Stargazers: "Victory at Canaan"

Gabriel’s Flight and the Victory at Canaan

            Chastity isn’t sure how long she follows the Lady in the darkness.  She isn’t sure where they have gone inside of the ship or where they are going.  They’ve climbed staircases and descended others.  They’ve turned a few times, though Chastity cannot remember how many times.  Everything about the journey has been made in darkness, and they have been traveling so long that Chastity has little idea of her bearings.

            They stop at a large door, visible to Chastity only through the dim glow of the Lady’s eyes.  Its presence is more inferred than directly seen, though, and she bumps into the Lady’s back before coming to a stop.  They stand together, staring ahead at the door and, in the darkness, the Lady says, “Here,” before stepping back and touching the wall.

            Light fills the interior.  It appears in small diodes, forming a semi-circle around the door’s frame.  Lines of light run along the wall in opulent stripes.  The interior glows with prismatic brilliance, pushing back the darkness and blinding Chastity in its appearance.

            The Lady seems to glow, too, centered in rolling storm of light.  The glow of the Lady’s eyes brightens and changes color.  Body still and unmoving, the light passes over the Lady and then, as quickly as the light appear, it disappeared.  The ship goes inert, leaving the two of them in darkness.

            The Lady turns to Chastity, eyes glowing brighter in the darkness.  From this limited light to see by, Chastity can see the Lady frowning.  “I’m sorry,” the Lady says in a soft whisper.  “I am so sorry for this, for everything.”

            “What do you mean? What are you sorry about?”

            The Lady looks to the floor, to their feet, and the glow dims again.  “I remembered,” the Lady says, “I remembered everything.  All of it. Who I am.  What I am.  What I should do.”  The glow returned as their eyes met again.  “None of this was supposed to happen, what happened to you, what happened to us.  It is my failure, and it is my weakness.  For that, I am sorry.”

            “Lady, I don’t understand.  What do you mean?”

            “No.  Not Lady,” the Lady says, head shaking.  Chastity has her hand taken and watches the light fade from the Lady’s eyes.  They make eye contact, but Chastity watches the Lady fade.  “I’m sorry, Chastity, but it will get worse before it gets better.”

            The Lady weakens and then falls.  Chastity is pulled to the floor and lands heavily atop the sleeping form of the Guide.  The light is nearly gone now, being nothing more than a soft glimmer behind the iris.  “Lady? Lady! What is going on?”

            Reaching up, the Lady touches Chastity’s temple, where her implant is.  “My purpose,” says the Lady.  “My burden.  Metempsychosis.”

            “What?”

            “Carry me for a while, will you,” the Lady asks, and then her eyes go blank.  Chastity stares into them and finds hollow beads staring back.  The Lady is heavy, and Chastity struggles out of its grasp.  Its bones, synthetic and weighted, are bound to the floor.  Cupping the Lady’s head, Chastity weeps over her.

            “Lady?  Lady.  Lady!”

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            High above the ruins, a battle rages in Canaan’s orbit.  Republic forces work hard to break the Federation line, but without Mercury serving as the spear point the Federation has regrouped and formed a defensive ring around the planet.  The two sides meet head-on, creating a spreading swath of chaos just outside of the planet’s atmosphere.

            Inside of the atmosphere, Tyr and Mercury are still at odds.  Where Mercury has the advantage in speed, its frame is still thin and in development, and its weapons are few.  Tyr can keep Mercury at a distant with small arms fire from the turrets mounted on its shoulder.  Should Mercury break through and land a hit, Tyr’s superior shielding deflects or absorbs each blow.

            Guinevere, meanwhile, cannot feel her legs.  Her vision is a blurry haze, and that is only when she can see at all.  Periodic blackouts have hobbled her, left her unable to evade certain attacks.  Her armor is holding together, the hull suffering only minimal damage.  One of her hardened light blades has been rendered useless after its generator was hit.

            She switched her comm off to keep LeGuin quiet.  His commands were interfering with her focus, and if she is to beat Tyr, then she will need to be focused.  Rather than assault him directly, she takes to dancing around him, hoping to catch him from behind, to slip in and slip out before he has time to recover.  By her estimations, his shields should die on him soon.

            A continued, sustained assault, however, is becoming difficult.  As the battle wears on, her vision begins to do strange, new things.  She isn’t sure what is real and what isn’t anymore.  The world feels weightless, and reality has become a lurid dream.  She swoops low over a mountain, rises and spirals, ending in a drop down and trying to strike him from above.

            Tyr stays rooted, hovering in place between steep mountain points, firing on Mercury while stationary.  Bullets zip past Mercury, trailing it as Guinevere flies a tight spiral and closes distance.  When in range, she swings, trying to drag her blade along Tyr’s armor, but she has slowed her armor and Tyr reaches out, catching her and holding Mercury in place.

            Guinevere jerks, her body aching as the seatbelts dig into her skin.  The cockpit rattles as the momentum tears Mercury’s arm from its socket, leaving it sparking and jagged.  Guinevere tumbles in the cockpit as Mercury spirals off, wheeling and flipping as it plummets. Cursing, Guinevere seizes the controls tight and takes off.  The G-forces hit her hard, knotting her stomach and then sending it into her throat.  Her head feels tight as she manages to right her armor just before making contact with the rockface.  Snow dances around her as the armor’s jets stirs and melts it.

            Floating, Guinevere draws a deep breath.  Her head throbs and her digits tingle.  Mercury is down one arm and missing its only other weapon on the other side.  Without any offensive capabilities and trapped in an armor that is slowly killing her, she isn’t given time to contemplate her situation as a hail of bullets pepper the mountainside.  The snow, now dislodged, roars as it comes sliding down, catching Mercury and dragging it down.

            Guinevere is just able to pull out of the snow as more bullets rain down on her.  She feels a few make contact and rattle her armor.  Reacting on instinct, she pulls away and flies deeper into the mountains with Tyr trailing after.  She needs to get back to Daedalus, and they both know it.  Flipping the comm on, she shouts for support but gets static in return.  While darting between mountain passages, she checks her radar.  Tyr is giving chase, as she assumed he would, but his turret allows him to fire from a distance.  Sprays of dust and snow remind her of the danger of her situation.

            She slows and takes the turns with blood rushing to her head.  Gritting her teeth, she turns her attention toward escaping her pursuing enemy.

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            Arthur works his way through the facility, moving low and breathing shallowly.  He follows the walls, hugging them close to keep himself safe.  Chastity’s lab is on the far west side of the facility, and Arthur stops a room away with his weapon ready.  He checks the corners before ducking into the open laboratory door.  Inside, the room is dark, and he pauses to let his eyes adjust before moving deeper.

            He finds another room at the back of the lab, a hole in the wall which leads into deeper darkness.  Entering, he finds a small drop.  He lands lightly and lets the reverberation of his landing move through the steel beneath him before continuing forward.  Outside, he can hear the heavy foot falls of armors stomping on the surface.  The battle is far off, but there are still soldiers nearby.  His own arrival was testament to his skill, but his escape might depend on his luck.  He turns on the light on his rifle and uses it to see by.

            Arthur follows a long trail of open doors deeper into the facility.  As he explores, he begins to recognize the general shape of the rooms he is inside.  The contours are strange and foreign to him, but the general shape is unmistakable.  He is inside of a ship, and he is moving gradually towards its center the farther he goes.  His movements remain measured and careful, and at the end of his journey, he finds Chastity hunched over the Lady’s pale, lifeless body.  He approaches with his weapon ready but the safety on.

            “Chastity,” he whispers, kneeling beside her. He keeps his weapon trained on the wall, holding it steady with one hand while using his other hand to tap her shoulder.  She looks at him, tears in her eyes.  “Chastity, what happened?”

            “She just—she faded.”  Chastity hugs the Lady close, one hand on the Lady’s shoulder and seeming to struggle to support the Guide’s lifeless body.  “She said that she was sorry, and then she just turned off.”

            Arthur pauses.  Death is never easy, even for a soldier, and Chastity had dedicated months of her life to studying the Lady.  He rests his hand on her shoulder and gives a gentle squeeze.  “I’m sorry.”

            Chastity sobs quietly beside him.

            Arthur checks behind him.  The halls are empty but dark, and the shadows seem to move more the longer her stares.  “Listen,” he says, his hand still on her, “I know it’s hard, but the enemy is coming.  They will find us, and they will hurt us.  We need to move.  Now.”

            Chastity continues to cry, but she wipes her eyes and her nose.  Gathering her breath, she swallows her tears and pulls herself out from under the Lady.  Before standing, she stops to close the Lady’s eyes, a gesture that feels empty to Arthur but seems to bring Chastity comfort.  Arthur stands with Chastity and fixes both of his hands on his rifle.  “You ready,” he asks, his eyes trained on the door.

            Chastity nods and puts her hand on his shoulder.  “Let’s go.”  As they leave, she looks back and whispers a soft farewell to the Lady’s lifeless body.

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            They reach the surface within an hour. Arthur leads with Chastity following, her hand at first on his shoulder before wrapping tightly around the belt about his waist.  They exit the lab and stop to let their eyes adjust to the dusty light.  The wind stirs the sand around them.  The asphalt dances in the sun.  Arthur, with his weapon up, leans back to Chastity and whispers, “Where did you two leave the ancient armor you left in?”

            Chastity points.  “It’s off toward the east.”

            “Can you lead me there?”

            Speaking distantly with her shoulders slouched and her voice empty, “Why?”

            “We need a way to get off planet, and we need it fast.  Not only are we outnumbered on the ground, but I’m not so sure that Daedalus can hold out long enough for reinforcements to come.  Hell, I’m not even sure that it’s survived this long.”

            Chastity takes a deep breath.  “I can lead you there,” she says, and she sighs.  “But it’s useless.  Only a Guide can pilot it.”

            “Fine.  We’ll figure that out when we get there, but that at least gives us somewhere to go.”  Arthur rises into a crouch and starts moving with Chastity in front of him now.  She hesitates, her hands against the hot exterior panels of the research facility.  Arthur rests his hand against her back.  “Don’t worry.  I’ve got you.”

            “I’m not worried,” she whispers back, looking at him over her shoulder.  She feels tears in her eyes, but she wipes them away quickly.  Her voice is as empty as the Lady’s eyes had been.  “The Lady told me herself.  It won’t work without a Guide.”

            “And I told you: we’ll figure that problem out when we get there.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a bad option when it’s the only option we’ve got.  We won’t get ahold of an enemy armor, not with the damage I would have to do to secure one to begin with, and that is even assuming I can secure one.  Even then, even if we could fly it with severe hull damage or worse, an armor won’t fit two people.  Worse still, we have no way of contacting our allies, and they have no way of getting to us if we did.  So, the ancient armor is all we’ve got.”

            Chastity gives another sigh, her body seeming to sink into itself.  She winces as a burning pain buzzes through her head.  “This is crazy,” she says after a lengthy pause.  “Are things always like this on a battlefield?  How do you even have time to think at a time like this?”

            “It’s only like this if you’re lucky enough to be alive, and right now we’re lucky,” he says, knotting his hand in the loose fabric of her shirt and keeping his weapon trained ahead, passed her shoulder.    “Be ready to drop at my command.  Got it?”

            Chastity nods.

            “And save your tears for later while you can.”  He gives her a smile.  “Only the living get to mourn the dead. So, you’ve got to stay alive if you want to do it properly.”

            Chastity sniffs and wipes her nose.  “I’ll do my best.”

            “Good.  That’s all I can ask.”  Arthur pushes her gently forward and is glad to feel her move.  “Then, let’s go.”

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            Mercury darts between rock formations, sailing close to the canyon walls, the heat of its engines leaving darkened stone in its wake.  Clouds of dust trail it, stirred by the force of the thrusts as the armor rockets by.  Dipping in and out of the clouds in short jumps is Tyr.  It cannot move as quickly, but it follows closely, its reaction timing perfect.

            Guinevere feels numb in her seat.  Her vision is spotted and blurred, and the color has drained entirely from her world like the blood from her digits.  Periodically, she has to glance at her fingers to make sure that they are still attached.  She clips the canyon wall during one such check, dislodging a fragment of armor and sending her skidding off in another direction.

            When she looks up, she finds another canyon wall closing distance as she is forced toward it.  She makes a quick turn, dipping deeper into the canyon, spiraling briefly, the momentum of her turn throwing and turning her stomach.  She cuts hard, forced into her seat belt, feeling her skin swell and bruise from the pressure.

            Her face tingles as blood vessels pop under the surface.  Her vision goes red in one eye and then black in both.  She winces, cursing, and angles her armor up.   She slows to regain control, and Tyr descends at that moment, capturing her with its claw and dragging her down onto a mountainous pillar.  Blinking her way back into sight, Guinevere pushed Mercury harder and drags Tyr along with her.

            The two of them take off in an explosion of stone and dirt. Dust explodes around them in a cloud which they part and spiral out of together, leaving a thin brown contrail.  Her left thrust groans and bends.  The wing breaks under the weight, and Tyr falls away as Mercury’s left side explodes in a quick fan of fire and smoke.  The cockpit rattles forcefully around Guinevere.

            Cursing again and holding the controls tighter, Guinevere steadies her armor and slows it.  Mercury sags, struggling to maintain altitude without a wing and with a broken rocket.  She falls into a series of slow circles and, in her fatigue, drifts lazily as she struggles to find a rhythm that will carry her to the ground.  She will crash, but if he does it right, she will survive.

            The ground swells into view.  Her descent is sharp but precise.  She will not be injured, but she will live through the injury.  That is, she could have if she landed.  Tyr intercepts her, though, fixing its claw about Mercury’s midsection and sending microwaves through it.  The cockpit begins to swelter and pop around her as her exposed skin boils.

            She reaches out with her armor, grabbing hold of Tyr’s arm and holding it in place before it can retreat.  The cockpit lets out a siren as the screens shatter.  The plastic of her consoles melts as her body blackens and burns.  Looking back on her life, Guinevere sees herself as a soldier, hard, disciplined, and lonely.  She sees missions and sacrifices, and she sees all the work she did, both good and bad.  She thinks briefly of Lancelot and the life he lost, and she thinks of Arthur, too, and of his survival.  For years, she was angry with them both.  Now, as she dies, she just wonders who was happier.

            She whispers a final apology, the tears in her eyes boiling as she sheds them. Then, she releases the controls and dies.  The Mercury armor explodes shortly after, taking a portion of Tyr with it.

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            Peeking between broken walls, Arthur sees Mercury and Tyr collide.  He follows the battle in his periphery, stealing glances where he can, watching a cloud of dust form around them, watching Mercury rise.  He watches the explosion and knows in his heart what happened.  Coming to a stop, limbs shaking, he leans against a nearby wall and holds his breathe to keep from screaming.  Chastity notices and stops beside him, touching him gently on the shoulder.  “Arthur, are you okay?”

            He breathes, slowly and deeply, with his rifle aimed at the ground.  With tears in his eyes, he stares ahead, avoiding the sight of Mercury disappearing into the distant mountains, the frame descending like a shooting star.  Tyr survives but only just barely, taking off back into the atmosphere and disappearing from view.

            Another deep breath and Arthur settles his shaking hands.  He looks at Chastity, but he sees Guinevere, and Lanacelot, and Percival, and Gawain, each of them missing or dead.  He always considered himself the worst of the Centurion, lucky to have been chosen to stand among them.  Now, he is the last of them to still be standing.

            A final breath, this one deep and accompanied by the wiping of his eyes.  Standing, he knots his fist in Chastity’s shirt again and guides her gently forward.  With his weapon ready, he whispers, “Go on.”

            They move together, approaching a large, sleek armor in the distance.  It is bigger than the average gigas, standing at least half-again as tall as a normal, conventional armor.  The interior is exposed though left unattended.  Based on Chastity’s warning, the enemy likely found the armor but couldn’t figure out how to move it and so left it.  Lowering his weapon, he lifts Chastity’s tiny body inside of the armor, and she climbs into the backseat where Arthur imagines the navigator would go.  Then, he climbs in after her, positioning himself where the pilot should be.

            “We’re here,” she says, “But I’ve already told you, it won’t work…”  She stops speaking as the canopy slides shut and the screens around her come to life.

            Arthur looks back at her over his shoulder.  “Won’t work, huh?”  He feels flimsy and tired, but he settles his hands on what he imagines to be the controls and flexes his fingers around them.  Gigas armors were designed after these ancient armors that are sometimes found in Guide ruins, and so the controls aren’t completely different or foreign to him.  He guides the armor in the same way that he would a normal gigas armor, and he finds it similarly responsive to his puppetry.

            The armor shifts its weight, standing and towering.  It moves lightly, though, despite its size.  In fact, it moves more smoothly than any armor he has ever piloted.  The armor seems to know his desires and moves to meet them with little suggestion.  Tapping a few buttons, he is able to find Tyr’s signature and recognizes that it is damaged and yet to make it back to safety.

            “Chastity,” he whispers, his voice low and heavy.  “I have a favor I have to ask of you.”

            Chastity leans forward, holding the back of his seat as she stares down at him. “What is it?”

            “I,” his voice shakes, “We could escape right now,” he says.  “But there is something I have to do.  You may not understand it, but I’ve lost someone.  I’ve lost a lot of people, actually, and I—I should walk away from this, but I can’t.  I don’t know that I want to.”  He takes another deep breath after realizing how tight his jaw is, and he frowns at the readings on the ships rounded, bulb-like consoles.  “I know you don’t like violence—and you shouldn’t—but I am a soldier, and I have to do this.”  He looks back at her.  “Please, let me do this.”

            Chastity stares.  “This won’t save any lives,” she says.  “Not really.”

            “No, it won’t,” he says.

            Chastity stares at him, seeing how tired and old he is.  He was a soldier, once, taught only how to fight and how to kill.  He used those skills to protect people, but now he has nothing to protect.  She leans back in her chair, her hands gripping the arm rests tightly.  “If you know, then don’t ask permission.”

            Arthur’s jaw tightens again.  Looking forward, he rests his hands on the controls a second time.  “I’m sorry,” he says, and he pulls the ancient armor up into the air.  In short time, they are gliding smoothly through the sky, the armor around them hardly seeming to hum despite the speed.

            The ancient armor seems to sail through the empty air as if it is the wind itself.  It reacts immediately to Arthur’s every subtle movement.  Its controls are intuitive and deeply human to the touch.  In all of his years, his training included, Arthur has never piloted anything like it, and he is disappointed to realize how his anger and grief are preventing him from enjoying it.

            They intercept Tyr in the sky.  Attacking from behind, Arthur doesn’t waste weapons or ammo.  Tyr notices his approach and turns to fire on him, bullets erupting from its shoulder-mounted turrets, but the bullets bounce off harmlessly as they come in contact with a sphere of hardened light that forms around the ancient armor when attack.

            Jaw tightening again, teeth clenched so tight that they hurt, Arthur flies faster.  He closes distance on Tyr and grabs hold of its single remaining rocket.  Stopping abruptly, Arthur removes the rocket from Tyr’s back and sends the enemy armor plummeting to the ground with the ancient armor following it down.  Catching Tyr in the air, Arthur uses one hand to pry Tyr open and then a foot to shatter Tyr entirely.

            In his monitor, Arthur watches Robin drifting through the sky.  He stops the ancient armor and hovers, a cocoon of hardened light there to protect him as he watches Robin’s death.  Robin lands anti-climactically, his body reduced to a sack of meat and blood.  He appears to Arthur almost like a squashed grape as he hits the sand.

            Chastity stares at her feet and at her hands.  She releases a deep breathe that she hadn’t even realized that she was holding.  “Can we go now?”

            Arthur draws a deep breath, too, and nods.  “Yes,” he says, turning the ancient armor toward the atmosphere and flying away.  High above them, as the clouds fall away and the freckled darkness of space comes into view, Arthur watches an allied ship form in space-time.  Agamemnon arrives and quickly opens fire.

 

-Stargazers part 1-

 

            Arthur flies to Agamemnon and docks there.  Without their leader, the Federation ships make a hasty retreat while Daedalus and its crew lick their wounds.  The ground forces are either captured or allowed to return, if they have the tools to return.  Meanwhile, Arthur and Chastity are kept locked up until they can be questioned.  Afterward, they are each given proper medical treatment and returned to civilian life with the understanding that they know nothing about any short-lived war that may have transpired.

            Agamemnon transfers them to Nestor, which takes them to the planet Olympus.  There, private ships are chartered at Republic expense to take them wherever they want to go, so long as they understand that they should not contact each other again.

            The ride to Olympus is quiet and somber.  They avoid eye contact and do not speak.  Even if they had tried, they wouldn’t know what to say.  Chastity spends the ride thinking of the Lady, of the Guide ruins, and of her life’s work dissolving in her head.  Everything she was or had achieved was taken from her within a matter of days.

            Arthur, meanwhile, does his best to think of nothing at all.  He meditates where he can and sleeps the rest of the time.  When at rest, old memories haunt him.  He remembers boot camp, and he remembers war.  The doctors had checked his knee and asked why he hadn’t gotten a prosthetic.  He told them that he preferred the plate, that it didn’t undue the damage he sustained for his government and for his people.

            He wasn’t sure that he believed his own words, anymore, though.

            Nestor docks at an orbiting space station around Olympus where they are expected to part ways.  The soldiers walk them off the ship and stand there watching as Arthur and Chastity stop to examine the crowd.  The station is busy, and once they enter this flowing river of people, they are both certain that the other will disappear entirely.

            Chastity is bandaged and bruised, but the bulk of her damage is psychological.  She is given the information for a therapist and little else.  Holding a bag of clothes given to her to wear—all of them are too big for her—she looks at Arthur and finds him standing with his hands in his pockets.  “Where will you go now,” he asks without looking at her.

            Chastity shrugs and stares out at the people, too.  “Away from here,” she says.  “As far away from the Republic as I can get.”

            “That’s probably for the best,” he says.  “The only problem is that the Republic won’t allow it.”  He meets her gaze.  “They won’t just let you go, Chastity, not after everything that happened.”

            “Which is exactly why I have to leave,” she says.  “I’ll go live on the fringes of space and, when they’re done watching me, then maybe I can come back.  Until then, I think I’ll try the Alliance. I hear they have more freedom, anyway.”

            Arthur nods his head. 

            “What about you?”

            He shrugs.  “Defense work again,” he says, and he laughs at her surprise.  “It’s the only skill I have, and it makes me feel better about myself.  I’d much rather protect people than kill them,” he says.  “This is all I’ll ever be good for, though.”

            Chastity wrings her hands.  “I don’t agree with that, but I understand.”  She shrugs.  “Probably for the best.  Be careful, though, and do try to find something less dangerous to retire into.”

            They shake hands, and he pulls her into a hug.  “Be careful.”

            Chastity, initially surprised, hugs him back.  “You, too.”

            “Thanks.”  He steps away from her but holds her by the shoulders still.  “And good luck to you.”

            “You, too,” she says, slipping from his grasp, and she disappears into the crowd.  Arthur watches her head weaving between bodies until he cannot see her anymore.  He imagines a long life ahead of her, first with the government watching, and then he imagines her free.  He lets out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding and, for a moment, he feels guilty for having saved her only to put her through all of the chaos.

            Then he reminds himself that he did save her and tells himself that is enough.

            Turning, he walks in the opposite direction, away from where Chastity went.  It is crowded, and people don’t part for him so much as they just flow around him.  It is rare for a man to be given so many second chances, but today is the day where he will finally use this one right and build himself a life worth living well.