Icarus's Fall

CANONICITY NOTE: Most things affecting American Union universe are not canon, however, the inverse is correct where applicable (when presented information doesn't conflict with other already canon texts).

Prologue
	We'd been going for some time, many years...(exact count omitted)... Amongst the stars, we'd made our home upon the Icarus Rising. What was left of it, relatively speaking... My name is Icarus, and I am the namesake of this vessel. I am a man of many aliases, but this point is almost moot. Today, by my clocks at least, is time to check the course and heading of the expedition in general. The tram traversed the whole horizontal axis of the ship; it went on for miles, and miles I would ride to the bridge near the center of ship. Icarus Rising is an important vessel. The only of it's kind. The original population ranged somewhere near five hundred thousand.
	It took an hour and a half, firstly due to the naturally slow speed of the tram itself; and of course the many stops at the many elevators dotting the corridor. Eventually, just out of my sheer impatience, my form fizzled from the tram and into the bridge. So much for me to want to transit normally one time in my miserly existence. I found my eyes wandering as I saw the preacher seated at the helm. Soon before, a man, aged. I knew him, but he knew not of me. He was blind of me, and this couldn't be more of a nuisance to anyone but himself. He'd take dictation from his very own daughter, yet she'd be talking to some absent figure. “Hello, Miss Shepard-Gordon.” She took no note, perhaps it was the humming of the nearly monolithic server nodes, containing the vestiges of a corrupted star map I'd given them...(exact count omitted)... ago, or was it that she didn't care to answer to her proper Father's name as a suffix to that name of which she admired so much more? “Miss Gordon?” I uttered, testing the waters quickly, to no response. Did she even know the dolt to her side, a eunuch, perhaps contemplating a spouse he'd long abandoned so many...(exact count omitted)... years ago, that hallowed day at the capital city of the S.D.Z. During the faithful year of 2037 was she forged, and she'd grown to look just like her mother. A slender figure that just gently padded whatever clothing she dared to wear, robust hips and short hair, made fine by old Robert's genetics. It was an admiral's coat, but she was more of a preacher than anything. In fact, Robert, a long-time agnostic attended chapel every other Sunday (when his job keeping the engineering deck at work as a soldier allowed him to take the sabbath in rest). “Miss Shepard?” She looked to me, and suddenly, she bolted from her chair, a sudden look of fright upon her face; but even to my wariness, it soon evaporated to some form of rapture.
	“Dad.” She took hold of me, pressing her head to my chest. Some taboo within me didn't resonate properly, and I decided to reciprocate, placing my hands on her back, as her father stood there confused. Her body pressed against mine only led my mind back so many nights in that London palace. But for reasons otherwise, I'd not like to think about those now.
	“You do realize he can't see me, don't you?”
	“Oh...”
	There was suddenly a fracas from the consoles at the front of the bridge. Two cadets were arguing. “It's a planet!”
	The other cadet replied, his face flush with exhaustion and more recently, frustration he unnervingly said “It's a spatial anomaly!”
	“Impossible” The other darted back.
	“Why is that?”
	“SRDF says there is matter beyond this object. It's a gravity well.”
	“It's obvious there is nothing beyond it.”
	Icarus approached the two. “It might be both. Are we out of gravitational pull?”
	“No.”
	“I guess it might just be time to get some pods readied. No full scale evacuation. Only necessary personnel are to come aboard.”
	“But what about him?” She pointed to her father, giving him what little attention he thought he deserved.
	“What should we bring?” My daughter—no, Robert's daughter said.
	Nicole took a glance at the floor. “Guns. Food... Um... Tents?”
	“Good job--”  Suddenly, I felt more whole. But I don't know what was to explain of it. “Nole.”
	I looked to Robert, and suddenly realized... He was staring directly at me. “How did you get there?” He said, to me. I turned around, to see if he was addressing someone behind me. “Yea, you.”
	“You can see me?”
	“What kind of question is that, you stupid trippy?”
	“No. But this is an affair for later. Come.” The gravitational pull increased on the rickety lifeboat amongst the stars, you could feel it. The old lady was crumpling at the seams.
	“Run.” Said the voice in my head. I grabbed Nicole's hand, and ran I did.
	This voice sounded similar. My mind flowed through the beats of my now intensified heart, and grasped a memory: staring over the advent horizon of the Milky Way singularity. This voice only garnered a hold then... But how now?
	Sprinting a mile and a half had taken it's toll on me and Nicole. I pushed her into pod, it had been loaded to the brim by the bots. The door closed abruptly, seeing the old, haggard man breathing heavily. “Ought to suit up.” I thought, turning around, putting on the pressured suit over my formal suit. As I did, Nicole took off her bulky officer's clothing, revealing her body, devoid of almost all clothing; the standard undergarments she had on her clung tightly to her body like my frail dignity, hoping that it's grip was greater than my internal corruption.
	Suddenly, as my suit pressurized, and looking through my visor into the currently offline command prompt screen, I saw someone familiar. “You okay, Daddy?” That word crawled up my spine... and nibbled on my ear, whispering me sweet, sweltering nothings, that corrupted my inner being... But to my best knowledge, it was just the familiar body that stood behind me. Another ripple passed over me, and thereafter, Nicole realized the figure as well. She stood there stark naked, staring out the window, wondering what had just happened. “Who's this lady?”
	“It's Beatrice.” It'd been a long time since she'd fell into the void, and went to where ever she'd gone... “Cover her up, and get her in that suit.”
	With much luck, Robert got the door open; and shut. He pressurized his suit, and we were ready; but he wasn't. He couldn't seem to have it dawn upon him that there were two new passengers aboard this vessel, from thin air. With a loud hiss, the pneumatics released the pod, and we were sent to the planet below. It was obvious to me that the Icarus wasn't going to make the landing. But we were. We hoped.

Chapter One: Beatrice
	Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. My eyes close their shutters repeatedly, mulling over the course of events. Terminal velocity. Blink. Breath. Blink. Crash. Blink. Yawn. Blink. Staring out at the crash site, I look for signs of life. Blink. Tasty, tasty signs of life. Stomach grumbles. Blood. Blink. Blink. I stand up quickly. The air is stale, dead. Dead dead dead, like all the rest. Wind on my hair. Can't talk, might be heard. Not the best way of being shot. Blink.
	There is a grand commotion behind me, as I look up, noticing the ship breaking atmosphere. Blink. Blink. Blink. Fire at the nose. Hit wastes. Boom at everywhere. Amongst the wreck, I see a rustling movement, a single head peeking, but my lust became greater than I could possibly maintain. The State was a very haggard world without men in it. Feral feet. Run at person from ejector seat. As our eyes drag across one another face. I am more enervated, my voice now a bleet. What a treat.

Chapter One A
	They were on the ground, Beatrice and Nicole. I kicked Beatrice off of Nicole, holding her neck to the ground with my hand. “Beatrice is what you could call a leech. She likes to sup the blood of men... When they are dear, but ladies make for an easy treat. That entendre was intended.”
	Nicole stood from being tackled, dusted off her pants. “We need to get moving. Losing daylight.”I looked up to see Nicole looking for some sort of landmark. “We have the ship as a landmark... But that won't work very well... Where is the carcass of the pod?” She looked around for a minute.
	“It's over there.” I pointed to a small dot on the horizon. The main cabin broke after reaching terminal velocity, spewing some amount of parts forward... And spreading the occupants out a little. It was a long hike. We kept Beatrice at arms length, we could reminisce later, after she'd gotten into the transfusion supply. I had some hope riding on this being a very inhabited world, but to my mistake, this world was vague, and vacant of life. If we had to scrap our life from here, it'd be a pretty hard scrabble existence.
	Lack of food for Beatrice had the effect of intoxication on her. Sooner, rather than later, she began to act like a teenage heiress, attempting to do things distasteful to perhaps let her at one of my many popping veins (to her perception, perhaps)pop between the carnal bliss of her lips, and the tear of her canine teeth. There was a vague sexuality formed about these doctrines of her and her kind. It was how they grew more numerous; and I did not plan to be like her as well. To the best of my ability, I kept her at arms reach, perhaps later on, we'd catch up to it.
	It was a long hike to the supplies that had dead dropped from the pod, a long running scar of most of the hull against the barren ground. At the dead drop, we Robert, the old gaudy thing looked weaker than before. Something was ill about him, his breathing became heavier, and his words more labored; less thought was put into them. “Knife. Anyone got one?” For the moments afterwords, everyone just stood and stared. While Robert was looking around, looking for a knife to cut open some tent packs.
	“You okay there, young one?” I said, examining him more closely, only to realize that Beatrice had taken her face down with mine as well, but only going farther. He was farther off than we'd thought; Robert was certainly the man who'd at least crack a joke at either of our expenses, but to the contrary, he stared off into space...
	“Smells of blood... He must have been a medic in a past eternity.”
	An off-putting stare is what Beatrice received. I went around the pallet, and unhooked the heavy ropes that kept the pallet sealed off, and free from outside force. We struck tents. We sat, and waited on what felt like an oncoming storm.

	According to my clocks, it's about 3:30 ship time. Survivors who got to pods in time found our crash site. A small tent village was erected; from herein, until proven otherwise, all natives will be considered hostile.
	3:50 ship time
	Found a single tree, it would be high enough for a marksman to get a nice shot or get a sight at anyone approaching over the distant, bleak horizon.
	4:25 ship time
	Distributed weaponry amongst the survivors. Enough for everyone to have a sidearm and a rifle.
	Got a sniper up in that tree. It was Robert, but he's the only soldier I truthfully trust at this point, to much irony, his past endeavors would probably push someone to not trust him, but I've seen what he's done behind closed doors; to be frank, I like his style.
	4:35 ship time
	Nicole decided to get up in the perch with her father. I overheard her discussing the specifics of our relations. She described me as her mother's second husband. Oh how I laugh, knowing that this wasn't close to the truth; it was much like her mother to make lies like this. To be honest, this is why I loved both of them.
	4:50 ship time
	Everything is quiet. I am going to sleep for now. Nicole will probably be down soon. I might just be awake for that. Traded my pressurized suit for my boxers and a light top, anything that didn't treat my chest to an horrid amount of discomfort. I unpacked my bed roll, and got to laying. Almost immediately, my eyes closed, and my head went far away, to wonder what was.
	5:10 ship time
	There's a sudden flurry of snapping somewhere a few feet away, followed by a few steps... And a dull speech. “Oh, looks like Cassius is asleep...” Some more brisk unzipping, followed by some rifling through the stash of clothes in the corner of the tent.
	5:20 ship time
	“Cassius?” The word rang superfluously across the air of the tent, piercing my ears, her soft esses a soothing sound to mine. “It's cold over here.” She paused, quickly, hoping to say her words as good as possible, to deflect any possible misinterpretation (perhaps to avoid any sort of suspicion of intent in her words). “Cassius, if you're 'wake... Can I sleep over there?”
	“Sure. Why not?” There was a ruffling, and a sudden stepping over the canvas material to my roll... She laid her blanket over me, and pressed her cold body to my warm body, the ambivalence of  the heat, meet somewhere in the middling grounds of our contiguous bodies felt something like fire and ice licking at one another; neither power could dethrone the other, but in the end, an equilibrium was established. Sudden arousal was but a single, flirtatious memory I would take from this, if I survived the night.
	“Good night,” I said, blinking, trying to get these thoughts from my head. “have better dreams than I am right now.” Came from my lips, a murmur amongst my once absolute statement.
	“Cassius.” She said, inserting her arms over my chest, and around my shoulder...(Several words omitted)...
	8:40 ship time
	Rut, rut, rut, rut, rut, rt, rt... There was a sound overhead. I didn't hear Robert yelling about it, and this was unnerving, just to hear an omnipresent cacophony above my head. I open my eyes, blink a few times, to give my eyes a more solid, possible feeling. Somehow, last night, I'd adjusted myself to sleep on my back, and getting ready to stand, I finally realized that she, had in fact... propped her leg across mine. How cute. Pulling of the covers, I stood.

Chapter One B: Nicole Shepard-Gordon
	“Cassius?” I questioned as I stood, my shirt drooping from my chest, it was my admiral's jumper, and it had made for a nice set of pyjamas. “Cassius, are you there?” My speech made his face grow to a smile.
	“Yes, Nole.” He said, using the name he'd often used to describe me as a child. My mother had been called Nico throughout her adventures (or so I'd been told).
	What a day it'd been. I stood there thinking to myself, buttoning up my jumper quickly as I could, trying not to catch my fingers in between two of the tight layers of clothing. “We should check on Mister Gordon.”
	Cassius sighed and continued forth, trying not to indicate any sort of ill will to the man. There was a silence amongst us, but we soon headed out. “I'll go up first.”
	I waited down there, clutching at my sidearm, hoping that he'd be down soon; and much to my luck (or dismay), there was some dispute in my mind about it. He came down, and embraced me. “Your father... Your father... He's no longer with us.”
	I pulled away. “He's not my dad!” I banged on his chest (though I honestly didn't know why) , the resolve in my legs buckling quickly, before dissolving to the ground, softly weeping, holding onto Cassius' legs, trying to maintain my composure. My face ran hot, my breath strained. I looked up to Icarus. “We bury him.”
	Icarus looked down to me, squatting onto his knees. “Look at me. This is a face that promises. You name it, and reality has the resources fit, it shall be achieved.” What had he meant by the word 'reality' I may never know. But what happened next was quite shocking.
	There was some indecipherable sounds over the next hill. What I could decipher of it, was a man's voice. It sounded something like “Darren ite'ha cinte piwe!” To what little  knowledge of Earth language I had, it didn't reside anywhere I knew of. Not even in my own vocal chords. I grabbed my sidearm, my tears not even tried at this point. I pointed straight, my arm ready to react for what would come from the other side of the tree and the surrounding tents. I heard those words repeated twice, each time with greater and greater rapidity and anger.
	A figure, slender yet padded by some outside apparel appeared arrogantly, in her hands an armament, pointed forth. Moments before pulling the trigger, I heard he say something... It was incomprehensible to my mind. Moments later, after she tumbled to the ground, kicking up some soot, and a sudden other shot rang. Blurred words, from above, but I see a figure step by me. “Do you have any ramen?” All faded black.
	Chapter Two: Beatrice
	Gasp. Gasp. Stare at the ceiling. Look out of the window, see huge towers. Look to my right, intravenous blood tap. Wondering why they found this to be the case. Something weird. Tower has big bust... It's almost ancient-looking. I stare forward, and through the haze of blood induced ecstasy, I see a man in a loosely fitting suit, his cuffs unhooked, and his hands on a cup. The cup, it didn't have characters that I could read... But up past his hand, I see a face. It is  not bedraggled, it is happy. “What's happy about you?” I say in an extremely wavered tone of voice, with little semblance of a mood to it. “Nigel, what is in your hand?”
	“Nigel? Really, Bethany?” I groaned. We'd all taken upon ourselves pseudonyms after it all went down. Or did we? “It's ramen. Why are you so happy, Beatrice?”
	I tap my wrist, the vibration making my senses tingle in a fervor, setting my mind cool for some time. “Hemoglobin. Tastes foreign, but it's an interesting vintage.”
	“What, three weeks?”
	“Perhaps.”
	“Don't want to kill Nicole anymore?”
	“She's still alive? I heard her to be shot. Dead.”
	“We don't know yet. Apparently the one she shot was rather riled about the incident. Something about family.”
	“Not even you?”
	“Not even me, Beatrice.” She said this because in our past, and the relative then-present were subject of my mind alone. I knew all... But now, there is a vacuum, a great sweeping span of knowledge of what was and what is, and soon to be was gone. God was dead.
	“I don't know, Cassie. What do you say we do while she's out?”
	“So... This planet stretches on infinitely in all directions, so I've been told.”
	“But Earth is the only planet that matters.”
	“Let me finish.”
	“Okay, Cassie.”
	“I say we go from place to place, and try to make due. I don't think either of us want to see what Earth looks like.”
	“Last time I saw Earth, I were at the guillotine. I'd rather not go back to that dreary tumult.”
	“So it's agreed. Here we stay. For now, at least.”
	“How you plan on paying for this?”
	“The gold wiring on the Icarus. Also, the scrap metal is a fortune too. The light drive must be worth something. We're salvaging assets. Making home.” He sat at my feet, I retracted my legs, and pulled them in, putting my arms around my knees. He looked at me earnestly, just biding away his moments.
	“Making home?”
	“Yea. It'll be like old times. Just without Nico.”
	“Drat. I've missed her.”
	“Want to search for her?”
	“Well... Um... Not really.”
	“Exactly.”
	“Well, love, when you feel ready, I'm ready.”
	“Was that a purposeful choice in words?”
	“We'll see.”