AYEEE 2

"...No...Absolutely not."

"Why does everyone keep saying that today..."-Orva was on top of questioning the situation, also giving his life choices a long, hard inquiry session. It was not looking like it'd end anytime soon either.

"May I then, perhaps ask as to why..?"-he turned to the woman and asked again, this once more clearly.

"I cannot leave the Astral Majesty in the hands of...these people."-she spoke with disdain. Her red hair looked almost ready to catch fire, especially given their shade of orange was much closer to the color of flame than Vieren's own.

"Excuse me, what?"-he turned to the woman, with an expression that lacked any amusement.

"You heard me. I. Cannot. Leave. This. Ship. With. You. Absolutely not. It is a treasure of our civilization. It is a symbol! I could as well as let you make off with Sol-Cphilia!"-Recca shouted.

"Actually not a bad idea. Big, well known target. Could use it as a decent diversion."-Vieren replied.

"Aaaaaargh! You are hopeless! Hopeless!"

"Says the one who peed her bed when she had a nightmare about...what was it...? The food in the Flagship coming to life and haunting you."

Hearing this Orva couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle, before of course finding himself having to suppress the following laughter. "That was ages ago, ten times over your current lifespan."-Recca turned to him. "And besides... it does not disprove my argument.

I cannot let you depart with the Astral Majesty, especially to a place nobody has come back from."

"Because nobody has had the Astral Majesty for the trip."-Vieren pointed out.

"Perhaps, but it is too big of a risk!"

"Recca, please. We are talking about dropping the ring. Finally putting an end to that accursed curtain that keeps us apart from the world..."-Vieren's tone dropped a bit near the end of that sentence, as he looked at Recca, silently pleading.

"...Lady Cphilia informed me of the mission... I...know what you are supposed to do down there, so..."-For once, Recca was in the tough spot, glancing aside, and pulling down her uniform to keep it straightened.

"...Vieren, look. We all miss her. But it is high time you let it go. It has been...how long? Can you even remember what she was like?"

"It is easy for you to say, Recca. Cphilia is right there. You can talk to her every day. You can just sit by the corner and reminisce about the good old days over a cup of coffee, which by the way, MAN do I envy you people of Sol Cphilia."-Vieren said, his voice now sharper, almost as if accusing her.

But his speaking was interrupted by a collective gasp from the hundred guardians lined up behind them. "Yeah, yeah, Cphilia drinks COFFEE! And she probably GOSSIPS too about how silly y'all are!"-Vieren shouted at the guards, with Recca only glancing to the side, as if to say 'Yeah, that's kinda true'.

"Anyway... You of all people should be welcoming of this. We both know what this is really about don't we?"-but asking that had provoked the wrong reaction out of Recca, as a slap came right his way.

"How dare you? Perhaps I have not been in the worst of it as you have, but I perfectly understand why that's wrong. Don't lecture me of it, I certainly do not need it. And as you can see, I am very much against that sort of undertaking, otherwise you'd have already made it to Ano."-she shouted in Vieren's face,  and the man took it in silence.

"...Fine. I am sorry to have misjudged your character."-he spoke in between his teeth. Recca could hear it, being as close as she was of course, and even outside of that her senses were sharper than most.

"But it is understandable why I would think that. Sorry to tell you but you've always been a bit...stuck up. Ever since we were kids. Always going on about the rules, and protocols and whatnot... Those weren't even MEANT for us! We were KIDS! How can a child be so...frustrating, I have no idea. Like that one time where we were all having a celebratory dinner, and the automata were allowed to cook us REAL food, you went on and on about how it was against the protocol and that the event in question required a different type of spice to be used in the cooking...

So we had to trash it all and went back to the synthetic junk. Well are you HAPPY about that? Now we don't even HAV-"-Vieren had moved onto shouting, as matters of cuisine really got him going.

Many people saw it as a quirk or something unnecessary and silly, yet Vieren knew the importance of food. Not because he as a Prime Human needed much nourishment, but an empty stomach could make anyone frustrated. And in times of conflict and danger, frustration was not a nice emotion. Without food...there was no clear head.

"Are you done?"-Recca had interrupted him, not amused in the slightest.

"...Well...no, but I am sensing a lot of 'I don't care, just shut up and move along' energy being projected all over me right now. Mainly from you. But also from everyone else. My crew definitely. These man-servants of Cphilia...I don't really know, but I am guessing yes?"

"...Just take the  keys and go..."-Recca let out,as she threw a small golden object Vieren's way. Grabbing it, the man smiled. "Thanks Recca. I..."

The realization that he would likely never see this woman again set in at that moment. "...I'll miss you."

"Yeah... well, be careful. Getting out of Iliaster is a grand challenge. I would trust nobody but the most excellent of Prime Humans with it."-Recca said.

A roundabout compliment. It was the first time he'd gotten one from Recca of all people, and he replied in kind. Raising his sword in salute, and then bringing it closer to his face, parallel to the body and held with both hands. A traditional greeting among the devotees of Sol Cphilia.

Recca interpreted it the same way Vieren had interpreted her goodbye as well, as they parted ways. Soon enough, Vieren's crew, Orva and some of the guardians climbed in.

The Astral Majesty was a vessel that shone like pure gold. An elongated hull, followed by a crescent flat expanse near the back, from which the exhaust was let out. A lot of room for people to sit in, and a massive spot in the front for the pilot, which Esca took. A reinforced glass panel with which to look out, with an added interface for the pilot.

The controls seemed to involve three separate speed settings, one for rapid (but not particularly so) flight, another that required charging the ship's energy reserves and a third, emergency 'pulse'. Esca begun playing around with the options, as she picked up a large tube from above her seat, and inserted it in a small round opening.

"Alright this ship comes with added processing power, so I can actually...I hope, fly it without frying myself up. We're going to need that for this. Anyway, put your seatbelts on. Try to remain in your seats, even if well... Actually...do your best to stay alive, okay?"

"You fill us with confidence!"-Legant shouted from the back of the ship.

"I would not underestimate her. You've seen what she can do."-Morrgin said as he sat across. Orva and the woman who had spoken to Vieren earlier stood a bit further still while a few more people from the group dressed in that same uniform stood near them. "Hmm...what's your name?"-Vieren turned to the girl.

"H-huh? M-me? I'm...nobody special really..."-she said looking at the ground.

"Sure, sure but you  have a name don't you? Otherwise I'll be calling you Nobody Special and that's..."

"Iresta. My name is Iresta."-she said, looking back up at Vieren. The Prime Human smiled. "You're human?"

"Yes, how could you tell?"

"We can tell. Well, it's more accurate to say we can tell when someone is a Prime Human. You aren't. And you aren't an automaton, or an alien. so... human it is. That's fine though. Humans are amazing in so many ways..."

"Yeah right. The only other human here i..s..ah..well..."-mentioning the Kneel of Faures by name was a taboo among many people, even officials who directly serve an Axiom.

"A Knell of Faures."-Bris said, from just a bit further away. "You can say it just fine, it won't kill you. But don't tell others about it... It's how we keep up  the illusion so people don't bother us on the street."

"W-w...I...me-eah...err...I mean.."-Iresta was taken aback, mostly from the superstition that a Knell approaching you would lead to either certain death or something equally horrible.

At this time, the ship set to flight, gently sliding past the surroundings of Sol-Cphilia and then to the slums where the group had been found originally. It begun it's ascent, further away from land, and towards the defense network.

"So..you never explained. Why did you come to ask me? About how many automatons..."-Vieren turned to Iresta. "Do Prime Humans scare you that much?"

"...No..it's not that. You know how Automata live among us too, right? I...had a friend who..."

"Ah. The age old question. How 'human' is the enemy. I once spoke to an automaton on the other side. You know what he told me? He said: 'Sometimes, we ask ourselves how much you and we resemble? How much automaton is in a man?'. Then he went on about how... our dedication to certain things, like our assigned duty, our countries, our loyalty to the Axioms, our families.. He was surprised that despite the softness of our flesh and the limitation of our lives being so short, our dedication and hard-headedness can well rival an automaton.

Our ability to communicate and to exchange ideas. Our ability to think about so many things, so quickly despite how sluggish our bodies seem to them. Our way of obtaining mastery, repeating a task so often seeking perfection...that we can manage an almost automaton like performance. In many ways, the  automata see us as closer to them, than they are to other creatures. So they are wondering the same thing.

Is it wrong to destroy us? Is it possible that some form of cooperation could be achieved? If we are not so different, can we not just...coexist?"-Vieren begun recounting, looking at the ground the whole time.

"S-so you are saying... that killing all of those automata means..."-Iresta's expression had grown just a tough grimmer at the thought. "But most of the ones they send out to fight don't actually think for themselves, they aren't..."

"Yes. That  is true. But someone who COULD think for themselves took time to plan those out. Someone, at some point was conscious and they had a hand in building the countless automata that we kill like it's nothing. What do you think goes through that one's head? When the work they waste away to accomplish is thrown in the trash.

Perhaps the automaton making them is a bit introspective. Perhaps he finds the fact that he has to make machines of death unpleasant. Perhaps he wishes that his creations could live up to a higher purpose, that they could be used to create rather than destroy. To nourish life rather than snuff it out.

The point I'm trying to make is that... You can justify going to war, yes. Most of the Prime Humans I knew when the fighting started said they did it for their human friends. If they did not stand up and fight, it would be their loved ones that'd have to. They did it to protect people.

...Sometimes, protecting others is an ugly business. At the end of it...we could no longer say that we went in it to protect others, it wasn't the same anymore. We... and our enemies had lost so much, it no longer made sense.

I don't think any of us hated the other side. And  I think the same goes for the automata too. They didn't really..hate us. We were just being dragged by the nose, the will of the Axioms, or more accurately the ones that speak and act in their name."-Vieren said.

"I...honestly... It's why I became a guardian of Sol-Cphilia. My parents live in there. My siblings... my family has always lived in there. Until...one day a stranger broke in and begun attacking people. They said he was disguised as a mere tourist, and nobody thought to check.

Me and my brother almost died there. It's when I decided to become a Knight of Cphilia. It...was hard, but I made it."

"That must be why you were sent on this mission. Recca is smart, but... you may be her most genius move in this millennium. Truly, I have underestimated her determination to win."-Vieren said, and at the end let out just the slightest laugh.

"What are you on about? A...genius move? Lady Recca had something to do with this?"-Iresta looked up to Vieren.

"Yes. You know of our conflict. Cphilia represents excellence and superiority, but also straightforwardness. Recca is a knight through and through. Cavalier and honest. Nevesha though... she is cunning, heartless. She thinks of victory first. So while Recca sees me as a scoundrel, I see her as a fool.

I thought that when I took this mission she would think of me as somewhat...nobler. And now, I am sure she is smarter than I gave her credit for."

"I ...do not follow."-Iresta replied.

"Why do you think we are being sent down there? Not to retrieve a peace offering. The ring around Iliaster. What does it do?"

"It keeps threats out."-Iresta said, but...soon enough realized the full answer was just a bit more. "...And keeps us in. Okay so...you suspect that... whoever is behind this needs to be able to attack Ano. But.."

"Exactly. But. But they don't  have a way to ensure that they will come on top of any gambit they are thinking of. So the answer to that is that..."-Vieren turns to her.

"What we were sent to get may have an unpredictable effect?"

"Why did the Automata wage war on us?"-Vieren immediately asks another question.

"They were..."-Iresta would have gone with the original reasoning presented to most. They rebelled. Some Automata thought they could obtain power and influence the others. However she had a feeling this wasn't the answer Vieren was looking for.

"The beginning of the war, or at least the signs of it... They line up a bit too much with the birth of the final Prime Humans, do they not? Almost like the Automata saw we couldn't make more super soldiers."-Vieren said. "Almost like they finally had the ability to fully ascertain our strength and thus make preparations.

Automata need that. They will not wage war against unknown variables. And the Prime Humans were the biggest unknown that suddenly wasn't such a mystery anymore. So that means... The reason we are going down there is to make it an unknown again. Or perhaps..."

"Perhaps...?"

"The only other thing the automata will drop the fight is if a known factor means they will undoubtedly lose. For example...having a stable way of making Prime Humans."

"Such a thing doesn't..."-Iresta realized it right there and then. "...We lost the ability to do so with the loss of our Axioms who.."

"Left for Ano specifically because in the event that things got hostile, they could produce more Prime Humans. We had enough on the Moon and would be able to make more with time.

My suspicion is that's what we are really after. But... Your presence here is unforeseen. Perhaps Recca expects that you will do something at some point. That is my guess. Maybe they sought to bestow us with some tool or mechanism that will work for their ends, but Recca engineered things so that it fell into your possession. I do not know what the exact measure is here, but I will find out and when I do, it'll blow up in the faces of whoever was behind this.

They should have left Nevesha alone after all this time."-Vieren said, making his hand into a fist and staring at the back of it rather intently. One could only guess what that meant.

"Why does that bother you?"-Iresta asked.

"It's disrespectful. Nevesha was rowdy, dangerous and very un-Axiom-like. So now, she is seen as something other than an Axiom. But despite how much she stuck out, she was still one of them. She deserves the same respect and acknowledgment. People just don't want to, because it reminds them of the parts of reality they conveniently want to forget. The cold, dark and uncomfortable bits that they try to shove away.

I just happen to be one of those bits. If the whole world tries to squash you, you have every right to fight back. Now i-"

He did not get to say much more. The ship took a hard turn to the left and everyone was shoved to the direction of the movement. For a moment the group could see from the front glass. Many, many missiles, particle beams, drones all flying over the ship trying to hit it.

As the second speed setting had the charge all the way to 100%, Esca begun pushing a lever forward. The back of the Astral Majesty projected a trail of golden light, as it flew right into the fray. Everything stabilized, even if the tremendous speed had everyone feeling a bit anxious.

"Hey, how fast exactly are we going?"-Morrgin asked, and received an unpleasant answer, when Esca had to slightly  turn the ship to the side in order to avoid a large beam firing their way. Everyone practically jumped off their seats, and as Legant in particular fell back in, he made quite the loud noise.

"Not fast enough if you ask me!"-and she sped up, before shooting right above, towards the sky. Everyone was now standing sideways, vertically and the view was not pretty. Large floating towers, as well as numerous drone ships flying right at the Astral Majesty. It only got worse as the only way to power the shields further, once the concentrated fire begun was to spin the ship. "Stop. Doing. This. To. Us. Please. What. Have. We. Ever. Done. To. Yo...oh fuck I am about to throw up!"-Vieren shouted, as the ship tore through the offenses by spinning upwards, the shield strength moving all the way to full.

Once they breached this layer, they had everything firing in from behind, and Esca punched the speed up just a bit more, until they were far enough...and then Esca called for a sudden stop, shutting down the engines. "This isn't good! Y...you can't just stop the ship! Do you have any idea how much money that costs?"-Orva begun to shout.

"More than your life?"-Esca asked, as the ship was beginning to 'fall', front first back towards the defense network. Before Orva could respond he saw the whole of it from the ship's front panel once they were upside down. The sight was...in many ways awe-inspiring, even if Orva was reminded that the connotations of the word 'awe' were not always positive.

"...you know what, don't mind me. How are we going to.."-Orva did not have time to ask either, as Esca activated the emergency mode. A pulse spread off the ship and then beyond it, pushing the object forward almost as if it were teleporting, cutting through a portion of the road right through the defense system. In the middle of it, Esca begun to raise the lever again, waiting just a bit for her body to lean forward and her platform's robotic arm to move to the lever, adding it's full strength to it.

The ship sped up in less than one moment, and with the help of the emergency pulse's last remaining moments, flew through a flurry of lights that seemed like they were bending past the ship. Everyone was too stunned to say anything as the ship simply soared through at full speed, every beam, missile, bullet or bomb missing it by a hair. As the ship fired a few shots to clear the way, it seemed to have  already darted past most of the system.

The shields held on just a bit more, for it to safely leave the surrounded space. Esca wouldn't have a hard time dodging the incoming fire now, if two drones had not followed the ship, and landed right on it. The two drones attached themselves, and begun calling for more, releasing rays of light that would connect to other small ships and have them dragged in closer. Even with the speed of the Astral Majesty, near-teleportation was not something it could outrun.

Morrgin immediately unfastened his seat belt and was flung to the wall immediately. However he was in luck, the combination of metal scales and self-generated electricity produced one very useful thing in the situation. As Morrgin turned himself into a magnet, he begun moving along the walls of the ship and reached for the ceiling. "Open it up!"-he shouted, as Esca looked back. Her arms had opened up to reveal the circuitry underneath, same for her torso, and even the sides of her face.

Smoke was coming out from a few places, as she was evidently overheating (just a bit, of course). "Yeah and then everyone who breathes will die. Or maybe I'll get yanked off the pilot's seat and..."

"ESCA!"-Morrgin shouted. "Open it now! One second. That's all I need."

Esca, against her better judgement decided to trust Morrgin and opened up the top hatch. Air begun to flow out, as Morrgin magnetized himself once more, and projected a stream of lightning, out of the hatch.

The electricity fried the two drones on top of the ship and then through their metal bodies was conducted to the other drones that were being called in. All of them were fried up, and the furthest ones had no more hope of catching up to the ship. However as Morrgin had stretched out a bit much, he found himself barely holding onto the edge of the hatch. At that very moment, Morrgin felt something grip his leg, and pull him back.

Legant had left the seat and was about to fly out, with Morrgin in his grasp, but...

At the very last second, his helmet opened up, and the scarred face of an old man showed itself, as Legalt opened his mouth...and at that moment a powerful pulse shot forth from his chest. The energy burst forward, as streaks of light shot out as well, the power of the recoil forcing Legant on the floor, with Morrgin on top of him. Esca immediately shut the hatch, and everyone safely landed back in.

With a bit of help from Morrgin, everybody went back to their seats, while Esca slowed down just a bit.