[center][color=red][h3]On the Frontier—Through the Ice
Tatiana Leviatan[/h3][/color][/center][hr]
Her movements had changed. Something about the way her arms twisted and her body shifted. Maybe she wasn’t as snappy as she used to be. These days, there was a malefic grace to the way Tatiana flicked her rifle between her hands. She smiled at its worn state. The firearm had seen plenty of battles, but most of the scratches and warps in the wood were certainly from misuse and regular drops from her idle hands. Every so often, Tatiana leaned forward on the stairs and peered around the Sword of Dawn. The ship—she had to contain laughter upon learning it was their choice scouting vessel—ran more smoothly than she thought. She remembered the [i]snap[/i] it made,

And she thought about the Terviclops.

[i]What did it mean? When could you say an inquisitor had fallen?[/i] Her warband had to know by now. Some of them had already drawn the line. The Black Shepherd was sure. Tatiana climbed her way up the stairwell to the upper deck and approached the racer’s side. Its lengthy viewport was already scarred by hoarfrost. She scratched at the foggy condensation over the window and peered down. An airy chuckle escaped her lips as she saw the warped metal socket. There had been an antenna there once. Strangely, no one seemed to notice its absence. Perhaps the racer missed any major inspections since it was Ilya’s personal vessel. Tatiana turned away before she distracted any chance onlookers.

Just a glance towards the racer’s pilot was all it took. It was almost as if Tatiana could still see her next to Mother Superior aboard the Karamzina, but she didn’t glare, or bare her teeth, or leap into some capran charge. No. Despite the differences, those blank eyes could conceal anything, always looking inward. Tatiana had plenty of things to worry about in the days prior to her warband’s casting into an icy exile—would it be forever?—but she wasn’t ignorant to the discord of their once autonomous union of condemned Seminary souls. She would have to adapt, she figured.

As Ragnar snapped at Galahad, Tatiana could only smile. [i]Why?[/i] While both her warband brothers danced in dialogue, their listener leaned forward, engrossed. To see Ragnar’s frustration almost made her forget that she and Galahad were locked in some sort of game of evasion. One or the other was always on-duty, busy, or uninterested. Now, though, Tatiana was ready to parley again. Or, at least she had to prove that she could appear that way. 

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][right][color=black][b][i] “I can keep this up and fight…”[/i][/b][/color][/right][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[right][color=black][b][i] “Everyone needs someone to protect them…”[/i][/b][/color][/right]

[b] “No singular piece can defeat an opponent’s king… Usually. It’s an effort of coordination,”[/b] Tatiana said, though she was quiet.[b] “Except for the knight, of course. Smothered mate—the knight utilizes the enemy pieces to corner and overwhelm the enemy regardless of allied structures…”[/b] Rather than the usual attempt to jump herself into the conversation, the Black Shepherd was comfortable in her position on the periphery. Another twist of her wrist sent her rifle in another circle. She caught its center, around a length of white tape wound around a cracked forestock. Her smile remained, but Tatiana was careful to let her eyes linger on the floor so as to allow the two boys to continue.

Galahad’s words, however, were all it took to bring the Black Shepherd to attention.

[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][right][color=black][b][i] “Squad Leader... ”[/i][/b][/color][/right]

[indent][indent][indent][right][color=black][b][i] “Revelations...”[/i][/b][/color][/right][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[indent][indent][right][color=black][b][i] “Great Danger….”[/i][/b][/color][/right][/indent][/indent]

[right][color=black][b][i] “Protect Them All...”[/i][/b][/color][/right][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[b] “The thing…”[/b] Tatiana started, speaking not exactly to either of her comrades, but almost aloud to herself, [b] “about that game is that the players often welcome gambits of both pawn and queen. That’s often all it takes to gain the positional advantage.”[/b] She jammed the rifle against the wall, its bayonet scraping the Sword of Dawn’s floor in the process.

[b] “An army can coordinate their sacrifices and make their positional plays to corner the enemy king.”[/b]

[indent][indent][b][color=black][i] "But only one piece delivers the checkmate."[/i][/color][/b][/indent][/indent]

Tatiana grimaced, and turned away to conceal her face. She was content to gaze unto the unending ice. She pressed a claw to the glass viewport, and wondered what it might take to escape to the other side.