Scene 5 - Mercy in the Shadows II (Skylost Chronicles)

The adventure continues for Sage.

An hour of peaceful solitude passed by in the backup engine room. Sage took comfort in the stillness of the lonely room, even if the whole place smelled strangely sweet in a toxic way. It was the perfect place to spend time contemplating without distraction before going back to her family quarters.

The room was a dark chamber sixty feet long and twenty feet wide, mostly taken up by a cylindrical engine that should have been able to power the ship. But the machine had been dead since the Solvang took flight eighteen years ago. The engineering platforms provided nothing but a serene perch.

Sage leaned on the rail of the highest platform, some five feet above the giant engine. She always marveled at the machinery, being almost triple the size of the ship's four functioning engines, and presumably the two additional engines in the abandoned decks, as well.

Even with an uninterrupted hour to ponder her situation, Sage was unable to find even a hint of clarity. She was terrified of being alone, but distance from everything and everyone was all she craved. Waiting for her parents in her quarters made the most sense, but it felt even more frightening to be there for so long.

The hour was capped by the metallic screech of the room's blast door opening and the subsequent clicks of boot heels across the metal grating that made up the floor. The fact the person wore shoes rather than soft fabric slippers meant it had to be one of the ship's officials.

"Mustang, aren't your family quarters one more deck up?" The voice was middle-aged, gruff, and stern, which made it unmistakable as that of Vice Captain Edwin Okawa.

"I was on my way home, but wanted to stop off here for some quiet time." Sage gulped, more in fear of Okawa's reputation than of the man himself. She didn't want to earn time in the brig for trespassing in a restricted area.

The door screeched shut and then the man climbed the thin metal stairs to Sage's platform. His darkened face was as stoic as his voice, and his sharp eyes locked onto the girl once he had a direct view of her. He sneered as he stepped foot on the platform, looking powerful in his green tactical jumpsuit that echoed the stylings of military uniforms. His short-cropped, black hair was reminiscent of a military cut. He had no patches or pins like an actual soldier, but the faded bloodstains and scuffs on his jumpsuit were proof he had seen his share of chaos.

"Vice Captain." Sage performed a half salute.

Okawa glared at the girl as he approached, looking down in the overbearing manner he liked to use, thanks to his muscular, six-foot-seven frame. "No need to salute, Mustang. We're not members of the Empyrean Guard." He snorted in contempt then took a long stare at the girl. "Did you say you're here for recreation?"

Sage froze, terrified and unable to conjure the right words to say to the man. She couldn't lie to him, but she couldn't remain silent, either. She did the only thing that made sense and told the truth. "I like sneaking in here. It's quiet. I just wanted to stop in to think before I went home."

"You like sneaking in here?" Okawa widened his eyes and huffed, as if in anger. The corners of his lips curled up and he let out a single chuckle. "Me, too." He placed both hands firmly on the rail next to Sage before he took a deep breath through his nose. "The smell in here. I know it's old coolant, but it always reminds me of maple syrup. If I close my eyes and imagine hard enough," he paused to sniff the air, "I can almost trick myself into thinking I'm having breakfast with Bethany."

Sage cocked an eyebrow in confusion. The ship's second in command wasn't known for having a personal life. She decided it was best to keep silent.

"That's my wife's name. Bethany. She died in the Cataclysm." Okawa inhaled again to savor the scent before he spoke. "I hear you have a Champion coin."

Sage tightened her lips and nodded sheepishly. She didn't want to discuss the announcement, at least not without speaking to her family, first. "With all due respect, Vice Captain, I'm waiting to talk about my new title with my parents and grandmother."

Okawa nodded and let out a half-snort, half-chuckle. "That's perfect, since you don't know anything about the Void. But I learned three essential lessons." He held out three fingers before he put his hands behind his back. "First, your weapon."

Sage waited with wide eyes, mostly out of respect and a little out of fear.

"Your blade is the only thing you can trust." Okawa reached around to the back of his belt and drew his weapon, a wicked short sword with a curve toward the front. "This is the kukri I was issued when I was a member of the Empyrean Guard, among the first infantry soldiers sent to the Void. Radios failed. Bombing flights went wrong. Rifles ran out of rounds. But this blade was always there for me."

Sage examined the unusual blade. She had seen the sheath behind Okawa's hip plenty of times, but had never seen the weapon drawn. It differed from the standard gladius carried by modern soldiers. She wished to escape the conversation, but at the same time was drawn in by whatever knowledge the Vice Captain might share.

"Second, your fighting force." Okawa tapped the side of his blade on the metal rail to cause an echoing ping, waiting for all trace of the sound to vanish before he tapped it again. "Alone is the safest way to travel." He held the weapon out before himself as the final echo faded.

Sage gulped and stared at the Vice Captain, who was made more sinister by the room's echo and subdued lighting.

"The voidforms always swarmed us when we went down in squadrons. They would manifest as the worst of all our fears at once. Monsters, wild animals, and machines, all mixed into a deadly force." Okawa brought the weapon back to tap it against his chest. "I was ferocious enough to survive when everyone around me was brought down. And alone, I faced only manifestations of my own fears."

Sage nodded. "I'm better off alone down there. I understand." Her hands trembled at the idea.

Okawa huffed in acceptance. "Youth is also an advantage. Fewer years lived means less experience, which makes the voidforms weaker than if a veteran soldier went down. And a lot of good people were lost before we learned the Void responds much more violently to males."

Sage stared down at her hands as she clutched the rail. "Meaning a lone teenage girl has the best odds of survival." She fought panicked breaths. "I've heard that idea before. The league judges gave us a speech before the final match, about the importance of being..." She paused, sure her pulse had gone an icy cold. "Of being Champion." She shifted her eyes to the man next to her. "Hearing it from you, an actual veteran, helps."

Okawa grinned for a moment. "I saw your hands shaking and wanted to help ease your mind." He huffed. "But those ideas aren't part of my three points."

There was a long pause before Sage broke the silence. "What's your third lesson?"

"Survival." The Vice Captain closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "You're the only one who cares about your life."

Sage winced and backed away from her Vice Captain.

"The Void wants to exterminate you. And the military." Okawa chortled. "The military's only concerned with the orb's collection, not your safe return. And everyone up here? They'll assume you're already dead."

Sage trembled for a moment. "Does that bring us back to your first point? The only thing I can trust is my blade?"

Okawa gave a stern nod. "You fight until you can't. And then someone else is sent in your place."

Sage shifted her eyes around and took in a wide view of the inactive engine. "Isn't that existence? We grind away until we're gone. And then someone else replaces us." A surge of fear shot through her body, but she fought against it to consider a thought she had buried in her mind. "Do you think things will ever change? Is it possible to live for something greater?"

"It's funny you'd ask that here." Okawa put his kukri away and joined Sage in gazing at the engine. "Improving all our lives is what this room is for."

"This backup engine?" Sage blinked.

Okawa shook his head. "So few people are privy to the secret I'm about to tell you." He stared out at the massive machine that filled most of the room. "This is no engine. It's a flaregate drive. If it worked, it could create a portal to another universe. Possibly another Earth. Every ship in the fleet has one."

Sage's eyes went wide in shock. "Why isn't that information shared?"

"It's a forbidden subject known only to the military's top brass and a few civilian captains, being the true cause of the Cypress War." Okawa shifted and narrowed his eyes in thought. "Empyrean loyalists claimed the drives fulfilled their purpose, in bringing the fleet here after the destruction of Earth. Cypress rebels claimed the drives had one more task, to deliver the fleet to a new home."

"Even if it's a forbidden subject, why hasn't anyone tried firing up one of these things?" Sage leaned over the rail to get a clearer look at the flaregate drive below her. It suddenly seemed so much more than an inactive, cylindrical engine.

"Many did, during the Cypress War." Okawa placed his hands on the back of his hips, as if to put his fingers near his kukri's hilt.

Sage gulped as she recalled lessons from her history classes. "Is that why the population fell from a half million to a quarter million? Did the rebels find a way out of the Void?"

"No one was ever successful in firing up a flaregate." Okawa huffed in anger. "All the losses from that horrible war were from people killing people. So many ships lost." His voice fell off into a whisper. "The Chicago, the Ziusudra, the Abrams. I knew good people on those vessels, and so many more."

Sage's breath shook as she worked to take in the information. She considered the weight, and how much her Vice Captain had to trust her to share what he did, since the two of them had never exchanged more than quick greetings in the past. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Like I said, I heard you have a coin. You're the Champion." Okawa puffed his chest. "Maybe you'll find a clue when you get in touch with raw aethergen. If you discover anything, I hope you'll come back and share it."

Sage inhaled sharply at a realization. She heard about the Chicago, famous among the rebel ships. Her pulse chilled at the idea her Vice Captain was a former rebel disguised as a civilian. A former rebel who wanted to revisit the forbidden subjects of the past. She choked on possible words, unsure what to say in his presence after the revelation. She finally forced, "I think it's time for me to return to my family quarters. Good evening, Vice Captain."

"Have a pleasant evening, Mustang." Okawa returned to his usual stern gaze.