Weyr
26-04-2005, 04:55
Prologue: Commencement
WYe City
Central Pacific
Terra
It was a drizzly day, and the clocks in the command center were showing eight. Technicians came and went, updating reports, bringing messages too important to be transmitted via the Net. High King Kira li'Starhavven stood beside General Markowitz, supreme commander of the Weyrik Self-Defense Force, watching the holoprojection of the battlefield around Wye City. It was not the bloodiest field in the world, but it had taken millions of lives in four years nonetheless. How many had died at Paradigm and how many were just so much dust floating on orbit, was another matter. There were no monuments proper for commemorating two billion missing or dead. The High King did not dwell on the past, not this time. She listened quietly, seemingly not breathing, until much of the command center's staff had forgotten she as there.
"Sir, they're withdrawing."
"Targets out of synch range."
"Lady's grace, we did it," Major Lina Irtayel whispered from behind the King.
"Siegrad reports hostiles out of range."
"Cannon seven out of range."
"Milady, this looks like a full withdrawal. Should we peruse?" General Markowitz inquired, turning in his chair to face the King. He seemed the only one to remember her. The King did not mind; it showed the soldiers were more interested in their duty than in protocol. Protocol was something best left for the civilized world, and thus out of the warzone that had engulfed so much of what was already being referred to as the First Distributed Kingdom of Weyr.
"No, general," Kira responded. "Let them go."
"Geostat function's been restored!"
"On main," the general commanded instantly. There had been to satellite reception over eastern Weyr since the start of the war, four years ago and in what seemed to be another word entirely. For the first time they would be getting a look at the 'occupied' section of the FDK.
"Looks like we have a new mountain range, general," Lina chuckled, as the holoprojection changed.
"I don't believe it, we've finally won," someone whispered.
"Believe it," the High King patted the technician on the back. "We've survived."
****
There were still fireworks going off down in the city; she could see little flares blossom where rockets lanced into the darkening sky. Rumble of guns carried through the twilight air, firing a salute that would light up the island for a night and a day. She liked the upper battlements of the Tower of Kings. No one ever came up here, and midget trees and growth were slowly making their way between the ancient eternastone blocks that formed much of the slender spire.
"We won, Fir," she said quietly, hearing his footsteps, his slightly laboured breathing. He was in good shape; a thousand steps didn't bother him, it seemed. "At least, I think we've won. I don't know what we won, but it's gotta be better than the past, right? Otherwise, why did we bother? If the past was better than the future, why do we always go for the unseen? We know what everything we did results in. Why do we keep poking the universe? We've killed enough people to make a new continent, and we still do it because, I don't know, we just do it. There's no reason for us to make new ships. There's no one who can compete with the translation drives we've had a hundred years ago, but Sirra just dumped twenty billion in a new project. This didn't have to happen. We could've just sat behind our walls, and lived on, and colonized new planets, maybe even left this system once again. We didn't need to waste ten million lives on that piece of shit," she waved her hand in the direction of the new mountain range, rust-red in the light of the setting sun. "I know what I said. It wasn't needed. We could've survived, just sat with better defenses and lost not a single life."
"Do you really think that?" Fir crouched beside her, looking at the lights of Wye City glimmering below, then at her. She was never like this. What had happened in that tent. They had all seen her level the staff, and incinerate the demon leader, but what had really occurred? He wasn't sure. He was right beside her, and he wasn't sure. Neither were the remnant of the Mormegil, as far as he could tell.
"I...." she tried, avoiding his eyes. She looked at the Weyrika insignia on his black uniform armor. "No. Maybe," she shook her head. "I don't know."
"Then why do you ask if it was worth it?"
"Because...because it could've been different. We could've done something," she to stop all this."
"Could we have? I don't know either. But, for what it matters, at least we are free from a million angry demons," he smiled.
"Don't call them demons, please," she glanced at him for a moment, quickly turned her eyes back to the dark plain beyond the city's bounds.
"What should I call them?" he blinked. She never got this angry this fast before, either.
"I don't know, but they're not demons. They're just people, maybe different, but still just people. They've been lied to, and abused, and shoved across the world, but they're people all the same."
"Maybe."
"No maybes, Fir. I know they're just like us. They're what we could've become, would've become if we'd wanted to take out our anger on the world." How could she explain what she had feltthere. Felt, that was the word. She hadn't seen it, or heard it, but felt the reasons for the why and how of this entire mess, for two centuries of pointless fighting. They were driven by the same thing that had caused the First Civil War, until now. She hoped the bastard was gone, but wasn't sure. The Staff wasn't a weapon, had never been meant to be a weapon, no matter how often mortals invoked it as one.
"I wouldn't have become like that."
"Yes, you would've," she turned to him once more. Of course you would have, I would have, too. All of us have it in us. "Except that instead of spears and morphs we would've had terraton cannon and stinkbombs."
"Do you really think we are so alike as to destroy the world for no reason?"
"Do you know their reason?" Kira turned sharply.
"Look," he sighed. "Why don't you tell me."
"Alright. Okay. Really?"
"No, I probably wont get it," he laughed softly. "I am sure they have their reasons, whatever they are. So what do we do now?"
"Will you marry me?"
"Do you promise not to nag all the time?"
"Only part of the time," she squeezed against him. "See, they're actually.....I guess.....they're....well....." it felt so nice to just sit here, the two of them, high above the world. The River Wye vanished into the south; flowers blossomed below and before them; city lights glowed warmly. She wished she could be here all day, with Fir all to herself. "Well," she tried again. "They're us. They're one of the parts of Cloudhavven, the one in the Book of Twilight, thrown into another world and left for themselves...."
***
Chapter 1: Ceremony
"And to conclude the day's news, the High King has announced a date for the official ascension. Timing it with the celebration of the sunreturn festival, the first in four years, Kira li'Starhavven ahs made sure that the ceremony will recieve plenty of publicity. The Octagonal council has voiced its support for the young King, the first aspirant to the Staff of Twilight since the disappearance of High King Alicia li'Starhavven nearly two hundred years ago. Foreign dignitaries may have been invited, although the actual attendance roster...."
Subject == Ascension (Coronation)
Source == FDK.OHK.cnt
Destination == FL.All
Encrypt == none
With the war in the Kingdom finally over, the time has come for the First Distributed Kingdom to
She threw out the draft, and tried another. This was definitely not going well. She didn't want to sit here, writing a letter no one except maybe a low ranking secretary was going to read, when she could be getting drunk off her ass outside, amidst the millions across the small isle in the central pacific celebrating their first ever victory against an enemy of any size and, more importantly, celebrating their continued existence despite repeated attempts by said enemy to wipe Weyr off the map. High King Kira li'Starhavven, for that was her title even if it was not technically official yet, was fairly sure she would get to get as drunk as she wanted later. She sighed, and tried to concentrate, as a slight wind caressed her unkempt crimson hair, carrying with it the tinge of yesterday's little rain.
"This....screw it," she reread the text on her screen. "Good enough." No doubt Foreign Minister Gibbs would read it and add corrections to it anyway. It wan't the greatest piece of international correspondence ever written, but it would do. If a foreign dignitary wanted to come to Kira's ascension to the throne, or the Staff, as it was properly called, they could, and she had at least invited anyone who wished to attend the celebrations.
WYe City
Central Pacific
Terra
It was a drizzly day, and the clocks in the command center were showing eight. Technicians came and went, updating reports, bringing messages too important to be transmitted via the Net. High King Kira li'Starhavven stood beside General Markowitz, supreme commander of the Weyrik Self-Defense Force, watching the holoprojection of the battlefield around Wye City. It was not the bloodiest field in the world, but it had taken millions of lives in four years nonetheless. How many had died at Paradigm and how many were just so much dust floating on orbit, was another matter. There were no monuments proper for commemorating two billion missing or dead. The High King did not dwell on the past, not this time. She listened quietly, seemingly not breathing, until much of the command center's staff had forgotten she as there.
"Sir, they're withdrawing."
"Targets out of synch range."
"Lady's grace, we did it," Major Lina Irtayel whispered from behind the King.
"Siegrad reports hostiles out of range."
"Cannon seven out of range."
"Milady, this looks like a full withdrawal. Should we peruse?" General Markowitz inquired, turning in his chair to face the King. He seemed the only one to remember her. The King did not mind; it showed the soldiers were more interested in their duty than in protocol. Protocol was something best left for the civilized world, and thus out of the warzone that had engulfed so much of what was already being referred to as the First Distributed Kingdom of Weyr.
"No, general," Kira responded. "Let them go."
"Geostat function's been restored!"
"On main," the general commanded instantly. There had been to satellite reception over eastern Weyr since the start of the war, four years ago and in what seemed to be another word entirely. For the first time they would be getting a look at the 'occupied' section of the FDK.
"Looks like we have a new mountain range, general," Lina chuckled, as the holoprojection changed.
"I don't believe it, we've finally won," someone whispered.
"Believe it," the High King patted the technician on the back. "We've survived."
****
There were still fireworks going off down in the city; she could see little flares blossom where rockets lanced into the darkening sky. Rumble of guns carried through the twilight air, firing a salute that would light up the island for a night and a day. She liked the upper battlements of the Tower of Kings. No one ever came up here, and midget trees and growth were slowly making their way between the ancient eternastone blocks that formed much of the slender spire.
"We won, Fir," she said quietly, hearing his footsteps, his slightly laboured breathing. He was in good shape; a thousand steps didn't bother him, it seemed. "At least, I think we've won. I don't know what we won, but it's gotta be better than the past, right? Otherwise, why did we bother? If the past was better than the future, why do we always go for the unseen? We know what everything we did results in. Why do we keep poking the universe? We've killed enough people to make a new continent, and we still do it because, I don't know, we just do it. There's no reason for us to make new ships. There's no one who can compete with the translation drives we've had a hundred years ago, but Sirra just dumped twenty billion in a new project. This didn't have to happen. We could've just sat behind our walls, and lived on, and colonized new planets, maybe even left this system once again. We didn't need to waste ten million lives on that piece of shit," she waved her hand in the direction of the new mountain range, rust-red in the light of the setting sun. "I know what I said. It wasn't needed. We could've survived, just sat with better defenses and lost not a single life."
"Do you really think that?" Fir crouched beside her, looking at the lights of Wye City glimmering below, then at her. She was never like this. What had happened in that tent. They had all seen her level the staff, and incinerate the demon leader, but what had really occurred? He wasn't sure. He was right beside her, and he wasn't sure. Neither were the remnant of the Mormegil, as far as he could tell.
"I...." she tried, avoiding his eyes. She looked at the Weyrika insignia on his black uniform armor. "No. Maybe," she shook her head. "I don't know."
"Then why do you ask if it was worth it?"
"Because...because it could've been different. We could've done something," she to stop all this."
"Could we have? I don't know either. But, for what it matters, at least we are free from a million angry demons," he smiled.
"Don't call them demons, please," she glanced at him for a moment, quickly turned her eyes back to the dark plain beyond the city's bounds.
"What should I call them?" he blinked. She never got this angry this fast before, either.
"I don't know, but they're not demons. They're just people, maybe different, but still just people. They've been lied to, and abused, and shoved across the world, but they're people all the same."
"Maybe."
"No maybes, Fir. I know they're just like us. They're what we could've become, would've become if we'd wanted to take out our anger on the world." How could she explain what she had feltthere. Felt, that was the word. She hadn't seen it, or heard it, but felt the reasons for the why and how of this entire mess, for two centuries of pointless fighting. They were driven by the same thing that had caused the First Civil War, until now. She hoped the bastard was gone, but wasn't sure. The Staff wasn't a weapon, had never been meant to be a weapon, no matter how often mortals invoked it as one.
"I wouldn't have become like that."
"Yes, you would've," she turned to him once more. Of course you would have, I would have, too. All of us have it in us. "Except that instead of spears and morphs we would've had terraton cannon and stinkbombs."
"Do you really think we are so alike as to destroy the world for no reason?"
"Do you know their reason?" Kira turned sharply.
"Look," he sighed. "Why don't you tell me."
"Alright. Okay. Really?"
"No, I probably wont get it," he laughed softly. "I am sure they have their reasons, whatever they are. So what do we do now?"
"Will you marry me?"
"Do you promise not to nag all the time?"
"Only part of the time," she squeezed against him. "See, they're actually.....I guess.....they're....well....." it felt so nice to just sit here, the two of them, high above the world. The River Wye vanished into the south; flowers blossomed below and before them; city lights glowed warmly. She wished she could be here all day, with Fir all to herself. "Well," she tried again. "They're us. They're one of the parts of Cloudhavven, the one in the Book of Twilight, thrown into another world and left for themselves...."
***
Chapter 1: Ceremony
"And to conclude the day's news, the High King has announced a date for the official ascension. Timing it with the celebration of the sunreturn festival, the first in four years, Kira li'Starhavven ahs made sure that the ceremony will recieve plenty of publicity. The Octagonal council has voiced its support for the young King, the first aspirant to the Staff of Twilight since the disappearance of High King Alicia li'Starhavven nearly two hundred years ago. Foreign dignitaries may have been invited, although the actual attendance roster...."
Subject == Ascension (Coronation)
Source == FDK.OHK.cnt
Destination == FL.All
Encrypt == none
With the war in the Kingdom finally over, the time has come for the First Distributed Kingdom to
She threw out the draft, and tried another. This was definitely not going well. She didn't want to sit here, writing a letter no one except maybe a low ranking secretary was going to read, when she could be getting drunk off her ass outside, amidst the millions across the small isle in the central pacific celebrating their first ever victory against an enemy of any size and, more importantly, celebrating their continued existence despite repeated attempts by said enemy to wipe Weyr off the map. High King Kira li'Starhavven, for that was her title even if it was not technically official yet, was fairly sure she would get to get as drunk as she wanted later. She sighed, and tried to concentrate, as a slight wind caressed her unkempt crimson hair, carrying with it the tinge of yesterday's little rain.
"This....screw it," she reread the text on her screen. "Good enough." No doubt Foreign Minister Gibbs would read it and add corrections to it anyway. It wan't the greatest piece of international correspondence ever written, but it would do. If a foreign dignitary wanted to come to Kira's ascension to the throne, or the Staff, as it was properly called, they could, and she had at least invited anyone who wished to attend the celebrations.