Chapter 24: 24. The Humbling River

I took a seat as instructed on the sofa opposite the other two.

Star Light: "So tell me, you've say you've seen both Skylen and Wrex?"

Me: "Erm, yeah..." I replied cautiously. "...So, you know them then?" I decided to play it dumb, from which I got a quick glance from Sora.

Star Light: "Yeah... I knew them. There was a time when I would have given my life for either of them, they were as good as family."

Me: " 'Would have'?"

Star Light: "Skylen betrayed us. Let his heart rule his head. He lost his mate, blamed it on everyone else, especially Wrex and betrayed him, his family, the Vanguard and everything he ever stood for."

Me: "And what about Wrex?" She remained quiet for a few moments, staring at me with a pained expression.

Star Light: "He and I were... Close. Wrex's family took Skylen in when he was just an egg, raised him as their own. Inseparable brothers. When Skylen turned against everyone Wrex blamed himself and started distancing himself from everyone in the years before he ran away. So what's he said to you?"

Me: "Not much really, he explained a bit  about Skylen and the Shard, what he's been doing through the years, which is, not a lot by the sounds of it." I wasn't sure why I dumbed that down and missed the bits out about him regretting what happened... Was I being selfish?

Star Light: "Doesn't surprise me. What are you looking at anyway sis?" She turned her head to Sora.

Sora: "I'm trying to find any correlation between rumoured recent Dragon sightings on Earth by Humans and SkyTech facilities."

Me: "And hows that going?"

Sora: "As well as the last time I tried doing the same thing, poorly. Your Human world wide network is... juvenile... It's full of so much, crap, useless jargon, adverts and pornography. Trying to find facts amongst it all is like trying to find a Clynthe in a forest."

Me: "A what?"

Sora: "A Clynthe. Do you not have them?"

Me: "No, never heard of it."

Sora: "Really? Small, likes to bite if you're not careful, but really tasty, bit of a deliciously. You're missing out."

Me: "Yeah... sounds like it."

Star Light: "Ha, don't be silly Sora, the Humans love their crap food."

Sora: "Yeah, don't I know it."

Star Light: "I bet you do, you go there often enough. I'm honestly surprised that you don't get into more trouble than you already have done."

Sora: "Well, when I get into trouble I learnt how to get out of it quite well from the best."

Star Light: "Yeah?, and who's that?"

Sora: "You."

Star Light: "Cheeky sod! I do not get into that much trouble!" Sora chuckled in reply.

Me: "You two seem to get on well."

Sora: "Well, as I say, I knew Star Light since I was very little, I'm an only child, so she always seemed like a big sister to me."

Star Light: "How much exactly have you told her about us? And the Vanguard as a whole?"

Sora: "I trust her."

Star Light: "Really? You trust the loner outsider type? No offence." She aimed the last bit at me.

Me: "None taken."

Sora: "I trust you!" She fired back at Star Light.

Star Light: "Oi, I'm a loner for a reason, it's easier and less painful..." She trailed off.

Me: "I'm guessing you liked listening to Star Light's war stories because you love the military thing?"

Sora: "Yeah, I always wanted to join the Vanguard, but it's forbidden for royal blood to do so... Which sucks."

Star Light: "I would say you're not missing out on much, but I'd be lying..." She ended in a chuckle to which Sora only replied with a scowl. "...So tell me Alex... You... were Human? Right?... Do you miss it?"

Me: "Hmm... Not as much as I did initially, I'm gradually growing to love this body more and more."

Star Light: "But what was all this collapsing thing about? What's your armour got to do with it?"

Me: "Well, long story short, when I was changed I gained a condition, my brain can't send signals to the rest of my body properly, my suit filters and amplifies the signals accordingly. Without it I'd die, which is what nearly happened earlier."

Sora slammed her bracelet in frustration, the hologram disappearing.

Sora: "Grr! Your internet is annoying and boring! We need to get back to Earth and start physically looking."

Star Light: "Nope, you're both to remain here, in the palace."

Sora: "Oh come on!"

Star Light: "Nope."

Sora: "Grr... Fine...... Hey! Can we show Alex your old ship instead?!"

Star Light: "Hardly MY old ship is it?"

Sora: "Come on! You use to spend most of your time on it!"

Star Light: "Actually, I spent most of my time on missions groundside."

Sora: "Yeah, but Thor was everyone's forward operating base for Earth wasn't it?"

Me: "Did you say 'Thor'? As in, God of Thunder?"

Star Light: " *Chuckle* *sigh* Not as you know it."

Me: "What?"

Sora: "Thor is a ship, not a being."

Star Light: "The Draconian Super Carrier, or 'DSC' 'Thor' was the largest and most powerful ship in the Vanguard."

Sora: "-And still is!"

Star Light: "But it's not in use anymore, is it?"

Sora: "Just because it's berthed up doesn't mean it's not the flagship anymore, eh? But anyway, can we show her?"

Star Light: "Sora... We have orders not to not let either of you to leave the palace!"

Sora: "Ok two things, one: you're not on duty, so who's to know, two: it's only to Thor... Just over there, behind the Palace! It's not even outside the city limits!" She gestured by waving towards one wall.

Star Light: "Two things back at you, one: orders stand with Vanguard, on duty or not, and two: that's still outside the palace!"

Sora: "But if you're with us, you're still keeping watch of us."

Star Light: "You're not going to drop this are you?"

Sora: "Nope, would you rather that or I run away back to Earth?"

Star Light growled in frustration before replying,

Star Light: "Grr... Fine. But if any asks, don't drop me in the shit, I was chasing you down, alright?"

Sora: "Deal!"

__________

We ventured through yet more halls before finally making it outside, Sora instantly taking off,

Sora: "Come on!" She begged looking back at me as she hovered in the air, beating her winngs a short distance away. I obliged, taking off using my own wings, Star Light eventually following, but keeping her distance. We gained some altitude as we ventured away from the palace, past some buildings that looked like apartment buildings, then flying over long warehouses looking structures and fenced off open field areas with obstacle course like structures dotted here and there.

Me: "What is this place?" I asked gliding alongside Sora."

Sora: "The city is split into two, pretty much right down the middle with the palace in the center. One half is residential, civilian. The other half..." She gesture below us, "... is purely Vanguard, barracks, training grounds, the docks... most of our forces reside here when on duty... There she is..." She pointed past me and off into the distance. I could see the docks that she mentioned, there were ships there, a couple of dozen maybe, varying shapes and sizes. Some looked similar to others, but there was one that stood out, different to all the rest, simply because it was MASSIVE. I closed my faceplates to analyse it... My HUD scanned it and highlighted it out of the mist. It was an odd design, comprising of three hulls, which if you chopped through them, each cross section would look hexagonal. The central hull being the longest, it tapered down slightly at the back of the ship, ending in six large fins, three either side, jutting out like cat whiskers. The outer two hulls were only about half the length of the central one, but started in line with the front it, connected by a single slanted arm either side to the central hull. My HUD measured it, 18 miles long and 7 miles wide!

Me: "Thats 'Thor'?! It almost looks like a double sided hammer or an axe maybe."

Sora: "Hence why the Humans think it's Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, but this IS Thor, your Humans get easily confused... See those pylons dotted around its landing pad? They're earthing pylons, the ship is so big that friction it causes as it enters atmospheres that it causes thunder and lightning. That's where the Nordic people got the belief of 'Thor - God of Thunder' from, they think it's his hammer flying through the sky."

My jaw was dropped in awe,

Me: "Bet that's a spectacle to see that take off and land."

Sora: "So I've heard, but never seen it."

Me: "Really? Why not?"

Sora: "Remember I said travel to Earth was banned? That includes these ships. We're in peace times, the last ship landed here hundreds of years ago, long before I was born and none have ever taken off again since." We flew along side it for a few more seconds, with me noticing dozens of turret like structures here and there, most of them seemingly in alcoves on the outer hulls.

Me: "It's a warship?"

Sora: "Well, yeah... When my species first started space exploration we had no idea what was out there, so we prepared ourselves."

Star Light: "-And due to its size, Thor even outgunned our own destroyers. Destroyers have 72 mounted plasma turrets with directional tracking control and 2 forward facing plasma launchers when you really want to blow a hole in something. Thor here has 114 turrets and 5 forward facing launchers." She shouted from behind us.

Me: "Did you say plasma?"

Sora: "She did... Why?"

Me: "Well, that's what my armour runs on and shoots."

Sora: "I didn't think that the Humans had created plasma weapons yet?"

Me: "They haven't really... The plasma jets I use to fly fast?, I've worked out that if I charge them then release, they emit an explosive shot."

Sora: "Sounds very much like how the ship weapons work... Wanna go inside?"

Me: "Can we even?"

She smiled and swooped of towards the topside of the central hull at the bow end of the ship, so I followed. It was only once landing on top of the hull you truly started getting an idea of just how large the ship was, the large tail fins that I knew were down the stern end of the ship were so far away that they looked tiny, and I could barely see them anyway through the slight mist that was in the air. Sora walked along a few paces and crouched down, twisted and pulled a lever up that was in the 'floor', revealing a buttoned pannel below and she hesitated staring at it.

Sora: "Err..." I flicked my face plates back open.

Me: "What's wrong, can't remember the code?"

Sora: "I erm... Usually just Jump inside."

Me: "Can't we just do that now?"

Sora: "If I wanted to rip us to shreads, yeah. You can't make Jumps so close to each other, general rule is nothing within roughly a mile, it's too short of a distance to survive, so unless you want to walk or fly a long way inside... Which I guess we're going to have to do anyway by the looks of it, I don't know any of the access codes."

Star Light: " *Sigh* 3235556439... And that's my own personal security access code, if either of you get caught using that I will beat the crap out of you." She said from behind us.

Sora: "323...555... What was the last bit?" She asked as she started punching in the code.

Star Light: "...6439... I'm serious, that number is linked to me, if you do something illegal with it-"

Sora: "-We won't, pleeaase, chill sis."

Star Light: "It is impossible to 'chill' around you."

Sora pulled the final release lever to open the hatch, it dropped slightly and slid out of sight, revealing a ladder below and Sora started making her descent.

Star Light gestured me to follow next down the ladder before making her way down above me. We arrived in a very narrow corridor, barely wide enough for me to fit down in my armour, but thankfully it was short, opening up onto a much wider but very dark corridor, which was only partially illuminated by what looked like orange strips of dull lights in the corners of where the ceiling met the walls.

Sora: "Err... Bridge is this way, I think." She pointed down one direction of the corridor.

Star Light: "AHEM." She very clearly stated as she emerged into the large dim corridor as well, she was pointing subtly in the opposite direction. I chuckled at Sora as she promtly spun around on the spot and headed in Star Light's indicated direction. We continued on this corridor, arriving at a junction and turning onto another.

Me: "You guys love your corridors and hallways eh?!"

Sora: "To be fair, usually we would fly  them all, notice how wide these corridors are?" Looking at it now, I saw her point, they were not overly tall, maybe twelve foot high? But they were really wide, certainly wide enough to get a full wingspan of Dragon flying down here.

We finally made it to the bridge, so said the name plate on the door, It opened automatically as Sora approached and stepped in and I followed. The bridge was quite large, semi circular shaped, with numerous consoles dotted around the room. It looked as you would imagine any ship's bridge would look like in terms of layout... think star trek... But no where near as swanky... No this bridge was utilitarian, hard wearing... maybe more like the bridges of the UNSC ships you see in the Halo games, everything was a dull grey and had a purpose. It looked dead in here though, nothing was on, except again for the emergency lighting.

Sora: "Welcome, to the bridge... Gods, I would have loved to have been here in its hey day." She said while heading to sit in what I could only presume, due to it's position in the center of the bridge, was the captain's chair and she stared out the view port at the front of the bridge. The view was minimal, you could see that bridge was set back slightly from the front of the ship, it looked like an oversized long-nose truck bonnet stuck out before it, and to either side you could also see the fronts of the outer hulls, which somewhat restricted the view, technical oversight? Or does it offer strategic defence, nestling the bridge out of view a bit more?

Star Light: "It certainly was..." She replied dreamily to Sora, leaning on the guard rail that separated the back, slightly raised area of the bridge from the rest of it.

Me: "You were part of a Strike Team you said? So, is that ground based?"

Star Light: "Strike Team Fury, yes... wait... I never mentioned Strike Teams?"

Me: "Er... Sora did though." I thought quickly, to which Sora gave me a sideways disapproving glance.

Star Light: "Hmm... Ok... but yes, the front lines were generally my posting."

Me: "So you rarely saw this bridge then?"

Star Light: "Oh no, being... 'Close'... to the Captain, had its advantages."

Me: "You had a thing going with the Captain?" Sora grunted loudly as she turned to me.

Sora: " *Ahem* Wrex *Grunt**Ahem*."

Me: " *Gasp* Wrex was the Captain of this ship?!"

Star Light: "Yeah... Something wrong with that?"

Me: "Er, erm... No, nothing, just... Surprised is all, he told me he use to be an Admiral but yet leader of Fury, just thought that didn't quite add up, but I also just never imagined him in command of something like this."

Star Light: "Oh, so Wrex also spoke about Fury then?"

Me: "Yeah he mentioned, Skylen, you- err..."

Star Light: "He 'mentioned' me?... So you already knew of me when I was introduced earlier?"

Me: "Err... Yeah, you could say that."

Star Light: "Hmm... So... You said earlier you had only 'seen' Wrex... so what else have he shared with you?"

Sora: "Ohh soo much was shared..." She mumbled looking down at claws as she picked at them. I shot her a dirty look at the same time Star Light looked at her confused from over the railing over her head.

Star Light: "What do you mean sis?"

I panicked, 'How was Star Light going to take this if Sora didn't keep to her word?!

Crystal: "Synchronisation initiated... please wait." She announced aloud... 'Saved by the bell' I thought...

Me: "Synchronisation? With what?" She didn't answer me though.

Star Light: "Who was that?"

Me: "Oh that's my AI, Crystal."

Star Light: "Her voice... she sounds familiar...... I'm just hearing things, don't mind me."

Crystal: "Synchronisation complete."

Me: "Synchronisation with what Crystal?, tell me."

Crystal: "Another copy of myself that has been activated. Alex, there is only one person, besides yourself, who has permission to activate me."

Me: "Sarah! She's alive!"

Crystal: "I have coordinates for a rendezvous."

Sora: "We need to go!" She stated as she shot up from the captain's chair and round to stand in front of me.

Star Light: " 'Go'? You're not going anywhere missy! I won't allow it! I have orders! It's bad enough we've left the palace!"

Sora: "I have to go sis, WE have to go!"

Star Light: "Send your friend back by all means, but you're staying here!" She said meaningfully as she rounded the hand rail and strode towards Sora. Sora raised her hand up in a grasping motion which glowed red and purple and Star Light too, glowed in the same colours, freezing mid stride.

Star Light: "Gah!... Sora!" She exclaimed, straining to move.

Sora: "If I don't do this, then who will?"

Star Light: "Her!" Nodding her head towards me.

Sora: "Neither of us can do this on our own... So either leave us be, or join us."

Star Light: "You know I can't do either! I will be punished for allowing you to leave and the same for if I followed you to Earth! Sora, trouble follows Wrex ever he goes... if he's involved with all this... then I don't want you getting involved!"

Me: "Sora... she's right..." Her head snapped to me in shock.

Sora: "You were the one who wanted to work together?! Now you want to go it alone?!"

Me: "That was before I found out you were a bloody princess with a moody mother!"

Sora: "A princess that needs NO protection!" Her eyes started glowing as well now, pulsating red and purple.

Me: "I know I know... but please, Sora, just... calm down, ok?..." I said while gesturing the same motion with my hands. Sora sighed, the glowing in her eyes, around her hand and around Star Light faded and Star Light stumbled forward but caught herself as she regained control.

Sora: "Here's the deal... you find Sarah, find out what she knows, then you report back to me." She tapped her bracelet.

Me: "Crystal, can we communicate with that being so far out into space? You must be able to if you were able to sync with yourself this far out?"

Crystal: "I can communicate with myself because my neural pathways are always aligned with one another, what happens in one location modifies the pathways in the other location, provided there is a connection. But in this situation, it is only possible due to myself being linked with a plasma core on both ends."

Me: "I bet I know where you're going with this... correct me if I'm wrong, but you used the residual energy from the Shard that's in the cores and you made a jump, miniscule, but just enough for the data upload?"

Crystal: "That is correct."

Me: "Oh I am goood." I said smugly.

You are reading story Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard at novel35.com

Sora: "That's essentially how our long range communications work anyway."

Crystal: "I will reprogram our inbuilt communications module to interface directly with the plasma core to allow sub space high end frequencies to be transmitted, it will only take a few moments."

Me: "Satisfied?"

Sora: "Of course not, I want to come with you... But it will do."

Star Light: "Thank you." she directed at me.

Me: "What for?"

Star Light: "I don't think I've ever talked her down before."

Sora: "Oh don't think I'm staying out of this forever." she shot back.

Star Light: "I know, but hopefully by that point I won't be under orders to stop you from leaving, for my own sake."

Me: "Anyway... So how do I get back then if you're not coming with me?"

A Jump crackled open at the back of the Bridge.

Sora: "This will take you to the airstrip... You remember what I told you about the Whisper?"

Me: "Vaguely..." I was about to ask as to why the airstrip, rather than the rendezvous location, but then I realised that I would be sent back to Wrex, obviously that's what Sora had in mind, so I stopped myself and instead I stepped toward the portal before Sora stopped me,

Sora: "And Alex?... Don't start anything without me." I gave her a smile and a nod before closing my face plates and stepping into the Jump.

__________

18:10

I felt myself slow as the whisper floated towards me, coming to a hover in front of it. I could see it was day time, and the image showed what looked like tarmac, but I wasn't sure if it was the runway so I tried to turn the image to make sure I was in the right spot but ended up somehow ruining the vision so that it ended up just showing sky.

Me: "Shit... erm... how do I move the landing point?..." I tried using my hands again to rotate the image back down, which worked to an extent, but not in a way I expected "...crap, that's not what I meant..." I tried to position it back to where it was initially but ended up accidentally batting it away from me, "Oh... Well... shit... let's see how this goes then..." The end of the Jump approached fast and I slowed to walk on my feet, however, I felt gravity pull on me differently as I was about to exit and fell forward, "...whoa! Arrgghh!..." crashing into the tarmacked floor with a thud and clatter of metal. I rolled onto my back with a groan as I saw the portal disappear from above me. "...Well, that could have been worse...." A loud truck horn blared, I looked to one side of me to the source of the sound to see a semi truck baring down on me, tyres now locking up, smoke pouring from the tyres, the trailer slowly rotating around the cab and the vehicle now screeching towards me. My eyes opened wide in fear and wasted no further time, I shot up and out to the edge of the road with seconds to spare as the truck slid past where I was just laying moments before, finally coming to a halt. "...Still could have been worse I suppose... Why the fuck am I on the road?"

Crystal: "Updating GPS position, we're 2.1 miles from the airstrip." I sighed and engaged my plasma jets, launching myself toward the airstrip and hangar 2.

Within seconds I was landing near the door, hastily making my way inside, into the office. The further I made my way in, the more excited I got about seeing Wrex again. I pulled up the hatch and quickly made my way down the stairs, only to find that the living room was dark so I reached around for the light switch and flicked it on.

Me: "Wrex?..." No one in here. I made my way to the bedroom, it too was dark... and empty. I checked the bathroom, then the gym... also empty. He wasn't here.

Crystal: "Alex, I took the liberty of linking with Wrex's communications device before we departed, would you like me to open a channel?"

Me: "Oh yes! Thank you Crystal!, yes, please do." There was a long pause as I impatiently waited before, unexpectedly, it was Crystal that spoke again,

Crystal: "I'm sorry, I'm unable to make a connection."

Me: "Try again. Please."

Crystal: "Certainly. One moment." Another long pause. "...I'm sorry, I still can't make a connection."

Me: "Oh... Nevermind..." I replied, generally disappointe, "...Thanks... for trying that is." Panic started filling my body from the nagging, worrying thoughts now running through my head... 'Did he not actually like me? Did he realise and come to his senses as to what he was getting himself into in regards to my past? Was it his plan all along to use me and leave?... Or has something more sinister happened?, Maybe Skylen found where he was, captured, or worse still, killed him!'

Crystal: "Alex?, Alex, please, calm your breathing, you're hyperventilating." I stumbled and supported myself against the nearby wall at the bottom of the stairs as I panted away.

Me: "I can't breathe! Get this thing off me!" I yanked at my helmet, but due to not being able to think straight I couldn't unlatch it myself, so Crystal done so for me instead. I dropped it on the floor near me and threw my back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling, trying to calm myself, each breath I took was rapid and shallow, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

Crystal: "Hold on, this will feel a little odd..." Suddenly on my next breath in, my body took a long and deep breath, against what my mind was telling it to! Instead of the short sharp breaths I had been taking! My body held it for two seconds, before slowly releasing... It did feel weird, it wasn't what I wanted to do, but my body did it anyway. It was repeated nine more times before I slumped, my wing and back armour scraping down the wall and I was allowed to breathe on my own accord again.

Me: "What was that?" I asked, certainly more calmly than I was a minute prior.

Crystal: "I would say you just suffered from an anxiety attack."

Me: "Me?! But I've never had anxiety attacks before."

Crystal: "They can be brought on at any time in stressful situations and can be caused by the smallest of things."

Me: "But what did you do to me?"

Crystal: "Your armour's inbuilt regulator regulates your entire nervous system and in so doing, all of your bodily functions. I merely hijacked and modified the messages being sent by your brain and forced your breathing to slow, slowing down your heart rate, which reduced your adrenaline levels, resulting in calming you down."

I sat there for a few moments, contemplating how I felt about Crystal controling my body in such a way. She could easily kill me, she could essentially flick a switch and turn me off, just like that... and that would be it, I'd be dead. No... had she wanted to, she would have done that already... no, she was programmed to keep me alive, and stopping me turning stupid, like I did a few moments prior.

Me: "Thank you Crystal." I said calmly burying my head in my hands.

Crystal: "You're most welcome. Wrex might not be here, but there's a job to do Alex."

I pulled my head from my hands and looked to my side to where I had dropped the helmet. The dull red tinge of the in lit eye slits seemingly looking back at me. Crystal was right, there was indeed a job to do, this was my job that I was tasked with and with my armour being a part of me now, I needed it and it needed me. No one else had this armour, no one else could use it and no matter how many people that will come and go I need to get on with the task at hand. I reached over and grabbed the helmet, turning it in my hands and placing it back on my head, latching it on.

Me: "Ok Crystal... where do these coordinates take us?"

Crystal: "Welcome, Maryland, approximately 2500 miles from here."

Me: "Set up a flight plan, and let... well, the other you, know that we're on the way." I said as I pulled myself up off the floor and made my way up the stairs. Once on the runway Crystal placed a nav marker for me on the horizon and I took off. My speed increasing as I got higher. My air speed read out on the display shot up, 400mph, 500mph, 700mph before changing to Mach 1, 1.1, 1.4, 1.9 and kept climbing until it settled on Mach 3.6.

Me: "What's that in Miles per hour?" 

Crystal: "Approximately 2760mph."

Me: "FUUUCCCKKK... At least if I hit something solid then I won't know about it... Hey Crystal, do you still have access to my iTunes 'Drive' playlist?"

Crystal: "Yes Alex."

Me: "Awesome, put it on shuffle for me then please..." Immediately 'You Could Be Mine' by Guns N' Roses started playing "...Hmm... how... apt."

__________

Welcome, Maryland, Mon 10th Jan '22 22:35

Taking less than an hour to arrive at the coordinates, I made good time, gliding in the final stretch and landing in a field near a modest looking ranch near the lake bank. I made my way up to the house, noting a private helicopter sitting in the front garden, my HUD analysed it, heat signatures showed it was cold, so it had been there a while and the registration on the tail indicated that it did indeed belong to Sarah. Nevertheless, I continued creeping toward the house, keeping at least one arm raised ready to charge the plasma jet if needed, this could have been  a trap for all I knew. I made my way through the front door slowly scanning the hallway as I entered. The lights were on but the house was quiet, I rounded the nearest door way which lead into the lounge... And there she was... sat on a sofa, staring back at me, tumbler in hand containing some kind of alcoholic beverage. Still casually dressed in a hoodie and skinnies, however her jet black hair was tied back and she was lacking her usual emo style makeup.

Sarah: "It's certainly an interesting use of the plasma jet you discovered but you can lower your arm now."

Me: "What is this?" I asked still kept it raised as I looked around the room and out the doorway behind me.

Sarah: "Good to see you too, can you be a bit more specific though please?"

Me: "I thought you were dead! And yet here you are, unharmed, relaxing with a drink! You never thought of letting me know you were ok?!"

Sarah: "I have, it's only just been two days since I lost my childhood home you know." I lowered my arm and opened my faceplates.

Me: "How do you know about the plasma jet weapon anyway?"

Sarah: "I have several copies of Crystal as back ups, just in case sort of thing. Not long after I brought this one online I had her sync to the one in your armour and I downloaded all the data and feedback from your armour for analysis... And to see if you were alright... I must say... I'm impressed... and worried. How do you feel after being out of the armour and with no regulator for nearly 20 hours?" My shoulders slumped as I relaxed,

Me: "To be honest, still recovering, still feel quite weak."

Sarah: "Hmm, doesn't surprise me. That sort of time frame would have caused some internal damage, nothing long term, for you anyway... but it will still take best part of a week to recover."

Me: "Yeah, Crystal already told me..." I looked around the room again, "...what is this place?"

Sarah: "Safe house... One of my homes away from home. It's basic and small, but at least I'm not homeless. So, what did you think of Wrex?" My mind instantly flashed back to our 'Sparring session' the boxing ring, I felt my face heat up at the thought, seems I was still horny and still in heat annoyingly, how much more do I need to satisfy that hunger?

Me: "He's erm... nice... After the initial attack anyway, I don't know, maybe he was testing me? Or..."

Sarah: "Knowing Wrex, that's exactly what he was doing, and no need to explain, I've seen the footage."

Me: "You di-?! Err... How much do you see?" I asked worried.

Sarah: "Don't worry, I can only see things while the helmet is connected..."  A silent sigh of relief escaped me, "... however, as  long as you have at least your back piece on then your other bodily functions are monitored, including chemicals produced by the brain, such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin... all those chemicals are produced in high quantities during sex-"

Me: "Yep, ok, enough, we know what you're getting at, thank you." I cut her off, getting deeply embarrassed, she gave me a full on dirty smile back. 

Sarah: "I must say, I'm very impressed at the Mk 3's performance though, and yours for that matter."

Me: "Same, well, you know, for the suit I mean, but thank you. I don't suppose you have any more weapon attachments and ammo do you?" I gestured my weaponless right arm at her.

Sarah: "I'm afraid not, as I say, this is a holiday home, I have a very basic setup downstairs, and no correct ammo kept on site."

Crystal: "WARNING WARNING! Motion detected, approaching from the west." She announced aloud from my suit. I had already slammed my faceplates shut before she managed to finish her sentence and made my way back out the front door, Sarah in tow.

Me: "Probably best you stay inside." I said as I made my way down the porch steps and directed my attention to the west. Sarah stopped at the front door way and watched as I started walking through the five foot tall grass. My motion tracker showing movement directly ahead of me. I trained both of my arms on a figure that stood up from the tall grass ahead, their satin black armour barely illuminated by the moonlight on this cloudy night.

Wrex: "Is that the kind of greeting I get?..."

He asked as he stepped closer. I gave a relieved chuckle and dropped my arms and opened my faceplates as he got close enough to pick out the details of his  charming smiley face. I walked up to him a gave him a strong hug. "... everything alright?, Did I miss something?" He asked returning the embrace.

Sarah: "Took you long enough." She said smiling walking up to one side of us.

Wrex: "Had to stop and ask for directions... It takes a long while to fly 2500 odd miles, give me a break..." We broke the embrace and looked into each others eyes. "...you ok?"

Me: "Better now you're here..." I replied truthfully, "...I was worried that..." I trailed off.

Wrex: "...That what?"

Me: "er... Doesn't matter, I'll tell you later, ok?"

Wrex: "Err, ok. By the way it has to be said, but Jesus Christ you make a lot of noise!"

Me: "Eh? What do you mean?"

Wrex: "You over took me a little while ago, over head, the sonic boom your suit makes is deafening! My ears are still ringing! I'm surprised you didn't see me."

Me: "Erm... te he... oops, sorry."

Wrex: "Don't worry about it..." He smiled away still at me then looking past me, "...Hey, Sarah? Got anything to eat in there, I'm famished!" I looked back to see her reply,

Sarah: "Nice..." She smiled and nodded, "...come on." She gestured over her shoulder as she headed back to the house. Wrex looked back at me, gave another small smile and gestured us to follow, I did and, although I couldn't feel it properly, he placed his hand around my lower back, under my wings and walked me in to the house.

___________

Sarah made us all a very late dinner, not that again I was that hungry because I had the suit on, I think she knew this though and gave myself and her the smallest portions. Steak and chips - Sorry, 'fries', she corrected me on that, stating that we are in America, we speak American. Sarah directed us to eat in the lounge, rather than at the table, again, thinking about our comfort it seems.

Me: "So... How did you survive the mansion anyway?"

Sarah: "Well, I'm not exactly proud of it..."

Me: "Why not?"

Sarah: "Well basically, I hid. As soon as I realised that none of the house's defence systems had done their job and all five SkyTech were on their way down to me, I knew I never stood a chance. They tore their way throught the garage, I barely had time to run, I hid in one of the sub level vaults, watching your footage back, you would have been just a few feet from me at one point."

Me: "So, you watched the footage back... Did you see Skylen take the Shard?"

Sarah: "I did."

Me: "I tried." I said glumly.

Sarah: "I know you did, to be honest, I had no idea that what he did to your armour was possible. Something we need to work on."

Me: "Yes... But I've got a question for you. The Shard, you just confirmed you knew what it was, did you not think it would be a good idea to tell me about it at some point?" She placed her knife and fork down on her half finished plate.

Sarah: "No. It's a powerful thing yes, but I had no idea that they would come for it, I don't even know how they knew where it was, no one knew I had it, not even Crystal!"

Me: "But you knew it was Draconian!"

Sarah: "How could I?!"

Me: "You knew Wrex's past, he told you about Skylen did he not?!"

Sarah: "Well yes but-"

Me: " 'But' nothing! You knew Wrex took it away from Skylen, you knew he had plans for it! You should have known that if he ever found out you had it that he would come for it."

Sarah: "And what would you have done if I had told you about it?! Hmm?! You weren't ready! We agreed on that! And the Mk 3 was on its first shakedown run when the mansion was attacked!" Wrex, who had been completely silent until now, now replied to Sarah's remark, thankfully, as I didn't have a reply for her anyway.

Wrex: "But you still should have told her, you should have told me! That has been in your possession for how long?! I'm willing to bet much longer than you knew me! You knew about it, when I laid everything down to you, so you knew what it was! You had it and didn't even mention it to me!"

Sarah: "I don't have to explain myself to either of you, I did what I believed was right. If I was the only one that knew where it was then I was the only threat to it."

Me: "But you didn't account on some Draconians being sensitive to its power, pretty much being able to essentially sniff it out." Sarah took a long pause, I could see defeat written all over her face and she didn't want to admit she was wrong.

Sarah: "No." She replied short and bluntly.

Me: "Here's a new rule, no more secrets."

Sarah: "There are some things too dangerous for certain people to know."

Wrex: "I agree with Alex. I told you everything I knew, Alex's file makes her an open book, so you know everything about us, no secrets from us. So in the interest in safety for all of us, it's time you opened up."

Sarah: "You want me to open up. Fine, follow me." She placed her plate down on the coffee table with a thud and strode out the room, Wrex and I exchanged a quick glance of uncertainty and hastily followed her out into the hall. She opened a completely inconspicuous panel under stairs and made her way down the hidden staircase, myself and Wrex following. It was a bit tight for our larger armoured frames, we scraped the brick walls on both sides most of the way down. We emerged in some kind of lab, tools and intricate devices lay strewn across the work tops, parts of what look like the chassis of my armour was dotted about here and there while some machinery worked away on something in the far corner on a blue up-lit worktop.

Me: "This is your 'Basic setup' is it?"

Sarah: "Indeed, I'm missing some of the tools from my garage, but it will do. So, secret number one..." She stepped over to the counter at the opposite end of the room, towards a cradle sat on top, wires and cables protruding out at all angles from a single plasma core sat in the middle. "...I had a spare regulator for you Alex, but it's my last plasma core that I have to hand, so I had to butcher it to power this equipment and Crystal. And once it's done, I will use it to power this new armour as well."

Me: "And this armour is what? Are you making a Mk 4 for me?"

Sarah: "This is indeed an upgrade, but not for you Alex, this is for a certain retired Admiral."

I quickly looked to Wrex who looked shocked at Sarah.

Wrex: "This? This is your 'urgent matter' that you needed my help for when you called me the other day? You said it had something to do with Alex!"

Sarah: "And it is. Wrex, Alex could do with your-" she stopped talking and sighed as Wrex turned and headed back up the stairs.

Me: "You're building one for him?" I asked her as Wrex's footsteps faded off upstairs.

Sarah: "I thought you'd want him by your side."

Me: "I do, but I've already asked him, he doesn't want to fight anymore."

Sarah: "If that's true, then why is it that when I gave him that call, the only way I got him to come was by saying that the urgent matter was that you needed help, and here he is. He flew 2500 miles, a day and a half, only on wing power and all armoured up... not for me, but for you." I remained quiet as I let that sink in and without another word to Sarah I headed back up the stairs.

Me: "Wrex?" I called out as I reached the top. I looked left out through the kitchen, the back door was wide open and Wrex's helmet lay on the floor on it's side by the doorway. I picked it up and took it with me as I headed out into the back yard. There, up ahead by the water's edge, was Wrex, simply laying silent on his belly looking out over the lake, the skies now partially cleared, allowing the moon light to mostly illuminate the area. I gave a small sigh before moving down towards him and laid down beside him to his left, looking out at this picturesque scene before us, neither of us saying anything for a good few minutes.

Me: "What's going through your head Wrex?" He paused for a few moments,

Wrex: "I... I really don't know." I looked over to him, he didn't return the gaze, merely continued staring out across the lake.

Me: "I can... I'll just leave you alone to your thoughts." I was about to stand back up when his hand quickly grabbed mine.

Wrex: "No please, stay. I like your company, if you don't mind."

Me: "It's fine..." I replied smiling, "...want to talk Auntie Alex about it?" I mocked his comment from the other day, he finally looked back at me, pulling a bemused look, giving a small shake of his head with a hint of a smile as he looked away again.

Wrex: "It's... I just don't think I've ever been so torn in my life... Don't worry about it, I don't think you'll understand."

Me: "Try me."

Wrex: "*Sigh* On one hand, I don't want to fight my brother again, I can't, I don't want to fail again. But on the other hand..." He looked back at me again, "...I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met, and I don't think there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. Maybe I'm saying this too soon, but it honestly feels right when I'm with you."

Me: "...And this is bothering you?"

Wrex: "Told you that you wouldn't understand."

Me: "No I understand, I just wanted to help you decide what it is you want to do."

Wrex: "I know what I want to do... I think... I'm just..." He stopped, he didn't finish, even after giving him some time, he still didn't finish his sentence.

Me: " 'just' what Wrex?"

Wrex: "Scared."

Me: "Scared of what?"

Wrex: "Please don't get me wrong, I'm not scared to admit it, we rushed into this a bit. I mean if you want to keep our relationship as professional or casual or whatever, that's fine. But I don't want to force you into something you're not comfortable with, yeah?"

Me: "If I was uncomfortable with it, do you think I'd still be letting you hold my hand?"

His view snapped down between us, I grabbed his gloved hand a little tighter with my own to make sure he didn't try and pull away.

Wrex: "Ohh..."

Me: "Wrex... I like you, like, really 'like you' like you. I never thought I'd be saying something like that to a guy. But you certainly haven't given me any reason to put me off you. Quite the contrary in fact. So that's me, opening myself up to you... so I want you to think of me like a book, my next page is blank and I want you to write what happens next. So, do you want us to take this further? Would you stay and help me fight? Or would you rather watch from the side lines? Or... How about we both hang up the armour? Run away, live our own life, whatever way we want to?

Wrex: "Something tells me that last one isn't actually something you want to do."

Me: "What's it going to be?..." I asked, intentionally ignoring his last comment, "...you don't have to answer right now, I don't want to force you into anything either." There was yet another long pause.

Wrex: "I think, after what you said to me a couple of days ago, you were right, I can't keep running. Even if I wanted to, Skylen and his war would catch up to us eventually. And I'm certainly not going to stand to one side and let you do this on your own. So... I guess that means I'm going to be right here beside you." I smiled at him and passed his helmet back over with my free hand.

Me: "You might want to keep this then." He accepted it from me and placed it on the ground in front of him.

Wrex: "Although apparently I'm getting an upgrade, whether I wanted it or not. What's it like? Your armour?"

Me: "It's... amazing. It's like a childhood dream come true, feeling almost invincible, the ability and the freedom to fly, fast... Like REALLY fast. The AI takes some getting use to."

Wrex: "You have an AI in there?"

Me: "Yeah, Crystal. Sarah's AI, she made a copy for me. You've never spoken to her?"

Wrex: "No, I didn't even know sarah had an AI."

Me: "Wow... You are slow." I mocked again.

Wrex: "You're mean." He replied smiling.

(-Puscifer)

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