recognized my potential, saw something in me that even I didn’t fully understand. He took me under his wing, trained me, made me into something more than just another rogue drifting through space.”
The smirk faded as quickly as it had come.
“For years, I worked for him. I fought, I bled, I survived. Until one day, disaster struck. A catastrophe—caused by him—destroyed the ship we called home and killed most of the people I knew on it. I barely escaped. And that was when I knew... everything he had built was a lie.”
Tia leaned back again, crossing her arms, her expression unreadable.
“I returned to Kusari, started plotting my revenge. He was gone—for a while, at least. Then I heard whispers. He was trying to bring the group back together. I started digging, looking into his past, his betrayal, his plans. But before I could find the answers I needed, he disappeared again.”
Her fingers flexed, just for a moment.
“And then... his people came for me. Not just his, but mercenaries, bounty hunters, assassins. They hounded me across Sirius for two years. It was exhausting. Eventually, I took to Gallia, let the heat die down while I came up with a real plan—one that would make sure I eliminated everyone who had ever shaken hands with him. I started with the smaller targets first, taking my time, dismantling his connections piece by piece.”
Tia let out a slow breath, then continued, her voice steady.
“Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, the Border Worlds, Coalition space, the Taus... and finally, the Omicrons. Over the past nine years, I’ve dedicated myself to destroying everything he built. I tore it all down, piece by piece, until now—now, I’m closer than I’ve ever been to killing the bastard myself.”
She lifted her gaze, meeting the eyes of the trio around her, gauging their reactions. She had long stopped expecting sympathy. Usually, when she told this story, people either saw her as a ruthless killer or a tragic fool chasing a ghost. But she didn’t care about their judgments. She was alive, and that meant there was still unfinished business.
“I just have to find him.”
The silence that followed was thick, like the heavy air of a ship just before a battle. Tia didn’t look away, waiting to see what they would say. Would they question her? Would they try to rationalize it? It didn’t matter. The past was written in blood, and she had no intention of stopping now.
