Return to Azaadi

The desert felt heavy underfoot as Jasmine Moonshade staggered towards the structures before her. They rippled in the haziness of the air adding to the sense of unbalance she felt. Her head pounded and her lips had cracked. How long had she gone without water? Her canteen was empty, the last of the water used and she felt her mind wandering. Her arms were reddened and raw where the suns had blistered and burnt at her skin. She was ill-prepared for the journey she had undertaken  her survival suit stripped from her and she now wore her original clothes she had worn when her memory of life on Araxes began - a grey vest and brown trousers with heavy boots.

The world seemed too bright, as though the universe had lost contrast  Her head pounded and she fought the creeping blindness that permeated her peripheral vision. Still, she recognised the scents of Azaadi, a strange mixture of the desert, off-worlders and something familiar that lay beyond her limited memory. She leant up against the wall of an alleyway, grazing her arm against the rough texture. Then, she heard a voice she knew. She peered up and realised where she was - the Bleeding Reaver Saloon.

Jasmine staggered into the saloon, swayed from side to side and fell to the floor, her strength had finally left her. She looked up and saw hazy figures at a table.

"Adherent!"

The voice of the Yiazzis!

Jasmine thought she may have said the words but realised she could no longer tell whether she was speaking or thinking. A figure knelt before her and she felt a canteen offered. She thought she heard a female voice from elsewhere in the room but she focused her eyes on the figure before her.

"All is undone!", Jasmine spat the words out through a dry mouth, "All is undone!"

"You are without a shirt? You will blister." She felt the canteen offered again and this time Jasmine took it and drank thirstily.

"Slowly, slowly, not too fast. You will throw up."

Jasmine took the canteen away from her mouth, nodded and let some of the water spill down her face before drinking again.

"Come, sit down....I will make something for your shoulders.....and your chest." Several lacerations marked the Adherent's torso, long and repeated lashings.

She climbed to her feet and staggered across to a chair. The water had the desired effect and she felt a modicum of clarity return to her thinking. She realised that her delirium had blocked out the pain from her wounds she had sustained and that that pain was swiftly returning.

"Captain", the Yiazzis gestured to a figure across the room, "keep watch, with weapon drawn, if you please."

Another figure, clouded by the red haze around her vision, asked with concern "Is there anything I can do? Should do?"

"Yes, XenoAnthropologist, examine those wounds if you please."

As the Yiazzis voice pulled away to a space behind, she heard a  pulsing, occasionally irregular but somehow melodic beeping came from a device the other figure held at close quarters. Jasmine rested her head in her hands and felt bloody tears fall from her eyes. As the female analysed her readings, Jasmine eased the backpack from her shoulders and let if fall gently besides the chair. Her hands were bloodened. The Albino Stigmata. Blood tears from the eyes had led to blood to fall upon the palms of her hands.

"There are some deep wounds", the female said, "some bleeding....don't appear to be immediately life threatening...that's odd...."

Jasmine sensed that the device had revealed something about her but her thinking was interrupted by the Yiazzis return with a paste.

"She is not exactly normal human...", the Yiazzis spoke and began to pour water over the wounds.

A voice from overhead, a familiar voice, presumably the captain issued an update over the security situation - they now had cannon support from overhead. The Yiazzis, as careful as always.

"Ivy seems to take to weapons well", the nearby female spoke again, "If I may ask, what is going on?"

The Yiazzis poured more water upon the wounds with little care to the mess. "Ask", she said, "I will listen also."

"You honour me with water I do not deserve Yiazzis.", Jasmine grimaced as the cooling water ran into her wounds upon her back making her move awkwardly.

"I'm Bobbi, a Starfleet researcher, what's going on?"

Jasmine turned to face the female, Bobbi, as the Yiazzis slathered the prepared paste into her wounds, holding the edges together and using what resembled beetle heads from her pouch to clamp the cuts together.

"My name is Jasmine Moonshade, although I am known by many names. My people call me their Adherent, but in truth they were never my people..."

"What do they mean by 'adherent'?"

Before she could answer, the Yiazzis had pushed Jasmine back into her chair and was treating the wounds to her shoulders and abdomen in the same manner as her back.

"The desert born....", Jasmine nodded towards the Morloch with a knowing look, "...not known for their gentle nature. As I was saying, an Adherent is a title given to the religious leader of our tribe...they saw in me an echo of their messiah...but I was the architect of their destruction...the tribe......they lived secretly, in hiding for many years. They found me, lost and near death in the desert, nursed me back to health in the belief I was a holy figure. In my arrogance, I unveiled us to the world and brought death to the people...."

Jasmine stared into nothingness, not realising that the Yiazzis had left the saloon to scour for more beetle heads until she returned through the open door and returned to treating the wounds.

"You revealed the desert born to the corporations?" asked the Starfleet researcher, as another figure entered the saloon and sat down at an adjacent table.

"We are not desert born", Jasmine lifted a finger to stress the point, a point amplified by the voice of the Yiazzis. "They are Jadites."

"Jadites?"

"There are people who fled Al Raqis and sought refuge in the desert. They are not all 'native' to this world although some are. I, myself, am known as a Moon-baby, native to a world called Xibilu."

"Moon-babys are used for organ replacement. Slaves.", the Yiazzis interjected.

"Oh no. From where?"

"They call it the Alliance." Jasmine spoke with a venom that surprised even herself.

"Alliance? And the corporations? How do they all relate?"

The Yiazzis spoke as she watered down the remnants of the prepared paste and began spreading it over exposed skin. "Blue Sun is from the Alliance."

Jasmine felt a sudden emotion overcome her and she clasped at the garment the Yiazzis wore. Feeling the bloody tears upon her cheeks again, she spoke solemnly "I come for my judgment Yiazzis. I come for what I deserve! Judgement!"

The Yiazzis stopped what she was doing and looked down as Jasmine looked up. "Your choices, your consequences, Adherent. I did not make your choices, I cannot give you consequences."

The Adherent returned her head to her hands "So many times I have tried to drive the guilt from myself. In pain, I sought refuge."

"Your own pain?", the realisation came to Bobbi now, "You did this to yourself?"

"I will voice an opinion", the Yiazzis sounded stern, "You fail them and yourself by this choice. Jade lives. She will have need of you."

Jasmine shook her head in desperation "What will she make of my decisions? So much blood spilit. May Jade have mercy on my soul!"

"Do not decide what her decisions will be", the Yiazzis spoke with authority, "Talk with her. You cannot choose for another. They must all make their own choices." She stopped, clearly in thought, "They made their choices. Their consequences are their own. You chose life for them, not death. But death came anyway."

"The savages that struck us.....I had not seen their like before.", Jasmine stood wearily as she spoke, perhaps seeking to reaffirm her position after a display of weakness, "their skin was red.....by nature or by artificial colouration I cannot tell you. They were savage powerful warriors, dark armour that seemed to absorb the light, it did not reflect the sun"

"Stealth armor, old technology but useful"

"They slaughtered without discrimination. They took the water of the young as freely as the water of our warriors."

"It covered only part of them...so that you saw their skin? Any other noticeable marks?"

"An odour....how can I describe it...clinical but somehow musky and animal like."

"That does not match any Starborn we have observed...."

"Or" said Bobbi, the Starfleet researcher, "if I may interject, any I recognise"

"And yet..." continued the Yiazzis, "they attacked only the Sanctuary, nothing else on Araxes. That argues for a mercenary attack. And that means money..."

Jasmine nodded "Logical reasoning. There are many with money upon this world....and those who have recently left.."

"So not the moon-babies seeking vengeance against the Jadites for the missing children..."

"What was the Sanctuary?", Bobbi asked.

"A refuge for those who rebelled and wished to live in peace" came the reply from the Yiazzis, "Sanctuaries here are.....places of learning, but that one was abandoned hundreds of years ago. We allowed the Jadeites to live there. They did not seek to destroy Mother Araxes. Unlike some others..."

"Someone trying to destroy the Council of Ghosts" interjected the captain from the roof. Jasmine became alert at the mention of the Council and tried to place the voice.

"I fear the Council are lost", Jasmine spoke sombrely, "there were but three moonbabies within our tribe - I have not seen nor heard of them since the attack", she turned to the Yiazzis with narrowed eyes, "Then we were mistaken in the belief we were hidden from the Desert Born. Our hubris betrays us once again. No matter. What is done is done. The Sanctuary has fallen."

"Another rises, to the north and west....." The Yiazzis cut off mid-sentence as the captain from the roof, Ivy, walked through the door, "...Captain, it seems we do not seek another destroyer, just yet. Thank you for your service, we are in your debt."

After a customary bow, the Yiazzis addressed the group again. "Have any of you seen a redskinned species, here or elsewhere?"

The cloaked figure that sat at the adjacent table spoke, "I know exposure to radiation and strong and sharp gusts of wind can flay the flesh and leave a red appearance."

As the group spoke, the captain from the roof who the others had called Ivy, took the opportunity to whisper something in Jasmine's direction. She read the captain's lips and gave the hand signal that she understood what she had been said.


[Edited for brevity]

Kyöpelinvuori

The Age of Tribulations

"All the world will be your enemy.... And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner....Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed"


Quotation.

Jasmine Moonshade stood and looked out upon the Evangeline desert. She didn't know how long she had been standing there, the specks of sand that pecked at her face through her covering like an chaotic hourglass gave no determination of time.

The sanctuary was lost, reclaimed by the desert as all things were eventually, all of it's history lost like dust in sand.


For hundreds of years or more, so they thought,  the Inspirtu had hidden away from the world, finding peace in their reclusive nature. Their secret haven was known to only a few outsiders, who themselves were sworn to secrecy.

Now they were spread across the desert, once again wandering the unforgiven sands like nomads, as their ancestors had done millennia before. The blood had been spilt. Men, women, children. Slain by the creatures that fell from the sky or turned to dust by the ungodly weapon that had fallen to ground like the devil's own wrath.

She was partly responsible. She knew that and her heart ached with such sorrow. It had been her decision to remove the veil. Her decision to announce to the world, emboldened by the Albino Messiah, that they were here, that they existed. The Council had warned against it, feared the consequences of such actions. She had called them cowards and unworthy of the messiah's grace.

She turned from the desert to the crevasse that led to the deeper deserts. The remnants of the nomadic caravans that had ventured out into the dusty plains waited for her, her personal guards and advisors waiting patiently, understanding the sense of loss.

"The blood was spilt, Adherent. We knew this was a possibility."

The voice was a familiar one. Taryn peeled back her face covering and put her hand on the Adherent's shoulder.

"The ancient texts spoke of such a day", Jasmine spoke with a mournful anger, "The Tmiem Ta J'iem - the end of days. When the world would burn and the messiah would rise. I did not suspect that the prophecy would speak of our own personal world, our secret world."

Taryn stood silent and looked out to the Evangeline desert where the thick cloud of smoke still rose above the horizon for several miles.

"We should have suspected", Jasmine continued, "when the Holy Calina warned us of the Messiah's return from death. We believed we were wise but the prophecy dumbfounds us all. "

"Perhaps that is the way prophecies should be, Adherent. To know everything would rob us of that which makes us most human. Now, please come and be treated, let us cleanse your wound."

Jasmine stood quietly for a moment and then nodded, walking to the caravan.

Tmiem ta 'Jiem

When it came, it was without warning. The fire ripped through the Sanctuary, blasting through brick and stone. The ground collapsed, caving into the Inner Sanctum of the seeq. There was a deafening roar as the flames lit up the chamber, igniting people into cinder. Superheated rocks fell from above, glowing like demonic angels.

After the roar, there was silence.

The Siege

The red laserblade swept past the Adherent's ear with searing heat. Too close. Where did these heretics come from? She took a step back and lifted her plazmet shield. Another blow came hurtling down plunging onto the shield, a piercing hiss where it scorched and the smell of melting metal attacked her senses. She pushed forward, summoning her strength and forcing her assailant back. My turn. She wheeled her other arm forward, her dagger firmly held between her fingers and plunged....into thin air. Her gaze briefly caught the remainder of her fighting force. Bodies littering the floor, limbs turned to charcoal, the scent of death all around. The Sanctuary burned, the red-hot smoke fusing with the dusky sand, the attacker's hoverthopters hung overhead, their engines roaring, their proximity suffocating.

Another attack by the red skinned monster before her. With both hands upon his blade, he charged at her, the blade soaring through the static-charged air. She evaded, swung her dagger in his direction and used her shield to cover her face from subsequent attack.

She glimpsed Taryn, moving with an elegant grace, sweeping her own assailant's leg from beneath him and plunging her scimitar into his chest. Another attacker approached from the rear but she sensed him and wheeled around decapitating him in one swoop. A powerful kick to the chest of another as she bore down upon him in a paradox of frenzied control. The blood lust had seized her senses as she tore into her next victim.

The Adherent felt the heat of the laserblade once more as it streaked before her eyes. She blinked, momentarily disorientated and only just managed to evade before another arcing blow swooped down upon her. She felt her arm burn in agony, her shield split as the blade seared her arm. She grimaced, dropping the shield and swung her blade into her assailant catching him between the plates of his armour. He roared and wobbled to his back leg allowing her enough time to stand and reign down a blow.

With another lunge, her blade penetrated the neck, the puncture ejecting a torrent of blood that her assailant tried to stem with a desperate hand. With another blow, she put him out of his misery, screaming at the top of her lungs "May Jade have mercy on your soul!"

She took an deep intake of breath. Truly the water had been spilt today and the blood must follow. Many of her forces were retreating to the seeq entrance. It was the correct defensive posture now, she realised. She noticed that others had barricaded themselves within the council chamber. They were the  final vanguard of the Old Ways desperately trying to preserve themselves. So the dissenters had finally outed themselves.The Council had proven their weakness. They would fall to the onslaught, victims of their own stupidity.  Taryn, meanwhile, marshaled what remained of her battalion, her elite group trained only as she could train them. They formed a tightly closed circle around the Adherent, forcing their way through the enemy as they retreated back, erecting orange energy shields, their hexagonal glow pulsing as the enemy's rifle division fired on their position.

As they emerged into the darkness, the Adherent looked back at the sanctuary, ablaze.

"If this is to be our last stand", Taryn heaved as she spoke, "We do it from the seeq. We marshal them into the tightest corridors and reduce their numerical advantage."

"Who are they?! WHO?". The Adherent spoke angrily as she was hustled down the crooked caverns, her people destroying the lightspheres as they moved further down into the seeq.

"I've not seen their like before. Quiet now."

* * *

The inner sanctum of the seeq felt eerie. The thunderous sound of combat rumbled through the caverns. War cries could be heard. The clank of metal upon armour, the fizz of energy weapons, the shrieks of pain before death.

They were huddled around a table within the Adherent's personal chamber. A map of the seeq lay before them and Taryn was pointing to places on the map, barking orders at her people who rushed off to relay the command.

"Hengeyokai?", the Adherent asked looking up intensely from beneath her brows.

Taryn shook her head "Off-worlders, yes, but these are not Rangers."

"And you're sure of this because?"

"Because we Desert Born make it our business to know everyone else's business."

Another thunderous explosion rumbled through the caverns. The Adherent stared deeply at Taryn who held the gaze. "Then who?"

"I truly do not know, your eminence."

The Adherent looked away and banged her fist upon the table. "We need to get word to the Holy Calina."

"You assume she is not responsible for this?"

"Whoever is responsible for this will pay with their life" - less of a statement than a promise, the Adherent reached for a vial of water, yellow as it was, and poured it upon the floor with deliberate slowness - "The water is spilt. We all know what this means." 

At the first spill of water, all attention in the room has been drawn to the Adherent, a nervous silence permeating through the chamber. We won't spill water so we won't spill blood. She knew the power of her action. 

A Statement of Intent : A Communique to the people of Araxes and beyond.

Transcript follows :

This is a message from the Jade Revolution. We seek to pledge our support for the new Legate of Al Raqis. Our new Legate finds herself mired in the corruption and doublespeak of the Land of Rats. Already, an attempt has been made on her life and now, the heathen Khan of Botany Bay oversteps her mark and challenges the supreme rule of the Holy Calina. We assure you, this has not gone unnoticed  There are always consequences to actions. A new era has begun - it will not be allowed to be derailed by the dying embers of a corrupt regime. Praise Calina. Praise Jade.