POV: Adrian starfury
Location: Planet Saturn
In the deepest dungeon of the planet Titan you could not help rubbing your fingers against your wrist while stareing at the middle aged woman who was dressed in an ash colored robe like a nun, in a facility that could rightly be called a prison.
"Do you understand why you are here my child"
the nun asked in a tender voice while staring at you from behind her mask which showed nothing but her deep dark eyes.
"Yes holy mother." You replied
"I have performed a great service to the empire. Yet my sacrifice is mistaken for treachery."
"What is your name my child?"
The woman asked whilst her dark eyes turned blue and she gazed inward as though she was sorting through a bunch of files in her mind
"Adrian mother . Adrian starfury."
You replied
The woman's eyes still shone blue for a while and then turned dark as she began staring at you again.
"Adrian starfury, son of Conrad and Fiona star fury and a secondary scion of the starfury lineage. You were drafted into the high Marines at the tender age of 25 where you served two tours in Ajanus 4. This earned you a recommendation into the military academy at age 50 where you graduated with full honors after a 60 years educational course. You reenlisted into the high marines and consequently became the youngest ever commander of a starship. I must say that is quite impressive young man."
You simply refused to say anything in response
"Look I am not going to insult your intelligence by flying around the sun my son.Your treachery was something that has hurt me, that has shamed your family, that has disrespected your planet and that has displeased your emperor very deeply." The nun said seriously
"However in his boundless undeserved kindness, his supreme grace the crown regent himself has given you this undeserved chance to redeem yourself. You know what we want, you know where it is, Tell us?"
"Why should I?" The young man countered
"Have you forgotten that I'm no longer a high Marine?"
The nun leaned forward and took the young man's hands in hers.
"Do you wish to be a high marine again?"
She asked tenderly
"Do you wish to be accepted back into the Great embrace of the Eternal? Do you wish to regain your purpose?"
"I do holy mother. Believe me I do"
He answered with the most sincerity he could muster.
"but I will not regain my honor and the honor of my line on the sacrifices of those who died to protect what I know. Isn't loyalty to your brother's the first creed of the eternal?"
The nun's eyes narrowed
"Have you gone so far that you would refer to the accursed heretics as your brother's? Have you forgot about the thousands they killed from amongst us?"
"You speak as if it were the wulfremite I protected holy mother but we both are aware that was not the case."
You countered
"I believe it is clear that that the people we killed at your orders where just refugees who wanted nothing to do with the entire war."
"And so because of this foolish and unfounded idealism you betray the one who gave you life and strength by defying his chosen one?"
She said in a voice dripping with scorn
"I have done the will of the eternal by practing his creed as I received it holy mother. If you call that defiance then that is up to you."
The nun eyes brightened for a blink then it deepened in into an intense shade of red the sort of which you have never seen before. This continued for some time until she sadly shook her head.
"I have searched the depth of your soul child and I can see the true bear no guilt over the grave evil you have committed"
She declared in a grave tone
"For the good of the flock I must invoke the holy will and cast you into the darkness."
"Let us not fly around the sun with each other holy mother"
You counter in the same grave tone
"If there ever was a chance for forgiveness holy mother then I will not be here and if I did no have the knowledge that I do then you will not be ere either."
The nun's eyes flashed for a while then she's stood up and declared
"Potestate mihi commissa, et pro bono gregis, te haereticum esse declaro, in aeternum privatum gratia Aeterni et consortio fidelium. Flamme purgato te a peccatis tuis."
(By the power vested in me, by the will of the great eternal and for the good of the flock. I hereby declare you a heretic to be forever starved of the embrace of the eternal and the companionship of her faithful. May the flames burn you of your sins)
"I do not fear the flames holy mother." You declared
"You will my boy. Trust me you will."
When you were finally able to open your eyes you could not stop the scorching air that was crawling through your throat nor you stop your blood that was squeezing your heart like a sponge. The only thing you could do was to quickly rush to a table beside your bed to drink a canteen of nutrient water which unfortunately did little to calm you down.
"It is just a dream! It is just a dream! It is a dream." You said to yourself while trying very hard to control your shaking legs.
"Having trouble sleeping." A voice called
You turned towards the source of the voice to see a teenage lady with blonde hair dressed in a skull jacket starring back at you with a face twisted in concern.
"It's not my first time."
You replied
"Did you sleep well?"
"Is that some sort of joke?"
She quipped and then turn serious
"The ship is 120 nautical miles from the restricted area sir I recommend we prep for landing."
You slowly stood up to your feet and grabbed one of the space jackets that was hanging around.
"Get yourself to the main port Nimzo and have the ship calibrated for landing by the time I get there." You command
"Yes sir" she replied
"How much time apart should I give each of the calibrations?"
"10 minutes each that's how long it will take for me to be there"
"Understood sir" she answered with a salute
She then walk towards the nearest circuit board on the ship and touched it.
6 seconds later you could see the clear signs of the ship AI making its way to the main port.
After a ten minutes morning ritual, you took your seat behind the ship's main main controller and steered at the lovely blue planet A50 which has a beautiful ring spinning at its side.
"Are the landing gears calibrated?" You asked
"Yes sir" Nimzo's robotic voice echoed from the ship speakers
"Is the weather proper?"
"Yes sir no difficulties detected."
"And the landings site?"
"Prepared according to specifications sir no adnormally detected."
"Well then bring us in."
Just like that your heavy battle cruiser slowly desended through the planet's atmosphere and began to fly at a bird's altitude.
You glanced at the atmospheric monitors while trying to think of how to counter the poisons that must be in the air but much to your surprise, the atmospheric monitor installed on the ship indicated that the air on A50 was safe and breathable.
"Wasn't this solar system classified as a restricted area because the empire has confirmed that the planet here are unhabitable except for one?" You asked
"The machina clan has been preparing this planet for years captain. The first thing they installed was the atmosphere." Nimzo explained
"So they went against the laws of every major faction in the galaxy and pioneered a restricted planet?"
You tried to keep the outrage from your voice.
"Yes." Nimzo replied
"A shame they are no longer here to receive their due punishment isn't it?"
You did not know what to say to that.
A few minutes later you and Nimzo parked the ship in front of a large cave and came down with your with your light sabers blazing.
"Is this the place?" You asked
"Yes captain." She replied with obvious pride
"What you are about to see is the most closely guided secret of all machina clan."
You both then entered into the mouth of the cave and that's when you learned the meaning of the expression that looks can be deceiving. Because while the outside of the cave was so so or borderline ugly the inside was a different thing altogether. It was as tall as the tallest signal tower you had ever seen, more wider than the outside gave it credit for and was decorated with all manners of high technological gadgets that made it clear that the former residents of the cave were techno lovers. However the thing that caught your attention was not the high priced pieces that were hanging around the cave but rather it was the gray colored sleep cabinet that were sewn into the wall.
"I take it this is the morphology technology that Lena died to keep secret isn't it."
You say with a hint of sorrow
Nimzo nodded
"The morphology tech has been the machina clan's greatest secret for so many years captain and generations after generations have poured on their best years of research and performance into it."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but if this thing is not a weapon why then would you go to such great lengths just to hide it."
"Because it was our escape plan captain. Elders of the machina had always known that the day would come when all the factions would either decide to extermine or enslave us and when that day comes they also knew that we would not be able to fight the factions. So if we could not fight them..."
"You could run from them. is it an escape pod then?"
"More or less."
She answered
"You see our clan programmed these things to be able to directly transfer our consciousness from one body into another anywhere in the galaxy provided we have a clone prepared there."
"And you don't call that a weapon?"
You cry in alarm
"With something like this you can implant your members in every single faction in the multiverse. You would know every move they make before they make them and you can foil their plans before they even think of them.
"Do you now realize why we went to such great lengths to hide it.
You nod
"Still doesn't explain why Lena gave it to me though. If the goal of the machine was to transport your people across the Galaxy I dare say such goal is now redundant seeing that there's nothing left of the machina clan."
"That is where you're wrong captain."
She counters
"The machina clan may have suffered a huge blower due to their attack on planets kivore but there are still pockets of us scattered all over the Galaxy who are well away of this location. Our mission here is to prepare this planet, make it habitable and eventually when the machina starts trickling in like a tide, to hand over a finish or semi-finished planet to their control."
"So I'm just a disposable estate developer. Good to know."
"What do you want to return in captain?"
"I don't know." You replied
"I don't think you have anything that will be worth the stress of keeping this place for me."
"Do you want revenge captain?" She asked slyly as slowly stepped into your personal space.
"Do you want the world to find out the truth about your so called treason? Do you want to clear your family name. Work for me and I can give you all that and so much more."
"The machina could not even keep themselves from getting wiped out at kivore"
You said as you took two steps away from her
"Why should I believe that you are capable of giving me anything competent enough to be of any use to me?"
"Because the machina are not warriors captain and that is why we pulled no stops in getting people who are smart enough to do or work well and yet dumb enough to not pry into our hidden matters."
You could not help narrowing your eyes.
"You plan to bring another race into this madness."
"Of course."
She answered straight
"Does this offend you?"
You thought about it for a few
"It will only offend me if your conjured race is as incompetent as their conjurers"
"Well then be rest assured captain that the race of people I will bring to you are people of high competence when they have no idea that they are working."
"And what unfortunate planet possess such guilable sheeps to be slaughtered?"
Nimzo smiled and said
"Planet C53 captain or as the locals call it planet Earth."