Memory Terminal Classification Omega Gamma ELY: Begin Upload
First of all, let’s get this straight. I’m not Elyse. I’m Elly. When Master Kee called my name at Assignment, I wasn’t even concerned about being unassigned. I was more angry that he called me Elyse. That was the name that my parents gave me because they couldn’t think of anything better. They even called me Elly from the day I was born. I’m Elly. Not Elyse. And now that we’ve got that straight, I can tell you about our day.
I woke up angry, not because Master Kee called me Elyse yesterday, but because I didn’t make it into the Agency. I had to go home and deal with my parents after I told them I didn’t make it. I figured I had better get some food and pack up before boarding the shuttle home. I stepped into the shower and let the chemical blend wash over me, stripping a layer of skin from my body. I stepped out of the shower, steaming slightly, and made for my closet to get some clothes. While digging through the heaps of clothes I kept in my closet, a knock came at the door. I grabbed a pair of pants and rolled out of the closet, both legs caught in the right pant leg. After both of my legs made it into their correct holes, I went to the door.
Now that I think of it, the messenger must have been terrified. Here he was, delivering an important message, and I showed up at the door half-naked. I stood there, my bright red hair still damp and smoking a bit, pants still unbuttoned, clothes strewn across the floor behind me while he tried to deliver a missive from his higher-ups.
“Umm,” the messenger said, trying to keep his eyes from straying anywhere except my chin, “I, uh, have a message – Are you busy? I could just wait outside while you, uh, finish what you were doing.”
“Nah,” I said, casually leaning against the door frame, “I’m not busy. Just got out of the shower. You wanna come in?” He blushed and shook his head.
“You are under orders to pack your belongings and report to Hangar Bay 51.” he relayed mechanically, “Be there at 0800 hours.” He saluted me and basically sprinted away from me. I turned around and checked my clock. 7:30. More than enough time to pack and get food on the way to the Hangar.
After finding a hair tie and pulling my hair into my signature high-set tail, letting it puff out, I threw all my clothes into my duffel bag and kissed my room goodbye, happy to be rid of it. I slung the bag over my shoulder and made for the Academy Commissary, looking for a bagel or something. At the Commissary, I checked the clock while munching on the waffle I found as a substitute. 7:42. I still had time.
I strolled up to the Hangar Bay, finishing off my second waffle. I licked the syrup from my fingers and scanned my eye in the retina verifier, confirming that it was in fact me who was there. What greeted me there took my breath away.
A sleek black cruiser sat in the middle of the hangar, docking ramp lowered. A white insignia was etched on the side, an unfamiliar symbol. It was an Omega, the one Ancient Earth Grecian letter that was not used as an Agency Division. I approached the ship slowly, not sure what to make of it. The boarding ramp seemed to beckon me forward, so I slipped under the massive hull of the ship and ascended the ramp.
I entered a clean white hallway, marveling at the shiny neat interior design. I heard activity coming from my left, and I followed the sounds to the front of the ship. Two people sat at the bridge, punching buttons and checking readouts. The one in the left chair spun around and faced me.
“Elyse Nyrel, I presume,” he said, “Ked Davras. I’m your new commanding officer. Welcome to Omega Division.” I did the first thing that came to mind. I saluted him, dropping my bag to the ground.
“At ease,” the guy in the right chair said, turning. “I’m Drek Bemirk. I’m your new Tech. Ked and I agreed that he and I will share command, but we really don’t want an overbearing sense of order. There’s only four of us here, so let’s keep it pretty casual.”
“That’s not exactly what I agreed to,” Ked said, turning to Drek, “I thought we said that you’d be my second in command, not my co-commander.”
“Just two ways of saying the same thing,” Drek chuckled, turning back to the console. “You know you won’t contradict me.”
“Oh, right, you’re still here,” Ked said, noticing me, “Head back to the entrance with your bag and take the other doorway. Pick a cabin and set up. Dismissed.” I turned and walked back down the hallway towards the foyer. I ducked through the doorway to the living quarters and ran right into someone else.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she said, immediately stooping down and grabbing my duffel from where it fell off my shoulder, “I didn’t see you. My fault!” She stood up and handed me my bag. She was a petite girl, nowhere near as tall as me, and looked really weak, but she seemed friendly enough.
“I’m Holly Azilas. They picked me to be the healer for this Division.” she said, turning and leading me down the hallway, “There’s only four of us, so I guess that makes my job that much easier!” She laughed lightheartedly and led me to a small common room with a dozen or so doors in a ring around the room.
“These are our rooms,” she said, pointing out the small piles of personal items outside three of the doors, “You can pick one and settle in after we take off.” She turned around, squeezed my shoulders, and flounced back the way we came.
I walked through the center of the common room, climbed over the couch, and came to a stop outside the door directly across from the entrance. Nothing marked it as belonging to someone else, so I pushed the door open and went inside.
It was certainly comfier than my room at the Academy. It was large-ish, had a window that showed off the scenery outside, and was white and spotless. The dresser, also white, had a small Holo-pad on it. I picked it up and studied it for a second. Obviously it was for quick communication throughout the ship. I slipped it in my pocket and tossed my bag onto the bed. The roomed looked comfy enough, much better than my dormitory at the Academy for sure.
I exited the room and made for the bridge. I entered just as Drek finished a joke and Ked burst into laughter. Holly giggled from over near the corner, playing with discarded pieces on the game board that sat upon the table.
“Well that seems to be that,” Drek said, cracking his knuckles, “We’re fuelled up, got enough food and other supplies to last us a few months, and I think the artificial gravity’s turned on. Captain clear?”
“Captain clear,” Ked replied, leaning back in his chair and giving a thumbs-up. “Set for departure in ten.” He and Drek began flipping switches and throwing levers, prepping the ship to exit the hangar.
“I hear that ship takeoffs are rough,” Holly advised me, “And that we’d be best to hold on to something.” I moved quickly to the game table and sat down next to Holly, holding tight to the bolted-down table. Around us, the engines gunned and jerked the ship to life. The ship rose slowly, moving through the air. We left the hangar, and Ked redialed the ship. Drek carefully raised the engine level and the thrusters fired, shooting us off of the planet and towards our destination.
“Wooooohooooo!” Drek whooped, the skin on his face stretching tight despite the artificial gravity. Ked was slightly less vocal. He grit his teeth and pushed through the discomfort, dragging us out of the gravitational pull of the planet and into space.
“Thanks buddy, I can take it from here.” Drek waved Ked away and slid to the middle of the console, pushing the other, now empty, navigator’s chair aside. Ked walked over to our small gathering at the game table and sat down in one of the empty chairs.
“Now that that’s over, I can relax.” he said casually, “The nav said we’d be there in a few days.”
“A few days?” Holly asked, “Where are we going?”
“A little colony planet called Sylvas II,” Drek said from the chair, “I’m almost finished plotting the course. I’ll be over in a second. Ked, you wanna do the honors and give ’em the rundown?”
“Master Kee is sending us to Sylvas to pick up a new recruit,” Ked started, picking up one of the game pieces and toying with it, “He told me that the natives just started a rebellion against the ruling family and that there aren’t enough colonists to hold off an attack.”
“So we’re going there why?” I asked lazily, tipping my chair back, “Seems like they’ll be dead soon.” Ked looked at me with disgust.
“We’re going there to save them,” he spat, “They’ll hold out a couple of days and we’ll save them. Best case scenario, we save them all and we get their man.”
“And worst case,” Drek called from the navigator’s chair, “They all die. Maybe we can get our man out of there before the whole planet falls, but that’s mostly me being a fan of happy endings.”
“Thank you, Drek,” Ked said, shutting down his friend, “I think we’re all fans of happy endings, but personally I prefer to stay on the bright side.”
“So who is this recruit?” Holly pressed, changing the subject.
“Dunno,” Drek said, finishing his business on the computer and coming over to join us, “From what Master Kee told us, we’re getting ‘someone who is good at dissolving conflict’.”
“Sounds like a fighter,” I said, plucking the game piece from Ked’s fingers and plopping it back on the table. “From my experience, nothing dissolves a conflict like a good fight.”
“I hate fighting,” Holly piped up, “Always leaves people hurt, and it’s not at all enjoyable to watch people suffering.” She frowned at the table and put down her game pieces.
“Y’wanna hit the armory?” Drek asked suddenly, “I heard that they stocked it with some pretty cool stuff, and,” he said as he got up and made for the door, “enhanced weaponry.” He bolted, sprinting down the hallway away from us. Ked knocked over his chair in the process of chasing after Drek, and Holly and I followed right behind him.
We entered the armory from a door off the main hallway and stopped in the doorway. The armory was massive, with racks upon racks of weapons stacked along the walls. A small shooting range sat along the back wall, ready for any projectiles that might plant themselves in the human-shaped targets. A few training dummies sat in the middle of the room to be set upon with swords and axes.
“Sweet!” Drek exclaimed, running into the middle of the room, “Look at all this cool stuff!” He ran over to the far wall and picked up a bolt gun. After half a second’s aim, he fired both shots into one of the targets, hitting head and chest. Ked made for the rack on the left, checking out the swords.
“Look, they even got us enhanced weapons,” Ked said, rapping his knuckles on the metal display, “There’s these little nameplates telling us what kind of enhancement.” He grabbed a pair of twin swords on the rack and swung them around. After a few slashes, he planted both of them into one of the training dummies. What happened next was shocking – literally.
The fuller in the middle of the blade glowed with a white light and lightning arced down the length of the blade and into the dummy. The arcs of electricity shot into the stab wound on the dummy and the artificial body quivered for a second, then exploded outwards. Chunks of synthetic flesh shot across the room, raining down on us.
“I like these swords,” Ked said, staring in amazement at the two powerful weapons in his hands.
“What are enhanced weapons?” I whispered to Holly. I knew the term from the required reading at the Academy, but I had merely skimmed it, rather than putting actual effort into remembering the little details.
“Didn’t you read?” Holly replied, “Enhancements to the weapon use excess thermal energy to add a little extra to the weapon. It’s nearly 100% energy efficient for the user. The swords Ked has obviously store static energy and release it when there’s enough.”
“Oh,” I said, slightly impressed by the creativity of whoever came up with the idea, “That’s pretty cool.”
“I always wanted to get my hands on a pair of these,” Ked said, “Electricity is just the coolest.”
“Y’know,” Drek said from the shooting range, “I think a fire enhancement is cooler, but what do I know? I’m just a Tech.” He laughed and buried two more bolts in a dummy. Holly left my side and ran to the right rack, where the less lethal armaments rested. She bent down and traced a finger along the rack containing assorted pieces of armor, finally coming up with a large heater shield that covered most of her torso. It seemed like an ordinary shield, nothing more.
“Hey Ked,” Holly said slowly, looking down at the backside of the shield now strapped to her arm, “Try hitting me.”
“Are you sure?” Ked asked, looking at the smaller girl with uncertainty. She seemed to be struggling under the weight of her new shield. Who knew what would happen if he hit her?
“Yeah, I’m sure. Just do it lightly.” Holly put both arms behind the shield and braced herself as Ked readied a strike. He swung his right sword down on the shield, which took the force of the impact, reverberating with a deep tone. Holly reappeared from the other side of the shield, looking no worse for the wear.
“Nice shield,” Drek remarked, “But is that it?”
“I don’t think so,” Holly said, “Ked, hit me again. Harder.” Ked frowned at his healer, then shrugged. He dropped his second sword and struck her two-handed. Holly fell back, a dent in her shield. Ked gasped and threw his sword to the ground, where it clattered next to his other one.
“Are you alright?” he asked, diving to the ground and holding Holly in his arms.
“Yeah, yeah, I think so…” Holly said slowly, a blush forming in her cheeks. Obviously someone had the hots for the captain. I didn’t get it. Not that Ked was particularly unattractive or anything, but he was stiff and duty-bound. I didn’t see much in him.
“Good,” Ked said, helping her up. “I don’t want to be responsible for the injury of a teammate.” He stepped back and retook his swords in his hands.
“So what’s so special about that shield, anyways?” Drek asked, “From what I saw, you still got hit pretty hard.” He racked his guns and walked over to the rest of us.
“That was a hard hit,” Holly said, “But it had enough force to do a lot more.”
“Yeah,” Ked confirmed, “I thought I hit her with enough strength to split her shield in two.”
“That’s the enhancement,” Holly said, rapping her knuckles on the shield, “It takes the force from attacks and uses it to counteract other attacks. So the more you hit me, the stronger I get.” She smiled at Ked, hoping to garner some kind of affection. He turned away from her.
“Now that everyone else has picked out a weapon, Miss Nyrel, what are you gonna get?” I stalked over to the left rack and searched through the different weapons. Almost everything had some kind of enhancement label on it. I dug around the stacks of axes, swords, and various pain and death-inducing instruments, looking for something that might suit my taste. Eventually, I found what I was looking for.
“It’s a regular sword.” Ked said, unimpressed.
“It’s a big sword.” Drek stated, impressed.
“Why a big sword?” Holly asked, confused.
“It’s not fancy, it’s not special,” I said, heaving the greatsword onto my shoulder, “And I made it this far without even knowing what an enhanced weapon was. Why should I start now?”
“Well, you’ve got guts,” Ked said, “But don’t let it kill you.”
“You’re gonna do some cool stuff with that sword,” Drek said, eyeing me carefully, “And I heard all the best swords have names.”
“When I was born, one of my planet’s suns went into supernova,” I said, removing the blade from my shoulder and planting the tip in the ground, “It was called ‘Firestar’. My parents thought that it was part of some big prophecy or something. ” I reached for the scabbard and slung the sword onto my back.
“Let’s get back to the bridge,” I said, “Anyone know how to deal cards?” Drek raised his hand, and we all walked back to the bridge, examining our new weapons. We sat down at the game table, Drek took a deck of cards and started shuffling. The ship entered deep space just as Holly won a hand against Drek and the Tech responded by flipping the table over. Yep. This team was gonna be fun.
Vid Writes 
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