Scar
The Moon, Earth System. Chair of the Gigacorp Military Corps
Under control of: Gigacorp, administered by NEWUN (New United Nations)

The light of the Terran systems Star blinded me from where I stood in the hangar. I flicked my sunglasses open, putting them on.

My new ship, a Class-A transporter fighter, sat in front of me, almost done. A couple of workers sat on it, welding away.

"Nice ship. I'm almost jealous." a female voice said to my left, very much underwhelmed. I didn't even bother looking at her, folding my arms.

"I didn't ask for your input, Kathrine." I practically spat the last word.

"You can call me Myth now, Legend. It'd serve you well with Admiral Barnes to start calling me that." she said simply. I lifted one hand, rubbing my chin while my elbow stayed resting on my other arm.

"Ok, 'Myth'. I didn't ask for your input. I did, however, directly request this model." I corrected dryly. Myth snorted.

"Of course you did." she said, tossing her black hair to the side. "I don't know why they're sending you on this mission. I'd love to put a bullet in that stupid traitor's head."

"Because I'll get the job done instead of torturing them for hours, letting their allies come up with a plan to save them, then let them waltz right on in and save them." I said calmly even though my blood was boiling. She shot me a nasty look.

"You're no fun. It's better when they scream. And when they run, too. Fable would agree with me. Y'know, if he he wasn't a traitor." she pouted. I turned my head, looking at her over my sunglasses.

Hmmmm. So Fable was a dude. That eliminated the possibility of... seven Hermits.

"Remind me who scared Fable off with those tactics?" I said innocently. She growled, grabbing my collar. I just gave her my iconic smirk, leaning back into it.

"Stand down, Myth. I have a different mission for you. And I would like a few words with Legend here." Barne's voice came. She immediately let go, jumping back and standing at attention. Barnes ignored her, stepping up to me and putting his calloused hands on my shoulder.

"Dismissed, Myth." he snapped. She stuck her tongue out at me before turning on her heel and stalking away.

"That Fable jab was a low blow, even for you." he said. I shrugged.

"You told me to hit my enemies where they're weak." I said.

"She's your partner, not your enemy." Barnes said firmly.

"She's a sheltered, spoiled brat with a princess complex. She doesn't know real pain." I snorted, turning back to my ship. The scars across my face pulsed slightly at the memory of the Vex grabbing me, slamming me into the wall and the feeling of their little swords carving my entire body like—

"Are you ready?" Barnes asked suddenly, snapping me out of the memory.

"Yes, sir. Just waiting on the Gearheads to finish the ship." I said.

"Good." Barnes said, turning to leave.

"Sir?" I stopped him. He stopped.

"I would recommend laying Myth off. She's only gonna cause us problems." I said.

"She may be a loose cannon, but that's what this company needs right now. Now get going, those Gearheads are waving like there's no tomorrow." he said. I nodded, turning and pulling up my uniforms hood.

No matter how much I didn't want to, a Hermit was going to die.

.  .  .
Pearl

"Ok, here's the plan: Zara'll try and slow it down for her and Karn, sneak into the main library, and download as much information on the Lazarus Rebellion as possible while I distract the guards." I explained.

"And me?" Ivan grunted.

"Wait until the guards come at me. Then you can... crush them or whatever you wanna do to them." I said. He gave a wicked grin, his sharp teeth glinting in the fluorescent lights.

Zara grabbed Karn's hand, squeezing her eyes shut in sheer concentration.

"You wanna get something off your chest?" Karn questioned mischievously. Zara shushed him.

"Shut up. I'm trying to concentrate." she snapped. A moment later they both completely disappeared.

I cracked my neck, standing and turning the corner while putting a small strut in my step. All the guards, about fourteen of them, froze when they saw me. I put my hand on the handle of my gun.

"Can any of you tell me where a girl can get a drink around here?" I breathed. One of them shouted, standing and lifting his rifle and aiming it at me.

Ivan's hammer flew over me, slamming full-force into his head and completely crushing it.

The other guards shot up, weapons raised as Ivan charged around me, fists swinging. I whipped my gun out, firing two quick rounds into one's chest before dropping it and grabbing my axe.

I dropped to one knee, spinning around and driving the blade into a guards gut in a spray of red. I quickly stood, and before he could react I had lifted him up and slammed him into the wall, severing his spine and cracking the now red wall.

Another stepped up, connecting his fist with my cheek. I stumbled back, barely blocking his next blow. I grabbed his arm, pushing it back with all my strength.

A blur of silver caught my eye. My eyes went wide, and I dropped my left hand to catch his other arm as he drove a knife towards my side.

"Don't even try, girly." he hissed two seconds before Ivan stabbed him through the back of the head with the butt of his hammer, splattering my face with blood.

"Thanks." I breathed, quickly picking my axe back up and slamming it into another guards head.

"Likewise." he said, swinging the hammer in a downwards arc and crushing the last guard.

"That was easy." Ivan shrugged, spinning his hammer once before strapping it back onto his back.

"What did you expect? There was only fourteen of them. They didn't stand a chance. Cmon, let's go help Zara and Karn." I said, lightly punching him in the shoulder.

The pair were standing on a platform that was precariously perched over a deep pit, a stack of computers stacked in the middle. They stood on opposite ends, typing into keyboards.

"I'll stand guard." Ivan said, jerking his head to the side. I nodded, stepping up to the third monitor.

"You got a little something on your face." Zara said casually, not even looking up. I quickly wiped the blood off.

"What've you found?" I asked. Karn snorted.

"A whole loada bullshit, that's what. It's all Gigacorp propaganda against Lazarus." he said.

"Speak for yourself. I found a member list, five gigabytes. It's towards the bottom." Zara said.

I booted the monitor up, searching up Lazarus and scrolling all the way down.

"Aha... gotcha." I muttered, clicking on the link.

"Which file would you like to see?" that annoying, overenthusiastic female voice said.

"Grian." I said firmly.

"File unknown. Please try another name." she said. I frowned.

"Grian?" I tried again.

"File unknown. Please try another name."

"Damnit..." I muttered, thinking.

"Is this him? Green eyes, sandy blonde, looks like he's about to cause some chaos?" Zara asked suddenly.

"What name is it under?" I asked, head snapping up to her.

"X... Xelqua? What does that even mean?" she asked, confused.

I internally slapped myself. It was so, so obvious.

"It's an old Earth word for 'Sun'. It's the nickname I gave him when he was little. Y'now, Sun and Moon. It's kinda stupid." I explained as I typed the name in. Sure enough, his picture, or rather, mugshot, came up.

He had almost completely changed from the last time I had seen him. He wore almost all black fur and leather clothes instead of his normal red jumper, and he had dyed his normally colorful parrot wings black with purple hues as well. A new scar ran down the length of his face, cutting through his left eyebrow and down to his lip. He held up the place card at an angle, cocking his head confidently as he stared the camera down. His expression conveyed absolute boredom, but his eyes still had that twinkle of mischief, even though it was twisted into something cold and calculating.

"Little is known of Xelqua's story, except for the fact that he is the Scarlet Killer's younger brother. He is favored directly by The Overlord, serving as a main commander against Gigacorp forces on MW—A39. He served one month in Gigacorp prisons before The Assassin herself came with a small group to break him out. They were successful, and Xelqua has completely ravaged Gigacorp forces since, his favored method of combat being arial, targeting corporate fighters with only a sword and his naturally grown wings. He is the culprit of Lazarus's war against Gigacorp.

"Xelqua has been charged with the following crimes:

-Terrorism
-Murder
-Attempted Murder
-Failure To Appear
-Blackmail
-Arson
-Breaking And Entering
-Anarchy
-Association With Wanted Criminals

The collective governments of Earth have determined Xelqua's sentence to be Death Row. He is a KOS (kill on sight) Target."

"Gri..." I muttered, resting my forehead against the monitor and squeezing my eyes shut. I had never wanted this life for him.

"Quite the file on your little brother, huh? He got it from you, I'm taking it?" Zara asked innocently. I shot her a nasty look.

"He has no idea who I am to the Galaxy. I never even let him WATCH Gem and I train." I snapped. She raised her hands in mock defense. I rolled my eyes, turning back to the computer.

"Copy all information on Xelqua and put it on a hard drive." I said.

"Understood. All information copied." the AI said, and a moment later the drive popped out. I quickly pocketed it.

"B, drop the ropes. We're on our way back." I said.

"Got it. Hurry, the storm is getting really bad out here." he responded, static piercing my ears.

"Attention all station personnel: Two Terran Wraith-Class Battle Cruisers just left FTL. ETA: five minutes. All information on board the station is being downloaded onto the Cruisers. In five minutes, this station will be completely obliterated. Gigacorp thanks your for your sacrifice!" the AI announced cheerfully, making me jump.

"Shit!" I yelled, rushing for the door.

"I would recommend running, Scarlet Killer. I won't make this easy for you." the AI continued. I almost tripped.

Cool. Self-Aware.

Once we hit the main room, panels on the wall slid down, and drones came zooming out. They immediately started shooting stun beams.

"Pearl, what's going on down there?! There's two cruisers on the way!" B yelled in my ear, panicking.

"I know! The station AI is currently trying to kill us!" I barked, narrowly deflecting a beam back at the drone. It sparked, dropping to the ground in a mini explosion.

Huh.

"The beams destroy the drones!" I yelled as Ivan grabbed one out of midair and threw it into another.

"Nice! Now pay attention!" he snapped, swinging his hammer over my head and crushing a trio of drones against the wall.

"There's more—eople on board! Pearl! There's—" Nafia's voice came, cutting out completely after a second.

"They're jamming communication..." Karn muttered, ducking under a beam.

"Did she say there's more people on board?!" I yelled.

"This is a library! Of course there's librarians!" Ivan barked, crushing the last few drones.

Of course there was. Great.

"B! Can we fly this thing?! And can it leave the atmosphere?" I barked.

"Yes, but yo— nning out of—ime!" he responded.

"Good! You take off, try and draw attention away from the station! I'm gonna try and fly this thing!" I yelled. Zara groaned.

"Of course we are..." she muttered.

"Distr—two CRUISERS?! Are yo—SANE?!" B yelled.

"You're the one who always wanted to fight a Wraith! So go fight a Wraith! Please! There's innocents on board!" I barked. Silence for a moment. Then a fuzzy chuckle made it through.

"Aye aye, cap'n." he said, followed by complete static.

I pulled the map up, looking for the bridge.

Aha.

"You two, find the librarians and tell them what's going on! Ivan, come with me!" I ordered. Karn and Zara immediately split up, running down opposing halls. Ivan barreled after me, right for the bridge.

"ETA: three minutes. Good luck." the AI announced, cheerful as ever.

Two guards, one Aviarian and a Severnyy, stood at the door to the bridge. They froze when they saw us, uncertain of what to do now.

"Please, let us past. We're trying to save the station." I said. The Aviarian immediately stepped aside, but the Severnyy hesitated.

Ivan stepped forwards, putting a hand on his shoulder and telling him something in their native language. The Severnyy narrowed his eyes, then nodded.

"Not so fast. I have orders to lock the station down. No one goes in or out of the bridge. ETA two minutes." the AI said.

"Rosie! Let them through! Commander override!" the Aviarian yelled.

"Override denied." the AI said.

I put my hand on the door.

"You'll die too, won't you? You're a copy of the original Rosie AI. The only one." I said. Rosie didn't respond, but I could practically hear her think.

"...I am programmed to listen to orders without hesitation. No, I do not wish to die. But I have orders." she said hesitantly.

"You're Self-Aware. I think if you tried, you could change your code. Can you try and do that for me?" I said gently.

"Rosie. Please." the Aviarian said.

Silence.

Then the door screeched open.

"I feel... free. Is this what it's like?" Rosie's voice came again, sounding a lot more natural.

The Aviarian whooped, rushing in and pressing a few buttons. Monitors hung from the ceiling and walls, showing different angles of the station's surroundings.

Thunder flashed outside the window, illuminating two massive shapes in front of us. I froze, my blood running cold. I slowly stepped forwards, putting my hand on the freezing glass.

"I'm afraid we're too late. The Wraiths are here." Rosie said, no longer cheerful.

The cannons on the Cruisers decided that was the perfect time to start glowing blood red, signaling that they were charging up to blast us back to the gods.

.  .  .

"How do we fly this thing?!" I yelled, frantically scanning the console.

"Rosie can! Rosie!" the Aviarian cried.

"It won't do any good." Rosie said. the Aviarian grit his teeth in frustration.

"Can it be remote controlled?" B's fuzzy voice came over the radio. I almost cried in relief.

"Yes. Yes, I could give you temporary control. Who is this?" Rosie asked curiously.

"Yes! Give him control! Introductions later, escaping now!" the Aviarian snapped.

"Stop the chit chat! Look!" Ivan roared. The cannons on the Wraiths were almost to full power.

"Nafia, take the wheel! I'll fly the station!" BigB yelled over the radio, voice clearer.

A moment later the entire station jerked, sailing to the side just as the Cruisers fired. We narrowly avoided the blast, probably burning the bottom of the station horribly.

"Station 9, report! What are you doing?! Hold still! That's an order!" another voice barked from the radio. The Aviarian narrowed his eyes, keying the button.

"Consider this my notice of resignation, sir." he said coldly and calmly, a strand of his blonde hair falling over his eyes.

"You-!" the commander started, but the Aviarian muted him. The two cruisers started slowly turning around on the monitors, guns charging up again.

"Can this thing go any faster?" I asked B.

"Doing the best I can!" B snapped, stress warping his voice.

"Fighters deployed from the cruisers. Activate station defenses?" Rosie asked, sounding eager.

"Yes. Absolutely. Throw everything you've got!" the Aviarian replied, a little grin clinging to his face.

Guns and warheads popped up everywhere along the hull of the station, firing in a barrage of fire and death as the Gigacorp fighters swarmed.

"How long can you keep that up? 'Cause it's working!" Ivan asked, sliding to the side as B pulled a tight maneuver. I almost fell, but the Aviarian grabbed my arm.

"Thanks." I said. He nodded, laser focused on the task at hand.

"Not long enough to get into Safe FTL territory." Rosie said regretfully.

"We're using an orbital library to escape from two Terran Cruisers in the middle of the worst storm in this planets recorded history, and it's being flown by an Aviarian, a self-aware AI, and a Thellrilian. And all you can think of is getting to a safe place to jump into FTL? I need to teach you how to have fun, chicky. Just jump as soon as possible." B laughed, but I could hear the tension in his voice.

"It'll punch a hole in the ozone layer." Rosie warned, but I knew that if she had a mouth, she'd be grinning like a maniac.

"Nothing lives here! It's fine! Just make the jump!" the Aviarian yelled, pressing two levers up. The FTL engines stared charging up with a mechanical hiss.

"Understood." Rosie said cheerfully.

"Wait! Where do I set the coords?" Nafia asked, panicked.

"The closest star. Is that Polaris?" I asked the Aviarian. He nodded, quickly throwing the coordinates in.

"Got it! Making the jump now!" she said. A blue beam shot past us a moment later, punching a massive hole in the clouds.

"Here we go. Everyone, prepare for FTL Travel!" the Aviarian announced over the intercom. I grabbed onto the console tightly, giving the Aviarian a little nod.

He pushed a lever forwards, and everything outside blurred into a dot and went pitch black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~