Center Worlds - Spark
On The Dirt

Viktor ran his hands through his white hair, caused by radiation exposure that had permanently removed the ability of his follicles to produce melanin. His natural colour was a dark blonde, but he had not seen that colour for many cycles now. Viktor looked at his reflection in the glass as the pod slowed down, sliding into the cradle with a sigh of air as the magnetic shield wrapped around it, pressurizing the vacuum before the doors slid open to allow the passengers to embark.

He hoisted his bag to his shoulder and walked off the pod, out of the lift centre, and onto the streets of the Capitol itself. Kalen looked around, the blueish light from the primary was similar enough to the lighting on board the TGX that he had no problem adjusting to it. He had quarters always ready for him, and he headed for them, may as well settle in, he had specific orders not to go upcable until the Commander contacted him.

Kalen tossed his bag on the bed and sat down in a comfortable chair that overlooked the capitol and the tower complex that had been built over a deca ago to house the displaced Desinlo population. He still missed his Jalena, Viktor had taken many women since then, to bury his memories in new flesh, but she still haunted him, as did the memory of his lost children.

He had learned of Jalena’s death in the aftermath of a Michelob attack which had again, just like the other few times, been enough of a surprise that the Camelin defences had not quite stopped it. That had been the last straw, the only time in his memory that he had struck the Commander.

They had been sitting in Ryo’s quarters after the last reports had come in, Kalen already quite drunk on Isk, and noticing that the Commander was quite willing to let him drink himself into a stupor to help hide the pain.

“You want to get me sodded, Ryo?” He had asked.

“Sometimes, Viktor, it helps. I know it has helped me on occasion, after the loss of Lya.” Ryo said, then downed his glass.

“You lost one, I’ve lost all of them!” Kalen had snarled, drinking the glass dry, then throwing it against the wall to bounce off and clatter to the floor.

“Damn carbon crystal, doesn’t even break, no satisfaction.” He growled, then reached for the bottle and another glass.

“We can go downside and replace a bar with silica glass, that breaks well,” Ryo said quietly.

“They’re all gone, Ryo. All of them now. What am I going to do?” Victor cried, beginning to sob as he stared into the glass of light amber liquid.

Ryo got up and came over to put his hand on Kalen’s shoulder. “You’ll survive, Viktor, like all of us do. We will survive and we will deal with those who have allowed this to happen.”

“We should have boosted the defences earlier. I told you we needed another layer of cannon. You said they wouldn’t dare do that again. Ryo, they hit us, again, fifteen thousand dead, thirty-five thousand injured!” Viktor said, rolling to his feet and without thinking, bringing his hand up to crack the Commander across the face.

The two men stood there, nose to nose, then Viktor staggered back and mumbled an apology, but was stopped by Ryo from fleeing the room and pulled into a solid hug.

That had been a turning point, where the two became more than XO and Commander, but a real friendship began to develop. Kalen became a part of Ryo’s family, any event he was at, Viktor was also at. He became as much a part of the family as Lyo had become, not blood, but certainly an important member.

Viktor woke up, he had fallen asleep in the chair and night had fallen. Not that the city ever slept, the glow and traffic from the skyhook were always active, and the city operated 26 hours a day, never sleeping.

He pulled out some clothes, and pulled off his tunic, then slipped on the shirt, feeling fine still wearing his uniform pants and ship boots. Putting the credstick in his shirt pocket, Viktor stepped out into the active nightlife of the Capitol of Malis - Clanworld Camelin.

He walked down the spinward concourse and went into one of the Officer’s clubs that lined the palisade. He was well known in most of the clubs around the capitol, off duty Kalen was a womanizer, and most of the Lari’Sota who worked the area had either enjoyed him or at least knew of him.

He only ever spent intimate time with dark-skinned women who had black or deep blue eyes, and who kept their hair short, like his lost Jalena. However, he would entertain and celebrate with anybody, he was a happy social part of the club scene, and never caused a problem, nor did problems ever seem to happen around him. Mostly due to the nearly invisible security that Ryo had ensured was always there to steer problems away from the Captain and ensure he could enjoy himself without issue.

Ryo knew what Kalen sought, but was not willing to delve into the other man’s personal affairs deeply enough to replace him another mate. He respected Viktor Kalen far too much to do that to him, and dreaded the result if Viktor ever found out what he had done in that case.

Kalen went into one club and sat down at the table that the doorman indicated, as he sat, an attractive dark-skinned Lari’Sota came up to him with a drink of Isk and placed it on the table in front of him, then herself on his lap.

“Hello, Captain,” she said. “It’s been some time since you were downside.”

Kalen drank half the glass of Isk in one gulp, then with one hand around the silken waist of the girl, looked into her eyes and smiled. She would do, for tonight. Tomorrow, there would be another. The parade would never end for him. Viktor was lost, and these girls were more than willing to help him replace what it was he was searching for.

The next morning, he was up with the dawn, a pounding headache dealt with by a nano treatment, he left his room early, leaving the girl still sleeping in his bed. He often did that, the girls knew his patterns, and she would be gone by the time he returned. Ready that evening if he wanted her again, or any of the myriad of others who took his fancy at the time.

Kalen had a thought during his time with her though, and he had left for the archives to explore the thought. Sitting down at a console, he inserted his ident and was granted full access to the entire Camelin archives, and a good portion of the overall Confederacy records as well.

He began by pulling all records on Desinlo. Hunting back for the history of Jalena Kilva Sinlo. She was from a long line of Sinlo’s he saw. Each one was from the same genetic mother, stretching back nearly four hundred cycles. His Jalena had always been special, according to the records, she had been something special though. Records as to the details were restricted. Kalen’s authority was not high enough. When one of the attendants brought him a mug of Kaf, he also asked for a glass of Isk, which he then mixed in, and made a call upcable.

“You want my security access for an archive search, Viktor?” Ryo said, sitting at the command console as he watched three techs carefully unbolting the Comm console and preparing to pull it off the bridge to be replaced with an updated model.

“You don’t have to do it, Ryo. Something about history has bothered me, and you said I had to relax, what better way than reading the archives?” Viktor replied, nonchalantly.

“Viktor?”

“Yes, Ryo?”

“Do I need to arrange for you to have a bevy of bouncing beauties at your beck and call?”

Viktor laughed. “I’m doing fine on that score, my Lord Camelin. Access codes please?”

Ryo tapped in a command sequence that granted Captain Kalen full access to the archives for one solar day.

“I can only do this for a one-day term, so let me know tomorrow if you need the same level, Viktor.”

“Understood, Ryo, and thank you.” Viktor closed the channel, took a gulp of his blended drink, and began to dig deeper with the highest access outside of the Emperor himself.

Why was Jalena’s history so specific and what was the correlation? He wondered as he dug into the records. It had to do with emotions, and with Lari’Sota. Everything was tied in with the order of Royal Concubines that had now spread across the entire Confederacy as pleasure girls.

But why were they so important, what what did that have to do with Jalena and her history?

Records were scarce from the Confederacy side, because of the impact of the Kerilac and Jasinlo attacks upon the Desinlo reign over a thousand cycles ago, but even they had not been able to make history their own words. Confederacy history was written by the impartial, and that was how it had been since the ages of past empires.

Lari’sota were wrapped around everything he could see from the early days of the Desinlo reign. He also found a section of records that were all cross-referenced, a list of breeding charts, each Lari’Sota breeding with specific Clansmen, and then their issue was tracked, and they were also bred; male as members of the Clan; female, mostly, as new Lari’Sota.

Kalen broke for a midday meal and was surprised as he walked out of the cubicle he had been in to see the Commander standing in the archives, having a heated discussion with the head Archivist.

“I know what you have done, My Lord. It is just not proper. The records being accessed are ancient and very restricted.” Kalen heard as he walked over.

Ryo looked at the older archivist. “I instructed you, I expect you to carry it out to the best of your wise nature, Lord Archivist.” He then bowed, the archivist bowed as well and stepped away into the bowels of the dark building as Ryo turned and clapped an arm around Kalen’s shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” Viktor asked as they walked into the sunlight.

“Making sure you don’t get bothered doing the research you are doing, my friend,” Ryo replied.

“I’m tripping alarms?” Viktor said as he steered the larger Commander into a dining establishment that served a meal he knew Ryo enjoyed almost as much as he did.

Ryo laughed, loud enough to make some of the other diners look up, but they quickly returned to their meals as the two officers were led to a small table and sat down.

“Viktor, you have the Chief Archivist looking like he just had a pack of clusterkittens and they all know how to walk. He’s going in six directions at once and doesn’t know what to do. I have him settled now though. You do what you’re doing.” Ryo said with a chuckle as he took a mug of Kaf from the server and glanced over the menu.

“Let’s see, the only reason you’d push me into here would be for Fire Noodles, I’d imagine. About the only thing good on the menu.” Ryo said with a smile as he handed the menus back to the server. “A double serving, one plate, we’ll both enjoy.”

The server bowed and disappeared into the dimness of the establishment as Ryo grinned at his XO’s confusion.

“You didn’t have to come downside just to growl at the Archivist, Ryo. Why are you here?” Kalen asked as he sipped his mug of Kaf mixed with Isk.

“They’re remodeling the bridge,” Ryo said.

“That won’t take them very long, why not just stay in your quarters?”

“Gya kicked me downside, she and Lyo wanted a chance to do some work on my quarters, I think the other senior officers had something to do with it. I’m stuck down here for a few days also.” Ryo said as their food arrived, a plate of noodles dotted with protein and meat stock, with a red sauce drizzled all over it. As the heaping plate was placed in between the two officers, the server ignited it, and the raw alcohol on top blew off in a fountain of pale fire that burnt itself out with a wash of heat.

Both men picked up their eating utensils and dug in with gusto as they enjoyed the spicy meal that was one of the few things both could enjoy without discussion. After they had cleared the plate, and were sitting back enjoying a cool mug of Kaf to simmer down the spicy aftertaste, Ryo glanced at the clock on the wall.

“I got to go back to Clan Work now. You get to keep exploring, I get to do Clan business now that I’m downside.” He said with a mock grimace. Kalen knew how much his Commander disliked the political side of running one of the bigger Clans in the Confederacy. Although he had a whole team of trusted advisers to do a lot of the tasks for him, there were always decisions to be made that awaited his direct clearance or denial.

Kalen went back to the archives and sat at the terminal that was now earmarked for him, and resumed his explorations. He continued to dig into the history of the Lari’Sota and discovered remarkable things. They had been in place for more than two thousand cycles, run by the Desinlo for that entire time, except after the fall of the government. After that, the Lari’Sota were internal, they had faded away but began to rise again, still following a set breeding path.

“But what were they breeding?” Viktor wondered as he spent the evening with Isk and pretty girls.

The next day, with Ryo’s clearance, he continued his explorations. Every once in a while he would come across a reference to Mesotra. That word was a hard stop, not even Ryo’s clearance would unlock it, but it seemed to be somehow mixed in with the Lari’Sota.

He spent two weeks digging through records and then finally took a walk that he had not wanted to take, but which he needed to. To the Desinlo citadel to access their hard-coded records.

As before, it took Ryo’s direct intervention to give him access, and then Viktor learned a surprising fact that put some parts of the puzzle together.

The Desinlo women, all of them, were somewhat empathic. This was the secret of the Lari’Sota, they could sense, guide, and feel the emotions of their partners in a way not normal for most Tarans who had empathy. The Lari’Sota were approaching full empath capability, able to project and absorb emotions from their partners, and as such ... a means of control.

It looked like his Jalena had been the latest in a long line of empaths, each one stronger than the one before her, all of them female only, the males had no ability, or nothing noticeable, this was unique to the women only. Regent Lya’s mark was all over the records so she must have known all about this, and had been guiding the breeding. Kalen recalled she had said they kept very careful records of every single coupling. It was not just to keep the population going, it was also for this purpose, empathic control.

More mysteries to solve, but with no time left, Kalen was recalled to the TGX-2. The internal refit was completed enough and it was time to get used to the new systems and bring the ship up to battle readiness.

It had taken three months for the massive battleship to be repaired and made ready for launch. During that time, Commander Camelin had many conferences with the Emperor as well as other Clans who felt they would ally with Camelin in the event of the war that was now going to happen.

In most cases, the other Clans would remain out of the way, not assisting either side, but not hindering them either. For Ryo, this was good news, he did not need to fight more than one Clan, even though Faniruf and Michelab together were a significant force, his military fleet was more than enough for whatever they could throw in his direction.

The first real skirmish in the Clan War took place outside of the Oxymax Nebula, where the ships from Michelab had rallied for yet another push to guarantee that Clanworld Desinlo was finally destroyed.