[h3]Two Months Ago[/h3]
Loss.

It was something that every human being would have to deal with in their lifetime. This was especially true on Kudrion. Family members could be lost to animal attacks. Villages could be lost to clan wars. A stray Taerascon, a colossal, horned fire-breathing beast with a hide that could only be penetrated by the strongest of weapons, could wipe out a city in one fell swoop. Emily herself had experienced loss several times, even though she was still relatively young.

But what she was mourning now was not personal loss, but something greater. The loss of an entire nation. See, as the Kingdom’s official representative, Emily had a duty to be informed about all of the other nations. And so, doing her job, she read about them, learning as much as she could. 

She learned that in other nations, people didn’t constantly have to fight off beast attacks. They didn’t waste millions of lives fighting petty clan wars. Generations of skilled leaders didn’t fight each other to the death. Children grew up safely, were educated, and lived happily with their families. Ouch, that last one maybe was a little personal.

Day in, day out, she spent her day in her office, studying what other nations were doing, and what Kudrion was doing wrong. Emily was essentially alone, having been sent initially as the sole representative, but she didn’t exactly get along with others that had been sent after a few months. She didn’t mind much, preferring to be alone anyway.

That’s not to say there weren’t any personal losses, of course. In order to represent all clans better, Emily voluntarily left her own, taking the name ‘Kaldaz’ instead. What was worse was that she essentially lost her former job. Apparently, to be a ‘real scientist’ one needed hogwash like ‘peer reviews’, and to use the ‘scientific method’, and not just digging around in beast corpses. The King also repeatedly refused her requests for a lab on the station, citing ‘health and safety’ concerns. She was Kudrioni, damnit, she wasn’t even supposed to know what those words meant!

Eventually, the isolation, long stressful hours and her disillusionment with the country she worked for and lived in took their toll, and she sometimes found herself becoming as cold and distant as the Royal Guard soldiers that had been sent to protect her.

[hr]

Much like four months earlier, the Sword of Tum was once again speeding to the gateway. It had become a much more sleek and agile ship after spending some time in the shipyards, more fit for transporting Kudrioni diplomats to and from the Meeting Place. Escorted by two of the new Navy’s light cruisers, the Dragonslayer and the Krowell, it passed through the Kudrion system, approaching Baldr.

The Kingdom had learned from the Gateway Boarding Incident, and in four months time had built the core of a defense station near the Gateway called Baldr. The construction of Baldr was one of the few things that the clans could agree on, and had proceeded relatively smoothly as a result. Still under construction, it couldn’t do much on its own against invading fleets, but it served as a checkpoint for ships entering and exiting the gateway, as well as a place for Navy ships to dock.

The three ships passed the station, being given permission to pass through the gateway. They were on an express mission from the King, to bring Chieftain Moimir to the Meeting Place. In the distance, many small clan ships could be seen flitting around the gateway, waiting to go through. As the Sword neared the gateway, and preparations were made for the jump, Moimir started to hear an odd noise. Never one for space travel, he had not heard this before, and was curious what it was as the bridge crew seemed to ignore it. As the sound grew louder, Moimir could recognize it as singing, and then the bridge crew started to sing too.

Moimir himself stayed silent. As a representative of the King, singing was not in his job description. He couldn’t stop himself from tapping his sword against the command chair in rhythm with the song, though. 

[i]Ah, screw it[/i].

“Come all you young spacemen, and listen to me
I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea
 
And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys
When the wind blows, we're all together, boys
Blow ye winds Solward, yeah, blow ye winds, blow
Into the gateway, boys, steady she goes
 
Now there is Baldr, our nation’s great shield
Guns and lasers leave ‘em dead in the field
 
And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys
When the wind blows, we're all together, boys
Blow ye winds Solward, yeah, blow ye winds, blow
Into the gateway, boys, steady she goes
 
Up comes our homeland, fallen planet Earth
Dead like the desert, we’ll give a wide berth
 
And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys
When the wind blows, we're all together, boys
Blow ye winds Solward, yeah, blow ye winds, blow
Into the gateway, boys, steady she goes
 
There’s the Meeting Place, our home in the stars
We’ll dock and refuel and we’ll drink in the bars

And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys
When the wind blows, we're all together, boys
Blow ye winds Solward, yeah, blow ye winds, blow
Into the Gateway, boys, steady she goes”

Some hours later, the Sword docked with the Meeting Place. Moimir had been singing space shanties with the crew all that time, only briefly stopping to give orders. He quickly disembarked as soon as he could. After all, he had to check up on the Kingdom’s representative to make sure everything was going well.

[hr]

Additional note: the space shanty should be sung in the tune of 'Fish in the Sea', as it was based on that