Entry #2 Aurora's Herald

“Father, I’m worried about you…” Qhorin said as he used a rag to wipe grease from his hands.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but the Nomads are different than we thought. Just look around you. This Kingdom is the only reason I have my Carrier back.” Amon waved his hands around emphatically as he talked.

“So, you have fought the Nomads your whole life, and now you are, what? Friends, with this alien?”

“It’s not as simple as that Qhorin…”

“From the way you have been talking it sounds that simple. “

The robot Qhorin had been repairing werred to life and began clattering off to carry out its programmed task.

“Have you forgotten why you had me bring you all these IMG robots? The Nomads slaughtered your crew! Every man and woman on the Nomos.”

“Son, that was not the Nomads, that was the K’hara, Kingdom has shown me this, he has shown me the truth abou…”

“I am tired of hearing about your truth father. All I know is that I had good friends on this ship, people who were more like family. They are all dead now because of those monsters.” Because of you, he almost said.

“Qhorin, son… I know you are hurting, do you think I don’t feel the same pain? I was there remember. But we are Zoners Qhorin, more than anything we seek peace. We cannot let our personal pain blind us to this opportunity.”

“What opportunity!?” Qhorin was getting angry now. “The opportunity to serve some Alien named Aurora, all on your word that she is not like the others of her kind? Amon, listen to yourself! All this talk of helping the Nomads, you sound like an Infested!”

Amon struck him so hard Qhorin lost his footing. Instruments clattered across the floor as his shoulder caught a toolbox.

“I. Am. Not. Infested!” Amon’s voice cracked, his face was a mixture of anger, hurt, and doubt.

Qhorin pushed himself slowly to his feet.

“You have a funny way of trying to prove it.” He made his way to the door.

“I’m done here. Fix and program the rest of the robots by yourself. I want no part of this Kingdom or his Aurora, but mostly, I want no part in watching you ruin what is left of your life.”

Silence settled over the workroom as the door slammed behind Qhorin.
Amon sat down on a stool next to the bench. What Qhorin had said hurt him… hurt him to his core. That his own son would accuse him of being infested… He would probably have to get used to people saying that…

Kingdom… I don’t know if you can hear me. I feel that you are close. I… I can’t even convince my own son. This task you have given me, the truth you have shown me. I know I must spread the word, the cost is too great if I don’t… I worry though, worry that being Aurora’s Herald may mean my death…

As Amon sat contemplating, his memory kept drifting back to the last thing Kingdom showed him before he jumped back to Omicron Zeta…

Entry #1 Blood and Stars

Amon motioned to the server that he was done with his plate. It was not the food he found distasteful today, rather the company he was forced to eat with. The Infested eyed the plate as it went by, licking the grease off his fingers with smacking lips.

“Well if he’s not going to eat it I suppose I could…”

“No, I think you have had quite enough; I invited you here to talk, not to watch you clean off a sixth course.”

The man, if he could be called a man, had been eating for the past forty minutes, stopping only to demand more food while Amon was forced to wait. He thought this kind of a formal meal might help to make the Infected feel more at comfortable. This was a rare opportunity after all, and Amon preferred a subtle approach to interrogation. Aside from the manacles strapping the man to his wrists and ankles, the Infected was being provided every dignity. However, Amon’s patience was running out as fast as food was disappearing off the prisoner’s plate.

“I know you are young, Incubus but I am old, I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of your time.”

“And what makes you think that any of you humans have the luxury of time?” he said with slurred speech, his face twitching with what must have been an attempt at a smile.

The Incubus had taken control of his friend’s body a mere thirty-six hours ago. His movements were still imprecise as it learned to pull the strings of its new fleshy puppet.

That face, the way he talks… I hardly recognize my old friend. He truly is lost… We will have to be sure to eliminate this monster before it gains full control of its powers.

“So, by that blatant threat I can assume your kind is planning something again?”

“Oh we never stopped, but you should worry more about what I am planning”

What indeed.

“Your plans are limited to what I let you plan, the plans of others like yourself are not. For example, if you think to escape this Carrier let me put an end to that notion. Every member of the crew on the Nomos knows who and what you are. Those shackles on your wrists and legs are fused shut. Not to mention, should you leave this room without my accompaniment there are guards outside this dining hall with orders to kill you on sight.”

“But you don’t want me dead, do you? Least, not yet. Because you are human, because you weak. You think to learn something from me? Pathetic.”

“Oh we have learned much from you already. We know that you got aboard the Nomos at Freeport Nine during our last resupply. We also know you had Outcast help getting there. Holo-records of one Orden Moreno having a drink with the man you now inhabit were quite unambiguous. He arrived with you in a case and left empty handed. Of course there was no footage of what occurred in the storage room. What I don’t know is why he helped you and what you hoped to accomplish by inhabiting my friend before he boarded?”

“Why, to meet you. Your prying has not gone unnoticed. Did you think we would not respond? You and this blasted battleship you love so well make forays into our space constantly, you kill us constantly, you collect samples scans and sensor data monitor our movements, and to what? Satisfy your curiosity? Sir, you will never know our plans. Even if you did you would not understand them, but you have caused us great harm. All under the noble guise of protecting your precious Zoner humans.” The prisoner wrenched on his chains as he spat the last sentence.

The prisoner's stare grew cold. “Well, Amon human, all of that is at an end. I am not young, and your friend? He was taken long ago. Signor Moreno simply played his part, and now I am exactly where I want to be. You see, when you stare into the face of your enemy, your enemy stares back, and we have learned oh so much about you.”

“Dear god… Guar..!”

The wave of solid air hit Amon like a club sending him sailing out his chair. He felt ribs crack as he slammed into the bulkhead.

“Arrogance!” The prisoner’s eyes and hands shimmered purple. The cuffs binding him cracked and clattered to the ground as he rose.

“Rampant human arrogance!”

Amon let out a groan as he tried to rise.

“Oh? Can’t get up!? Here let me help you, old human Amon!”

Amon felt like his legs were going to dislocate as he was violently suspended upside down from his ankles. Blood from a cut on his cheek dribbled down into his left eye.

“Guards… Guards…” Amon’s voice was feeble.

“The door is locked, old human Amon. Even as we speak this ship is being overrun. Others of my kind have been taking control of your people for months. Your ship, and everyone on it, are now forfeit.”

His voice… he speaks clearly, he moves easily…His powers… it was all a trap, all a trap and I played right into it. Oh, God! Oh God please no!

“No… no you can’t, you can’t kill them all. My people are well trained. They… they will stop you. It is you who are about to die!”

The Infested laughed mockingly, “Really? This is how the great old Zoner human Amon Cire, feared by so many of my kind, begs for his life? I expected more.”

Amon didn’t even have time to cry out as the infested flung him like a sack onto the table. He heard the dinnerware smash, felt the sharp edges pierce through his clothes and flesh. First stars, then his vision tunneled, then blackness.

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“Shhh you will wake the old man.”

“I don’t know if he can wake up Godrick, he’s hurt pretty bad. Multiple lacerations, internal bleeding, head trauma, broken bones; the guy’s a mess… I have done what I can but…”

“Well he’s worth a lot of money alive and if you want your cut you're going to make sure he stays that way got it?”

“Oh that’s easy for you to say.”

“Easy? Do you know what was not easy? Getting him off that bloody ship, now we did our part, it’s time for you to do… Hey, did his eyes just move? Hey old man, are you awake? You’re safe sir, we got you off that Infested ship, and none too soon, it was about to jump to Omicron Iota when we rescued you. You have some rich and powerful friends Mr. Cire. Hey, can you hear me?......”

The voices faded with the pain as Amon slipped back into unconsciousness.