I pull up in that quarter milli off the lot

[pyrafect]

[ The ship should not exist not in any normal capacity as it lies deep within the hostile and active remnants of a stellar nursery. But even within the industry of the nebula, bustling with radio-energy and magnetic fields so powerful that it could rip the hydrogen off a water molecule, the ancient vessel remains. An untold millennia ago, the activity of the stars bursting into existence would have drowned out any signal of energy from the ship itself, but as time has marched on, so too does the nutritious atoms of the clouds that fuel the explosion of life among the stars. Now the strange, signature energy given off from the ship seeps through the columns of cool space gas, able to be detected.

It is through that reading that the Alliance task force finds it, the wholly intact dormant ruins of the ancient ship, untouched and undisturbed by the activity of its dangerous stellar infants. Then by following the source of the energy to the core of the ship, it is also that they find her: a woman kept within a glass stasis chamber, appearance no different as it had been when she had first stepped within. The leylines of the ship all route back to the pod, their hue a constant, ominous green that gives off neither heat nor sound. It is here that the power pools-- or, perhaps, the point from which it vectors, for upon the woman's chest sits a crystal of the same hue. The sign of the Aegis.



Visions of a war long past are locked behind a seal to her, yet she remembers enough that the dreamless void in which she sleeps carries nothing but her fear. Thus she also knows that her stagnant state within the vessel is how she is meant to be. Sealed, stopped, frozen, kept within a stasis. And if that seal should ever break, if she should ever awaken once more, there is only one thing she must seek to do: end her existence.

There are no alarms when the intruders enter the chamber, no notifications that alert her to their presence. No code required to lift the glass above her body, or break if it they should choose. So while it will be quite a surprise when the stasis pod is opened, for now she remains dormant and unaware. ]

Comments

[blyat]

[Through the shield of his spacesuit's helmet, Cain observes the wide room ahead. His breath mists the polycarbonate sheet of the visor. An artificial silence has claimed the alien ship in its resting graveyard among the newborn stars, made eerier by the colored lines -- pipes? -- casting a teal glow across the paneled walls and ceiling. One of his men approaches, hand held out as if to touch, until Cain barks through the microphone: Step away, Brutus, you've got no idea what those do. You want to get your hand melted off by alien acid? Be my guest. Appropriately cowed, the Alliance soldier falls back into his assigned place as they advanced into the larger room.

It isn't the first alien vessel he's explored in his enduring career with the Federated Alliance. Then, it was a known enemy, the mystery of Colteron tech unraveling as they came into possession of more pieces. Stray fighters lost in battle, seized shipping hulls, what evidently appeared to be a transport ship for Colteron laborers; Cain's seen and known it all.

This mission, however, is one dark hanging question mark.

Even as Lieutenant in command of his own unit, Cain doesn't have the ranking authority to access the confidential report. All he was given by his commanding officer was coordinates, assurance of acknowledgment upon the assignment's completion (provided he survives the suicidal nature of the trip), and promise of promotion with a clean record. Glory and honor in surrendering your life to the Alliance.

Cain makes a motion with his hand, several helmeted soldiers advancing into the dimly lit room. The green hue paints everything, giving an illusion that they are standing at the bottom of the ocean instead of deep space. Rifle raised, he approaches last, eyes ahead.]

What the fuck? [Cain's low voice crackles through the suit's microphone. Then, louder:] Back up, men! Now!

[The soldiers ring the chamber, weapons raised. His glove is already raised to the glass. It takes a heave of strength to lift it, rifle hooked onto his belt, unsealing the pod in a mechanical hiss. His eyes never leave the crystal on the woman's chest.]

[pyrafect]

[ A mist seeps out from pod with a pressurized whistle as he first raises the glass, thick, heavy, and glimmering with heatless sparks of energy bursting into existence then vanishing within the next moment. It envelops the chamber as the teal lines that trace to the pod slowly rescind, flicking once before fading completely. In that exact same moment, the crystal upon her chest shines an even brighter green as if all other light has been absorbed in it.

Her eye flutter open, vision hazy, senses dulled, but she knows that there are others here with her. One, two-- ten, perhaps? And that she must guess at their numbers speaks volumes to how dampened her powers are compared to her true form. Her eyes shut once more as she tries again, clearing her mind from the muddle of stasis-sleep and all of its effects. For organic life, awakening after such a long period dormant would have grievous consequences: nausea, exhaustion, atrophy. For her, it's as if she's stepping out of a nightmare..

They are still there, however.

Why?

Her eyes open once more, this time more purposefully, and now she actually looks at him. Focuses upon his face, his expression, the helmet he wears, all so unfamiliar to her. The Aegis's hand reaches up slowly towards him, absent-minded and like sifting through water instead of airless space. He may be too far away to actually reach him, but within her perspective she's cupping the side of his helmet as if she could rest her fingers upon his cheek, to feel the warmth of someone living after so long. ]

....Who are you?

[ Her words are of his language, understood and heard by all no matter how far the soldiers stand guard in the room, as if she wishes to be heard. The Aegis is a mysterious thing, a powerful processor of information as it is a gate of limitless energy. The moment the crystal had read the frequencies of their voices over the radiowaves, it had translated their language to energy, and then translated its energy back into language to be heard. ]

[blyat]

[He has to shield his eyes against the sudden glare of light. It burns across his retinas, leaving a superimposed image that lingers to blur his vision and distort what he does see when the light fades. He can't risk closing his eyes.

When the pod has unsealed, Cain takes steps backward to increase the radius of his position, drawing up his own rifle from the latched belt around his waist. He holds it steady, opposite hand lifted to signal his soldiers into obedient silence -- patience, waiting.

The figure resting there, a woman, lifts its hand. Cain stands just beyond the reach of that outstretched palm, but he almost feels it, the energy in the room humming in every taut muscle of his body. Every nerve lit, wired. Every instinct honed to look for some sign of danger or threat. What he expects last is for a voice in a language they all understand, syllables carefully sounded. Some of Cain's men swivel their heads in alarm toward him.

Steeled, he raises his head. He forces his mind into a clear and blank emptiness, and his voice rings loud in the room.]

The Federated Alliance is seeking the Aegis. Is that what you are? Can you confirm this?

[... Not a machine, but a woman. Or both? Why? Why hadn't they told him?]

[pyrafect]

[ She watches him, unblinking, unwavering, the clarity of her vision a welcome contrast to the haze of a dreamless sleep. All of her senses are only starting to catch up with her: she can hear foreign, mechanical power that generates the vitality of their suits, she can feel the lull of the ship's alloyed metal as it strays aimlessly within the precipitate of starsdust, and beyond that she feels the quiet, ominous hum of the stellar nursery itself. Yet her focus is narrowed onto him, searching his expression beyond the barrier of the helmet, noticing the hardened lines of his brow, the thin frown of his lips, and then finally the cautious look in his eyes. ]

...Amazing. [ She whispers, and her hand slowly withdraws back to herself as if she actually wouldn't dare touch him despite her earlier action to reach for him. Now that she knows he's actually here, that she's actually awake, that there is actually a person here? It amazes her. That life can still persist after all these years, that life can create such sentience once more-- well, isn't that how the old adage goes? That life simply finds a way, no matter what the odds. She can't help but smile up at him, calmly, even as he draws his rifle out. ] You're.... beautiful.

[ She's caught in the moment from waking up, it seems. Calm and dazed and content. It hasn't quite hit her yet that the people that have found her may be hostile. So for now, his question has gone completely-- well, not ignored, not over her head, but pushed to the side by her wonder, as if she hadn't expected to see someone alive at all.

Her hands reach for either side of the edge of the pod, beginning to lift herself upward, eyes still trained solely on him. ] Who are you?

[blyat]

[Unsettled, Cain senses the wave of tension as his soldiers grip their weapons and hunt for familiarity to latch onto: authority, the expected, a more linear direction to the strange conversation unfolding in the room. But they're trained well. None will twitch a finger on their trigger, none will act outside their orders, not without the explicit word of their commanding officer. Going into this, no one knew what to anticipate. Perhaps some thought they wouldn't return from deep space alive. Years will have passed by the time they return to base. Space travel is a difficult, sometimes life-sentencing commitment.

Those words, you're beautiful, are met with startled silence. They're spoken directly to him, not the others. Cain feels his heart rate accelerate, pounding loud in his throat and head, seeming louder for the prison of his helmet and suit.

The machine - what and whoever it may be - has not attacked them. He won't lower his guard, but he decides to answer that question. It may be nothing different than identifying himself to a foreign entity. The sacrifice of his name and rank is one he's willing to make if it progresses the mission.

... And, maybe, through the disorientation of what they've found, he feels compelled against reason. By the impossible in front of him, by the otherworldly figure of a woman pulling herself up and out of the pod.]

Alliance soldier and lieutenant in command of this unit, number 6-7-7-8-4-2. [His voice is airless and tight, though it remains rigid through will alone.] Code named "Cain."

[He can hear the short breath of the other men, static in their microphones.]

Who are you?

[pyrafect]

[ Pushing herself out of the pod completely, straightening herself and raises her eyes to meet his once more with a boneless grace. ] Cain...

[ She repeats, bringing a hand to her chest. The crystal there glows brighter for a moment before quieting once more. She lifts a hand to her chest fingers curling just over its light as it takes in the information he's provided.... and only now does an unsettling feeling being to creep in.

Alliance. Alliance against who? Or what?

Lieutenant and commander. He's a solider.

Code name. A secret of some sort?

But the buzz of processing information is little more than a distant warning hum, something just below the priority of the rifles. She should be more cautious, should be more careful, but there is light in her eyes, fire, joy, at being able to see others once more. She wants to have this moment, this wonderful selfish moment to meet another living being after so long before she must acknowledge that she must not be awake. ]

I... am am an Aegis. [ An Aegis, as if there might be more than one that had been created. ] My name is Pyra.

[blyat]

[An Aegis. Pyra. The confusion is like a blow over the head, and Cain stands dumbfounded for several long moments, too long - he can feel the impatience rippling through his men in physical reflex. As she raises herself out of the pod, he manages a step forward. The gun is lowered, gripped in white-knuckled hands.

His eyes are rapt on the crystal, as though hypnotized by the bright color of it. For a moment, it's a challenge to remember the breath and air in his lungs. To have traveled so far, and then be faced with this.

What is he supposed to do?

One of Cain's hands releases his weapon, and he raises it up, palm facing outward.]

We're not here to hurt you.

[Another step forward, this time nearly in range of touch.]

Will you come with us now, Pyra?