Old datascroll found in House Edelving.

Chapter one.

This is the tale of the five heroes, let forever their names be blessed. Ryna Dadida Edelving and his steed, Flamebringer. Noble Jurnog nele Forrageeh and her mount Saltwater. Musin of Bakbak am Komf with the Spirit of Spite. N.O.R.A. (Nominal Operating Response Assistant) the NHP assigned to Aura and the flock of machine drones. The last was Ella and Polaris, bloodsworn to Ryna and protector of Flamebringer.

On the evening of the 18th day of the second month in the year of Starfish when the moons were both dark, with neither Riversong nor Firedark visible on the night sky. The stars were cold and distant, hidden beneath rolling clouds. It was too early for frost in the grass.

It began with a single line in the sky. It could have been a large piece of machinery, having fallen from the in-orbit satellite construction platform. In the days of expansion, such happenstances were uncommon, but known to happen by accident. Alas, it was not so.

The line split. First into two, then into four, then into eight. Another line, far away, appeared before it too began to split up. Always in eight. Light followed them as they burned into the atmosphere.

One line of eight fell around Fjellheim.

Another around Bakbak am Komf.

And a third towards Bitterhause.

The war had come to Danslo, and with it, the landing of the Sky Demons.

Of the five, only Ryna Dadida Edelving knew what would happen if they failed to rally the forces and defend the capital. He and Ella, veteran LANCER pilots, had fought with the enemy before. They stood with Fjellheim and the basin. And with them stood Jurnog nele Forrageeh with her Calendula mech Saltwater. Untested in battle, but brave in spirit, and united in cause.

Amongst the clans, Musin did not lead the charge against the invaders, but when he returned, he did so alone, bearing not only news, but also information. Information that lead to the construction of Spirit of Spite and a dozen other Manticores. Because of Musin, Bakbak am Komf was saved from total annihilation, and the surviving warriors, united in purpose once more, marched South to do battle with the enemy.

From Bitterhause there was no word sent, but three days after the initial landing of the invaders, a single representative arrived at the city of Fjellheim. It was an NHP piloted mech and a host of drones, all under the command of the entity that called itself NORA. The mech and the host of drones all had names, yet only NORA knew them all, and spoke only of a few of them.

Five heroes, united for the first time on the remains of the still-burning fields before Fjellheim.

The valiant Ryna Didadi Edelving and fiery Flamebringer, bringing fire and flame to the enemy.

The noble Jurnog nele Forrageeh, the last of her broken branch, and knightly Saltwater, provider of song and comfort.

The bloodsworn Ella and blood dripping Polaris, drowning foes in rivers of blood.

The entity NORA inside Aura and the host of named drones, flying through the air clad in metal.

The clanless Musin who took no title and the Spirit of Spite, sparkling with the rage of the very earth beneath.

Not a single first landing Sky Demon returned after setting foot on Danslo.

What came next is the day forever remembered as the Day of the Sky Demons as the second invasion force was deployed.

The Dark Side of the Rabbit

Marked. Forever. Not too painful. Found my name in a fantasy book: Sheriff Willidrud Raganhildis was she so called. Funny, that.

Bunnies jumping around on the floor searching for baked goods with raisins. Mild nose bumps.

In the land of the itching cream is king. Last day, last evening meal, last night, first shared insomnia. Talk about love and the soft hop-hop of bunnies reaches your ears instantly.

"Such people lack intellectual nuance."

One great insult.

The bunnies demanded outside pen time at their usual hour. Only I and them awake. Feeding time must wait.

Khas-khem, 19, location unknown. (A LANCER story.)

Light.

That is the first thing Khas-khem realized was absent. She opened her eyes. Dark. Silent. She closed her eyes again. Listen.

Her body's own sounds where there. Heartbeat, pulse, breathing, the soft touch of linen underneath her fingers. Was she naked? No. That was strange. Dead? No, her body seemed to be working. She made fists of her fingers and curled her toes, releasing short and staccato exhales. She had control. She was in control. Good.

Relaxing into the linen, she began the warrior mantra. She was Khas-khem of the Yellow Sands clan, swimmer of the Red River, born and breed to be a protector of the land. Was this her trial? Had she been taken to the Fortress of Fire already? Was that not too soon?

Slow breathing in and out. Stretch out her limbs, uncurl her fingers and spread them out. The absence of light was annoying. Listen. No sounds but those she made herself.

A voice spoke.

"Sun Stealer."

Not too dark or high pitched, but a man for certain. Neither old nor young. Definitely not a warrior. A priest?

The voice continued.

"You have been chosen. I will guide you. I know you have questions, but listen, and do not interrupt."

The man paused, waiting for her reaction. Khas-khem kept silent, trying to determine where the voice was coming from. 

"I am not of your clan. I am not a warrior, nor a priest. I am what remains of Musim, long departed from this world."

Musim? Lancer pilot, legend, the reason the Southlings had not marched against Bakbak am Komf in anger. Everybody knew his tale. Was this a hologram?

"As you by now probably have guessed, I am a machine copy. I was made before my namesake did battle for the lordlings in the South. I am an echo of what was before, and I will guide you if you accept the burden of walking my path."

Khas-khem became very still. Lancer pilot. Only the very best of the best were selected, and the competition was fierce. But sending a warrior, gene-altered and structure-tailored... could they afford to sacrifice one of the Sans-sens-silt? So few had made it past the second organ implementation in her batch.

"Sun Stealer. I address you as a pilot. If you accept to this role, your life will be forever changed. You may never return to Bakbak am Komf and your clan. Your name will be forgotten, deedless. You will forever walk alone outside the embrace of the holy four. The Grateful Hate will chase your steps, the Drowning Despair will reach for you, the Forgotten Silence shun your shade, and the Consumer will try to claim your karta. It is a lonely life, full of peril and danger. You will struggle and fail, or rise to eclipse the Warm of Wrath herself. Do you accept this life?"

Khas-khem considered this. Leaving the others behind when there were so few of them left... Musin had not told her she could speak. In the dark she made the hand signal for "halt". The voice spoke again.

"Do you have questions? If so, you may speak them."

"What will happen to my blood-bonded?" Her voice sounded throaty and coarse in her ears, nothing like the melodious tone of Musim.

"They will continue on without you, as if you had died."

"Will there be a ceremony?"

"No. You will leave without warning. The customary answer will be given."

'Sailing the river of stars', Khas-khem thought. A sharp pain went through her heart.

"Why 'Sun Stealer'?"

"After the fall of the biological Musim, the Southlings gave him a title. Furious, his followers threatened to rebel and depart. The Southlings conceded and allowed the people the right to name their own. However, as Musin was dead, no title could be bestowed upon him. Whenever we send a potential pilot South to the lordlings for training, we equip them with a title, as to never let this happen again."

Khas-khem understood instantly. Titles were for the living, to offer one to the dead was to gain the attention of the dead, distracting them from the afterlife. She never expected she would have one herself.

"I accept."

Light. Blinding, all surrounding. Cold. There was no warmth in the light.

"Then welcome, Sun Stealer, to your new life. Your training begins immediately."

Celeste Lockwood, aka "Hammerhead", Dark Howler, Hell's Asshole.

Hell's Asshole. Appropriate name for a backwater out in the middle of nowhere. Way too hot, far too few bars, all glaring sunshine and no roses, even thorny ones. Celeste popped the seal of her mech, letting the cooled vacuum that existed inside hiss away into the open sky. Ah, well, that would have to been added once she was underway again. Thank fuck for cooling units and air condition units. She grinned. The Dark Howler had both, more as a byproduct of all the heat sinks built into it. A reverse fridge effect: hot on the inside, cool on the outside. Well, outside being the inside of her mech, so the analogy didn't work perfectly. Ah, shit on a stick, nothing was ever perfect.

The wide brimmed hat shielded her eyes as she gazed out into the desert. Heat was shimmering on the ground and blurring the horizon. It always did this time of day. Why Markus had said he'd be there and picked this spot was anybody's guess. If Celeste had to guess, it was because it was out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and no sane individual would travel this far into the desert without provisions, a good plan on how to get out again and an even better reason to be here in the first place. She shrugged. Markus could keep his reasons as long as she was payed for the job.

A soft hum, almost a buzz, alerted her of an approaching mech. Too far off to see clearly, but loud enough to be man made. Celeste grinned. Markus was early.

Except it wasn't Markus. It was a Horus mech. Shitfuck and dumdump.

The thing had four legs, two arms and - horns? Horns on a mech? What the shitfuck? Yeah, that was a HORUS mech, all right, nobody else would think of putting horns on a mech. Moving fast, the bastard was, too. Celeste cursed again and quickly closed the hatch, sealing it tightly, flipping the switch that told the machinery to pretty please make it livable inside again. She had just thrown herself into the cockpit seat when...

"Hey, Hammerhead. That you?"

Celeste froze. Who the fuckshit just burst into people's coms? And how? The Dark Howler wasn't properly powered up yet, and coms had been offline.

"C'mon, Hammerhead. I know you're in there, you money grubbing grabbing wench, you."

Huh. So it was Markus, after all. In a Horus mech. Celeste checked her right hand. Nope, still nine fingers, mus'nt be dreaming. Slowly she grabbed the still-off microphone of the com station, looking at it with curious disgust before speaking into it.

"Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you just fine, Hammerhead. Don't worry, nobody around to tell you got hacked."

The voice came through loud and clear. Crystal. No static or background noise at all. Strange. Very, very strange.

"Hacked? Yeah, right. You got my gold?"

"Do you have my package?"

"I've got your package if you've got my gold."

"And I have your gold if you've got my package. C'mon, Hammerhead, ease up a little. Look, I'll exit first, carrying a big black box - that's your money, by the way - and then you can leave your crawling chaos whenever you feel like meeting me."

"All right - Markus."

The com station blinked online. Stickfuck on a dumpstick. Useless. Well. Coming out seemed scary, now.

The underbelly (underbelly? Had she really thought of it as the underbelly of a beast? It was a mech. A HORUS mech, but still a mech, and not alive.) hatch opened and a humanoid figure stepped out into the glaring sunlight. Grinning like an idiot, shades in place, three-day stubble, sandblast hair, dressed in brownish and greased working fatigues, carrying what looked like a mix between a chest and a briefcase. A heavy looking briefcase. Gold was heavy.

Celeste looked around inside. Where had she stashed the item? Rummaging through her spare items/junk draw her hands touched a cylinder six inches wide. Even wrapped in cloth it had this faint pink-purple-magenta glow to it. Probably dangerous. Dangerously stupid, or stupidly dangerous, considering who wanted it. Or maybe just stupid. Dumshit for sure, and dumshit her had been carrying that thing in the open. Had Markus said it was safe to touch? He had not not said it wasn't. Celeste grabbed the thingie and showed it into a pack. Outdoors again.

The seal of the mech hissed again as the climate control paused automatically - no use pumping cool air into an open casket. Funny word, that, casket. Celeste climbed up and out, bracing herself as her feet hit the sand. Markus stood there, maybe thirty or forty feet away from his machine. Even in the sunlight it looked - menacing. Beastlike. If it started making cow noises that was it for Celeste, money or no money.

Markus put down the briefcase/chest, giving it a soft thump as he placed a foot on top of it. Celeste opened the pack. It had a hole in it, a tattered hole. Some of the stitching must had come loose again. Time to grab another one back in town.

"One TTS 19 power ultra super container for personal use. Want me to put it down, or do you want to play catch?"

"Too valuable. Put it down, nice and easy, and we'll circle around, me to it, you to this." Markus patted the black chest/briefcase with his boot. "No double crossing, no tricks, just a simple exchange of goods and payment."

Celeste put the pack down. There was no hint of a glow, pink-purple-magenta or otherwise. She knelt down to open up the flap, revealing the item Markus had tasked her with getting. She could sense his stickdumb grin widening.

"Excellent. Move to the left, I'll do the same."

Celeste got up and started walking to the left.

"No, your other left."

Celeste sighed, rolled her eyes and started heading back to her other left. Only then Markus began to move, mirroring her pace.

Five minutes later the air conditioning and cooling units blasting full force as the Dark Howler rolled away from the meeting spot, one black chest/big briefcase with gold richer. Time to buy some upgrades, a shower and a shave, maybe a massage, and for fuck's sake a new backpack - the old one had ripped and teared in two as Markus had picked it up. Dumfuck had nearly lost his precious item and yelped, having barely caught it in time. Not her fault, that.

August vacation notes.

No issues with luggage this time. Love how every other Friday is sea shanties and pirate music now, and that the entire S&S crew are doing it. A strange and unexpected, but welcome unity. Guzzling sparkling water, listening to AI rock, reading image books for children in Deutsch - life is good. Ich spechen Deutsch das Klingon Weg!

Seine Sticks verwirbeln stumm,

Staub und Dreck um ihn herum,

Bumm bumm tschakk und tschakk tschakk bumm,

nu für sich, kein Publikum!"

Indoor breeze is the best in shade.

CSD in Frankfurt. Wore a hat. Eat Indian. Party in the evening.

Sunday: sleep, more sleep, nap time, much resting, Thai chicken and pineapple sweet and sour, outdoor evening walk (WARM).

Spice sick. Nursing duty. "It's a thing, about the fact..." Books came. Thunder and lightning and wet laundry, because heavy rain. House Edelving created.

Phantasia Land. Largest new car ride to date. Why is there a dragon in Berlin? Feeding bees. Glad for wearing trousers. Danslo taking form. River Quest: Soaking wet. Much laughter.

Something changed. No dogs with tentacles, please. The German countryside is beautiful. Kebab with lamb.

Mech ideas and compositions contemplated. Vacation photo taken. Kashkin/Kasrkin? Big day tomorrow. "Of all the men  the drunkard is the foulest.  The thief when he is not stealing is like another. The extortioner does not practice in the home. The murderer when he is at home can wash his hands. But the drunkard stinks and vomits in his own bed and dissolves his organs in alcohol." (Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls.)

No confirmation of dog, child or sleepover. Prep work smooth. Outfit fancy level lowered to practical summer wear. (Still looking very nice, of course.) When you walk past the bunnies and they ignore you, you know you are accepted by them. Dress makes me feel like a Star Trek the Original Series woman in uniform. Party went well: old friends, new friends, friends made at the party, friendly not-quite-friends-yet. Sausage jokes, none eaten.

Lovely morning after and relaxed (late) beginning of the Sunday. Righteously bragging to my people and my group. Good feedback, too. Slow day.

Vacation but daily life task day.

The golden age of leather rang the doorbell. Delightful smell. Grimm brothers birth city visited. Homemade Italian evening meal (not pasta nor pizza).

Spice sick. LANCER art and creativity. Cultural background assumed the same proven incorrect.

Long uncomfortable night of scratching.

Please do not throw the snot paper into the bunny pen. The fruitbat, accompanied by much swearing, went under the bed. Lots o' Helluva Boss. Owlin Wizard, Divination.

Journey back.

Kihn-Ae le'Foergee, 18, Kalterborn Academy, planetside Danslo, Tantssvir system. (A LANCER STORY.)

 Kihn-Ae le'Foergee remembered the first time she experienced rain. It was the first time she had been planetside. Stepping out of the shuttle, taking a deep breath, feeling the water hitting her face, taking note of how different it was. The smell, the texture, the strange freshness of it. Kihn-Ae, having spent her entire life up to this point aboard a space station, the Zemler Hold Starbase on Firedark, felt foreign to this world. If such a small thing as water from the sky hitting your face, what else was in store for her down here?

The journey from Yellow Chair Landing was uneventful. Kihn-Ae would have described it differently. The vast open space, the color of the sky and the ground, the sound the rain made against the shuttle before it took off, all unfamiliar to her. Sooner than she expected they were flying over Fjellheim, the capitol of Danslo, where the Kalterborn Academy was located. It would be her home for the next year or so. Assuming she survived.

As the day came to an end Kihn-Ae felt tired, both inside and the outside. The gravity of the planet was a bit more than first expected - her muscles were screaming from the pull and additional wear and tear. As for information, the constant bombardment of sensory input seeking to overwhelm her. She knew training would be hard. She was already standing out due to her height. Most spaceborn were tall and could be described as lanky, but she was far from spindly, having been trained since childhood to be able to step on planets without artificial aid. Slim and sleek underneath her matt black clothing, unruly dark brown hair, piercing green eyes, and an expression that gave resting bitch face a new interpretation - Kihn-Ae knew she was not beautiful, but beauty had never been her goal. Form and function over aesthetics. Practical. Just as her heraldry would be - pure black.

The le'Foergee family was not considered proper nobility. An off-shoot from the now extinct nele Forrageeh bloodline, her ancestors had been in charge of building what eventually would become the Zemler Hold Starbase. Back then it had been Lightbase 1 to 8. Before the Bombardment. Before the attempted invasion. Now only Zelmer Hold Starbase stood where Lightbase 4 had once been, named for the man who hold the line against the invaders. A local, a simple man, not of the blood, had risen and taken control of the defenses. His sacrifices had let the few remaining people to hold out on Firedark as one by one, the other Lightbases grew dark and unresponsive. His daughter married the son of the last member of house nele Forrageeh, and declared that their descendants would forever hold the name le'Foergee and be considered apart from the main bloodline. At the time there was no longer any prominent house nele Forrageeh members alive to object.

Kihn-Ae wondered if anybody outside of scholars even remembered house nele Forrageeh. Her fellow students would not care, and to them she was simply Blacklight. 

Celestine Nenano foij gerr Edelving, 17, Kalterborn Academy, Fjellheim, Danslo, Tantssvir system. (A LANCER STORY.)

The woman woke before sunrise. Celestine - not yet fully awake, still thought of herself as Celestine - stretched, her toes accidentally hitting the end of the bed. With a start, the woman known as Half-Cat opened her eyes, a sour frown spreading over her face. She had to start thinking about herself as Half-Cat. Celestine would have awakened back in her private quarters in Kneip Castle, overlooking the morning-sun side of Fjellheim. If she was lucky, she could have seen the first rays of sunlight hit the mountain Kneip Castle was built into, rising to bathe the walls of stone with glittering light. Even on an overcast day she could spot the moment the sun would have filled her windows with light, as the room itself changed subtly. Half-Cat didn't have any windows in her room, nor was it her room. These quarters were shared with her fellow classmates, all potential graduates of Kalterborn Academy. Half-Cat groaned softly to herself. She hated to share a room with anybody, and they were 27 in total: 16 women and 11 men, 13 from the provinces, 11 from the city proper, two from Zemler Hold Starbase and one from Bakbak am Komf. Sons and daughters of the nobility, most of them landless and obscure branches far from the main bloodlines, more than willing to pour their young at the alter of sacrifice for the state and crown. Only Half-Cat herself was a proper member of House Edelving, and her family branch was not even close to the true power. Nevertheless, she was a member of House Edelving, born of the blood, the highest ranking of her class. Not that it brought her special privileges. In fact, it served as the complete opposite - she had to prove herself twice as hard as everybody else because she was of the old and ancient blood. The last time an Edelving had failed to graduate from the Kalterborn Academy it had resulted in exile, and not just for the unlucky candidate. Dying as part of the training was acceptable, as people did perish from time to time, for any number of reasons. Half-Cat did not intend to become one of them.

Her eyes having adjusted to the darkness of the room, she rolled out of bed, feet on the stone floor. At least that was familiar. The sounds of near thirty people snoring and moaning, breathing and turning, asleep or trying to, would never not become unnatural for her. Thrown together in a barracks as common serfs, all for the sake of proper teambuilding. That was the official reason her instructors had stated, but Half-Cat was sure there was more too it. Three unofficial couples had already formed, and the fourth and the fifth were in the making. Bonding over the shared toil of hardship, the makings of an exemplar, a hunter or maybe even an infiltrator. Not for her. She was expected to fill the position of the leader, for better or worse.

None of her classmates had tried to kill her in her sleep - yet. Honor duels were forbidden, and may Passacaglia come back to shield you if you got caught causing the death of another student. Brawls and minor skirmishes were fine up to a point - the Academy guards kept close eyes on potential and established rivals. Since a spot in the shadows was denied her, she had to relay on her words and allies. Alas, none of the other houses were particularly indebted house Edelving, and Celestine - no, HALF-CAT - had learned that it was lonely on the top. A group of three, all from the same province, also tied by blood and house, were potential allies, staying so far from the intricate politics of Fjellheim. Perhaps they considered associating with her as a means of carrying favor. When they finally did decide to approach her, should she be honest of her place in the hierarchy, or be vague on purpose? She had to make up her mind and quick.

Luckily, she did have other options. The short one from Zemler Hold Starbase had displayed some interest of getting closer, and the Green River clan-member from Bakbak am Komf continued to look at her with eyes of naked ambition. Either of them would do well as a bond-mate, having displayed skills in close quarter combat already. Not the top of the class, but enough for her needs as a muscle to her mind. Not that her form was frail, her strengths simply lay in her words and her brain rather than her body. The physical training of the Academy had relieved her of anything not already hardened and trimmed when she got here. Despite being more petite and slim, Half-Cat knew she could punch above her weight.

The sounds of the room was changing. More people were waking up. She turned to look at the bed next to hers where Dillan slept soundly, Krau with an arm draped over his chest. At least they had been quick last night and not kept her from sleep longer than needed with their panting and moaning and groaning and... Half-Cat sighed. It was natural for people to form bonds, she reminded herself, and if sex kept your bond-mate close it was worth it. The fact that all of them were teenagers, the youngest just having passed 16 and the older ones on cusp of 19, most bodies filled with hormones natural or concocted in a lab, all of them prime physical and mental specimen of their bloodlines made sex a constant and ever-present contender. While it was considered gauge and faux par to form a bond with a house or bloodline not favorably viewed by your own, it was tolerated for the purpose of bringing the ruling elite of Danslo closer together and reinforce the understanding that while they remained planet side, internal politics matter - but out there, in space and inside a mech, you were just another nobody from a backwater planet not worth mentioning in the same breath as the favorite pet of the youngest child of the major house yours served. Perspective mattered, and so it was important to think ahead, long term, not just here and now. There was, after all, a life awaiting once you graduated from Kalterborn.

Half-Cat rose as silently as she could and tiptoed over to the washing bin by the door. Some serf had already changed the water, fresh from the river, freezing cold to the touch. The cold didn't bother Half-Cat. Better to have early access instead of having to struggle for a splash of water rushing to class, late already. No, get up early, take your time, observe and calculate, plan for the day, that was her way.

A shadow moved next to the door and became a shape. Taller than her, short hair, strong arms coming out of the darkness with grasping hands, as claws of the sky-demons made manifest, searching for her. Half-Cat knew in instant this was a fight she would lose. Grabbing the water basin she sloshed half of it over herself, causing wetness, hoping it would make her slippery, before using it as a shield to smash into the hands. A howl made muffled by clasping teeth and a shut mouth revealed that her attacker had high pitched voice. Either girl or gelded, and that did not help her right now. Keeping the basin between herself and the enemy - she had to think of this person as an enemy, not a fellow classmate, not a nobleborn - she rotated until she had her back to the door. Water dripped from her sleepwear, adding to the already spreading pool on the floor. Time to play it big.

With a half-thrust, Half-Cat feinted an attack, causing her enemy to take a step back. Then she threw the basin as hard as she could into the stone floor. It shattered in broken pieces with a clashing noise, causing several of the sleepers to jolt awake. Now the battlefield had changed. Voices of confusion filled the room, some angry, some upset, some scared. It did not matter. Half-Cat stepped forward, biting her teeth together as she stepped on a sharp piece of the destroyed water basin, sweeping her leg out, low and quick, to drop her attacker. With a second clash, Makmet hit the floor, surprised as Half-Cat rammed a handful of debris in her face, a yell of pain as pointy shards poked her eye out. With a roll, Half-Cat was out of reach, on her feet, backing away. The light turned on. Makmet's screams of anguish blended in and dominated the room, drawing attention. Footsteps outside the door, running, boots. Blood mixed with the water on the floor, pink against the white stone. She looked up, trying to spot a friendly face out of those approaching.

Dillan, Krau in tow, stepped around Makmet and put an arm around her. She shook it off, casting a glare at him colder than any river water could ever hope to reach. Krau's grey eyes widened as she pulled Dillan back a step. The boy had reacted with care and affection, and some part of Half-Cat appreciated that, but it made her look weak in the eyes of the others. Krau understood. Makmet stopped screaming and began gurgling. Fresh blood was sprayed in a coughing fit. Some of it hit Half-Cat's naked feet.

One thing was certain. Neither Makmet nor her classmates would forget this.