//I'll be posting one new chapter each day as I write them. This story is the lead-up for a character I'll be playing here in the future. If you wish to comment, please send me a PM//
Chapter 1 - Horizon
803 AS, 13 years ago. Location: Chesting Shipyard, Planet Cambridge.
"Alright," Said the registration officer, looking up at Dr. Simian Vance from his computer console, "Your new ship is registered under the name 'Horizon' - an armored transport class vessel refitted for scientific research. I've got four crew members registered; Dr. Simian Vance, your wife Dr. Selendis Vance, your daughter Mira Vance, and a research assistant by the name of Sarah Mathews. Is this correct?"
"Yes it is, officer. Thank you for your time," Simian replied, turning towards the newly purchased vessel behind him, "Beautiful ship, isnt she?"
"That it is, Dr. Vance. I've uploaded all registration data and licensing to your shipboard databanks. You can depart Cambridge once you've cleared flight plans with launch control, safe journey."
Simian nodded at the officer and approached the docking ramp of the ship. She wasnt the largest thing out there, and had no armament save for a single splitter turret on the forward hull, but then again she wasnt meant for combat. The Horizon was a research vessel, something he had worked his entire life to acquire; with this ship and a little external funding he would finally be able to continue his genetic research.
Dr. Simian vance was a graduated genetic manipulation researcher from Cambridge, Bretonia. He had originally been hired by the Liberty Government twenty years ago for a 'supersoldier' project, and had stuck with the line ever since. Though he was unable to create a suitable specimen for Liberty, he had made breakthroughs in genetic engineering and believed that in time he would be able to finish the project, especially after recent events in Sirius.
Only two years ago, the great Nomad war ended with the mysterious organization known as "the order" using an artifact to pull the Nomads out of Sirius space. During the Nomad War, Dr. Vance had heard of 'infested' liberty officials creating hybrid human-nomad specimens in Alaska. They were the closest thing to his own research that had ever existed, and now that he had his own research ship and onboard facilities - Vance believed that he could create his own human-nomad hybrid.
Thus began the "Chimera Project". In ancient earth history, a Chimera was a creature of mythological lore - a creature composed of several different animals, most often depicted as a cross between a lion, reptile, and goat. In medical history, a Chimera was a person or animal that possessed several different strains of DNA all within the same body. It was a rare condition in humans, but had been successfully created in animal test subjects during cloning experiments.
Dr. Vance's "Chimera Project" intended to do the same, combining human and nomad DNA in order to force an evolutionary jump - creating a person that was smarter, stronger, and faster than a normal human being. Of course, it was simple in theory but quite a difficult effect to achieve in practice.
Vance boarded the Horizon and headed to the bridge, where his wife, daughter, and research assistant were all in wait. "Alright, we've got a meeting with an Order agent to receive project funding in the Sigma 17 system, let's get this bird off the ground."
His daughter smiled and responded with "Aye aye captain!", taking hold of the ship's controls. Vance picked her up out of the pilot's seat and set her on his knee as he sat down. "Sorry Mira but you're too young to fly on your own! Here, watch me, I'll show you how this works."
After clearing launch procedures with the control tower, Vance lifted the Horizon off the launch pad and sent the ship rocketing into the sky.
-The following are recordings from the research lab of the Horizon, voiced by Dr. Simian Vance-
804 AS, 1 year later. Location: Somewhere in Tau Space.
Dr. Vance looked over the test tubes in the cryo-chamber, "Research Log, February sixth, 804 AS... Subject one specimens all appear to be dead. The human embryos all appear to have rejected the nomad brain cells as hostile foreign bodies. Hm... what could get them to accept the cells? Radiation maybe... Making a note, Subject two test specimens will be exposed to Radioactive Isotopes of plutonium and uranium to prevent cell rejection. We'll have to stop at freeport ten to acquire the material."
805 AS, 1 year later. Location: Somewhere in Omega Space.
"Research Log, September second, 805 AS... Subject two specimens appear to have accepted the nomad brain cells, but the radiation they were subjected to irreversibly damaged the embryos. All specimens appear to be dead... Perhaps I can synthesize a protein strain that will prevent cellular rejection without the use of radiation, it'll take some time to create however. Personal Note - We're stopping at a mining facility in the dresden system for resupply soon, Mira has gotten some kind of flu and needs medication as quickly as possible."
806 AS, 1 year later. Location: Somewhere in Bretonian Space.
"Research Log, May twenty-first, 806 AS... The synthesized inhibitor protein was successful in stopping cellular rejection, but had unforseen effects on embryo growth. All specimens appear to have halted normal growth cycle after two and a half weeks. I'll have to go back and reconstruct the inhibitor protein... maybe if I replace the D-one markers with B-two markers in the strain it will encourage embryo growth. Personal Note - Mira is becoming a natural at flying the Horizon, maybe she'll grow up to be a colony pilot one day. I'm proud of her."
807 AS, 1 year later. Location: Somewhere in Sigma Space.
*Simian Vance sobs uncontrollably as he tries to speak on-record* "M...Mira and mm...my wife are both dddead! What am I going to do? How can I continue my research without them?" *A moment of muffled cries ensues as Vance tries to regain himself* "The synthesized protein for the subject four specimens accelerated nomad brain cell regeneration. In mere hours, overnight, a full nomad specimen had regrown. It infected Sarah as she checked on the specimens while we were sleeping... it murdered my wife and daughter! I had to kill her... I had to kill the specimen... I dont know what I'm going to do now. I've lost everything! EVERYTHING!"
808 AS, 1 year later. Location: Somewhere in Omicron Space.
"It's been over a year since they died... I continued, I went on with my research to honor them. I discovered that a plant specimen called "Cardamine" was created by the same beings who created the nomads, it has genetic altering properties. I think I can use extracted DNA from this plant as a replacement for the synthesized inhibitor proteins to coerce the human embryo into accepting the nomad brain cells. I spoke to some outcast pilots and procured a small amount of the cardamine drug from one of their bases in Omicron Beta. Oh, it's June first 808 AS, I'll make another Log entry if this works."
808 AS, 1 month later. Location: Somewhere in Omicron space.
"Research Log, July third, 808 AS... Subject five is a success. The cardamine DNA injection allowed the human embryo to accept the nomad brain cells. Research Note - Subject Five appears to be growing exceptionally fast... approximately four times faster than a standard human. Personal Note - I've determined Subject five is a female, I'm going to name her Mira Selendis after my daughter and wife. Maybe this can be a new beginning..."
813 AS, five years later. Location: Edge of the Crow Nebula.
"Mira!" Vance yelled up towards the observation deck, "Come down here for a minute!"
Moments later, Mira Selendis came trotting down the stairs. In five years, she had grown from a tiny embryo into a twenty-year old woman. While she still retained the giddy and playful behavior of a child, she had shown exceptional physical ability as well as the capacity to learn hundreds of times faster than a normal human being. Dr. Vance looked up at her and smiled, "You know, if I was forty years younger I'd be trying to get you on a date." He hugged her and then directed her towards the research console at the center of the lab, "Take a look at this Mira, it's a scan of your DNA, tell me what you see."
Mira studied the screen for a moment, "Markers three, five, seven, and eleven are inactive?"
Vance smiled, "That's right, that was your DNA last week. Now look at this..." He pressed a button on the screen and the image switched to a new one.
Mira could instantly see the difference, "They're all active... in a week? You said it takes years for recessive DNA markers to activate..."
Dr. Vance nodded, "You're developing very quickly, but not physically... Your body seems to have stopped aging, but your DNA and brain are still developing very quickly. I'll look more into this, I need you to head down to the engine room and find out why the port thruster isnt working - if we cant get it up and running we'll never make it back to a station."
Mira smiled and skipped off down the hallway towards the engine room. Being a scientist, Vance hadnt taken very good care of this part of the ship... it was in severe decay, with the ceiling panels caving in and wiring coming out of the walls. Mira had studied databases linked from the colonies in her spare time, and had learned everything from psychology to mechanical engineering. Inspecting the port engine, she saw that the H-fuel injector line into the port reactor chamber had been rattled loose. She climbed between the engine and the wall of the room, trying to reach the fuel line so she could reattach it.
As she reconnected the fuel line, something thin, slimy, and black lashed out at her face from the shadows. In startled panic, she let go of the engine and fell backwards. As she hit the ground, a pulse of electricity shot out of her body towards the creature, nearly disintegrating it. The pulse arced into the engines, causing them to overload.
Dr. Vance spoke over the inter-ship speakers, "Mira, what the hell is going on down there? are you ok?"
Mira had blacked out from the fall, but regained conciousness a moment later. She looked at the two smoldering engines and sighed, it'd take weeks to fix this damage... She stood up slowly and stumbled over to the comm panel on the wall, "I'm ok, some kind of black thing tried to attack me down here but I... I dont know, I shocked it or something, how did that happen?"
The comm panel clicked as vance replied, "Get back up to the cockpit as quickly as you can, I'll wait here."
As mira entered the cockpit, Vance rushed up and hugged her, thankful she wasnt injured. He sat her down in the co-pilot's seat and pointed at the external ship camera viewscreen, which was playing a recording of what just happened. The electrical pulse she had created arced across the hull of the ship, then exploded outward in a sphere away from the vessel, travelling at the speed of light. Mira looked up at Dr. Vance, "What was that?"
"I'm not sure... sensors show that you had a severe spike in brain activity as it happened, I think it's some kind of telekinetic wave. Do you realize what this means?"
"Um... I can move things with my mind?" Mira said, half-sarcastically.
"Yes! that's exactly what it means... the nomad part of your DNA must have the ability to create and manipulate kinetic forces. We already know that some nomads exhibit telepathic ability, maybe you have that too!" Vance was clearly excited, despite the damage the ship had suffered as a result of her inadvertent mind-blasting of the creature in the engine room.
Mira started typing on the computer console, pulling up records and trying to figure out just what that creature was. After less than a minute the screen brought up an exact image of it... a ten foot long, pitch black, snake-like creature. Apparently it was an animal common to several borderworlds planets, they probably picked one up a while ago and it had been living in the ship ever since. It likely was starving and simply saw Mira as a desperate meal attempt, generally they didnt attack anything larger than a rat.
Sighing in relief that it was no longer around, and that any others onboard the ship wouldnt be a real danger, Mira stood up and headed back towards the engine room, "I'll see if I can get the engines fixed, that whole lightning thing fried them both."
813 AS, one week later. Location: Edge of the Crow Nebula.
Mira looked up from the engine she was working on as the comm speaker clicked on and Dr. Vance's voice echoed into the room, "Mira, we've got... hell, too many to count... we've got a whole fleet of nomad contacts closing on us fast, are those engines working yet?"
She rushed over to the comm panel, "All we've got operational are the manuvering thrusters! I still need another hour to get this thing online!"
"We dont have an hour... get up to the bridge, I need you to man the point defense turret!" Vance shouted.
"I'm on my way." Mira took off running towards the bridge of the ship.
As she barreled through the cockpit door, she fell into the gunner's chair and quickly started powering up the turret. Vance looked back at her, "I'm taking us into the nebula, it's the only way we might get out of this alive. There's just too many ships..."
As vance manuvered the ship deeper into the crow nebula, Mira took ahold of the gunnery controls. The first nomads were just starting to get within firing range... over two dozen fighter-class nomads, and they were being followed by an even larger force of gunboats and battleships. As she took aim at the first nomad vessel and prepared to fire, a screeching pain assaulted her mind. It was like hearing an airhorn with newborn ears, or staring at the sun with eyes that had never been opened before... a mix of intense pain and an overload of sensory input. She cringed and fell out of the chair onto the floor, gasping in agony, as the voice in her head ripped her mind apart.
***Abomination!***
Dr. Vance turned around and tried to help her up, "What's going on Mira? are you ok? talk to me!"
Mira tried to regain herself but the noise in her head was debilitating, she held her head trying to block out the pain.
***Cleanse... Die!***
The nomad ships opened fire, ripping into the Horizon's shields. Vance turned back to the ship controls and tried evading, but it helped little... this was a research ship, not a fighter craft. The enemy outmanuvered, outgunned, and outnumbered them... it was hopeless.
Mira was still on the floor of the cockpit, writhing in pain. She could feel an energy surging within her but the static in her head seemed to be holding it back. She tried to fight, to push the sound out, but the harder she resisted the more powerful it became. She began to black out as her mind tried to deal with the assault; Dr. Vance was yelling at her to get up as he tried to manuver the ship and avoid the attacks from the nomad vessels, but she couldnt make out what he was saying.
As the blackness closed around her, she relaxed... gave up. As she stopped struggling the noise faded, the pain slipped away, and the energy she had felt trying to build up in her body became stronger. She snapped back to reality and the blackness faded as a surge of energy let loose from her, blasting out of the Horizon and into space. The closest nomad vessels were hit with the shockwave and seemed to lose control, spinning off and colliding with one another, or merely suffering overload and exploding. The energy wave wreaked havoc onboard the horizon, however... the consoles in the cockpit arced in overload and exploded, sending Dr. Vance flying to the back of the room and knocking him out. Shortly after, Mira passed out from exhaustion, reclaimed by the black cloak that had tried to blind her only moments before.
815 AS, two years later. Location: Adrift in the crow nebula.
Mira awoke to find herself floating in the stasis tank aboard the Horizon. A mask was strapped to her face, with a tube that let oxygen in so she could breathe while in stasis... but she couldnt - there was no air coming through the hose. She struggled in panic, banging against the glass, trying to get out of the tube before she suffocated. Her efforts were fruitless, however; the glasss was inches thick, and could only be opened from the outside.
Remembering what had happened with the nomad ships during the attack, Mira relaxed, trying to harness the telekinetic ability of her nomad half. The energy wasnt there anymore, she couldnt feel it and she had no idea how to control it even if it was there. Just as her lungs began burning in desperation for air, the stasis chamber opened up, spilling her out onto the floor along with two hundred gallons of the fluid she had been floating in. She gasped for air, and only after regaining her breath noticed a stale smell surrounding her. The ship's lights were all off, aside from the stasis cell internal lamp. A thick layer of now-soggy dust covered the floor, and every surface of the ship. The air inside the Horizon was thin and hard to breathe.
Mira regained herself and stood up, shaking the dust off of a nearby towel so she could dry off. Her clothes had been laid out over the console next to the stasis cell, but were covered in dust as well. She took a few minutes to clean them and get dressed, then headed towards the cockpit of the ship.
As she entered the cockpit, she saw a decaying skeleton sitting in the pilot's seat, wearing Dr. Vance's lab coat. How long had she been in stasis? Mira couldnt remember anything since the attack. She turned the corpse away and sat down in the co-pilot's seat, switching on the ship's data console. There was very little power left, just enough to run the console - she kept the ship lights off to preserve what little energy was left. Accessing the ship's datalogs, she pulled up the last entry by Dr. Vance, dated almost two years ago.
"Personal log... I dont know the date... 813 AS..." He was gasping in pain as he spoke; "During the nomad attack last week, Mira was knocked unconcious by whatever force she used to deter the alien craft. When I woke I found myself bleeding profusely from my shoulder, and impaled at the back of the cockpit. My left lung was punctured, I wont live more than a few more hours... we have no engine power left, and I dont have the medical facilities here to heal my wounds. I put Mira into the stasis chamber, it will keep her alive on minimal ship power for quite some time. I can only hope that the horizon is discovered by someone who can save her before the ship becomes uninhabitable."
The log stopped for a moment, jumping to a new entry - "Mira, this recording is for you, should you awake before rescuers find the ship. There's an escape pod in the cargo bay, if life support fails you must get to it and escape. The pod's distress beacon will reach out to any nearby ships, with any luck it will get you out of here alive. I want you to seek out the organization known as 'the order' - they funded my research here, and without them you would not exist. Find a man named Lucius Kane, he's the primary agent I worked with; he has a lot of influence in the order and should be able to get you somewhere safe. Be careful Mira... the order exists to protect humanity, and while they funded the Chimera Project, they will be skeptical of you. Prove to them that you are kind hearted and have good intentions, and you will be accepted among them. You have a gift, Mira... you can do things no other human can... use that gift to protect others, and to avenge me." the recording pauses for a moment, then continues, "oh, one more thing... there's an optical disk in my pocket, it has all of the data from my research and your development recorded on it. Take it with you, the order must have this information. Goodbye, Mira..."
The recording cut out and went silent. Mira felt a tear run down her face... Vance was like a father to her, and now he was gone. She reached over and took the data disk out of his pocket, inspecting it a moment and then slipping it into her own. A warning light on the console lit up and beeped at her.
*Warning - Life support systems failing due to insufficient power*
"Goodbye, Dr. Vance..." she said as she headed down to the cargo bay. She did not relish the thought of spending the next week cramped inside an escape pod... she was claustrophobic... but there was no other choice.
815 AS, two days later. Location: Edge of the crow nebula.
Mira drifted through the crow for two days with no food or water, cramped into the tiny escape pod, before rescue arrived. Looking out the small window of the pod, she saw the behemoth of a ship slowly approach with it's cargo bay doors open like the jaws of some great creature about to swallow her alive. She didnt recognize the ship type, but then again the Horizon never had extended information on the ship types throughout Sirius. As the cargo bay doors closed after pulling her ship inside, she felt gravity return and the hard jolt of the pod falling to the bay floor. Frantically she mashed at the hatch control, trying to get out of the cramped space. The escape pod cracked open, letting in fresh air from the new ship as she crawled out of it and collapsed on the cold steel floor.
Five men approached her, four of them armed with high powered assault blasters. The fifth was well presented, most likely the captain of the ship. The other men held their weapons, steadily pointed at Mira, while the leader spoke; "Who are you?" He said in a stern tone.
Mira regained herself and slowly stood up, trying as hard as possible to look harmless. "My name is Mira... I was on the research ship Horizon, owned by Dr. Simian Vance... we were attacked by nomads..." she stammered.
The man immediately became more alert when she mentioned the nomads, he had quite obviously dealt with them before. He thought a moment, then spoke again; "This is a Zoner exploration vessel. You'll be detained in the medical ward until we reach freeport eleven tomorrow. After that you're on your own, I'm sorry I cant do more."
She nodded in agreement and followed the four armed men towards the medical bay.
815 AS, one day later. Location: Freeport 11 Docks.
Mira was escorted off the ship and left alone and lost in the dock of the freeport as the exploration ship's men began loading and unloading supply crates. She approached one of the dockworkers who didnt seem to be too busy, "Excuse me, where would I go to find people here? I'm looking for someone..." She was careful not to mention who exactly she was seeking; She didnt know the relationship between zoners and the Order yet.
The man appraised her then pointed up a ramp leading out of the docking bay, "Go up that ramp, take a right, and head down the tunnel. You'll come to the promenade at the center of the station, from there look for the bar sign, that's where you'll find most of the off-duty workers and visitors to the freeport."
She nodded her appreciation and headed off towards the ramp. The docking bay seemed to be kept fairly cold, probably to preserve any perishable items awaiting transfer onto the ships; but as she walked down the long tunnel towards the station's center the air warmed up. A large circular door in front of her opened up as she approached, revealing a huge room lined with catwalks and vendor stands. There were dozens of people moving about, looking for items to purchase or just sitting on benches at the center of the room and talking. Mira recognized several different uniforms, everything from Bretonian police to Rheinland military was here, along with quite a few bounty hunters and seedy-looking characters; it was a remarkable sight overall.
Mira saw the sign for the freeport bar across the room on the level below her, and moved down a staircase towards it. While there were many more reputable looking people in the Promenade, the bar was full of grungy, dirty figures concealed by a thick fog of acrid smoke. The bartender was serving some kind of glowing blue drink to several well armed men at the back of the room. Mira waited for him to head back to the bar to get his attention, "Excuse me sir"
He kept cleaning glasses and serving drinks for people at the bar, without even looking up at her, "what'll it be honey? I'm busy here!" the man grumbled.
She tried to keep her voice at a whisper so nobody would overhear her, "I'm looking for the Order..."
The bartender stopped what he was doing and looked straight at her, "Dangerous to be askin that around these folk..." He pointed with the glass in his hand to the other side of the bar, where a lone man sat at a table in the corner drinking, "Go talk to him, name's Vincent, that's all I got for ya."
Mira approached the table, cautiously sitting down across from the man. He looked up at her from his drink, "Well well, first time I've had a beauty sit at my table on her own, what can I do for ye gorgeous?"
Apparently Dr. Vance wasnt a prime example of how men behaved in the rest of the galaxy... She straightened herself to appear more respectable, "I need to find an agent of the Order named Lucius Kane. The bartender told me you could help."
"Lucius? I know the name, what's your beef with him?"
"He funded the research project that created me. The man doing that research lost his wife and daughter, and his own life, to nomads. I'm all that's left, and Dr. Vance told me to contact the order if anything ever happend to him." She said, careful to keep her voice down so nobody else could overhear her.
"Alright..." He straightened up a bit and slammed the last of his drink, "You dont look like the kind to cause trouble. I'll see if I can get a transmission out to Lucius, get him to head here and meet up with ya - probably take a couple days. In the meantime, I've got business to take care of." He stood up and left her alone at the table.
Two days with no money aboard a station that worships it... great. Mira stood up and headed back out towards the promenade to find someone who could get her a place to sleep.
815 AS, the next day. Location: Freeport 11 Promenade.
Mira walked along the catwalks of the promenade, admiring the different shops and vendors set up on freeport 11. Some sold food, others exotic drinks, and others yet bartered weapons, armor, and equipment. Most of the food and drink shops let her try small samples, and while it wasnt a full meal at least she wouldnt starve to death here. Despite all the opposing groups living on or visiting the station... nobody seemed to fight or argue. The outcasts and corsairs aboard kept their distance, and any skirmishes that did break out were quickly put down by the zoner peacekeepers that stood watch every hour of the day. Mira was amazed that they were able to make so many hostile cultures live together in relative peace.
She stopped at a food stand that was selling fruit imported from planet Gaia. A dozen different types of fruits were layed out, ranging from skinny to fat, small to large, purple to green. She looked up at the man running the stand, "Do you have any samples?"
He nodded and handed her a small bowl filled with slices of different fruit emitting sweet aromas. Mira took it and thanked the man, then continued on, eating as she continued to examine the other shops. As she approached a hallway leading off to one of the docking bays, she heard a scream behind her and felt a burning pain sear through her shoulder. She fell down from the force of the blast, spilling the bowl of fruit and frantically trying to hide behind one of the drink stands as she looked back to see who her attacker was.
Three men dressed in Rheinland Military uniforms were approaching with sidearms drawn, firing wrecklessly at her. The drink bottles around Mira exploded as they were hit, showering her with glass and overpowering fumes. She scrambled across the floor to the next shop stand and knocked the table over to shield herself from the blasts. Looking back, she saw that the men's eyes were glowing bright purple as they shouted her direction.
***Abomination!***
"ABOMINATION!"
The sound echoed both in her ears and in her head... a nomad and human speaking seperately but as one. The human voice was loud enough, but the nomad voice peirced through her mind just as it had years ago in the initial attack. Mira peeked out from cover again to see that the men had already gunned down all the nearby zoner guards and were slowly approaching the table she hid behind, firing a flurry of laser blasts all around her.
Another sound split the air, like a sharp crack of lightning, accompanied by a bright blue flash. One of the rheinlanders fell to the floor, killed instantly by the attack. Mira looked across the Promenade and saw the order agent she had met before, Vincent, with a smoking photon rifle in his hands. He yelled her direction, "Get to the bar damn you!" and continued firing.
Mira crawled across the floor towards the bar, trying to stay behind cover. One of the two remaining Rheinlanders was engaged in a firefight with Vincent, but the other had stuck to her. He dropped his laser rifle as it's charge depleted and pulled a plasma pistol from the holster at his side, spraying green flame from it across the room. It caught mira's leg as she scurried across the floor, instantly turning her skin from pink to charred black. The pain was unbearable.
Vincent got a shot off at the man who had gone after mira, dropping him in a single shot. Three zoner peacekeepers entered the Promenade from the docks, and gunned down the last assailant. Mira was cringing in pain next to the door of the bar, her leg smoking and blackened to the bone from ankle to knee. Vincent rushed up to her, turning momentarily to the zoners and telling them to get a medical stretcher.
Mira looked up at him in shock as he rushed to her, "Argh, my leg!" she screamed, tears of pain running down her face.
"this isnt good, this isnt good at all... you'll live but I dont know about your leg... you're lucky I got here in time!" he said.
"Who the hell were those people? They talked like nomads and humans at the same time!"
"They're called the wild, during the war a bunch of house officials, mainly from rheinland, were infested by nomads so they could infiltrate the house governments, never mind it though, we need to get you to the medbay. Here, put you arm around my shoulder."
She slung an arm over his shoulder and limped towards the medical bay, dragging her charred leg behind her.
815 AS, ten minutes later. Location: Freeport 11 medical bay.
Mira layed back on the table in the medical bay as the lone doctor available took a look at her leg. The pain was gone, but more likely from dead nerves than lack of damage.
"This doesnt look too good um... what's your name?" The doctor asked.
"Mira" She replied.
"Beautiful eyes you've got Mira... one green and one blue? That's very odd... I've never heard of anything like it out here..."
Mira winced as she tried to move her leg, something was happening... she felt an itching sensation in the bones of her leg, like a million bugs were crawling under the charred skin. She could feel pressure building up, and her leg began to visibly swell, shedding the black skin off like an old shell and revealing a rapidly-regenerating limb beneath. Within minutes, her leg had healed completely, with no sign that she had ever been shot.
Mira pulled her shirt to the side to look at where she had been hit in the shoulder. The same thing was happening, the burn-wound dissapeared as her body repaired itself. The doctor stared at her in shock.
"How the hell did you do that..." He stammered.
"I... I dont know..."
Vincent sat her up as the doctor backed away nervously, "Come on Mira, we've got to get out of here, there could be more wild coming. Lucius wasnt able to come out here to meet you, he's stuck doing some kind of research on Lisbon station. I've got a ship waiting in docking bay three for us, it's only a few hours flight to omicron one-hundred if we take the right jump holes."
He helped her up and she tested her 'new' leg, it worked good as new. Urgently, Vincent rushed Mira off towards the docking bay. The ship awaiting them was the fanciest fighter Mira had ever seen. It bore a striking resemblance to the liberty navy's fighters, but had a unique coloration to it's hull, along with a sun pattern engraved on both sides of the midsection. Vincent directed her into the small cargo bay behind the pilot's seat, then strapped himself in and powered up the vessel.
"Freeport control, this is Order gamma three dash one, requesting clearance for departure." He said as he strapped on his helmet. Mira could hear a muffled voice reply through the speaker in the helmet; "Roger Gamma three-one, you're clear. Be warned that we've got multiple nomad contacts on scanners."
"Great, more nomads are after you" vincent sighed, "We might be able to beat them to the jump hole back to minor. Once we're close, order patrols can hold them off while we get through."
Vincent lifted the ship off the docking pad and accelerated out of the airlock, shooting into space at breakneck speed. As they left the particle field surrounding the freeport, Mira could see the sharp blue forms of nomad fighters appearing in the distance, closing on them. Within seconds the ship was under fire, and mira was thrown about in the cargo bay as Vincent manuvered the ship to avoid their shots.
"Hang on!" He shouted as he hit the thrusters and spun the ship around, letting loose two missiles that slammed into the nearest nomad fighter. He flipped a comm switch on the cockpit control panel, "This is order gamma three dash one to all order ships in the area, we are under attack by multiple nomad fighters, requesting assistance!"
Mira looked out the cockpit window from behind the pilot's seat and saw a patrol of three fighters, just like the one she was in, approaching at cruise speed. "This is order patrol delta seven to gamma three dash one, we're en-route, time to contact fifteen seconds."
As the patrol approached, they let loose several volleys of missiles, quickly dispatching the nomad attackers. Mira listened in on the comm once again, "Gamma one dash three, be advised we have multiple incoming bogies. I suggest you get through to minor as soon as you can make the jump."
Vincent turned back towards the jump hole, "Thanks for the assistance delta seven, initiating jump sequence now."
as the ship dove into the jump hole it was lunged forward into a tunnel of light, and only a minute later spewed out into a system blanketed by green clouds and asteroids. Vincent flipped the comm back on as he accelerated the ship to cruise speed, "Battleship Isis this is Order Gamma three dash one on special assignment, destination is Lisbon station in omicron one-hundred. Transmitting verification codes now."
A woman replied over the frequency, "Roger that, you're cleared to proceed."
Vincent set the ship on autopilot and spun the cockpit chair around to face Mira. "I want to know what you are, spill it now and tell the truth." He said in a stern voice.
"I dont know! Dr. vance created me from some nomad cells, that's all he ever told me!" She pleaded.
"And it was funded by the order? Who the hell authorized that? Things have been getting worse every day since the nomad war... first they start making weapons from nomad power cells, and now they try making a nomad hybrid? Do you have any idea how dangerous you are?"
"I dont want to hurt anyone! I dont even know how to control whatever this 'power' I have is!" Mira was surrounded by enemies and even those who helped her were likely to turn against her at any moment if she proved to be a threat.
"Listen, they're going to do tests on you at Lisbon, they're going to poke you with needles, cut you apart, and push you to your limits to see exactly what it is you can do. I believe that you dont want to hurt anyone... but you need to stand up for yourself, dont let them hurt you and dont let them see weakness, got it?" Mira nodded, nervously.
"Alright then, try to stick close to Lucien when you meet him, he's a good guy, he'll look after you."
Vincent went back to flying the ship, leaving Mira to herself.
815 AS, one hour later. Location: Lisbon Station, Omicron-100.
Mira crawled out of the fighter's cargo bay after they had docked at Lisbon station, and was greeted by three men in lab coats; the forwardmost had a nametag on his coat that said 'Kane'. He stepped forward and helped her out of the ship, "You must be Mira..."
She took on a puzzled look, "How do you know my name?"
He smiled in response and motioned for her to follow him further into the station, "I received the occasional transmission from Dr. Vance concerning your development. I funded his research because I didnt have the time to do it myself, the Order's higher-ups have had me working on nomad weapon technology for the past sixteen years. Leave it to the military to always want big guns and no brains behind them."
Lucius stopped for a moment and swiped his identification card over a console next to the door ahead of them, "I cant say I envy your position here... the Order wants to know what you are, what you're capable of, and whether you're not a threat to us... I'll do my best to make sure they stay in line, but you're going to be here a long time while we test you." He continued on through the door into a small labroom beyond. Mira appraised her surroundings; the lab had the usual tables, computer consoles, and odd-looking research instruments... but it also had a small sealed room at the back composed of transparent steel walls, with a single small bed at the center.
"You'll be sleeping there... I know it doesnt offer much privacy but it's the best accomodations I could get you here, for now. Until we're able to verify that you arent a threat to us, everyone on the station is going to have their eyes on you." Lucius swiped the card at the small entrance door to the sealed room, and beckoned Mira in; she grudgingly followed orders. He locked the door behind her.
"There will be guards posted outside the lab, you can call them with the communication console on the wall over there," he pointed to the console, "If you need food or water, let them know. Otherwise you're confined here until tomorrow... try to get some sleep, you'll need to be well rested for the testing tomorrow." He turned and left the room with the other scientists, Vincent trailing behind them.
Mira looked around at her new quarters... aside from the communications console there was nothing here. Just a small bed, steel floor, and transparent walls. She couldnt even switch off the lights from inside, getting to sleep wasnt going to be easy. Worse yet, the temperature was set low... she curled up in a corner between the bed and the wall, shivering as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. None of this would be happening if Vance was still around...
815 AS, the next day. Location: Lisbon Station, Omicron-100.
The whooshing sound of the 'cell' door opening awoke Mira. Startled, she scrambled against the wall until her eyes could focus on Lucius entering the room. "Jumpy, are we?" He chuckled sardonically.
Mira gave him a scornful look and slowly stood up, recollecting herself. The room was still freezing cold, and she could feel her stomach groaning for food. She looked up at Lucius, "I'm hungry..."
"Later dear, later. First we need to do morning tests. Come over here and sit on the lab table." He said, somewhat roughly pushing her into the lab. 'Good guy' indeed... Vincent didnt have a clue.
As she hoisted herself up to sit on the raised table, Lucius started taking notes; he prodded her with needles, drew blood, shined bright lights in her eyes, and smacked her joints with a miniature-sized hammer. These 'tests' werent at all enjoyable.
"What's the point of all this anyways?" She complained, trying to cover up her frustration with the ordeal.
Lucius finished putting notes in the datapad and turned around to the lab table behind him, "It's all just standard procedure, we have to make sure you're in good health."
When he turned around he had another needle. Unlike those he had used to draw blood, this one had a dark yellow liquid in it. He stuck it in her arm before she could move away, forcing the fluid into her veins.
"Wh.. What was th..." Mira felt the room going black and couldnt form the words she was trying to say.
"Just something to make you relax... dont worry, you'll b..." His voice faded out as she lost conciousness.
815 AS, two hours later. Location: Lisbon Station, Omicron-100.
Mira woke to find herself in a pitch-black room; she heard pounding echoes coming from the distance but couldnt see a thing. She heard a blaster shot go off and the room lit up for a split second, then felt the laser graze past her leg, searing her flesh.
"What the hell is going on!?" she cried out in panic. Another shot lit up the room and grazed her arm. From that split second of light she determined that the room was round, approximately fifty feet from wall to wall, and she was the only one in it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding another shot as it went off.
Bolt after Bolt flew at her from different parts of the room, and she barely avoided each, always dodging when her gut feeling told her to. After several minutes the lights came on, and she saw a window up at the top corner of the room with three scientists staring down at her. "Interesting... Subject appears to have an unseen level of precognition instinct. Recommend further testing of this ability." One of them said, taking notes on a datapad.
Three men with assault rifles entered the room, directing her out and down the hall to another lab.
As they entered the new lab Mira appraised her surroundings. There wasnt much to see; it was a small room with an odd looking chair at the center, nothing more. The men shoved her into the chair and shackles locked around her legs and arms, preventing her from moving.
"Why are you doing this??" she screamed, struggling against the chair as she watched them leave the room and close the door without a word.
The lights in the room switched off, leaving her blinded in the darkness. Gradually, several 'doors' around the room opened up out of the walls, and small, glowing blue creatures in containment vessels were pushed into the darkness. Their luminescent bodies provided a modicrum of light, but there wasnt anything else to see, just the plain circular room and her chair.
Mira felt a roaring static creeping into her head, growing from a mere whisper to a painful bombardment of chaotic voices. She realized the creatures they had put in the room were nomads - nomad brains, more specificially - and that they were having the same telepathic feedback in her head that the nomads she had previously encountered did. As the creatures realized what she was, the pain grew more intense as they assaulted her mind telepathically, attacking her thoughts and her sanity.
Mira screamed out loud as the pain grew, begging for someone to make it stop. Tears streamed from her eyes as she struggled against the detention chair, the shackles cutting into her arms and causing her to drip blood to the floor.
Slowly, the glowing bodies dissapeared... not from being withdrawn by the scientists, but from her brain attempting to black out and shut down to avoid the mental assault. She felt the blood drain out of her head, felt her energy draining away, and passed out.