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Dab · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 03:19 AM by Dab.)

[font=Courier New]Estranged
[color=orange]Chapter 2
[color=#996633]In Progress

December, 816 A.S.

The Adamantine slowly glided passed Planet Kyushu, the sun's light playing against its side. The luxury liner lived up to the many advertisements made by Orbital Spa & Cruise to its beauty and comfort. Izanami Eion glanced out of the bridge viewscreen as one of Kusari's sleek destroyers flew passed. Few ships could match the magnificence of a luxury liner, but the Kusari Destroyer was one of those sparse exceptions. And it has a lot more firepower than this passenger barge, she said to herself.

The destroyer slipped from sight as Adamantine entered the first lane ring, accelerating to thousands of meters a second. The process was repeated at Tsushima Station, hurtling them towards the jump gate to Tau-29. Izanami glanced over from her console, set to the left of the captain's chair, and looked at her father Iefan. "Approaching the gate sir, the passcodes are prepared to be sent to Battleship Nagumo."

Iefan looked up from his own computer, which he had been engrossed in since the start of their trip at Planet New Tokyo. "Very well." Then in a lower voice he said, "Izanami, come here." Puzzled, she walked to his side as the liner, personal property of her family, exited the tradelane. "Yes father?" Iefan remained silent as Lieutenant Teishin, their communication officer, sent the passcodes to Nagumo and conversed briefly with a Naval Forces officer on the battleship. Once they were in motion again, Iefan made a gesture towards the monitor and began;

"Your cousin seems to have gotten into a fair bit of trouble. Tried to kill the wrong person it seems. Failed to do so as well." Izanami's mood turned sour. "Raeburn's bastard daughter has nothing to do with us. Let her run back to her addict brothers if she wants help, she is no family of mine. Have you forgotten that her father was the one who got us exiled in the first place? She is from a line of betrayers and carries that tradition well. I won't allow her on this ship."

Iefan's voice turned hard, "You'll do what your told. This is still my ship. She has helped us once already, and it is through her help that we have the ability to use the Bretonian's jump gate to Leeds in the first place. Like it or not we owe her, and I won't punish her for her father's actions."

"You can't seriously intend to protect her! If what you say is correct, she'll be hunted as a traitor. Do you want them to find her with us and get us all arrested, or killed?"

"She has been incredibly valuable to helping us and Kusari, I won't repay her help by leaving her to be killed. I'm not changing my mind, so don't bother trying to persuade me."

"What are we going to do about her then?" Izanami asked indignantly as Ensign Keiichi maneuvered the ship into the lane that would send them to Nago Station. Iefan continued, calmly; "We are meeting her a couple klicks away from Holman and Nagasaki. We'll pick her up there. I don't know what were going to do after that exactly, so she is likely to be working here aboard the Adamantine for the foreseeable future."

"Oh gre-" Izanami's words were cut off as she was thrown to the side. Before she could regain her footing she slammed into the railing at the edge of the captain's platform, sending a spike of pain up her side.

"What happened?!" Izanami yelled into the crew pit as she looked out the viewscreen into unmoving space.. Unmoving because the ship had been pulled out of the trade lane when its acceleration field was disrupted. Then her eyes were pulled towards an object that appeared as a blur across space..

Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened into perfect circles as the torpedo slammed into the viewscreen, shattering it into thousands of razor-sharp fragments. A blinding light engulfed her, searing her body.

Dab · 12-10-2008, 05:37 AM,

Izanami gasped as she was thrown into the wall and almost immediately something hard and heavy slammed into her leg, smashing it against the metal wall with a sickening crunch. She screamed as spikes of agony ripped through her body. Her legs buckled as she landed on the floor and fell forward. Her throat was raw as she tried to fill her lungs with short, raspy gasps. She weakly pushed herself up and looked around the room.

The scene around her was eerily quiet, until she realized the only thing she did hear was a sharp ringing sound. Then a new noise.. Whistling. Air blasted passed her face, towards the gaping hole in the viewscreen. The wind pulled at her until it threatened to pick her up and suck her out of the window into the vacuum of space. It sent her sliding across the floor, and she flailed her arms desperately in an attempt to grab anything to hold on to.

She came alongside the captain's chair, ripped free of the floor in the explosion, and grabbed at it. As she did, she noticed that one side of the chair was splattered with someone's blood, and looked down.. At the deformed lump that her leg had turned into, where blood oozed from several large gashes where the skin had been split and cut. Then even the chair itself started to get dragged towards the window, and her leg was quickly forgotten. As it slid passed the railing at the edge of the platform, she let go and lunged for it with her hands. The chair slid from the platform and was slung out through the window.

She lay there, holding the rail in a death-grip, until she heard the screaming. She looked down into the crew pit and saw Lieutenant Teishin, his clothes torn and drenched in blood, thrown through the air as if he weighed no more than a feather. His screaming stopped as the wind threw him into what remained of the glass around the hole into space, and with a sharp crack, broke it, leaving his limp body to drift into space.

Izanami averted her eyes from his broken, bloodied form, and looked towards the back of the room, where the door was. The wind had begun to die down as most of the oxygen had already escaped into space. It left her gasping for breath, pulling herself with her hands towards the door. It was a slow and agonizing job, and dots began appearing in her vision as she struggled to breath. She felt light-headed and almost blacked out when she tried to stand and type in an override to open the blast doors.

The door rose effortlessly, sending a blast of air through the door into the empty bridge, threatening to send her back into the room. She grabbed the door frame and held on before it could send her back into the bridge and empty space. She strained her muscles, trying to pull herself out, but couldn't fight against the force of the wind. Then another hand clamped down on her wrist and yanked her into the safety of the hallway.

Dab · 12-19-2008, 08:29 AM,

Izanami blinked tears from her eyes as they adjusted to the bright light of the hallway. She gasped for air, he heart still racing with adrenaline. "Nami!" She snapped her head to the side towards the voice, and immediately regretted it as a dizzying feeling sent her head spinning. She let her head sag back down to the floor and grasped her head with her hands until the feeling passed.

She heard footsteps, then a voice, "Nami?" She opened her eyes again to see Akihiro kneeling next to her. Akihiro was the ship's security officer, in charge of the ship's weaponry and the security team to repel boarders, who were usually pirates. And he was her fiancee.

"You okay?" She glanced down at her leg. The bloodied, broken, cut leg. "I don't think so." The words ground out of her, dry and coarse. Akihiro glanced back at the closed door to the bridge, "your father?" She swallowed. "Explosion." Hiro looked back at her, "Teishin too?" Izanami closed her eyes, seeing Teishin's body, stained red with blood, floating limp in space. "Dead."

Hiro looked down the corridor at the sound of several gun shots. "We need to get going. Whoever these people are, one of their ships just connected to our airlock and sent in a boarding team." He picked her up off the floor and wrapped her arm around his shoulders to support her left side, where her leg hung limply. Walking was simple enough that her mind wondered, muddled as it was with pain, but all it came to was the same question.

This was no pirating attack, the bridge was destroyed within seconds. How did they know where we would be, and when we would be there?

"Hiro, this isn't a pirate attack.. They-"

Just then a black-clad man stepped around the corner of another hallway a couple dozen meters ahead of them. He raised the rifle in his hands with the fluid movement of a trained and seasoned soldier. Hiro pushed her into the adjacent hallway before she could react, and she collapsed as her left foot hit the floor, sending spikes of pain through her. She heard several shots ring out and turned her head, dreading what she knew she would see.

Akihiro lay on his back in a rapidly spreading pool of blood, his chest soaked in red where laser blasts had burnt through. Blood trickled from his mouth while he tried to breath with lungs no longer capable of it. She could hear calm, measured footsteps, like the rhythmic sounds of a machine, grow closer. Only moments later the man stepped into view. He was fully clothed in black leather, with a pistol and several metal pouches attached to a belt around his waist, his rifle held in his hands, stilll aimed at Akihiro.

The soldier came to a halt, his feet inches from Hiro's head. He raised a hand to his face and removed the cloth wrapped around his head. He had pale skin, emerald-green eyes, and white hair that you'd expect from someone in his eighties or nineties, yet his face was that of someone in his mid- to late-twenties.

He gazed down at Hiro for a moment, and, with only the slightest of movements, aimed his gun and fired a laser bolt through Hiro's throat. His convulsions continued for a second, and then he lay still, dulled eyes staring at the ceiling in death.

Izanami stared, too shocked to scream. She just lay there, eyes glued to scene before her.

Another man, similarly garbed as the first entered her view and came to attention. He was slightly shorter than the first, and wore a combat helmet similar to a pilot's. She was able to hear most of the words he said, but didn't recognize the language they were speaking.

The shorter man spoke first, "Ognuno e stato rappresentato. Il Temper scandita la nave e le firme di calore solo a sinistra sono quelli dei nostri uomini, e della donna." To which the other man replied with; "Buono. Informa i Temper per garantire la sua cavi e procedere alla fase due. Ho in grado di gestire la donna. Vogliono la sua vita." At that the shorter man saluted, "Riconosciuto Maggiore." Then he spun on his heel and disappeared behind the corner.

The man, who's identity she still questioned, knelt next to Akihiro's body and rummaged through the pockets of his jacket. He stopped and held something up to the light that had retrieved from the body. After a moment, he slipped it into his own pocket and rose. For the first time he turned towards Izanami and studied her. He strode toward her with steady footsteps, stopping inches from her, as he had with Akihiro.

He held his gun with his left hand as he bent down and grabbed Izanami's wrist. Twisting it over, he found the Japanese symbol she had tattooed to her skin there. Then he let go and her arm dropped back to the floor. She turned her head slightly and looked him in the eyes, anger and fear finally beginning to creep into her. But then something dark flashed at the edge of her vision and the butt of his gun slammed into the side of her head and she felt no more.

Dab · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 05:34 AM by Dab.)

"You want to steal the Liner? That wasn't in the plan." A female voice.
"This ship will come in useful." Now a man's.
"You mean earn you a pile of cash when you sell it to some pompous ass on Malta!"

Izanami found herself looking at a blank wall, her hands secured behind her back by handcuffs. They were wrapped around a pipe, which was behind the bench she was sitting on.

"Money drives this world, and I will use that." The man again. It sounded like the man she had seen on the Adamantine. And indeed, she looked over to see the man's pearl-white hair and the leather outfit he had worn. Opposite him was a woman, of average height, but with long wavy red hair. Izanami blinked in surprise as the woman tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, revealing a face that was distinctly Kusarian. That fact confused her for a moment, for no pure-gene Kusarian has red hair.

"You do whats best for yourself Colonel, your greed controls you. We were ordered to strip the ship of all its information, and take the Captain alive. Your men blasted the bridge into pieces, destroying everything we could've taken from it, and you killed the Captain."

"The Bretonians will deal with it. They want our help, we want our pay." Izanami ground her teeth together. A knot of anger collecting in her chest.

"The Bretonians don't give you your orders."

Luciano's voice rose almost to the point of yelling. "I don't get those orders from you either!"

The woman's voice turned hard and flinty. "You're right, you get them from your uncle, and Vince put me in charge to make sure you didn't go too far, which you always do."

The man made a haughty sniff as he began walking away, those perfectly measured steps sending a ring bouncing off the walls. "We're taking this back to Malta, whether you like it or not."

Malta! Outcasts.. I've been kidnapped by Outcasts.. Her fear returned and mixed with her anger over the death of her family. She bent over as she became overwhelmed with grief, pain, and frustration. A groan escaped her and tears began to form in her eyes. Izanami closed her eyes as her tears began to drop to the floor. She fought to control her emotions, but it did little good. When she finally opened her eyes again, she saw two large blots of black on the floor. She blinked the tears from her eyes and found herself looking at a pair of boots.

The woman grasped Izanami's jaw and raised her head, brushing her fingers over the bump caused by the impact from Luciano's rifle. Izanami tried to pull out her head out of the woman's grip, but all she managed to do was bash the back of her head into the wall. "Get your hands off of me!" She screamed, as she kicked at her. All she managed was to get her ankle caught in the woman's hand. Then her skin stung as a vicious slap snapped her head to the side, dazing her.

Before she could recover, spikes of pain shot through her. She screamed as the woman shifted her grip to Izanami's broken leg and squeezed her hand where Izanami's leg had been cut open. She let go after a second or two, but the pain made every second feel like an hour.

Again the woman grabbed her jaw and pulled her head up so she could see her. "Behave." She spoke so calmly that it made her even angrier. The woman knelt in front of her and began to inspect her injured leg.

Izanami fell silent as the woman began to cut off her pant legs at the knee from her injured leg to reveal her bloodied leg. She started to notice small details while waiting. Such as the woman's clothing, which was cut in a vaguely Kusarian style. The black and gold color scheme was like nothing she had seen on the Outcasts.

She glanced to the side as she heard footsteps, then the door opened and a tall woman with charcoal-black hair, and a uniform similar to the redhead's entered the room. Izanami's jaw dropped slightly in surprise and confusion. And now a Libertonian shows up.. What the hell is going on?

The woman didn't speak, but simply stood guard and watched as a medical robot was brought in to repair the damage to her leg.

Evyn · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 05:39 AM by Dab.)

Evyn Hunter opened her eyes, which felt akin to scraping sandpaper over them. However, that was the only painful part of her return to consciousness. The rooms dim light, soft on her eyes, showed a small room common for military or transport ships, where living space was scarce. There was a desk, wall terminal, the rooms only door, and the bed she was laying on. The only thing remarkable about it all was how utterly ordinary it was.

As she lay there, her mind began to spin, flashing through her most recent memories in a bizarre and surreal fashion. The months of work as a pilot for the Bretonian Armed Forces, gaining their trust, misleading them, betraying them.. Thats how it always was. The Betrayers and the Betrayed. As much a part of her as loyalty was of the Bretonian pilots. The feel of the knife as she pressed it to Nelles throat was burned into her memory.

Bretonia.. She had fled from it, had run as if from a nightmare. Until that Bounty Hunter had caught up with her. That damned girl, found her just as she entered the Taus. Found her and beaten her. Beaten her until the point of desperation. The scene flooding back to her, clear as day, The battle, her injured shoulder, the needle.. She paused at that. The needle, and the poison in it. The poison she was supposed to take in case of capture by enemy forces. The poison that should have killed her. And then she remembered being thrown across the cockpit, the needles glass vial shattering against the window as her out-of-control ship collided with an asteroid, sending her spinning.. Into the Harris minefield.

Beyond that she couldnt remember, and a cold lump of suspicion formed in her stomach as she scanned the room again. Nothing she saw seemed to indicate she was a prisoner, and she definitely wasnt dead. It was too dull to be heaven, and too pleasant to be hell.. Not that that was saying much. Swinging her sleep-numbed legs onto the floor she stood, the overhead light brightening as her movement tripped its sensors. The brighter light revealed nothing more than a small window lit by the white mist common among Niobium fields. Tau-37?

Walking over, she rummaged through the desk drawers; looking for anything that might indicate who the ship she was on belonged to. Nothing. All empty. She was standing still for a moment, thinking, when the light above her turned red. Outside, the white mist of the ice was replaced by the bright swirling colors of a jump hole. Several minutes passed before the ship finally began to slow, then stop.

Evyns breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened. She stared, surprised, her mind whirling in confusion. Framed in the window, almost as if from a photo, lay a green-and-orange planet orbiting a familiar green sun.. Malta.

Evyn · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 05:41 AM by Dab.)

The sound of the door opening startled Evyn out of her reverie, sending her heart jumping in surprise. Turning around, she found a smallish Kusari woman with red hair, much as her own, with a bundle of clothes in her arms. They stared at each other for a few moments, during which Evyn noticed the clothing she was wearing, which was black and gold, looked familiar. Her briefings, both for her infiltration and later when under the guise of an Armed Forces pilot, were very thorough in regards to the war and those involved. From what she remembered, her uniform was typical of what a Golden Chrysanthemum would wear.

She couldn't pinpoint which group, or if she was just a common pilot, but the fact that she was being taken to Malta by one of the Outcasts's allies reassured her somewhat. Anything was better than prison. Well, almost anything. Eventually Evyn's curiosity got the better of her and she asked; "Who are you?" She was irritated to hear her voice crack, it felt like she hadn't spoken in days, which could very well be true.

"A friend." She held out the bundle for Evyn to grab, "put these on." The clothes appeared to be the various pieces of an Outcast pilot's uniform. "We think its best if everyone else thinks your just another ordinary Outcast" Due to the fact that she emphasized the word 'ordinary,' Evyn assumed the woman knew who she was. That ruled out common pilot, as did the casual use of 'we.' This was a person used to being in control.

"The mask has Cardamine in it, in case you want it. Turn it on or not, but you do need to at least wear it. We don't want people to see your face and notice your not a pure-bred Maltan. We'll be passing by the planet in twenty minutes or so. The shuttle leaves the hanger then, make sure your on it. Once we reach the surface, I'll take you to see Vince. He's rather.. Curious as to what happened, and where you've been the last couple weeks."

Evyn just blinked, not sure how to respond to everything that was just said to her. Before she could ask anything else, the woman slipped from the room.

Dab · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 05:56 AM by Dab.)

Zetsumai slowly climbed the marble steps to the villa's over sized front door. Beside her, Evyn kept pace, matching Zetsumai's step with military precision. For a moment she wondered if Evyn was trying to unnerve her, or if she did it unconsciously, a result of her training from the Bretonia Armed Forces. Behind them a slave, wearing the clothes of a servant, was carrying her luggage from the car. As was expected behavior, both Evyn and Zetsumai pretended to ignore the man's presence. He was property, nothing more.. At least to the native Maltans. For Zetsumai, a Kusari-born woman, she was never able to get used to the practice of slavery here on Malta. It made her uneasy..

As they reached the large wood-paneled door, Zetsumai rested her hand on a fingerprint scanner. She held her hand still until it swung open slowly, revealing a large foyer, whose walls and floor were made from solid marble. Old Roman-style columns ringed the room, supporting a huge glass dome that served as the ceiling, which bathed the room in orange light. Directly across from them was another staircase, which curved outwards as it reached the wall that was dotted with doors leading to other areas of the villa.

Zetsumai turned left and led Evyn through a door on ground level, down a hallway, and to another wooden door with intricately carved pattens decorating its face. She pulled it open, letting Evyn precede her into the room. She closed the door behind her as she followed the woman inside. The room was lit with sunlight coming in through the large glass window that dominated the east wall. From the villa's location at the top of a large hill, the window offered a generous view of the surrounding valley, mountains visible far in the distance.

However, Zetsumai's attention wasn't on the scenery, but the two people she shared the room with. She was privy to much of Don Vincenzo Fedele's business, past and present. This was both.

Evyn Hunter, or as known on Malta, Evelyn Demetri, was an intelligence agent under Don Fedele. Her father was a Captain Raeburn Hunter in the Bretonia Armed Forces. His position in the Armed Forces wasn't entirely based on merit; he was born to minor nobility on Planet New London. Her mother, Selena Demetri, wife of Renato Demetri and Don Fedele's sister. Renato Demetri had died before Evyn's birth. Selena had been on a trip to Magellan when the freighter she was aboard was found by the Armed Forces in Leeds, long before the wars in Sirius and the implicit ceasefire between the Bretonians and Outcasts. The escorts were unable to stop a full squad of Templars, and the freighter's entire crew was captured and taken to Battleship Derby.

Battleship Derby was known as the "snob's" battleship in the Armed Forces. The crew, except those who had menial tasks such as waste disposal, cleaning, and others, was made of nobility, minor and major. The fighter pilots were the worst of them, being the usual egotistical persons they are, coupled with the arrogance that money and privilege often breeds. One of these pilots, Raeburn Hunter, found he could use that privilege to satisfy his desires during the long month he was stationed on the Derby. Who cared about a few female prisoners anyway?

Raeburn died seven years later at the onset of the Nomad war. Since there was no evidence that Selena had committed unlawful acts in Bretonia, she was released shortly after her capture in the late 8th century, and returned to Malta, where she gave birth to Evyn nine months later. Selena had died during the birth, leaving Evyn under the care of her two older half-brothers, Vitale and Luciano Demetri, and her uncle Vincenzo Fedele.

Vitale and Vincenzo both accepted Evyn as one of their family, despite that she was a 'bastard', one born out of wedlock, considered by many as a disgrace... Including her eldest brother, Luciano. When he deigned to even acknowledge her, he was harsh and demeaning. As a result, she spent most of her time with Vitale, who was only three years older than she.

When she turned ten she was tested, as customary for children on Malta, where population is scarce and duties are assigned based on genetically tested aptitudes. She was found to have an above-average intellect, and a logical thinking mind. One that was capable of very clear and precise thought. A year later she was one of several test subjects for a new invention; Bio-mechanical microcomputers controlled by thoughts. The computer was implanted in her. Wires connected the computer to heart, lungs, and brain. The first two were used to monitor the vital signs of the host and to diagnose any health problems or activity that could be fatal, like the lungs being deprived of air from the host being suffocated. In the event of death, this information would then be sent to the nearest transmitter under a heavy encryption, if any were in range, and then burn all of its memory.

The wires connecting the computer to the brain were able not only to receive input, but give output as well. A host could make an inquiry to the computer and receive a response, such as the definition of a word. Several other, minor, additions were added in later years. Due to the difficulties in making a computer compatible with a human's thoughts, it could only be tested on those with clear thought patterns, instead of the usual muddy and fickle minds most humans had. The only reason the Outcasts were able to develop and test such a device was due to the greatly enhanced mental capabilities they received from prolonged exposure to Cardamine.

Evyn spent two years being trained to use the bio-computer. Obviously, the development of these machines clued their designers into one important concept; Such a device was an invaluable tool for spies and saboteurs. Evyn was definitely capable of performing the duties of a spy, and she had one thing no pure Maltan did; Her face. As half her genes were from a Bretonian, she had inherited much of their facial appearances. With a little makeup, she could easily be taken for a pure-bred Bretonian.

So for four years she learned her trade of lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering. Not the sort of stuff that contributes much to a twelve year old's innocent mind... And here was the final product standing rigid-straight in front of Zetsumai. At a quick glance one see nothing special in the scene. Until one saw the set of Evyn's face, which suggested she was resisting the urge to clench her teeth, or her eyes. The eyes that stared at the man across the desk with a furious intensity. Being the man he was, thoughtless, lacking in empathy, and generally incapable of understanding women, Vincenzo didn't notice a single thing.

He stood up, a smile spreading across his face. "Evelyn! It's good to finally see you. We hadn't received any word from you for months.. Then Zetsumai here sends me a message saying she just found my niece floating in the middle of a minefield, and in a Bounty Hunter's ship no-less! Still trying to work that one out.." He rounded the edge of the desk, "but enough of that, you've returned, and this is cause for celebration!" He reaches towards her arm, to escort her out of the room. "Come! The cooks should have tonight's dinner nearly finished by now, and-"

Evyn slapped him, hard.

Dab · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 06:01 AM by Dab.)

Vincenzo worked his jaw around. "I guess I deserved that..."

Evyn gnashed her teeth together to stop herself from railing at him until his ears popped. "You're damned right you did!"

He gave her an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry we left you there, but things-" He was cut off abruptly as she slapped him again, leaving it a red spot on his cheek. She was slightly embarrassed how much satisfaction it gave her.

Evyn felt a pressure as Zetsumai laid a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down and let him speak. You may not have liked it, but he had reasons for wanting you to remain in Bretonia. Things aren't as simple as they used to be." Evyn looked back and shot her a glare before shrugging her hand off.

She turned her attention back to Vincenzo. She kept staring at him, hoping it would make him feel uncomfortable.

It didn't seem to have an affect. He calmly walked back to his desk and activated the large 3D display projected from a table-like object in the center of the room. The lights dimmed as it was activated, leaving the room illuminated solely by the small pinpricks of light projected into the air, each representing a solar system of the known areas of Sirius.

Vincenzo pressed another button and the stars shifted from their natural physical colors to a multitude of distinct regional indicators. Small lines of text appeared besides them, stating the names of the systems. It was nearly the same map she had seen in briefings during her duties in the Armed Forces, though this one showed many of the systems the Bretonians didn't know the locations of, such as Omicron Gamma.

Vincenzo's voice rang out from the other side of the display. "I'm sure you're familiar with the map of Sirius. What Bretonia didn't know until just recently, which is why it didn't trickle down to you, is that there is an entirely new region we've become aware of. When he said that, many of the lights blinked out as the display zoomed in on the western edge of Sirius, showing the Taus, Bretonia, and Omicron Alpha. Bretonia's red stars, the Tau's light orange, and the purple star used to represent Omicron Alpha were joined by a large group, five in total, of light-blue colored stars. She didn't recognize the names.

She heard Vincenzo's voice in the background as she evaluated the map before her. "Lorraine, Champagne, Burgundy, Dauphine, Languedoc. These systems you see comprise the edge of a fifth house, called Gallia, that has strove to remain hidden from the rest of us. Until recently they've been successful. From what little we know so far, Gallia is ruled by an authoritarian monarchy. Currently King DeFrance is that monarch, and a woman named Lilith LaCroix runs the military."

"The significance of this is that Gallia seems to have a grudge with Bretonia and Liberty. We are fairly certain that they are going to start some kind of operations against them at some point." He paused for a moment, then continued slowly, "having a source within the Bretonian military would be a great benefit if this were to happen."

Evyn tore her gaze from the map and sent another glare in his direction, though his features were partially obscured by the display between them. "That was your reason? I was too valuable as a spy for you that you couldn't... Or wouldn't? Get me out. I'm not some turned Bretonian for you to discard when you're done with me. I'm your niece... I wish you'd start treating me like it.

"Evyn, please, I wish you would get over that. I didn't have much choice. You were the only one in Bretonia I knew I could trust." Not that she was the sole spy the Outcasts had in Bretonia. All the pirate factions had men and contacts in the various houses, but when it came to the Outcasts, the Dons rarely cooperated, especially when it came to privileged information.

"No, its much better for me to die in that stupid war instead." She said sarcastically. "Or better yet, get caught by Bretonia, drilled for information, then die?"

She heard Vincenzo sigh shortly before he turned the display off. The room's lights slowly brightened as the stars faded from view. "Lets leave this for now. Zetsumai will show you to your room."

Evyn spun on her hill and left the room, her step agitated. Apparently it showed... "You shouldn't act like that." "Yeah? Why's that?" Zetsumai caught up and fell into step with her. "We're victims of circumstance. He did what he had to do." Evyn couldn't help herself, and let out a mirthless laugh. "Did he now?" Zetsumai sighed with resignation. "I hope your more reasonable tomorrow morning."

After several minutes of navigating the corridors, Evyn opened the door to her room and practically fell onto the bed. It was an hour before she was able to finally slip into her dreams.

Dab · (This post was last modified: 03-22-2012, 06:02 AM by Dab.)

Izanami stumbled as she was pushed into the darkly lit room. As she regained her footing she heard the metal door behind her slide shut. She blinked, trying to see further into the room. It took a few moments for them to adjust from the bright light outside to the cave-like darkness of the barracks.

She jumped in surprise when a pile of clothing was thrust into her arms, and a rough hand grabbed her and propelled her further into the room. She tried to turn around and see who the person was, but before she could, she received another shove, this time accompanied by a man's voice. "Stop standing about or I'll have you whipped! Back wall. And no talking. You've got four hours."

She slowly started across the room, trying to spot the far wall in the dim light. Eventually she spotted a small red light illuminating a row of bunks, stacked two high. She walked towards a bed that seemed unoccupied and laid the bundle on it. It looked to be a thickly-padded shirt and leggings, along with a pair of shoes made from a hard material she couldn't identify. Stuffed inside the shoes was a pair of gloves made of the same stuffy material as the clothing. All of it was in a gaudy purple color. Probably chosen for its visibility against the orange background of the Cardamine fields.

She lowered the clothes to the floor and slid them under her bed. "Don't do that."

Izanami looked up. The softly-spoken words came from the bed next to hers where an ordinary-looking woman, was laying, propped up on her elbow and looking at her. "What?" Her voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silent room.

"I said don't do that. Don't leave your clothes under there. Someone will take them while you're asleep. New clothes are a bit of a luxury here. If you want to have them in the morning, you'll sleep with them under you, or wear them." The woman flicked a hand towards her own outfit, which was identical to the ones Izanami had been given, though the fabric near the wrists was torn in several places.

She silently obeyed and brought the bundle back up to her bed, pushing it up against the wall, then sat down. She found the blanket thick and heavy, if a bit rough. At least I won't freeze..

"So, what's your name?" It was the woman again.

Izanami didn't bother looking over. "Izanami."

"Izanami hmm? Sounds Kusarian. Naval Forces?"

"Civilian..." She answered meekly. Here she was, sitting in the slave barracks of a Malta Cardamine plantation, talking to another slave. Her father and fiance dead, their liner destroyed. If Cardamine grass was as lethal as rumors said it was, she might as well just throw herself into a clump of the stuff and let it cut her to pieces. It'd be faster. There was nothing left for her to live for except pain.

"Sorry to hear that.. You don't deserve this." The woman let out a small chuckle, and Izanami thought she heard real humor in it. This woman must be really screwed up if she could have humor in a place like this.

"I'm not so fortunate. Or perhaps more fortunate, depending on how you look at it. I was a petty thief in Liberty. Got caught, sent to Hunstville. Greedy bastards there were selling low-profile convicts to slavers, probably still are. I was one of the lucky few.. Let me tell you, if they took a few lessons from these Outcasts, Liberty's criminal problems would be over. Nothing makes you want to go back to being a lawful drone like spending a year in a field of grass that tries to gut you."

"Yeah, thanks for the tip..." Why the hell did this person think she cared why she was here? Izanami carefully lifted her left leg, still wrapped in the medical tape the droid had used, and laid it on the bed, followed by the rest of her body. Exhausted by the events of the day, she fell to sleep in moments.

Dab · 02-26-2010, 03:28 AM,

Izanami woke with a start as the barracks was filled with the shrill pinging of a bell. The men and women around her, for there was no separation of genders, jumped out of bed and stood silently in front of their cots. Following their lead, she pushed herself up and stood.

She watched as two men walked along the line of slaves. As they got closer, she could hear them giving short commands to the slaves as they passed. The majority she heard were "to the fields," with a very small minority being "servant," which she took to mean in the owner's mansion.

As the two men reached her they slowed, and she felt fear creep into her. The first man held his hand out, which the second deposited a small metal device onto. The first man took a step closer to her, "New?" She nodded. "Hold out your arm." She hesitated, then reluctantly complied. The man grabbed her by the wrist, then twisted until her palm was facing upwards.

He pressed the device's head to her wrist just below the palm. Almost immediately it began to burn and she instinctively tried to pull her arm away, but the man held it in an iron grip. After several more seconds he released her and she dropped to her cot, pressing her burning wrist to her stomach. She clamped her eyes shut and waited for the pain to subside.

The man was still standing before her when she cracked her eyes open. "Stay here when the others leave and we'll find out where to put you." She glared at him as he continued down the line of slaves. When he was several meters away she looked down at her wrist and found a small symbol and four numbers burned into her skin, the surrounding tissue still cherry-red from the heat and pain.

Her wrist was still throbbing when the man returned, this time alone. The other slaves had been filed away, leaving the barracks empty. "So what are we to do with you? I'm told to make sure you're not killed at least, so I guess that means I can't send you out to the fields. Hmm.." He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to her feet, then scrutinized her face before running his gaze up and down her body. As he circled her she felt a fearful tingle run up her spine. She felt very exposed and vulnerable.

"Hmm.. Attractive enough, you may do. I think I'll have you work in the mansion until we find out if there is somewhere else you'd be useful. Come on."

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