Series 1.17 - One Becomes Two Becomes Many
She danced around the sky with a fragile grace; a pendant swaying from one end to another. Every movement a calculated risk betrayed by an impulse. Life was always a balancing act between duty and desire; obligation and passion. Her flying was no different. They would never instruct her adventitious style at any flight school, but she did have the reputation of being one of the greatest pilots in all of the Assemblage, OoA or not. In all her years flying as the pilot of the Commandant's personal Strike Team, both for Melora and Ceren Rowe, she had never lost a battle in the air. She'd never even had to abandon ship while flying a solo-fighter. But she also never had to take on an entire flotilla of unknown ship design and orchestrate not one, nor two, but three rescue attempts at once like she was doing now. The ship had taken multiple hits throughout the engagement, from the sheer volume alone. The Sunder fighters appeared to fly with an even more erratic plan than even her own. There was no rhyme nor reason to their movements and there were several times in which she thought that they could have pressed her and taken her down, yet didn't. There were also more chances for her to destroy them, both with manual fire, duo-blasters, and causing them to crash into the trees and each other. She wondered if they were simply just plebes who had never actually flown into battle before or if that was just what the Sunder had to offer.
Rather pathetic if you ask me.
Her high-handedness was almost never just used to mask other feelings; her species radiated confidence as a survival technique. She truly believed that she was the best to ever sit in a cockpit. No amount of ego could compensate for sheer numbers, however. And for every one enemy fighter she managed to down, three more would appear on her display. They continued to spill out of the crevice made on the other side of the planet like an angry swarm of insects. Her mind drifted back to her days as a young flock member, catching glowbugs with her sisters while dreaming about one day taking over the galaxy and capturing everyone in a glass jar to entertain her for all eternity. Those were simpler times.
I sure could use a couple of wing mates to take some of the pressure off me right now.
Though her mind and body were hyper focused on the task of maneuvering through the battle, her eyes managed for a moment to drift down to her hands gripping onto the controls. A sickening feeling promptly filled her gut at the sight of the delicate feathers along her fingers, once a brilliant blue, pink, and white in color were now a shadowy shade of black and gray. She hadn't noticed just how much UDE-1 she had been drawing on while flying and was appalled by the physical changes it was making to her appearance. Of course, she appreciated the help that it provided, but never liked to push it that far. She had been down that road once before in life and it was not one that she ever wished to travel again. She took a moment to take each hand off the stick and shake them out, the UDE-1 dissipating in a smoky haze that rose up into her eyes before settling back into the Resonator on her chest.
“You know me, I'm not one to alarm anybody, but...we really need to find your sister and get out of here. Like, even saying the sooner the better doesn't get my point across of how fast it needs to happen.” she said into her comm-set to the back where Tae was manning a duo-blaster.
“I know, I know. I'm working on it. I've got a tracking on her Resonator but her comms are offline. I can't get a reading on her vitals or exact location until we're within charge distance of her, which could be anywhere down there.” said Tae, attempting to explain as best as he could without sounding frantic.
“Would this help?” she asked, before pushing the strike craft to it's absolute limits by turning it's nose into the air, spinning the ship multiple times, and plummeting it back down towards the canopy of the jungle, letting out a hail of controlled manual fire that burned away the topmost layer in a wide swath. The Sunder ships continued to buzz around them with a fury, but seemed just as confused by the move as the rest of the Strike Team were, with many of them attempting to follow but crashing into the trees around the section she had burned away.
“A little bit of warning next time would be ideal, ma'am.” Jules did not sound pleased.
“You should learn to live life on the edge, handsome. You've made it this long being a drag.” said Alere in the sultry tone she often used to lighten the mood after she did something drastic that Jules disapproved of.
“I don't consider nearly passing out and potentially burning up in a fiery crash to be living on the edge.” came his quick and agitated reply into the comm-set.
“I kind of agree, but I think it actually worked.” said Tae, breaking in between the two of them.
“See, there is always a method to my madness, isn't there? You'd think you'd trust me after all these years. I'm hurt.”
Tae sent the updated coordinates to her visor before she could string them along any further than she already had. She felt an all-too-familiar sensation whispering around the edges of her eyes and the margins of her mind. Though it was caught early, the corruption was pulsating around her, trying to sway her to give in and accept the madness and the power. She pushed through the darkness and clarity returned as she adjusted her flight to find her friend down in a different kind of darkness below.
Rather pathetic if you ask me.
Her high-handedness was almost never just used to mask other feelings; her species radiated confidence as a survival technique. She truly believed that she was the best to ever sit in a cockpit. No amount of ego could compensate for sheer numbers, however. And for every one enemy fighter she managed to down, three more would appear on her display. They continued to spill out of the crevice made on the other side of the planet like an angry swarm of insects. Her mind drifted back to her days as a young flock member, catching glowbugs with her sisters while dreaming about one day taking over the galaxy and capturing everyone in a glass jar to entertain her for all eternity. Those were simpler times.
I sure could use a couple of wing mates to take some of the pressure off me right now.
Though her mind and body were hyper focused on the task of maneuvering through the battle, her eyes managed for a moment to drift down to her hands gripping onto the controls. A sickening feeling promptly filled her gut at the sight of the delicate feathers along her fingers, once a brilliant blue, pink, and white in color were now a shadowy shade of black and gray. She hadn't noticed just how much UDE-1 she had been drawing on while flying and was appalled by the physical changes it was making to her appearance. Of course, she appreciated the help that it provided, but never liked to push it that far. She had been down that road once before in life and it was not one that she ever wished to travel again. She took a moment to take each hand off the stick and shake them out, the UDE-1 dissipating in a smoky haze that rose up into her eyes before settling back into the Resonator on her chest.
“You know me, I'm not one to alarm anybody, but...we really need to find your sister and get out of here. Like, even saying the sooner the better doesn't get my point across of how fast it needs to happen.” she said into her comm-set to the back where Tae was manning a duo-blaster.
“I know, I know. I'm working on it. I've got a tracking on her Resonator but her comms are offline. I can't get a reading on her vitals or exact location until we're within charge distance of her, which could be anywhere down there.” said Tae, attempting to explain as best as he could without sounding frantic.
“Would this help?” she asked, before pushing the strike craft to it's absolute limits by turning it's nose into the air, spinning the ship multiple times, and plummeting it back down towards the canopy of the jungle, letting out a hail of controlled manual fire that burned away the topmost layer in a wide swath. The Sunder ships continued to buzz around them with a fury, but seemed just as confused by the move as the rest of the Strike Team were, with many of them attempting to follow but crashing into the trees around the section she had burned away.
“A little bit of warning next time would be ideal, ma'am.” Jules did not sound pleased.
“You should learn to live life on the edge, handsome. You've made it this long being a drag.” said Alere in the sultry tone she often used to lighten the mood after she did something drastic that Jules disapproved of.
“I don't consider nearly passing out and potentially burning up in a fiery crash to be living on the edge.” came his quick and agitated reply into the comm-set.
“I kind of agree, but I think it actually worked.” said Tae, breaking in between the two of them.
“See, there is always a method to my madness, isn't there? You'd think you'd trust me after all these years. I'm hurt.”
Tae sent the updated coordinates to her visor before she could string them along any further than she already had. She felt an all-too-familiar sensation whispering around the edges of her eyes and the margins of her mind. Though it was caught early, the corruption was pulsating around her, trying to sway her to give in and accept the madness and the power. She pushed through the darkness and clarity returned as she adjusted her flight to find her friend down in a different kind of darkness below.
*****
A single droplet of water slides down a stalk before finding itself resting on the base of a leaf. A lone droplet becomes two which becomes many until the leaf can no longer contain them all. A single droplet of water falls off the edge of the leaf and trickles down through the air before resting on the cheek of a fallen warrior. One droplet becomes two which becomes many until the fallen warrior begins to stir. Her eyes slowly open as she awakens to a place that she does not recognize at first. In fact, it takes many more droplets of water before she remembers who she even is. The delirium had faded from her thoughts and she was whole again mentally; physically was a different story. It took all the strength she had left in her body just to turn onto her side in the mud. It was in that struggle that she saw that the mud was caused by her own blood, rather than the water that continued to fall from the trees above her. The only positive being that the blood at appeared to stop flowing. Seconds felt like days worth of toil in her attempt to sit up; a successful yet costly venture.
Ah, right. How could I forget about my back? Must not have been in my right mind.
The shame of allowing herself to take the UDE-1 as far as she did nearly managed to take the edge off the feeling of betrayal she had for not allowing it to take over completely. It had never gotten that far before and she finally understood the warning and the caution the Order preached in regards to it.
Did it work though? How am I still alive?
She tried once again to turn but the pain in her back only magnified and her Resonator was doing more to restrict her movements than help them. It was as if the thing knew that she had given up on it and was pouting, as silly of a thought as that was considering it was just a machine. She contemplated unstrapping herself from it, though that went against all Order directives for strike team members on missions and she was the last person who should disregard directives all things considered. Still, the pain was fierce and it was unclear just how much more damage crossing so close to the edge of the power line had caused to her body. There was still the halo of darkness around her form and she knew that her face was likely just as scarred as her hands probably were under her gloves. With time, those scars would heal, she hoped, but her concern now was just making it through this ordeal.
Wait. What happened?
The strain on her mind was demanding given her circumstance, but she focused and was able to recall the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness. The Sunder beast was standing above her, ready to strike down on her, when another blinding flash of light appeared over her meeting him halfway. She managed to turn around the other direction and saw what finally put those memories into place; the body of both the enemy commander and of Hox, side by side in the dirt. He had sacrificed himself to save her, after she had thought he was already gone.
Just liked I saved him...
She took in a deep and agonizing breath before starting a crawl towards them. She dug her hands into the ground and used it as much as she could to help her momentum. Her Resonator kicked back at her attempts and shuddered her core which only made the journey that much more difficult. After many starts and stops, she was finally able to reach their side and used one more final burst of strength to shove Hox off of the top of hulking Sunder corpse. She collapsed next to Hox's body out of exhaustion; the world beginning to spin around in her vision once more. Just as the light of the day bleeding through the treetops began to fade away once more, she felt a hand take hold of her own. It was enough to bring her back to this place again. She turned her head to the side to see a now familiar pair of understanding eyes looking back her.
“Oh, so that whole dying thing...not really your...thing, huh?” she managed to croak out through the pain, though she knew he couldn't understand her words.
He squeezed her hand a bit harder and turned his head away to look back up into the little bit of sky that they could see. She managed a faint laugh that still found a way to hurt her entire body even more before turning her own head back and closing her eyes. A lone droplet of water turns into two before turning into many as the rain began to fall harder; the sky turns a darker shade of gray. They lay side by side and listen to the sound of the drops crashing gently around them; hand in hand. Melora, in all her years and experiences throughout all the known galaxy, had never felt more calm and at peace. The pain no longer mattered to her. She continued to listen to the rain until the sound of heated battle from above got close enough to be revealed as more than just a day dream...or a fever.
Ah, right. How could I forget about my back? Must not have been in my right mind.
The shame of allowing herself to take the UDE-1 as far as she did nearly managed to take the edge off the feeling of betrayal she had for not allowing it to take over completely. It had never gotten that far before and she finally understood the warning and the caution the Order preached in regards to it.
Did it work though? How am I still alive?
She tried once again to turn but the pain in her back only magnified and her Resonator was doing more to restrict her movements than help them. It was as if the thing knew that she had given up on it and was pouting, as silly of a thought as that was considering it was just a machine. She contemplated unstrapping herself from it, though that went against all Order directives for strike team members on missions and she was the last person who should disregard directives all things considered. Still, the pain was fierce and it was unclear just how much more damage crossing so close to the edge of the power line had caused to her body. There was still the halo of darkness around her form and she knew that her face was likely just as scarred as her hands probably were under her gloves. With time, those scars would heal, she hoped, but her concern now was just making it through this ordeal.
Wait. What happened?
The strain on her mind was demanding given her circumstance, but she focused and was able to recall the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness. The Sunder beast was standing above her, ready to strike down on her, when another blinding flash of light appeared over her meeting him halfway. She managed to turn around the other direction and saw what finally put those memories into place; the body of both the enemy commander and of Hox, side by side in the dirt. He had sacrificed himself to save her, after she had thought he was already gone.
Just liked I saved him...
She took in a deep and agonizing breath before starting a crawl towards them. She dug her hands into the ground and used it as much as she could to help her momentum. Her Resonator kicked back at her attempts and shuddered her core which only made the journey that much more difficult. After many starts and stops, she was finally able to reach their side and used one more final burst of strength to shove Hox off of the top of hulking Sunder corpse. She collapsed next to Hox's body out of exhaustion; the world beginning to spin around in her vision once more. Just as the light of the day bleeding through the treetops began to fade away once more, she felt a hand take hold of her own. It was enough to bring her back to this place again. She turned her head to the side to see a now familiar pair of understanding eyes looking back her.
“Oh, so that whole dying thing...not really your...thing, huh?” she managed to croak out through the pain, though she knew he couldn't understand her words.
He squeezed her hand a bit harder and turned his head away to look back up into the little bit of sky that they could see. She managed a faint laugh that still found a way to hurt her entire body even more before turning her own head back and closing her eyes. A lone droplet of water turns into two before turning into many as the rain began to fall harder; the sky turns a darker shade of gray. They lay side by side and listen to the sound of the drops crashing gently around them; hand in hand. Melora, in all her years and experiences throughout all the known galaxy, had never felt more calm and at peace. The pain no longer mattered to her. She continued to listen to the rain until the sound of heated battle from above got close enough to be revealed as more than just a day dream...or a fever.
