I S S U E #001
I S S U E #001
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**WARNING: External breach detected. Life support systems operating at 58%.**The deafening sound of alarms drowned out almost everything as the red alert lights bathed the corridors of the citadel-class ship Wundagore in a violent hue. To Koriand’r, time seemed too fast and too slow all at once. Maybe it was just the feeling of the hyper-dense restraints around her hands impeding her flight speed.
”Keep going, Kori. Don’t look back,” Komand’r insisted behind her, seeming attuned to her little sister’s minute deceleration.
A stunner ray buzzed as it just missed them, a tingle spreading across Kori’s skin as her hair stood on end at the static feeling getting closer as their pursuers adjusted their aim. Dipping her shoulder, she rolled under the beam and pulled up on the other side with expert precision. It was just like tactical flight training, but in tight quarters.
A yelp and the sound of a limp body tumbling behind her had Kori digging her heels into the metal floor, screeching to a stop to see Komand’r trying to push herself back up with limp legs. She’d ducked a moment too late, and the stunner had caught just enough to leave her lower body temporarily paralysed. While Komand’r was the better fighter, Koriand’r was the more agile flier.
Further down the corridor, their handlers and the delegation sent to retrieve one of the Tamaranean girls for Mongul were practically tripping over themselves to get to them first. The High Evolutionary wouldn’t risk losing either of them, but the delegates were unmoved. If one had to die for them to get the other, then so be it.
Koriand’r pushed off hard, intending to reach her sister first and drag her to the escape pods if necessary.
”NO!”Kori froze, hovering mid-air between her sister and freedom.
”Sister-“”I’m too much dead weight; you have to go without me. One of us needs to survive. For Tamaran.””Komand’r I can’t leave you!“”I’m not asking, Kori. That is an order from your queen.”Komand’r never pulled rank on her sister, and to hear her do it sent a chill down her spine. Komand’r was the rightful heir of Tamaran, and by all accounts the population had been so thoroughly decimated that it was unlikely their parents survived to retain their titles. Even without a planet or a proper coronation, that still made Komand’r queen, and to disobey her would be treasonous even for a princess.
She hesitated, even as another beam from the stunner shot down the passage. Komand’r’s eyes began to glow violet and she turned her head down the hall to blast their assailants. Metal withered and sparks flew as electrical parts were fried by the heat, and the targets dove out of the way into a connecting corridor.
Whipping her head back around, Komand’r looked at her sister with a mix of emotions that ranged from anger, grief, and maybe even relief that her baby sister would be free even if she wouldn’t.
”Go NOW,” she bellowed before reaching up and smashing her restraints into the wall to trigger a security door’s emergency protocol, locking her on one side and Koriand’r on the other.
Kori’s feet touched the floor and she stumbled in her haste to reach the door. Banging her restraints against the metal, she cried out,
”Komand’r please don’t do this!” It was an irrational waste of time, but Kori couldn’t stop herself. Her sister was the only family she had left.
A plasma bolt hit the door next to her head and sizzled as it burned the metal. It was a precise miss, a warning shot meant to stop her from going any further.
“That’s enough, Koriand’r. This has been a fun little experiment to test our security, but it ends now. Turn around slowly and come with me,” the voice of the High Evolutionary rang out.
Koriand’r paused, tears heavy in her eyes. She had a choice to make: she could go quietly and perhaps the punishment for her rebellion would be mild, or she could risk everything and make a break for the escape pods. She could just barely hear the commotion on the other side of the thick security door - the clamouring of voices and the sharp, high pitched ring of Komand’r’s starbolts until suddenly it all stopped. He stomach dropped as she feared the worst. Resting her forehead against the door, she took a slow breath. If they had killed Komand’r in the scuffle, that now made Koriand’r the rightful heir with a duty to survive. Even if she was alone, even if Tamaraneans had been pushed to extinction, she had a duty to carry on for all of Tamaran.
Turning slowly, her eyes lit up bright green,
”I will not be your laboratory rat any longer.” She punctuated her sentence by drawing a line with the beams from her eyes, cutting across the floor, up and over the ceiling, and back down damaging the ship’s integrity and causing the High Evolutionary to fall as he stumbled backward.
Kori didn’t hesitate, pushing off the ground and darting around the corner into another passage that would lead straight to the escape pod bay.
**WARNING: Multiple structural failures detected. Life support systems will fail in T-minus three minutes. Please proceed to your designated escape route.**The tinny, automated voice of the computer rang out just as she reached the rear bay. It was small - there were only a few ejection tubes for the handful of engineers that worked on the aft engines. Electricity was already being siphoned away from that portion of the ship; all that remained operational were a few dim emergency lights leading to the escape pods and the external launch panels. She froze as she approached, finally getting a look at the tiny ships for the first time. They were barely large enough to fit an adult of most humanoid species, and her skin crawled at the thought of squeezing into the tight space voluntarily.
**WARNING: Multiple structural failures detected. Life support systems will fail in T-minus two minutes thirty seconds. Please proceed to your designated escape route.**The drum of heavy bootfalls running toward the bay urged her forward. She couldn’t wait, it was now or never.
Clambering clumsily into the pod, the door closed automatically as she situated herself. It felt like a deathtrap squeezing in tighter around her as her breaths came anxious and heavy.
“Please enter launch authorisation code,” a gentle female voice surrounded her in the small, padded space. Kori cursed under her breath; she didn’t have the launch codes. Her designated escape route was supposed to be on a ship with the High Evolutionary, not a pod. With her hands encased in metal, there was nothing she could do except keysmash and hope for the best.
“Invalid launch authorisation code.”
She tried again.
“Invalid launch authorisation code. Emergency launch override initiated for default coordinates.”
That sounded promising. The compact accelerator engine hummed to life behind her back, the soft vibrations transferring through the minimal shielding.
“Brace for launch in 3…2…1…” The computer counted down until there was a sudden jolt that had the ship been designed to restrain the passenger by pressing them into the mouldable padded interior would have thrown her.
Through the small porthole window of the spacecraft that now encased her like a coffin, the bay dropped out of view as it slid out of the ejection tube and into the vastness of the cosmos beyond the confines of Wundagore. She stared out at the emptiness pinpricked with the twinkle of stars in awe. For a moment, she forgot she was claustrophobic.
She was free.
“Estimated travel duration is two years, six months, and eight days. Initiating stasis protocol.”
”No, no, no, no, no!” Kori panicked, hitting the panel with increasing desperation until one hit landed too hard and caved it in completely.
“Damage detected. Initiating automatic life-preservation protocols.”
The life support vents hissed briefly, and a dizzying fatigue suddenly came over her. Her eyelids grew heavy, but she was keenly aware of a wet feeling creeping up her legs, her stomach, her chest, her neck, until finally it covered her head, but there was nothing she could do about it. The control panel was beyond repair, her hands were still useless, and she couldn’t muster up the energy to blast her way out of the pod and take her chances alone in space. Kori tried to hold her breath, sustaining her body on stored radiation alone, but as her eyelids slipped lower and lower, it was impossible to concentrate on not taking a breath. As she opened her mouth to inhale, exchanging air for the oxygen-rich liquid, her body twisted and thrashed, fighting on instinct alone until her lungs were fully adjusted to the breathable substance. Exhausted from the turmoil of the day and anaesthetising gas, her eyes finally closed completely and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
**********
It only felt like a minute had passed when she started to rouse again. The small computer screen on the pod door indicated she was entering the upper atmosphere on final descent to the mysterious default destination. She peered through the liquid that still filled the compartment, the blurry vision of a planetary horizon like a slice of blue against the endless black perfectly cut the view in half. Kori blinked, trying to see more clearly as the friction of the atmosphere caused flames to lick up the metal and obstruct her view.
The whole craft shook, the roar of the reverse thruster kicking in rattled the metal dangerously. An escape pod was not meant for a long journey like this, and she feared the force of landing would tear the whole thing apart. Koriand’r closed her eyes, trying to make herself smaller as anxiety crept into her throat. She needed to get out. She had no choice but to survive. Activating her powers failed, though. She was too terrified to centre herself or her emotions; there was no crackle of energy in her, just the dull ache of grief as she remembered just how alone she was rocketing toward an unknown planet.
As if to answer her silent prayer, the metal creaked and ruptured as the escape pod crash landed on the planet’s surface. The liquid had helped her absorb the shock, but was now rapidly leaking out and there wasn’t enough air coming in to replace it creating a very unpleasant semi-vacuum. Kori wasn’t waiting around though, she needed
out.
She rocked herself forward and back, shoving her shoulder full-force against the crumpled door. It creaked open first only a sliver, liquid spilling out as Koriand’r dented it with each successive blow, forcing it wider and wider until she could get her knees up to kick out completely. As the ruined metal flew across the crater where her pod had landed, Kori tumbled out into the fresh air hacking and choking as she readjusted. Her head was spinning, and she felt like she was going to explode if she didn’t get the restraints off of her hands immediately.
Kori sat up, still kneeling on the ground, and slammed the metal down again and again against the rocky dirt.
FUMP. FUMP. FUMP. FUMP.
It wasn’t hard enough; all that she managed to do was fill the air with dust as she pounded the rocks. Stumbling up to her feet on unsteady, disused legs, she turned and tried using the ship to crack them open.
CLANG- CLANG- CLANG- CLANG!
Over and over again, more and more desperate with every blow until she was practically screaming in frustration. Anger simmered in her chest like a burning heat, and her eyes flickered brightly before she concentrated on using the beam to slice through the metal. She didn’t know why she thought that would work - they were specifically designed and fabricated to withstand her powers.
Frustrated, grieving, exhausted, scared… Koriand’r crumbled to the ground and sobbed. She wanted her sister. She wanted to be free. She wanted to go
home.
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