The metamorphosis of Morgana Kay

Docking bay D-42 felt hot and damp to the skin as Morgana Kay Dumont stepped out of her Ryu

Mk.IV frigate. Kay shut her eyes and concentrated so she could feel her surroundings better. The

sound of the engine cooling down after a long flight, the smell of coolant turning to thick chemical

steam as it hit the glowing hot plasma rotor chambers. Kay was home, and she could feel it

everywhere around her. It was in the smell, the sound and the smothering heat. She was home.

After paying Jeffre the docking bay manager for storing her ship The Harrower, she booked a seat on

the next shuttle to Tathis II. She would have preferred to land there but landing a private vessel on a

world with artificial atmosphere was forbidden. But the shuttles weren´t so bad, a bit crowded but it

was a way home. Kay had been stationed on an Agency freighter clearing asteroid fields to establish

a permanent trade route with an outer rim station, it was tedious grunt work but it paid the bills.

The streets of Citadel city were teeming with life, small streets that never seemed to end. Kay moved

slowly through the markets in the travel district. It was part of the old city, large buildings build from

metal and bricks glooming over streets arranged in circles around First Temple. A gigantic,

magnificent cathedral standing tallest in a sea of buildings. Kay looked up on the temple and

remembered the first time her father took her to see the Apostles. The inside was even more

magnificent than the outside, walls covered with precious metals and shiny stones mined from the

farthest asteroids of the system. The Apostles were the first to arrive back from the world beyond

the rift. They came back with the science vessel Horizon after they had disappeared. They had been

measuring the radiation levels of the YX-7524 black hole. Turns out they had traveled across the stars

by accident and found the descendants of the legendary Genesis I.

They built the First temple shortly after they came and soon established Citadel city. Kay couldn´t

help marvel at what the brothers had accomplished, even though she didn´t agree with their religion.

The Second and the Third temples were just as impressive but in a different way. They were modern,

built from shiny white Arkanium, light as a feather but strong as hell. Kay had 40 minutes to kill

before the shuttle left so she made her way to the observation deck overlooking the shipyard and

found a comfortable chair to watch as ships from all over the rift came and went.

„There is no place like home“ she whispered to herself as a the ground shook when a Tar´ilian deep

space mining barge touched down in a nearby docking bay, the soft, orange light of the twin suns

setting bounced off the barge´s outer hull, still resetting from the heat of entering the atmosphere.

The shine of the two suns bathed the observation deck in soft light making it as if Kay´s long red hair

was on fire in the twilight while casting a flattering shadow, highlighting her tall and slim figure. Kay

took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if to inhale the ambiance of the whole thing, just for a few

precious minutes.

The depot was full of people going all over the system, all rushing to their assigned terminals.

miners on their way to Tathis V, travelers going to Tathis II or IV. You could even spot a few research

crews heading to any of Tathis Prime´s uncolonized moons.

Along the walls of the depot people sold cheap merchandise, knock offs and neuro stimulants. There

was also the occasional missionary spreading his gospel. One of the missionaries, a tattered old man

in a dirty black robe shouted from the top of his lungs:

„Repent! Your faith in The Apostles will be the death of you, out of Oblivion comes nothing but

damnation!“

Kay wasn´t a believer, she never trusted the Apostles. Her mother had told her the stories of when

the Apostles came to Tathis, they came back with the science vessel to spread their gospel. With

great riches they won the people over to their side and built Citadel City which was now the planet´s

largest settlement.

Kay´s thought´s were interrupted by an announcement patched through her neural adapter.

„Passengers leaving for Tathis II, please board through terminal 5.“

Kay felt a burning sensation around her adapter device as she made her way to the terminal, a small

rectangular port device on the side of her neck connected to her brainstem, recording, analyzing and

feeding her information.

„Must be faulty wiring, I´ll have dad take a look at it.“

Before she knew it the shuttle was on its way out of the atmosphere. She was finally on her way

home for some much needed downtime.

When Kay´s taxi pulled up to the driveway of her parents house she could barely contain herself with

joy as she spotted her father tinkering with his old Anti grav bike. She snuck up behind him;

„Stabilizers giving you trouble again old man? I told you it would never run right again after I crashed

it in the Marshlands.“

Rezio Dumont instantly recognized the voice and jumped to his feet to embrace his daughter.

„Rhea! We´ve got a visitor, your daughter´s here!“

Kay´s mother joined the celebration, then quickly herded her husband and daughter into the house.

„Come in, you must be tired and hungry!“

As they sat down at the dinner table Kay took a moment to take in the fact that she was finally home.

Her parents hadn´t changed a bit. Her mother sat across from her, white hair down to her shoulders,

she wasn´t the type to hide her age. It seemed trivial, she had lived through so much and saw no

reason to try and hide that. She had been a liaison in the Intelligence wing of the military during the

Rift wars. There she met Rezio a young pilot, they had been together ever since. Rhea was strong,

Rezio however, had not aged as well, he still had spirit but his body was failing him. Kay had pleaded

with him to try cell regeneration therapy on Tathis Prime but he never listened.

He turned to Kay and looked into her eyes and said with a smile on his face;

„It´s good to have you here, I never quite got used to you being away. It´s a shame your brother

couldn´t be here as well. He was called back to work, some sort of crisis on Tathis VII “

Her brother Max was a survey manager on Tathis VII´s mining facility. He´d been away for a lot longer

than her, Kay hadn´t seen him since he left for the academy to study engineering.

„The divines are watching over him, making sure he´s alright.“ said her father.

„Oh, don´t start with that dad.“ Kay replied quickly with a cheerful grin.

Kay´s upbringing had not been the most religious one, not in the sense that her family was against it,

rather that the emphasis had been on the value of trusting each other over some disembodied

deities. Her parents had told her stories of the Apostles during the wars. They did a lot of good, but

their secrecy had brought them both respect and hostility.

„Hard to trust someone who doesn´t trust you.“ her father always said.

Her mother had told her the story of the final skirmish of the Citadel countless times. When the

separatist army made their final push to take Citadel city, the brothers of the Apostolic Order

provided refuge for thousands of people inside First Temple. After a week long battle and countless

lives lost, the separatist invaders were defeated. Demoralized and weak they retreated to their

stronghold, a planet in the nearby Falz-Lewis system. The brothers claimed that the divines had

heeded their prayers and saved them. After that the city expanded, until it became the city it was

today, covering 15% of the entire planet, a city like no other.

Kay, Rhea and Rezio spent the evening reminiscing of old times and as the suns began to set on

Tathis II they agreed that it was time to rest.

As Rezio stumbled to the door of the house´s humble master bedroom, he turned to his daughter

and told her in a tired old voice;

„It´s so good to see you again dear, promise me that you won´t be away so long next time.“

Kay almost couldn´t believe it was him standing in front of her. An old man, wrinkles highlighted by

the fading light of day, her father, the strong, vibrant rock she had always depended on now an old

and fragile little man. She smiled back at him and gave him a reassuring look and responded gently.

„Don´t worry, I won´t.“

Kay was rudely awoken by another power surge from her neural data port, a quick buzz that gave a

slightly painful jolt to her spine.

„Spit! Have to get this thing fixed or I´ll end up paralyzed. We don´t want that“

Upon leaving her sleeping quarters, that rather resembled a nicely compacted junkyard of family

heirlooms and junk alike, she could smell the hypnotic scent of coffee coming from the kitchen. For

the last few months she had been painfully settling for synthesized coffee, black disgusting swill

barely fit for dogs. Kay chased the scent down to a hot pot of fresh coffee. On the pearly white

kitchen counter a strategically placed note read;

Went into the city, we´ll be home in a few hours. Love Mom and dad.

After three steaming cups of delicious coffee and a quick shower Kay stepped out of the house,

feeling the warmth of the two suns on her pale face. Her father´s anti grav bike stood in the driveway

begging to be saddled and taken for a spin.

„You beautiful thing, you know I can never resist you“ Kay whispered with a tiny rebellious grin on

her sunbathed face.

The bike screamed out as it flew at breakneck speeds down the motorway, gliding inches over the

ground. Kay never felt more in control than ever, knowing that one mistake would either kill or

cripple her kept her on her toes, a thrill like no other. In view was The Core, a large city originally

built by the second settlers.

There were four settlements on the moon, all of them connected by large motorways stretching on

as far as the eye could see. Each of the cities also hosted an artificial atmosphere generator,

sustaining the atmosphere in four sections spread over the moon, all of them forming one gigantic

air pocket around the moon. The Core was the largest one, in the middle of the city a huge cannon

like building, reaching for the sky holding all the life on the moon in balance.

Now that is beautiful, I´ll take that over a temple anytime Kay thought to herself as she slowed the

bike down at the city limits.

Kay stopped at the toll booth at the entrance to the city. Inside the booth was a fat man wearing a

gray uniform with gold stripes stretching from his broad shoulders down the sleeves of his jacket, the

uniform was gripping his elephantine body so tight that it looked like it could implode at any

moment. On his head he was wearing a peaked hat that sat on top of thick sweat drenched head of

hair. He struggled to his feet and walked out of the booth and tipped the visor of his hat as to say

hello.

„I´m going to need to scan your adapter for identification ma´am“ he said in a surprisingly relaxed

manner for a man of his size.

Kay shot him a friendly smile and held her hair as he scanned the neural adapter on the side of her

neck.

The man swiped Kay´s adapter and looked at his scanner a little confused.

„The data from your port is a little glitchy“ he said and looked at Kay.

Kay let go of her hair and ran her hand gently over the adapter and replied;

„Yeah, it´s been short circuiting lately, I meant to have that checked out. It´ll be the first thing i do

officer“ she threw him another smile as to say she was sorry.

The officer looked at his scanner one more time and turned to the booth and walked away.

„You do that, I got what I needed. Don´t let this happen again. “

Kay revved up the bike and hovered over to the parking structure. Kay parked her bike in a marked

area and once she stepped off, the bike was packed neatly in the structure with all the other

transports. A polite mechanical voice patched itself into her neural adapter;

„Morgana Kay Dumont, your transport vehicle has been successfully entered into storage. Enjoy your

stay. “

„Thank you“ Kay replied, even though she knew no one was listening.

The Core was not as crowded as Citadel City. Folks from all over the rift were going about their daily

lives. Even with so many people she could still spot offworlders. Tar´illians were easy, their skin was

slighty transparent and they all had long braded locks of hair hanging from the back of their heads

and strong reptile like legs and long arms with only three fingers on each hand, towering over the

crowd a full head higher than everyone else.

Kay had only heard stories of Tar´ilias from some guys she flew with on a freighter mission two years

earlier.

„The sky is a beautiful dark purple“ they would tell her.

„The air smells like nothing you have smelled before, awful foul stench it was. Cities built into the

sides of mountains shaped by acid rain, smooth as a whores ass. And the Rothlan peninsula

stretching as far as the eye can see into the dark blue sea. “

Grigorians were more or less like Tatheans, normal humanoids, except for facial tattoos stretching

from their lower lip, down the chin and down the front of their neck and a slightly paler complexion.

Tatheans were darker skinned, after all they did settle in a binary system, two suns are bound to give

you a hell of a tan.

All this reminded Kay of how small her world was, she may have gone further than most of the

people she knew, but there were still worlds out there that she had no idea of, just a tiny speck of

dust floating in an endless universe.

She thought of the Genesis project so many ages ago, how small they must have felt as they left their

home.

Three ships all sent in different directions carrying millions of people. Knowing that they would never

see the journey to an end, only hoping that generation after generation they would survive the

harshness of deep space. And how the first settlers must have felt knowing that thousands of years

after their ancestors left their home, they were the first to see the new world. All the lives lost, all

the time spent hoping that the unknown would bring them to a prosperous end.

As Kay spent hours roaming the city with a new appreciation for life and all that she had, she made

her way through narrow streets skillfully organized, with street vendors on every corner.

She finally made her way into the city centre, the busiest part of the city. The Core´s plaza was

magnificent, in the centre of the plaza the Atmocentre towered over hundreds of city employees

buzzing around their hive. She found a nice coffee shop overlooking the plaza from the second floor

of a complex built around the square.

„One large cup of coffee and Tahág jumble please“ she ordered from the waiter, she knew exactly

what she wanted. The best Tahág jumble in the rift she thought to herself and leaned back in the

chair. While she waited she pulled a small purse out of her bag. In the purse was a crumpled paper

bag full of moist tobacco and some rolling paper. She neatly rolled herself the perfect cigarette.

Kay tilted her head back and filled her lungs with delicious smoke.

All of a sudden, her focus was shifted to three mysterious men walking past her. They were Apostles,

dressed in black clothes with bright white hoods covering their heads and shoulders, and pendants

bearing the mark of the Apostolic Order around their necks.

One of them looked her straight in the eye and she felt a chill go down her spine, like he had

somehow reached out to her, under her skin and gently tickled her spinal column, and not in a good

way.

Slightly uneasy she watched the cloaked figures pass her, only to be pleasantly interrupted by the

smell of fresh coffee and Tahág jumble.

Inside The Core´s Atmocentre facility it was business as usual. Jacob Ogdan was in the security

department´s locker room getting ready for his shift. He had only been working at the Atmocentre

for two weeks now but was already starting to hate his job. The mindless, repetitive routine of dull

patrols and the equally uneventful hours spent staring at monitors were driving Jacob crazy. This job

was so boring that he had started to sneak the occational sip liquor from his father´s wine cabinet.

On especially lonely nights he would masturbate profusely to erotic images in The Wire´s services

section.

The ambiguity of massage parlour adverts were enough to get him going, his mind took care of the

rest. Given the choice he would rather be caught drinking on the job.

Then again, who the hell was going to catch him in the act, no one ever checked in on him.

The Atmocentre was mostly autonomous, all he had to do was look out for flashing red lights and call

the right person in case of malfunction.

„Hey Carl, you can go home now“ said Jacob to his elderly coworker who had been nodding off when

he came into the guard station. Carl didn´t say a word, just stood up and walked out, happy to be off

work. Jacob sensed that Carl didn´t like him very much.

As soon as Carl had left the building, Jacob sat in his chair and started browsing The Wire as he took a

good gulp of his father´s very expensive Gregorian berrywine.

Straight away he spotted a nice advert;

„Sensual, deep massage guaranteed to loosen your load as you slip into ecstasy.“

As Jacob started to unbutton his uniform pants he was suddenly interrupted.

Three Apostles stood on the other side of the glass and clearly they had accurately predicted the

events that were to transpire in Jacobs poorly organized little cubicle.

„Brothers, I apologize. What can I do for you?“ He stammered as he bowed his head respectfully. His

parents were very religious people, Jacob had been denied admittance to the Citadel´s monastery

more than once, much to his parent´s dismay.

One of the brothers took lead and approached the glass of the guard station. He tilted his head

slightly and gave Jacob a condescending smirk.

„Raise your head Jacob, the brothers require your assistance“ he said in the most warm and

comforting voice he could muster.

„You can be absolved of your sins, all we require is access to the mainframe“

Jacob couldn´t believe what he heard, how did he know my name, why would the brothers need to

access the mainframe, and how the hell did he know my name ?!

„I´m sorry brother, but I can´t let anyone into the mainframe, they would have my head.“ he replied

in a nervous voice.

„The Apostolic order would be most appreciative of your help.“ The leader calmly replied but the

tone clearly entailed a clear loss in patience.

„I wish I could help but, there is no way I can allow anyone access“ said Jacob

The leader sighed disgruntaly, his face quickly turning hostile.

„Beta, see if you can do anything about this“ he said and gestured towards Jacob who was starting to

sweat, not daring to move.

Beta traded places with his brother and stared deep into Jacobs eyes, his sinister grin making Jacob

even more nervous than before.

The brothers were each blessed with a gift, Beta was a fearmonger. He looked deep into Jacobs eyes

and let his gift flow into them. Jacob was gripped by a fear like he had never felt before, his darkest

memories flashing before his eyes. He saw all his worst moments in life, all at the same time. His fear

was only exaggerated by the backdrop of Beta´s sinister face. Jacob´s eyes started watering and

before he knew it he was crying his eyes out, the fear he felt was so great that he didn´t even notice

when he soiled himself.

After a few seconds, that felt like hours to poor Jacob, Alpha Beta finally stopped.

When Beta broke the bond, Jacob fell to the floor into a fetal position, his eyes wide and terrified.

The third brother calmly walked into the guard station and kneeled at Jacob´s side, removed his

keycard and brought it back to his brothers. The three then walked down the corridor to the

reinforced door, that lead to the Atmocentre´s mainframe.

“There is a slight problem brothers” Beta said in a calm tone that did in no way indicate problems.

“The keycard isn´t enough…”

Jacob was still on the floor of the guard station. He was slowly gathering his senses, still shaken from

the fearmonger´s grip, he wasn´t sure he would ever fully recover. He got to his feet only to realize

he had soiled himself.

“This isn´t worth it” he whined and prepared to make a run for it, only thing he was sure of was that

he was getting as far from the Atmocentre as he could. He carefully made sure the brothers were

gone before leaving the room. Once he was sure the coast was clear he ran as fast as he could,

turning the corner at breakneck speeds only to be met by a blade in the gut.

One of them had been sent to get the missing item the brothers needed. Delta pulled the knife out of

Jacobs gut and buried it deep in his throat.

As Jacob quickly lost consciousness his thoughts drifted back to the advertisement on the Wire, the

last thing he saw was his executioner´s blank expression.

The locks inside the huge reinforced dark iron door to the mainframe clicked one by one as they

opened in a carefully synchronized order. A cool breeze followed by a thick fog greeted the brothers

as the door opened. Jacob´s severed head fell to the floor, he had served his purpose, the retinal

scan made no distinction between the living and the dead, rigor mortis had locked his face in an

eternal state of sad realization that life had left him to early.

“Wait here, I´ll set it up so we have enough time to get off this rock before it´s too late.”

“Once we get off the surface, we´ll have a front row seat to the fulfilling of the seer´s vision” said the

leader as he disappeared into the fog.

After finishing her meal, Kay decided to enjoy a leisurely stroll of the plaza to walk off the Tahág.

She strolled down to the ground level surrounding the Atmocentre´s main building.

Amazing, she thought so herself as she marveled at the size of the structure. A giant cannon

stretching out into the sky, shooting out particles to maintain the artificial atmosphere around the

moon.

All of a sudden, as she passed a service entrance to the centre, she got an eerie feeling, like

something was terribly wrong. She felt dizzy, like everything was spinning around her, so much that

she nearly lost her balance. Just when she regained her footing she was thrown to the ground as

someone came running out of the service entrance. The man who hit her hit the ground hard.

Kay rushed to her feet to give him a piece of her mind but froze in her steps when she saw the man

that hit her was one of the Apostles she had seen at the café.

Beta recognized her instantly and looked deep into her eyes. Kay felt as though time slowed down,

and she could feel him inside her head as she fell back to her knees, like he was picking her brains for

something, like a parasite. All of a sudden, random images started flashing before her eyes, horrible

memories, she felt the fear take over.

But just as she was on the verge of loosing all control, when all hope was fading, in an unexpected

surge of strength she shut her eyes as hard as she could, it felt like a guiding hand raised her up, back

to her feet. When she opened her eyes again she focused all her fear at his presence in her mind. Her

thoughts screamed GET THE FUCK OUT OR I SWEAR I WILL END YOU! It felt like a missile composed

of only her thoughts, shot out from her mind straight into his.

Beta was knocked back as the bond between them broke, high frequency noise filled his senses.

Startled, almost frightened, he stumbled away, not believing what had just happened, no one had

ever broken his bond before.

The brothers made a run for it. Kay was exhausted. „What the hell was that?“ she asked herself as

she recovered. But before she could think she heard a voice in her head telling her to run.

Kay ran through the crowd up to the second level, she had to find them. Her instinct was screaming

at her to follow them, like she had no choice.

What was that back there? What the hell were they doing? No, no time to think just run.

She didn´t even know where she was running to, fighting the crowd was more than a challenge. She

had to stop for a moment catch her bearings. Then it dawned on her, Sethis Cathedral, that must be

the it.

The cathedral had its own docking bay for supply deliveries. She ran inside and looked around. At

the end of the right corridor she spotted them, they were heading for the docking bay.

She ran as fast as she could, and threw herself at the door, and just before it closed she slid her hand

inside. The heavy wooden door almost broke her hand but she barely felt it, the adrenaline took care

of that.

Kay sneaked inside, her heart pounding so hard that her eardrums felt like they would burst. Before

her, a Missionary class vessel, it was big and bulky, looked like it had taken a hell of a beating through

the years. Twin Unger 256 thrusters on each side, she was built for endurance.

The cargo bay hatch in the back was still open but the personnel ramp was closed.

„It´s now or never“ Kay whispered nervously under her breath before she made a run for the cargo

bay as it slowly started to close.

Kay threw herself onto the cargo bay floor just as the thrusters were angled down and spat flames,

filling the docking bay with smoke and fire.

The bulky vessel ascended slowly at first but the kick of the secondary thrusters shot it skyward. Kay

could barely believe she made it, as to what her next move was, she had no idea.

The interior of the ship was cold, like the iron belly of a fire breathing beast. The door to the mess

hall was only half closed. There were no discernable voices on the other side but Kay was not about

to take any unnecessary risks.

Suddenly she could hear them, just a few feet away behind the door.

„We are reaching the upper atmosphere, 30 minutes to release, 45 to detonation and we should be

clear by then.“

„Good work brother. The Pillars will be pleased.“

„Back to your stations brothers, our work is not complete.“

The voices were hard to tell apart, but Kay knew that this was bad, whatever it was.

Kay waited impatiently for a few minutes of silence just to make sure they were gone. Once she was

sure she was alone she carefully made her way to the next room. It was furnished like a shrine, the

walls were covered with lavish wall tapestry, gold plated furniture, and in the far end of the room

stood an altar decorated with precious gems.

Kay made her way across the room desperately trying not to make a sound, whatever happened she

knew she never wanted to relive her encounter outside the Atmocentre.

The door at the end of the room lead her to the engine room, she felt a sense of relief, finally an

environment she was properly accustomed to.

All of a sudden an emergency transmission was patched through her neural adapter, she was so

startled by the message, that she could barely smother a faint terrified scream of surprise and fear.

„This is an automatic emergency response message, atmospheric integrity has been compromised.

All residents of the second moon of Tathis Prime are required to report for evacuation immediately.“

For the first time it dawned on her, that her family and everything she held dear was on the moon.

She had been too focused on her chase to even consider that. If the atmospheric integrity had been

compromised, the brothers had to be connected somehow. Fighting back the panic the transmission

brought, she sat down with her back against the engine room´s wall and thought of home.

Just as the panic was taking her over the edge, she felt as the room went cold around her. Above her

stood one of the men.

Kay raced to her feet, but halfway through she was flung across the room by a massive kick to the

side, accompanied only by the sound of cracking ribs and followed by a thump as her back hit the

wall. The man walked towards her, savouring the thrill of an unfair fight. She grabbed the edge the

coolant tank next to her, and pulled herself up only to be met with a crushing blow to the temple

almost knocking her into the tank.

The sight of her own reflection in the coolant tank made her think of the moment at the restaurant

earlier that day, how everything was just right.

Interrupted by the cold touch of the man´s hand as he grabbed the back of her head and pushed her

head under.

The numbing sensation of the coolant freezing every nerve ending in her face while she gasped for

air made her panic. In a couple of seconds she´d stopped resisting, accepting the dire fate that

awaited her. The last thing that went through her head as she slipped out of consciousness was the

image of her parent´s kitchen, her mother cooking dinner and her father telling her the stories from

the wars. As her heartbeats drifted further apart she closed her eyes and accepted her death.

Delta had rather enjoyed his little rumble with the girl, who was now laying motionless on the engine

room floor. Not often I get to practice my hand to hand, must do more of it he thought to himself as

he knelt down to examine her a bit closer. Pretty girl he added, under different circumstances he

might even have fucked her, but as always faith comes before I do.

„Delta, it´s time“ echoed over the intercom´s tiny speaker system.

Delta knew the significance of the message, but you couldn´t tell by the blank expression on his

pretty face.

„Yes brother, I´ll be right there, I have to take care of one thing, a stowaway. Just need to dispose of

her“ he replied.

Delta carried Kay´s body to the jettison bay and dropped her on the floor in front of the airlock. He

figured he would shoot her out of the airlock as soon as his mission was complete. He hurried to the

cockpit where his brothers waited.

Kay lay on the floor motionless, only the faint blink of the blue light on her neural adapter blinking. It

was just ghosting, a weak background noise of her neural network, lasting only a few minutes before

fading away.

But just as it was about to die out completely, a spark shot through the device.

Kay gasped for air as the shock from the adapter kick started her brain functions, her heart started

pumping blood franticly to make up for time lost. The pain of blood rushing to every inch of her body

was so immense that vomit spewed from her mouth and nostrils. She wanted desperately to scraem

out in agony but her lungs hadn´t quite caught up. Her cracked ribs and swollen hand felt like they

were about to explode.

She lay there for what seemed like forever, filled with rage like she had never felt before.

All she could focus on was the man who had killed her, murdered her in cold blood and called himself

a man of faith. His cold touch on the back of her neck was all she could feel.

The ships hangar bay was dark and cold, Kay scrambled to find a way out, to get off the ship. Then it

dawned on her, this is a missionary vessel! Her father had told her stories of when the missionaries

tried unsuccessfully to civilize the outer rim territories on the edges of the rift. Most of the time they

found themselves hunted by pirates and freebooters lured by the gold and jewels inside.

So they modified the escape pod launch pads and installed light, easily maneuverable shuttle crafts.

They were fast as hell but the armor was paper thin. If she was lucky there would be one where the

escape pods were supposed to be.

Just as she found the hatch to the shuttle bay she could hear footsteps behind her, Kay quickly hid in

a dark corner behind the door to the hangar.

Delta stepped into the hangar, intent on finishing what he started, he looked forward to blow her

body out of the airlock and watch it freeze instantly, finally turning into a thin spray of ice crystals.

But when he got to the airlock he was thrown back as Kay lunged at him from the shadows, hitting is

head on the floor. Kay ran for the shuttle bay but Delta was quick to grab her ankle, tripping her just

inches from the door. He pulled himself towards her, he had lost his usual passive composure, she

had caught him by surprise and that made him so angry that he was almost foaming at the mouth.

A sharp kick landing perfectly across his face sent him into a fury like never before. Who the fuck

does this bitch think she is?!

Kay had her back against the wall and was now staring straight at the furious Delta crawling her way

almost on top of her now. He postured up and got ready to pounce the life right back out of her.

Kay struggled to reach for something, anything.

I´ve already died once today, no way I´m doing that again! She thought to herself as her right hand

found something close by. Without even thinking she jammed the object as deep as she could into

the side of Delta´s throat.

It was a hydrokinetic bolter, It´s head tearing up the inside of Delta´s throat.

Kay could hear the Apostles last breath, a bloody cough as his windpipe was ripped apart by the

bolter´s spinning head.

Without hesitating, Kay pushed Delta´s body to the side and headed back to the shuttle bay.

„Spit!“ the sudden reality of the situation dawned on her, „I just killed a member of the Apostolic

Order, even if I make it to the surface I´ll hang from the gallows by morning.“ Not sure which was

more startling, the fact that she had just murdered someone, or that she was talking to herself.

The blink of Delta´s neural adapter gave her an idea.

Back in the cockpit the other two men skillfully navigated the ship through the turbulence of the

moon´s upper atmosphere, once they broke through the last layer of thick clouds the magnificent

sight of Tathis Prime dominated the sky.

„Release payload.“ said the pilot.

„Payload released.“ Beta responded from the navigation console.

„Just seconds now brother.“ The pilot shouted over the noise of the thrusters as they broke atmo at

top speed,“Detonate!”

The skies of Tathis II filled with fire as the explosion ignited the unstable atmosphere. A tidal wave of

fire engulfed the moon, first the upper atmosphere and in a matter of seconds the flames had

reached the surface, incinerating every inch, and decimating every living thing.

A sudden thud interrupt their moment of triumph as Kay´s shuttle darted out of the ship´s hangar

bay. Surprised by what he saw, the pilot quickly rushed to the intercom station and called for Delta,

there was no response.

„Brother, go check on Delta!“ he snapped at the Beta who was already on his way down the hall that

lead to the rest of the ship.

The pilot rushed to the command console and sent an urgent message to his contacts on Tathis

Prime.

„Attention: Priority 1 seizure order, security clearance 736-ZY-269, shuttle craft 508 en route to

Tathis Prime. Alert all Clerics, use deadly force if necessary.“ He repeated the message just to be safe.

„Delta is dead brother.“ sounded over the intercom, „the bitch killed him. And she took his adapter.“

„We finished the task we were given. The Pillars will be pleased to know he gave his life for the

faith.“ He responded with a hint of grief in his otherwise cold voice.

Kay was blinded by the unbelievable brightness of the moon´s burning atmosphere as the shuttle

was hurled into orbit. Kay struggled to restabilize, but as soon as she did, she already wished she

hadn´t.

At first she thought she was heading for one of the suns, but when she realized that what she was

looking at was Thathis II she was instantly stricken with uncontrollable grief.

She sat there, strapped into the cockpit of the shuttle and watched her home burn, her whole life all

ablaze. She screamed out in horror at the thought of her family, devoured by the flames.

I give up, this is too much for one person to handle she thought to herself as she gave in to despair.

If I had only had the adapter fixed, I´d be ashes, but I wouldn´t be alone, she cried to herself and

buried her face in her hands.

As quickly as her grief had turned into despair, the despair morphed into uncontrollable rage, just

like she had felt on the plaza, and in the hangar bay. It was like fuel, setting her soul on fire, spitting

ash and brimstone. She had to run, as far as she could, vengeance would not be served this day, but

she swore to herself at that moment that this would not be the end, not like this.

Floating in space, she spun the shuttle around towards Tathis Prime on the spot, and sank in her seat

as the thrusters hurled her towards the planet´s surface.

The shuttle´s comm system alerted her of an incoming transmission, It was the transmission sent

from the missionary vessel.

„Attention: Priority 1 seizure order, security clearance 736-ZY-269, shuttle craft 508 en route to

Tathis Prime. Alert all Clerics, use deadly force if necessary.“ But the message didn´t faze her the

slightest, she knew they´d be coming for her, but she had nothing left to loose.

The shuttle whined and creaked as Kay broke atmo at terrifying speeds. There was heavy rain so the

cloud´s hung low over the seemingly never ending Citadel city when the shuttle came through the

thick clouds in a steep nosedive.

Kay yanked the flight handles towards her body to level off the shuttle as she fell from the sky like a

meteorite, covered in fire instantly turning rain into vapor.

The g-forces pushing her down and then thrusting her forward as she eased on the throttle. She

headed straight for Jeffre´s port, where she had left her ship when she arrived.

No time for docking permits she thought to herself as she swore under her breath.

The Harrower was parked in on the 42nd platform in block D, but block D was full so she needed a

new plan.

The closest unoccupied platform was in block A, it was as close as she would get but that meant she

had to run through the main atrium to get to her ship which was probably full of clerics by now.

Spit! she cursed to herself, lets get this shit over with. Kay banked hard and started her descent, she

turned the planetary stabilizing mode on and tilted the auxiliary thrusters downward and headed for

the pad.

Just a few feet above ground she spotted a squad of Clerics in the middle of the circular block,

searching the area for Kay´s shuttle.

As soon as she touched down, the cockpit flung open and Kay jumped down to the platform,

receiving a painful reminder of her injuries.

She made a run for it, as fast as she could. She could hear the clerics behind her signaling a pursuit.

They were fast, but not as fast as her as she ran through the massive crowd in the port´s main hall.

She could taste blood in her mouth and felt her heart racing, although she wasn´t quite sure if it was

just blood from the day´s beatings or the running.

As she turned a corner the crowd was starting to disperse, the clerics shouting had finally caught

their attention, Kay could feel them gaining on her.

And just as she turned the last corner she heard a loud gunshot and felt the bullet graze her left

shoulder. She didn´t have time to think about that, she just sprinted on through the door to block D

and grabbed a large wrench from a toolbox laying by a pile of spare parts next to the door and

slammed it into the door control pad, triggering the alarm sealing the door shut.

The block´s retractable roof started closing but Kay was already climbing into her ship.

The clerics were busy trying to override the emergency protocol, and could only watch through 10

inch bulletproof glass, as The Harrower narrowly escaped being crushed by the docking bay doors,

disappearing into the clouds leaving only a dissipating trail of smoke.

Kay was alive, even though she could hardly believe it herself. She just wanted to fly as far as the

horizon would take her, thrusters at max, no heading. Where was she supposed to go, she had

nowhere to run now. The adrenaline had masked the pain during the chase but now it was all coming

back, the hand, the ribs and now a bloody gunshot wound.

„It may only be a flesh wound but it still hurts like a bitch“ she swore under her breath as she drifted

out of consciousness, barely mustering up enough strength to turn kill the thrusters.

The Harrower, and its unconscious pilot, drifted deeper and deeper into space, spinning around

gently in the emptiness of the cosmos, farther and farther away from the Tathis system.

Kay drifted back home, her father was making her Gregorian meat pie and telling her stories while

her mother relaxed on the patio. She could almost taste it, only to be briefly awoken by the

Harrower´s screaming alerts. Unidentified tractor beam locked repeating over and over again. A

shadow overtook the ship as they were pulled into the underbelly of a monstrous barge. Kay drifted

off again, just making out a faint voice as she drifted off again.

„Hello, you ´arite miss?“ a young voice asked gently.

„Hey Gunther, we got a live one, get the doc in ´ere!“ he shouted.

„Don´t worry lady, you´ll be ´arite.“

Kay was already home.

© Aron Martin Ágústsson and iwritescifi.wordpress.com, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication

of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly

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