Once back aboard the Bellerophon, Tasha is able to turn over her treasures to an eager Hakeber, then get a much needed shower, dinner and rest. It will be a few days before Bellerophon lands - there are lots of orbital surveys to do while they're up there, after all, especially of the 'uninhabited' hemisphere of Abaddon and the polar regions. The new trainees are in the dark about Tasha's mission to Helheim - but they've been busy with the artifacts recovered from the libration point.
With little to do once she wakes up, Tasha has breakfast with Gabriel, then decides to check on Hakeber, who is staying in Fred's cabin. The door opens at her knock, and she's immediately assaulted by the smell of coffee. There are several empty or half-full cups scattered across every flat surface, save for the desk, which is covered in papers, notebooks and the tomes Tasha recovered, with a somewhat jittery and bleary-eyed Karnor scholar hunched over them.
"So their society revolves around coffee?" Tasha inquires as she peeks her head inside, hands on either side of the doorway as she leans in. "Gabriel always said civilization was built on coffee." She turns to eye Hakeber, then arches her brows.
"Are you okay, Hake-bear?" The hybrid woman asks with concern before offering an inward apology to the Progenitors. The time when she must approach the Hall of Souls is fast approaching; the room in front of her may contain the answers to her future and so many questions besides. She has decided she can't be too careful after all, even as part of her fights to find levity and comfort in everything to stave off her anxiety.
"Ah!" Hakeber yelps and jumps in her chair, turning to stare at Tasha with bloodshot eyes. It seems to take a moment for her to actually recognize her friend though. "Oh, Tasha! Sorry.. sorry.. uh.. not used to being this sober for so long.." the wolf says, and rubs at her eyes before taking a swig of cold coffee and then sticking her tongue out at the flavor. "What.. uh.. how long since you gave me the books?" she asks.
"It's um ... " Tasha pulls out her datapad and glances at it, then looks back to the bewildered Karnor. "O-eight-thirty, so you've been up all night Hake-bear." After glancing in the room and then down the hallway, she asks, "Have you made progress? Can I come in?"
"Oh.. oh yeah.. uh.. have a.. seat?" the scholar says uncertainly, and gestures vaguely. There's another chair available, but the Karnor may not remember that. "An all-nighter.. not the first time.." she mutters. "Bloody mess, and I have to cross-reference the unknown stuff with my notes, use context, and double-translate since there are three languages involved.."
"Well they wouldn't be very exciting mysteries if they were easy," Tasha assures Hakeber, trying to sound upbeat even as she feels more uneasy than cheerful. Stepping inside she turns and closes the hatch then engages the lock before turning back. She studies Hakeber a moment, then walks over, picks her up, puts her in her lap, and sits down in her chair. "So, does all that mean you've found something out? Because they don't really tell me a thing."
It looks the wolf might fall asleep in Tasha's lap, but blinks and just rests against her shoulder. "Oh.. lots of things. From the untranslated passages, I think there's a link to the ancient Liber Loagaeth.. the 'Book of Speech from God' based on the structure. Pretty sure the translators thought so too, since they used Enochian as the intermediate language, then translated that into Teutonic. I'm sure if we had a transcription of the original book, the pages would be 49 by 49 tables of letters."
Tasha scratches her nose a moment, considers what was said, considers it again, and finally decides all she came away with is 'intermediate book,' 'several languages to translate,' 'not easy.' She isnquite quite sure how to explain this to the hard working young woman, so she opts for an open candor. "Um, Hake-bear I only understand a third of what you just said. You know I don't have any training in deciphering languages, don't you? It sounds to me like it's taken a series of intermediate steps to translate the language in to something you recognize, uh, conversions, and that there was or is another book that helped this along. That you think you have an alphabet? Am I even close?"
"Yeah.. basically the book the Teuton's found on Fafnir is similar to one from Earth that was supposedly the first book written.. written by angels, in their own language. Nobody could translate, but some mystics and mediums, especially a guy named Enoch, came up with a partial language, called Enochian. It was used for magic and such, back when people believed in that. Anyway.. it was enough that I could piece things together. I've jumped around in the books, but I focused on the final entry the most. I'm pretty sure I have a good translation."
Tasha leans in, ears shooting forward. Ever since she began to look in to the mysteries of the Progenitors she's felt like she's been chasing the heels of giants, always in their shadow, never able to see them clearly from so far below. And from that shadow she was always looking up, wondering if some day she would catch up to them -- if some day they would stop and turn to her -- and in that moment would they smile at her? Would they stare with the ineffible mask of gods?
Would they frown at what they see?
And then what?
And if they asked why, after all this time, had she been chasing them?
What would she say?
The hybrid woman bites her lips, unable to urge Hakeber to go on for a long moment until she musters her courage once again. At length she nods, more to herself than the diminutive Karnor. "Go on?"
Hakeber clears her throat, and recites, "And the Children of Marduk did breach the 49th Gate of Wisdom, and their hearts were poisoned by the knowledge such that they withered. And Marduk too joined them in the Void, after informing Thoth the Librarian. And Thoth was near maddened, and returned to Atum-Adam-Ormazd. And so Atum-Adam-Ormazd informed us all, and bade us Abandon our endeavors and return to Him. And many of us were ill at the thought.."
"We thought the Cycle broken, as we broke the wings of the Seraphim. But in our good intentions, our meddling in the Five Realms has only turned the Wheel that much faster," the scholar continues. "In this the Third Realm, both Ahriman and Mafdet have voiced intent counter to Atum-Adam-Ormazd. They would see their Children survive the next Cycle at any cost. Mafdet vowed to topple the walls of the Prison Erebus if needed. It saddens me greatly. I will not return, for I cannot bear to turn away from my Lilim. But also I cannot bear to see them struggle and war against the other Children, to become Genocide. Better they perish in innocence."
"That's all I've gotten so far," Hakeber says apologetically. "There's still more before the end of the book to do, and I know it has to do with both Primus and someplace called Erebus."
The cadet's face scrunches up at first as she listens, her mind going over each word as if it were a puzzle in her hands. As the translation continues her eyes begin to wider, and when Hakeber stops she pats her side with no little urgency. "I think I understand it!" She declares in a mix of triumph and awe, not having expected anything like clarity. "I do! I do! Let me translate!" She then sucks in a deep breath, collects her thoughts, and then offers her own interpretation.
"The Children of Marduk, Progenitor of the Cill: The Cill, leaders, scholars and lead explorers of the Three Species each of which held a role in the armies and fleets dispatched to make ready the universe. The other two: Vartans, Progenitor Horus, tasked as warriors, scouts, of keen senses. Titanians, Progenitor Vulcan, tasked with maintenance, fabrication, and reverse-engeineering. The Cill uncovered a mystery that destroyed them and their Progenitor. The Void sounds like it may be D-Level Hyperspace. The Ogdoad, and their angels. Thoth, whose children are not known, is the keeper of knowledge but could not seem to bear that knowledge. Thoth told Adam, leader of the Progenitors, and he told them to abandon their work and return to him. And they did not all wish," explains Tasha. After another pause, she begins again on the second part.
"I think the Cycle refers to the Sifran destruction of all sentient life they can locate during their purges. The Progenitors defeated them, thinking it was best, but something went wrong? The Sifras are the children of the Ogdoad, and the Ogdoad are the gods of the Dark beyond our universe. Um, there's more ... " The young woman tries not to think too hard on what she's saying, focusing on speaking it first and reflecting later. "Somehow crippling the Sifras caused the cycle to accelerate. I think the Ogdoad ... I think they feed on us. The Sifrans warred with them to be free and cast them out, but crippling them enabled the other."
Tasha scratches her nose agaimn, thinking, and then she presses on. "Ahriman and Mafdet -- Progenitors of the Celestials and Khattans -- turned against Adam's wishes. I don't know what the Prison is. Eve also refuses? She won't abandon humanity, but it dosn't sound like she'll help them either? And it sounds like Ahriman and Mafdet did help. That explains their advancement. Lord Yama confirmed it ... Oh ... " Finished, the hybrid drops back in her chair and runs her hands back through her hair, eyes wide. So many pieces falling in to place, like a landslide, threatening to overwhelm her. She pulls in a deep breath and stares at the wall.
"Why war though? Why fight each other if the Sifras just wipe everyone out?" Hakeber asks, and then yawns.
Tasha lowers her gaze, unable to quite believe hakeber yawned in the face of revelation. She stares at her as if she had suddenly sprouted tentacles and turned blue, then she shakes her head out in a quick motion and reaches over to tap Hakeber on the head. "There may be a way to overcome the Cycle, or else escape it. Or maybe they want ... " The cadet falters, but pushes on. "Maybe they want something to feed to the Ogdoad? A peace offering? Pieces of everyone else? Together they might not have anything to offer, but if they turn on each other they can sell their friend's children to save themselves. Like if I gave you up to bandits, so I could live. Or killed you, so they believed me safe."
The Karnor blinks. "Genocide though.. that's total extermination. Only one side survives.. so.. only one species survives, in the end," she says. "So.. what's the advantage of being the last sapients standing?"
"It may be what the Sifra were doing before they were stopped. And so the Progenitor's children will replace the Sifra, and when the time comes they will feed everyone else to the abyss," Tasha concludes. She closes her eyes now; it was one thing to suspect and another to know. I don't know yet, the young woman reminds herself, though she must admit that everything has been pointing to this conclusion. That the words fit the scattered pieces she's found, that they match the hypothesis she assembled from the parts. If it's not the truth, she can't help but feel in her heart is only a step away from it. "The Sifra must ahve had a reason. I thought maybe that they didn't want competition, or, didn't want so many advanced minds drawing the attention of the Ogdoad. But the Sifra can engineer mind-like bodies, spirits, and they fear their old masters and pushed them out. This may be how they pushed them out. They did it by genocide; they commited genocide by their powers of altering reality."
"I don't really have any information on the Ogdoad," Hakeber notes. "Monstrous gods from beyond Time and Space were always more a of horror and science fiction thing than an established mythology."
"There may be more explanation in the final sections though," the Karnor mutters. "I just need a nap before diving back into it.."
"I've spoken to their children, beings who can move planets, who exist beyond our reality. Even their passing goes unnoticed by our space and our time, because our reality can't deal with them. Doesn't know how. Even the least of them can be god-like. Who knows how great their gods can be. Are."
At this, Tasha pushes herself up, placing Hakeber in the nearby chair. "I'm leaving," she delares with stony finality, in a voice harder than Hakeber remembers from her friend. She doesn't wait for a response, instead making her way towards the door and punching the unlock, only stopping to add, "Keep working on the translation. I'll be back before it's time to go."
"Of course.." Hakeber says blearily, and looks back to her mass of notes and papers, while the fancy electronic tablet remains unused.
Tasha nods as she makes her way out, she knows Hakeber will be diligent. Now it's her turn. "Tasha to Gabriel," she commands as she makes her way down the corridor towards where she knows her suit to be. There will one more dive from orbit. "And Fred too. Ready my suit and ready the shuttle."
"What's up?" Gabriel replies. "I'm refueling it now.."
"Prepare to drop me in to orbit, put me near Gateway. I need to talk to our friend in the mountain." Tasha's voice is hard even as it's distracted, a flinty resiliency that Gabriel heard only when his mate is faced with the worst. He heard it when Tasha first anticipated an attack by Abaddon against her being, he heard it just before Tasha ordered the genocide of the Berserkers and he heard it before she faced Lord Yama and tried to rally the Expeditiom remnants. The voice that wouldn't be reasoned with; the voice of finality. And yet, it's harsher somehow. A deeper edge, sharp determination without the wavering of emotion that comes when Tasha is near her breaking point. Colder now. "ASAP." It almost sounds like an order.
"You're heading back to the Aerie?" Gabriel asks when Tasha reaches the Titan Bay. Yue is sitting in the airlock of the shuttle. "What's got you so worked up about the Source all of a sudden?"
"Since you're reading my mind, you can answer that," Tasha responds without realizing how dismissve she sounds. She walks towards her armor and peers at it, looking it over a moment before checking its power levels. After finding things to her satisfaction, she finally replies. "The Aerie. Yue is spying on me; I don't care right now. Hakeber found enough."
The human shrugs, and hops down from the shuttle. "I can stay here with my helmet on until you get back with the shuttle," she notes, while Gabriel unhooks the fuel line and stows it. "We can leave in five minutes," he notes.
"Good, good ... " Tasha murmurs, lost in thought as she plans out her approach. She won't spare costs and she'll make a straght approach by the fatest means possible; no stopping for fun and relaxation. She stares at her suit throughtout her planning, not really seeing it anymore but needing somewhere to focus.
After several minutes she finalizes her plans, then looks up and finally really sees Yue -- and all Yue stands for. Her mind turns to evelope the problem of Yue; old plans and backups stirring to motion. "You know too much now," she tells the Human, watching her. "I was going to wait to make this speech until after I knew how things would be, but you can read my mind and your alliance to Terra is a problem. I haven't decided if I trust the Terragen, but you've helped me for whatever reason. I'm no longer allowing you to return to Galactic space; by digging too far you're now a part of this whether you want to be or not. Did you hear that Gabriel?"
"I assume you also mean to ban her from the communications system?" Gabriel asks as he secures various external access panels.
"Exactly. As far as I'm concerned Yue works for me now and the Terragens can deal with it, and my order is to keep her contained until I make a decision eitehr way about her." Tasha glances over to Yue and folds her arms, nodding. "Sorry. Like I said, things have accelerated and you dug too deeply. Now you're stuck with me. I won't accept 'no.' 'No' is bad. Don't give me 'no.'"
"Do I get to come with you to Sinai then?" Yue asks with a grin. "In for a penny, in for a pound... is a phrase you have no reference for, probably."
"No. Just because you're in doesn't mean I'm trusting you with everything, we'll see how that goes. Besides, this is something only I can do and you can't fly." Tasha turns away, advancing on her suit and activating it, then turning to step in to the opened frame and letting it close around her. "You'll need to stay here. Get filled in on things."
"What things does she need to be filled in on, exactly?" Gabriel asks. He's still in his ship-uniform, but gets into the shuttle and starts the systems warm-up sequence.
"I guess I can do the overview now: I'm chasing the Progenitors. I know where they are and how to reach them. The Sifra killed the Old Ones and they killed the First One -- and then the Progenitors killed them. I think I know why; Hakeber has the rest and my translation based on all I've found. I am now going to confirm the truth. If it is the truth, then that's where things change for me. I'll be leaving the JEF in order to put the pieces back together and complete what I started -- because it looks like I'm it. If there was anyone else, they wouldn't need me. But they do. So I'm going," the hybrid explains as she walks up to Yue, folding her arms again and looking down at her. "This is important. If I'm right it's more important than anything else we're doing; maybe than anything else." She watches Yue for a moment, then asks, "You see, don't you? In my head."
"I can't really read minds like that, you know," Yue claims. "I can tell that you're serious, and maybe a little scared. I don't know where you're going or what you hope to find there though."
Tasha considers this, and considers Yue, for a long moment and then nods. "We think the Progenitors have split and the Progenitors of the Khattans and the Celestials have broken whatever agreeement they all made and have been directly helping their children because they found something: The end. So they can't know and you can't contact Terra. Because the former will crush us if they really knew and the latter may slip." The hybrid woman glances towards the airlock, then begins walking that way as she departs with, "It's going to happen again. The genocide. All of it, again. But this time it may not be the Sifra. It may be us." She steps on to the stairs, ascending in to the shuttle. "Help me and help yourself, maybe you'll be the hero of Terra some day." And with that she hits the airlock close.
The human doesn't have a chance to reply, and is too busy getting her helmet on anyway. Once it's secure, she goes to the manual controls for the bay and begins depressurizing it. Gabriel talks to the bridge, meanwhile. "Nora, I'm taking Tasha down to Gateway. If the Titanians shoot us down, you're in command," he says.
"Don't get shot down anyway," Nora replies. "I'm rotating the ship for shuttle launch." The hatch above begins to open, showing the limb of Abaddon as the Bellerophon turns on its long axis so the bay is directly facing the surface.
"If the Titanians complain, let me talk to them," Nora can hear Tasha growl from the rear of the shuttle. "Also I want you to work on a way to destroy Harmonia if it comes to it and we can't save or control her." The cadet puts her helmet on, then clamps her feet to the deck and walks over to where the weapons are stored, rummaging through them and searching for things she can use on Sinai.
The shuttle is well stocked with emergency supplies for all occasions - including cash and weapons appropriate to Abaddon and Sinai (which is why there is a sword on a spaceship).
Tasha grabs everything she can fit in to the available pouches and harnesses she finds. medical supplies, rations for the journey, the sword, the chemical guns, all the cash and numerous other items besides. She then eyes her suit a moment and states, "I'll have to dump the power cells once I reach the Gateway and switch the assist to no-power emergency mode. I'm going through and they're going to notice. I'll tell them a dangerous discovery was made and I'm being sent to verify it. Depending on how much they really know about all this, they might resist me and finally try to do something," she explains to Gabriel as she works.
"I know you like to be blunt.. but the Gateway works on a schedule," Gabriel reminds her. "There will be a caravan waiting to go to Sinai. My suggestion is to find a group of Vartans and ask if they'll take you along."
The gravity switches off once Tasha reaches a seat, and the magnetic feet of the shuttle disengage as well, letting them float out of the bay with little effort.
"Blunt is what Vartans do best," Tasha remarks, a hint of a grin crossing her face. "I'll use whatever's available to get through the Gateway. I can wait if I have to, but I won't wait forever. If I have to I'll just walk through whatever they say." She pauses, then she turns towards the cockpit and adds, ears canting back. "If things go badly, Gabe, if I the Khattans try to interfere or, well, anything -- political fallout -- you should be ready with a story. Tell them we fought and I was angry, that we disagreed. Protect the JEF and hide behind the Abaddonian powers, and sell me out. I'll be okay."
"Try not to make a big fuss everywhere and nobody will have reason to question anything," Gabriel says as he brings the shuttle engines online and begins reentry. "How fast can you get where you need to and get back?"
"I'll try not to, but I'm also trying to be prepared if anything happens. Unexpected things. There's too much at stake now to run away. I'll avoid what I can but if I must I'm going right through, whatever the cost, if I think it's necessary. We're not just against House Khomen, but potentially also the Celestial Empire, the Ogdoad and who knows who or what else. They were able to oppose Adam and the Sifra, and the Sifra may be our enemies too. There's just too much to not be prepared for the worst." Tasha leeans back in her seat, arcing her head up as she stares somewhere beyond the shuttle, in to the sky. "I may try to bring the Source back with me. It's stuck here, too, and it faces the same end we seem to. I'm going to try to recruit it." A pause, then, "Three days if everything is perfect, five if it's rough, and if it's really rough I don't know."
"I'll be back at the Gateway spaceport in three days then," Gabriel notes. They weren't in the perfect spot in orbit to drop down to Gateway, but the shuttle can compensate for that at the expense of fuel. "Just keep in mind that whatever Hakeber found is information at least ten-thousand years old, if not older."
"What's ten thousand years to the gods? It's nothing. The Sifra have existed for millions of years and both the Progenitors and the Dark Beings may have no sense of time as we know it. Lord Yama seemed to think that now was important, though. He approved of me, and he said I was here when it matters. That I can act at just the right time when it matters. Now matters. I'm not taking any chances until I'm standing infront of Adam." Tasha looks down at herself, examining her fittings and making sure everything is in place. "Everything is beginning to move again. Coming in to place. He said so. The Sifra worlds are waking and House Khomen acted against our worlds. It's going to get worse."
The plasma outside the cockpit windows dies down, and the buffeting of thicker air is felt. The shuttle switches from spaceship mode to aircraft - although still a very fast aircraft, as it comes in on a low approach to Gateway. "I'm slowing us down as much as I dare," Gabriel says. "Don't want to look like a missile. Has the Source talked to you about any of this before?"
"Yes, it isn't always clear but there is a strong suggestion that their kind may feed on our kind. What we call souls, or whatever our essence is. I always thought it was strange they speak in many voice -- maybe that's because that's what they are. The voices they consumed." The cadte exhales raggedly, head shaking. "Everything else it said agrees with what I know. That's part of how I know."
"Besides," Tasha says, her hands opening and closing at her sides for wont of something dig in to. "The Proegnitors saved me. The record said an order was given to save the pilot. Not to kill Abaddon, to save the pilot. Someone ... no, many people have faith in me. I'm not going to let them down. I started this, I am going to end it. This is what I can do. I wanted to chase after something, well here it is." She rises, unfastening the belts as she walks towards the EVA pod, beginning the attachment.
"Let me just land," Gabriel says. "The Mauler is in port, and I can use it to hide behind when I set down. Lot less conspicuous than you falling out of the sky.. and also a lot faster."
"And people expect strange things from the Mauler," Tasha agrees. She releases the EVA, no longer needing it with a landing approaching, then walks to the cockpit. "They'll ask us what's going on. I'll handle it."
"Have the Titanians ever asked why you were doing something?" Gabriel asks.
"Well, not usually. But this is us flying at them in a shuttle," Tasha insists as she drops in to the second cockpit seat. "If they don't I'll still need to grab one of them. If I can't I want you to tell the Captain and Bumper what's going on, that we're going to be approaching the Hall of Souls very soon, and what I'm going to do. If things go badly I'd like them backing us up. Even a Khattan ship would think twice about tangling with them."
"They also take and hide dangerous technology and information, don't they?" Gabriel asks. "What do we do if they decide you are a dangerous artifact for talking to the Progenitors?"
Tasha bites her lip; it's something she'd considered as a possibility. The Titanians clean up the messes left by the ancient, and it's not a stretch to think of herself as just one more mess. She's tainted by a Harrower and the Progenitors have taken an interest in her. She managed to ally with the Niss and togther they were able to take the Dark Horse, something the Titanians definitely didn't expect. Captain Rushfighter is not in unenviable position of losing a major beacon in space and aiding someone actively digging in to, and associating with, powerful old beings and technology. He could decide to cut his losses and get rid of me, she thinks, but he's a good man. I hope my faith in him holds. And him, in me. But if not ...
"Then I hope the Source is with me and on my side. Otherwise, I pray," the cadet admits after a heavy silence.
"Let's not approach the Titanians with anything new, just yet," Gabriel suggests, as the silhouette of the still-under-construction life dome appears over the horizon.. and the huge, misshapen mass of the Dainty Mauler not far from it. "We still need them for transport, and Eli is stranded without them as well. They'll have noticed Bellerophon's launch, certainly - maybe they were even able to monitor our flight to the libration point. They probably know the hyperwave system is operating. In other words - they could seriously hurt us right now if they wanted to."
"I know. They always could. But I also know if they chose to hurt us, there won't be much we can do about it and still come out unscathed. I've seen the Mauler fight, I've met the crew and I know how experienced they are and how good they are at what they do. We can't stop them short of throwing everything we have at them. I can only hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does we can't hold back," Tasha urges Gabriel, turning to watch him with her ears back and expression strained. "We're coming to a point where we have to decide what will be. I want everyone to side with us, to end this for the good of us all. Like we did things here. But if they refuse, if all they're going to offer us is surrender or death, then I've already made my choice. I'll even order Harmonia to bombard the Mauler with antimatter weapons if it comes down to that."
Tasha looks back now, to the ruddy red sky and the approaching ship -- her friends. People she hope continue to ber her friends. "Friendliness. Diplomacy. Accord, then opposition. I don't want to lose my friends, but I don't want to lose you, Katie, Hake and everyoone else ... our chance ... even less. And I've chosen to at least believe in Adam and Horus until I know better."
"That'd be pretty bad for the Gateway settlement," Gabriel notes, slowing to what seems like a crawl after their previous speed. Still, the giant starship comes up fast. As usual, there's no activity on the side facing away from the settlement, and no radio challenge or any other reaction to the shuttle landing. Either nobody is looking - or nobody considers the shuttle a potential threat.
"I'd want to hold off until the Mauler was lifting off. If they think we're a threat they won't stay planetside where they're a big target. They'll come after us, where they can fight in the clear. They'd want to do it like we'd do it for the same reasons, I think." She stands again, held steady by her boots and by grasping her seat. "This is all just speculation anyway. We won't know what's what until it happens, and plans will change. They always change. I'm running on a lot of adrenaline now. I'll ... " Tasha blinks several times, takes a breath, then squeezes her grip on the chair. "I'll think of something. We'll be fine. We. Will. No one is going to die."
The pressure equalizes and the outer door opens, extending the landing stairs. "Three days," Gabriel reminds her. "If you aren't here, I'll be back in five. I'd prefer it if you were on board Belle when she lands, because I don't want to face Katherine if you aren't."
Tasha licks her lips, anxiety and more problems to deal with. "Katie ... " She breathes. What is she going to tell Katie? "I ... I can't dal with her right now. I have work to do ... I ... I'm going now." She turns then, walking towards the exit in a robotic, one-foot-infront-of-the-other pace. It's only at the airlock she pauses, remembering something. "I love you. Please forgive me."
Gabriel lifts off as soon as Tasha is clear. There are two options ahead of her - go around the Mauler, or go under it, since the bottom is a mishmash of structures.
Armor still pitch as night and armed and equipped as much as she might be, yet knowing she's going to have to walk right through populated areas anyway, the cadet decides to walk around. She has no idea what's under the ship and isn't about to risk her mission on stray radiation poisoning or immolation by an exhaust. She begins in to a jog, wondering if she shouldn't just take to the air -- but she's never flown closer to the Mauler either and again can't risk it.
Around the ship is the familiar 'carnival' of sorts. This time more literally, as the Titanians have set up amusement rides of varying levels of potential lethality. It may also just be a way to get patrons to vomit and have to buy fresh food all over again. Given that the Titanians rarely deal in currency it is a mystery as to what they charge for such entertainment.
Tasha always suspected barter was the Titanian's main income -- things they can't get in space or can trade elsewhere. She also knows they have a fondness for souvineers, trinkets and other oddities purely for their own collections -- something she dontated to once upon a time. It feels like ages ago, she reminises, even if its only been months. She thinks about that Tasha: angry, naive to the ways of politics, space, and things beyond. Just setting out, still confused if she was Nora or not. Her PersoCom called it a more 'innocent' her, which given the situation she now has to agree -- she's changed.
For the most part Tasha tries to skirt the festivities and avoid the patrons, making as much of a line towards the Tower and its support structures as she can. She isn't in a talking mood, she just wants to be past the gate and on her way as soon as possible and the stain of having to discuss the destruction of the people near her -- her friends -- feels like a mark on her forehead revealing all her failings as a person and a friend.
There is a large caravan waiting for the Gateway to open - a Khattan caravan, of course. And no Khattan merchant will risk going into potential Titanian ambushes without Vartan mercenary guards - even though the Offworld Legion is supposed to provide them with security. Their wagons are likely loaded down with refined metals and high-quality weapons.. and not a few hinges, nails and doorknobs. There isn't much Abaddon can provide Sinai aside from worked metal, at a slightly lower cost than making it from Iron Cliffs ore on the other side.
Khattans. Tasha's muzzle twists, even though she knows most Khattans on Sinai are just bog-standard citizens simply out to make a living and absolutely no threat to her. The other ones, well ... No way to know, she decides, but it's unlikely. She doesn't like that everything has become a threat, but as far as she can see there are many more dangers and much higher stakes than there ever have been, and she needs to be careful until she can ascertain where things stand and who is on her side. It makes an uneasy journey less pleasant, but she decides the caravaners are her best bet.
She looks for a Khattan that looks important, a caraven leader, or else a Vartan that seems to be directing the other guards.
It helps that the Vartans are in armor - fancy armor to boot. They may be there less for protection than for status. They're also all standing around together and drinking beer out of bottles.
Here we go, the hybrid preps herself. Armor and all she turns and makes her way directly for the group, thinking she may as well act as she always does. Sneaking about strikes her as likely to attarct more attention.
"Hoy," she greets the group in Vartan, hoping she doesn't sound rusty after speaking Standard so long, "you're with the caravan?" It's an unnecerssary qustion, but she hopes it opens doors.
"You win a beer for observation," the one in the fanciest armor notes, and does indeed hand Tasha a beer. "Are you a Vartan?" he asks.
"Half," Tasha says as she accepts the beer, then promptly hands it back, "I stole the other half from a Karnor because it was shinier. Also, on duty. Sorry. Drink it for me?"
"We all on duty," the guard notes. "This stuff isn't strong enough to make a difference. Abaddonian?"
"Hokay," she agrees. Tasha reaches out and tries to take the beer back, then. She cocks her head to the side, "Migth as well be Abaddonian these days, but I need to get to Sinai. There's, uh, something up north I need to look in to. Dangerous, so I'm in a hurry. Think I could join your group across? I can fight."
The guard looks her up and down, and says, "A bit short, not matter much if sitting down though. Got a helmet?"
Tasha thumbs back over her shoulder to her pack. "I'm loaded for problems, if that's what you want to know. I'll need to get ready before we head through -- just warn me a few minutes before? -- then I'll fall in line. I've been trained by the Knights, and others, so you don't need to worry about me."
"We sitting for a bit more, Gatekeepers are slow today," the man says. "But don't be too long.. we behind schedule already."
"I just need to get rid of a battery. I'll be right back." Tasha inclines her head to the guard and takes herself and her new beer away from the group and then aay from the crowds. She finds a nice spot a good twenty feet from any buildings and covered with nothing but common red Abaddonian dirt, then punches in input on her arm. "Good bye easy walking," she bids her suit's assist fair well, then after another series of more complex entries she reaches behind herself and with one final press ejects the batter. She pulls it around and stares at it uncomfortably; it was just such a battery that melted her left hand, burned her face and nearly killed her. "Lets do this the safe way this time," she tells herself, then, after manipualting the battery's own controls, tosses it a good ten feet away and shields her eyes.
Luckily, the battery falls into one of the many open crevasses near the Gateway - this is still a volcanic zone, after all. It may even have fallen into exposed magma. Either way, the crack is deep enough to hide whatever happens - sudden bursts of steam and gas aren't unusual here.
Tasha lowers her arm, but not all the way. She squints, waits, waits some more until she's finally satisfied. Letting out a breath, she turns and heads back, nuring her beer along the way.
The caravan is beginning to line up now, and guards are spaced evenly along the line, with the leader on the lead cart. One of the others waves Tasha over to one of the tailing wagons.
Tasha takes this as a pre-arranged sign, walking over and falling in line as indicated. "I hope I'm not too late," she murmurs as she watches the line ahead.
"You'll be sitting in the last wagon," the guard notes, pointing it out to Tasha. "Nobody goes through on foot.. if you get dizzy and fall, you can be trampled."
"I see," goes Tasha, who backs up and then turns to make her way to the wagon. She fishes her helmet out, not concerned about vomitting nor blacking out, then stuffs it under her arm for later. With that done she hops up, scoot-scooting until she's well seated.
The Khattan driver does not look like a prince or merchant. He looks like someone that drives a wagon, and probably cleans up after the Dromodons. He doesn't seem that interested in his companion, or much of anything.
The lack of interest is fine for the cadet, in no rush to come up with more half-truths and suspicion than she absolutely needs to. She can't quite shake off the feeling that the situation is far too banal given the circumstances, unable to quite mesh the peaceful, even boring caravan and day-to-day trade activities with revelations of genocide, gods and conspiracies. Even as she sits beside the half-awake drover she feels like she's in another world full of ghosts, or that maybe she's the ghost, a phantom-being in the guise of a young woman, yet something stranger beneath. Something that doesn't fit.
The wagons move, and the train makes its short-yet-far journey between worlds. There's the usual distortion and dizziness from the Gateway, followed by the heat and dryness of the Himaat. It's also then that Tasha notices a third person on the bench who wasn't there before. "Welcome home, Tasha," the ghost of Blackwings says, and puts an arm around the girl's shoulders. "So.. have you learned Aelfin yet?"
The drover beside Tasha is treated to an exceptionally exasperated sigh as the young woman slumps back against her seat, feeling as if one more pile of straw has been dumped on the camel's back -- and she doesn't even catch the slip of using an animal she's never seen from a world she's never stepped foot on. "Not you too," she sighs, exasperated, head shaking but inwardly perversely glad for the company of a woman even more vile than she feels. Realizing too late she's probably being looked at funny, she spits out a, "I forgot to learn Aelfin," in a half-assed attempt to cover herself and settles in for having her peaceful, out of place ride disturbed by evil spirit and more reminders at just how strange her world has become.