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Warhawk's Sacrifice - Ch. 23 - Day of Abasing - Alpha
🕑 Added 2024-01-02 02:53:29 +0000 UTC“Hold on,” Seb said, raising his hand. “Goddess? You recognize Iris?”
“Of course. She’s seraphic. A nakai, is she not?”
The woman’s declaration floored Seb. Nakai was a term only a few would know. To the majority of the galaxy, Iris was known as a precursor. He wasn’t expecting the calist to know of her kind.
“Please rise,” Iris said. “There’s no need for such formalities.”
When they didn’t move, Eni stepped forward and said, “They’re not going to be able to hear you. They don’t have our translator firmware.”
“Headmistress, Iris said you can stand,” Seb said, waving them up.
Ablee slowly rose, and her head tilted. “You can speak with her?”
“She uses a custom communication device my comm officer, Eni, made for her,” Seb said. “We have a custom firmware amongst our crew to speak with her.”
“But how did you manage to understand her language? Our records indicate that the nakai could only speak telepathically.”
Seb presented his glove. “It’s a bit of a long story, but we retrieved nakai data and technology when we found Iris, which with her assistance, our virtual intelligence was able to build a translation dictionary.”
When Iris turned her head to show Ablee the comm device, the calist leader muttered, “Fascinating. The data that we’ve been able to recover is minimal over our divine. Even being able to have a conversation with her would set us on the right path. Is it possible for us to get a copy of the firmware?”
“I think that could be arranged,” Seb said, shooting a glance over at Eni. “As I said before, Iris has some questions for you as well. Me being a translator is just going to draw things out.”
“If we’re handing this out on the regular, then we should just sell it,” Eni said.
“Would anyone buy it?”
“Are you kidding? A translation dictionary for the nakai? Historians, academies, colleges… They’re all going to want it.”
Seb chuckled. “Then yeah, I guess we should. Why don’t you give Vlad a call once we get back to Mahad?”
“I will,” Eni said, before glancing up at Ablee. “But for the time being, I could just upload a copy to you three, but it’s only going to work if you have GRC sanctioned universal translation implants.”
“We do,” Ablee said. “One of the first issues we had when we arrived was a failure to communicate. A select few volunteers acted as translators who agreed to get the implants. Once we confirmed they were safe, it became mandatory.”
“That’s good. That means your physiology isn’t that much different from most of the GRC species. Which could imply that it won’t be difficult too difficult to configure the dream theater for you.”
“Is the dream theater the device that the captain spoke of that could help us regain our memories?”
“Yeah, the dream theater itself is actually used for playing holo-games. But it plays them in your mind after it induces you into a deeper suspended state. What I’ll have to do is build a profile and then, while you’re loaded into the sandbox, we will try to trigger the memories for you. Since we’ll be activating your subconscious, the hope is that we'll be able to circumvent any mental barriers or limiters which may naturally be there.”
“I-I’m not sure I fully understand, but you have my commitment.”
Eni turned to Seb. “Then should we head back to the ship? I can also update their firmware as long as I can interface with it.”
“Yeah, let’s head back,” Seb said.
Everyone followed Seb as he led them back to the luxury shuttle. They gathered on the elevator and rode it up to the common area. When they exited the cabin, Seb led them to the viewing area, where there were plenty of couches.
“Do you think this will do, Eni?” Seb asked, pointing at the furniture.
“Yeah, this is perfect,” she said, setting her bags down before taking off her helmet. “I’ll plug us into the holoprojector’s feed so we’ll be able to see what the headmistress sees.”
Seb tapped on his helmet, retracting it from around his face before extending his hands around. “Make yourselves comfortable. If you’d like some food or drinks, the kitchen is right over there.”
Ablee and her men followed suit, twisting and pulling off their helmets. The headmistress and her men could all have been twins if Seb had to guess. Their basic features were all very human-like. However, their skin was a light purple color with dark purple lips.
Each ear swooped into sharp points. Ceremonial tattoos marked their neck and heads. The blue flame of their hair swirled and flickered from the top of their heads. Their eyes glowed with the same intense blue of their hair. The headmistress had a mature look with several crow's feet along the sides of her eyes and wrinkles above her brow.
“It’s good to see the face behind the helmet,” Seb said with a grin.
Ablee smiled. “Agreed. I fear they have a habit of masking the truth being one's intention.”
“Hopefully, we can help each other out.”
As Ablee nodded, Eni pointed to the couch next to them. “If you want to take a seat here, we can get started.”
“Can you upload the firmware to them first,” Iris said, bouncing on her tiptoes like a toddler needing to pee.
“I will, I will. Just let me get my stuff settled.”
Seb helped Eni pull out the dream theater headset as she pulled out her deck. While Ablee took her seat, he helped her plug it into the helmet and the projector’s base. Once everything was set up and configured, Eni retrieved a plastic carrying case. She flipped through hundreds of shards before pulling out a specific one. After inserting it to her deck, the screen loaded with a command window and the white-haired hacker went to work.
“Okay, I’ve got the signal interceptor loaded,” Eni said. “Now I’m just searching for—ah there you three are. It looks like you’re using the latest Ubrax models. This is just going to take me a few seconds.”
After a few clicks on her holodeck, Eni looked up with a toothy smile. “All done! You all should have our firmware. Just note that if you update it in the future, you’ll lose our custom package.”
“Understood,” Ablee said, with an affirmative nod.
Iris raced and plopped next to the mistress, her frantic words flooding from her comm. “Can you understand me now?”
Tears of joy filled Ablee’s eyes as she nodded. “Yes, I can. Oh, what a glorious day.”
As Ablee’s guards smiled and let out celebratory laughs, Iris ignored their emotion. “I have so many questions for you about my people. Where did you meet them? How did you meet them? When was the last time you saw them? Are there any left?”
“I’m sorry My Goddess I—”
“You don’t have to call me that. You can call me Iris.”
Ablee glanced around the room before she said, “I’m sorry, My Goddess. I can not do that. I will not taint your holy position with such impiety.”
“Okay fine, but please answer the questions.”
Ablee frowned as she said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to tell you much. Most of our records were lost when we traveled through the warp.”
“Then how do you know that I am Nakai?”
“Our ships house temples. Inside of them giant sculptures are carved in your people’s image. We know we worshiped your kind. That it was your people who uplifted us and gave us the technology that we have. You allowed us to travel the stars.”
“So there could be more of my kind alive? Are there any with you?”
Ablee shook her head. “No, to the second question. You’re the first Nakai that we’ve seen, or at least remember seeing. I don’t know the answer to the first.”
Iris deflated on the couch. She pulled her legs up and crossed her arms around them. It was clear to Seb that each revelation, or lack thereof, was weighing heavily on her.
“Even more reason to try this out, right?” the captain said. “Maybe if we can help with her memory, she can give you some answers that you’re looking for.”
“Yeah,” Ablee said, sitting up. “For all I know, there could be a host of Nakai wherever we departed from.”
“I know you’re just saying that to try to make me feel better,” Iris mumbled. “You don’t even remember the name of your galaxy, do you?”
The question cut through Ablee like a sharpened blade. She blinked rapidly and brought her hand up to her chest. “You’re right. We don’t. There are many things that we don’t know. Which is why I am here. You are the first ray of hope that I’ve had in years. And if I were to share the word with my people that we found you, it would brighten the hundreds of thousands of souls that linger on our armada.”
“I… I think I’d like to be alone for a while,” Iris said, standing from the couch. All eyes watched as she walked down the hall and closed the door behind her.
“D-did I say something wrong?” Ablee asked, her eyes darting back and forth.
“No, you didn’t,” Seb said. “Iris has been through a lot lately. In our galaxy, the nakai were here long before the rise of all the GRC species. This station is a remnant of that civilization. We believe Iris to be the last of her kind.”
“How is it possible that she’s here, but their civilization died eons ago?”
“Not to get too far into the specifics, I found her in a cryo tank of sorts.”
“Then she must truly feel alone. Many of our people feel a similar sentiment. Since we arrived through the warp gate, there is a feeling of lack of belonging spread throughout the armada. There are many who have abandoned the collective to spread roots among the galaxy. I can’t say I blame them. But it pales in comparison to what she must be going through. To be the last of her kind… she must feel a crushing loneliness.”
“She has us,” Seb said with a reassuring smile. “We’ve been with her since the beginning and will continue to do so.”
“Quite right. I’m sure there is reassurance in that.”
Sister Mischa pointed down the hall. “I’m going to go check to make sure she’s all right.”
“I’ll come too,” Nalla said.
“Thanks,” Seb said, giving them both a salute before turning his focus back toward the mistress. “And while she does that, why don’t we see if we can help get your memories back?”
Ablee took a deep breath. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Seb brushed the shoulder of his small pracovi companion, who was tapping on her holodeck. “Eni, are we good to get started?”
“Help her put on the helmet. I’ve got everything loaded up here, but I’ll need to load her in the sandbox and build a profile for her.”
Seb grabbed the helmet, unraveling the bundle of cables that were plugged into Eni’s machine. In the time since he wore the helmet, it seemed his companion had made some modifications to it. No longer were there exposed circuit boards under the shell or hanging on the side. Eni had mounted small black boxes with wrapped cords fed directly into the back.
When Seb readied the helmet, he did a double take at Ablee’s hair. “Oh… uh… does your hair burn hot?”
Ablee gave a bemused grin and, in an instant, her hair dissipated, leaving her a perfectly smooth head. “The answer is no, but this might be better.”
“Yeah much. Thanks.” After Seb placed the helmet over Ablee’s head, he grabbed her hand and brought it up to the side. “It’s probably feeling really loose right now. Use these two buttons on the side to adjust the inner gel padding. You want it to fit snugly around her head and jaw, but not too tight.”
After following Seb’s commands, Ablee said, “Okay, I think I have it.”
Seb reached into Eni’s bag and pulled out a U-shaped piece of foam, and slid it around Ablee’s neck. “And this is just a brace to make it more comfortable. How do you feel?”
Ablee nodded. “I’m okay. I see a prompt on the screen that says “Initiate?”.”
Eni reached into her bag and pulled out her own helmet. She slipped her large ears into the cutout holes on the side. After she plugged it into her holodeck, the built-in goggles glowed red.
“All right, just syncing everything with me,” the hacker said, tapping on her keyboard. “And we’re ready. It looks like there was a calist profile after all. It’s community built, but it’s got good reviews, so it should be fine.”
“Are we going to be able to see everything?” Seb asked.
“Oh yeah, one sec.” After a few key presses, the “Initiate?” floated in the middle of the room, presented to all the observers. “Should be there now.”
“Yup, we see it.”
Eni reached into her bag and plugged in a headset before handing it to Seb.
“What’s this for?” The captain asked.
“It will let you speak to her while she’s inside the Dream Theater.”
After Seb slipped on the headset, Eni spoke into her helmet. “Good. Now Ablee, I’m going to start this up. Just close your eyes and take deep breaths. The more you relax, the better the connection is going to be.”
“This should be easy,” Ablee said. “We have mandatory meditation hours daily.”
As the headmistress settled into the couch, it only took her a few seconds before she was fast asleep. The text projected above disappeared. Images of clouds soaring by filled the screen as if she was flying through the air. It settled into a white void.
“Where am I?” Ablee asked, her voice coming through the ceiling speakers.
“This is the creation level for Dream Theater,” Eni said. “Its purpose is to allow the player to create any objects their heart desires.”
“But I don’t see anything. It’s just a white void.”
“Think of it like a blank canvas. For now, I need you to follow my instructions. We need to get you using the controls, so the Dream Theater adapts to you as a user.”
“Okay, I’m ready.”
“Go ahead and tap your left thumb and your ring finger together twice.”
Everyone watched as Ablee did, summoning a cyan menu in front of her. However, unlike Seb’s attempt where he started out nude, Ablee was already wearing her armor.
“How come she’s clothed?” Seb asked.
“It must be because she is who she believes herself to be when she’s in the armor,” Eni said.
“I’m sorry?” Ablee asked.
“Last time I did this, I showed up naked, but you seem fine,” Seb said. “I was just curious as to why it's different for you."
“It could be that we spend so much time in our suits. Once we are inducted into service, it’s the only thing we wear.”
Eni cleared her throat. “Back to the menu… It will allow you to change your appearance as you see fit—”
Ablee shook her head. “I don’t want to change it. I’m perfectly happy about how I look. I just want to get to the part where we pull back the memories.”
“This is part of the synchronization, so it’s required. However, if you’re fine with it, then you can just skip to the end and accept.”
As the headmistress did as she was instructed, she stopped at the end screen. It displayed her numbered attributes next to the 3D model of her character.
“Holy shit, look at her scores!” Seb shouted, pointing at the projection. “She’s got a ten body, fourteen finesse, sixteen intelligence, eighteen willpower, and fourteen magnetism.”
“That’s insane!” Eni shouted. “I’ve never seen them so high. Maybe it’s a bug?”
“What are you going on about now?” Ablee asked.
“Your attribute scores. They are really high. Ten is the average and you’re well above that for each.”
Ablee let out a prideful chuckle. “Well, I am a headmistress for my order.”
“After you’re done patting yourself on the back, click the Accept button and we can get started.”
“Okay, now what?”
“Now… you just have to try to remember.”
“What?” Ablee asked, her voice full of disdain. “But I can’t. That’s the entire problem that we’re trying to solve.”
“Yes… but you haven’t been inside a Dream Theater. We’re one with your subconscious. It has full control over what happens in this space. If you think it, it can happen.”
Without hesitation, Ablee said, “I want to go home.”
The headmistress gripped her head and winced as the white void zipped past the screen. The view filled with a yellow sky with thick, violet clouds. A large gas giant floated above. Large ships that mirrored the calist armada hovered in the atmosphere like regal ornaments.
On the ground, a massive city sat secluded behind towering walls. The architecture was composed of gray and brown stone. Massive buildings covered in pointed arches, thin vertical towers, and external buttressing were sandwiched next to each other. Large decorative windows acted as works of art rather than a method to allow in external light.
Beyond the city’s walls lay a muddy wasteland. Large rows of decayed and rusted pipes sprawled in every direction. A brown river moved inches, bubbling and spewing hot muck into the air.
Ablee gasped and brought her hands to mouth. “This… this is my home… Althavar.”
Seb said what everyone was thinking. “This is your home? It looks… rough.”
“Yes, it was. Althavar was a manufacturing world on the fringes of our galaxy. I grew up among the lower levels. When I turned eight, I worked with my siblings in one of the megafactories like most children of my status. Backbreaking labor shoveling toxic materials into giant burners. The only saving grace was the mandatory limit they placed on us to not stifle our development. They figured if they burned their workforce at such a young age, there wouldn’t be anyone to work later. Funny how that seems so long ago.”
An image of a pair of calists appeared in front, holding onto each other with tearful smiles. “When I turned twelve, I took the Assessment Exam that all children of age take. Luckily, I tested high enough to be offered various choices for my path to take me. I’ll never forget how proud my parents were. Out of eight children, I was the only one who scored high enough to make it out of a life of hard labor. But I remember feeling conflicted. I knew by accepting this blessing, I may never see them again. I guess that ended up true.”
The clouds above the city swirled and consumed the image, leaving only the darkness of space. A large space station appeared like a mirage, decorated in the same style as Althavar. Hundreds of various spaceships of all different sizes and makes floated around it.
Ablee cleared her throat just before she spoke again. “The greatest honor a calist can make is signing up for service in the military. With my scores, I was accepted. From years thirteen to eighteen, I trained at Cruewall Academy as an enlisted. I’m not ashamed to say that I had a knack for administration. I made a name for myself, excelling to the top of my class.”
The screen zoomed in on what Seb would have considered a Dreadnought-class ship as Ablee continued. “During my adulthood, I was assigned the Ember’s Grace as a field cataloguist. Our goal was to travel into the fringes of our galaxy and explore new systems, discover new species, plants—pretty much anything that we could bring back to our order that would advance our civilization.”
Ablee gripped her head and grunted. She dropped to her knees and looked down at her shaking hands. After swiping her forehead, her gloved hand was covered in sweat.
“Headmistress, are you okay?” Eni asked. “Your vitals are spiking.”
“I-I remember,” she stammered. “I remember everything.” As she stood, the vision shifted to a lush green planet. It zoomed into the jungle. Ablee walked through the thick brush and towering trees before she stood in front of a purple crystal structure. It had the same look of a nakai vault but it was elongadted and seemed bound in a bundle of tree roots.
“What is that?” Seb asked. When she didn’t immediately respond, he shouted. “Ablee!”
“I’m sorry,” the headmistress said, shaking her head. “This was the first site. Until this point all we had were ancient texts depicting the nakai. But it was on this planet that we found a crashed ship. We scoured and cataloged everything. Our orders were to salvage it and bring it back to Hekron, the Arch Capital and where the Seneschals are stationed.”
“Who are the Seneschals?”
“They are members chosen from each order. It is their decrees that guide the calist as a whole.”
“Kind of like the GRC.”
“Yes, or the ten families of the FLS.”
“What happened when you brought it back?”
Ablee’s voice grew serious as the vision flashed between sequences of her on other planets. “Everything changed after that point. Initially, I was over the moon. Once we brought the ship back, I received galactic fame and praise. Like many who were involved in the discovery, I received a promotion to Headmistress. It was a glorious moment, but all I wanted was a chance to record the discoveries of what was found on that ship. Unfortunately, everything was handled by our Starwhispers, some of the most highly respected and magically capable calist of our order.”
“You said initially you were thrilled,” Seb said. “What changed?”
Ablee let out a heavy sigh. “The Seneschals ordered more expeditions further and further into the fringes of our galaxy with the goal of finding more of these lost artifacts. That is when I was assigned to the Fluetra and promoted once again as the Archivist and Head Historian of our Order of the Blue Flame. My real purpose was cataloging all the findings as part of the expeditions. However, we were all explicitly forbidden from using or activating any nakai technology. Doing so would result in severe punishment.”
“Like what?”
“Like stripping of titles and rank and lifetime forced labor.”
“Why would they be so harsh?”
“I… don’t know,” Ablee said, trailing off. “Initially, I thought they were doing it for our own protection. But only later did I realize it was because they didn’t want us to find out the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That the path that the Seneschals were leading us down would bring about our ruin.”
“How so?”
The view shifted, presenting the Fluetra floating above various planets as Ablee continued. “I spent the next twenty years on excursions. We found more and more nakai ships, but what was odd is that from that point forward all the information about our discoveries was kept from the public. But we saw the fruits of our labor. Miracle advances in medicine, processing, and technology would happen merely months after we or another party returned with a new sample to Hekron.”
“So you believed this was part of your people's reverse engineering nakai technology?”
“I don’t believe, I know,” the headmistress said firmly before hesitating. “I may have… overlooked our directive about not using the nakai technology. It directly conflicted with my purpose. So, there would be times where I would act alone. Most of the technology that we found was far beyond repair, but there were times where we would find some intact.”
The scene wavered before showing a hologram of a nakai in the center of a room destroyed by the crash. Ablee took in a quickened breath and pointed towards it. “This is the first intact technology that I found and what led me down a path filled with sleepless nights,
“What did you find?”
“A warning,” Ablee said, shaking her head. “One that my superiors chose to ignore. Through a gathering of assessments, collected data, and reconstructed instruction sets, I learned that the reason for the nakai were running from something. But by the time that I learned what, it was already too late.”
The image changed once again, and Seb’s eyes widened. It was a circular structure with a swirling torrent of galactic winds and discharging electrical blasts. Outside of the tall steeples and brown stone-like metal, it mirrored their own.
“The crowning achievement of my people was the warp engines,” Ablee said. “They were to reduce travel across the galaxy from weeks and months to minutes and days. During the grand opening, they activated the gate and were readying the first ships to go through when they attacked.”
A swarm of ships spewed from inside the warp gate like an angrywasp's nest. Twisted amalgamations of flesh and steel encircled the waiting calist ships, peppered them with red laser fire, and destroyed the entire fleet in minutes.
“We don’t know how they were drawn to us or found us. Assumptions were later made that they are attracted to nakai technology given they seemed to attack areas where it was most prevalent first. The day they attacked, we dubbed the Day of Abasing. Our enemy, The Swarm. Over the next few months, we defended as best we could. Women, children, and the elderly all took up arms against the invaders, to no avail. We couldn’t beat back the swarm. For every ten we destroyed, a hundred replaced them. And so they conquered sector after sector, killing, kidnapping, and consuming everything in their path. When all was lost… it was one last ditch effort that brought us here before you.”
“What did you do?”
“There were two warp gates. One on the edge of our galaxy and one near our homeworld. We took a calculated risk to activate the closer warp gate and jump using coordinates we retrieved from the nakai data. I and Lord High Admiral Mayvel volunteered the Fluetra along with several other ships. With us being here, it seems that the mission was a success.”
Seb took in a quickened breath and stood to his feet. “Wait a minute. If you reached here based on coordinates you recovered in the nakai data and the Swarm overtook your people, then that means—”
“You’re right. It means they too have the coordinates.”
His heart pounded, and his voice wavered. “And we just activated all the major vaults throughout our system…” As Seb stood and eyed the image of a lone Songless soldier firing a massive laser rifle, a sinking feeling filled his gut. They were coming. And they did not know when they’d arrive.
