Their shadows haunted him everywhere he went. He could feel them on the edges of his consciousness, catch the movement from out of the corner of his eyes. He had failed them. He was determined not to fail another. The warren was almost completely empty now, its seemingly endless halls stretching out and twisting in…
Squid’s Blabberbox
No. 11: Captivity | “No one will find you.”
When he finally opened his eyes, the overhead lights threw painful halos that pierced straight through to his skull. He hissed quietly, squeezing them closed again, the world lurching unsteadily with every small movement of his head. Awake… he was awake again. That meant… he must have been sleeping. But why…? He searched his memory…
No. 10: “You said you’d never leave.”
Keir couldn’t quite decide whether she wanted to scream or cry, so she wound up doing a little bit of both. She paced out the perimeter of her holding cell, kicking aside the overturned desk chair she had already hurled uselessly at the door, throat burning in anger and despair at the betrayal she still…
No. 09: Mistaken Identity | “You’re a liar.”
The voices were muffled, but Teema wasn’t an idiot. She knew they were talking about her. She sat as quietly as she could in the rickety chair provided, one antennae quirked towards the door as the leaders of the resistance debated her fate. “You let a fucking vincam into our ship?” Douga snarled, followed by…
No. 08: “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier.” | Outnumbered
Teema held tight to her rifle, head down and back against the cover. Just like Ulanti had taught her. Just like her training said. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes against the flash of blaster fire, her own breathing echoing loudly within the confines of her suit’s atmo-membrane, the voices of her comrade indistinct…
No. 07: Radio Silence
It wasn’t as if Qud hadn’t gone radio silent before. There had been plenty of times in the past — like when he had swapped shifts with Kajj to enter into the Asteroid Dash. Or when he had gotten stuck molting and was too embarrassed to call for help, only pinging Kajj when he was…
No. 06: “It should have been me.”
Kajj walked silently beside the Speaker’s procession, one hand lingering upon the trolley that carried the body down the hall, wheels clacking rhythmically against the tiles as they moved. Grim faces ringed the trolly, familiar and clad in the traditional Motherguard orange — Members of the Speaker’s warren, along with Mechanic Wess and Treasurer Kahna….
No. 05: Pinned Down | “It’s broken.”
Wherever the young Motherguards ran, laughter followed. It wasn’t uncommon to catch the two of them at play in their off hours, chasing one another through Mother’s gardens, darting beneath the spray of the automatic waterers, weaving between the legs of their older cohort members. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely fitting of their station, but it…
No. 04: “I see the danger, It’s written there in your eyes.”“You in there?”
The man who arrived back upon the *Rapier* was not her Elder. He never was. Not at first, anyway. He certainly looked like her Elder, tall and pale and battle worn, and he was wearing her Elder’s power armor. But his eyes were empty, distant, and cold — not at all the warm and laughing…
No. 03: “Like crying out in empty rooms; with no-one there except the moon.”Solitary Confinement
The banner nearly crumbled to dust in Kajj’s hand as he pulled it down from the walls of the banquet hall, the once vibrant orange colors turned a dull brown through the passing of the years. He could still make out the rich embroidery that had once glittered so cheerfully upon the walls, serving to…