League A (Division 1): Akiv Orlouge vs Agent 492

[Solar Haven]

Quest at your own pace. This thread must be completed by January 12th, 2014 at 12:00 AM EST. If you finish early, please submit it for judging per usual.

[Lucius]

Prologue

“I’m worried, Lillith.” Duffy said, gingerly prodding his dinner.

The canteen of the Prima Vista was quiet. The crew busy with repairs pre-departure for Eluriand 5. The ship’s engineer, Lillith Kazumi, stared at the agent across the table. She sipped a tumbler of whiskey, trying to find the words of encouragement he sought.

“You know it’s safe, right?” she said softly. “They wouldn’t send you if it wasn’t.”

“Into a wormhole?” he moaned. He put a potato into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it painfully. Anything to do away with the sense of sadness, anything to feel alive. “There must be other agents suitable for this sort of assignment.”

There was not. Duffy had to jump through the tear in space and time because of his peculiar nature. He emptied his mouth, cut a runner bean in half, and followed the potato with bean and gravy chaser.

“None are immortal, and none live here, and then, and certainly not in both.” She pursed her lips. “Duffy…you’re getting the chance to look back through time.” She sipped her drink. “Back through your time line, at that.”

When the ship reached the devastated world of Eluriand 5, it would dock with the Administrate vessel Atomos. Once they briefed, Duffy would travel, in a drop pod, through the wormhole. Reports indicated that it lead directly to a planet sharing identical geologic markers to the progenitor world, Althanas. Three thousand years ago, at the start of the rise of the solar empires, Althanas’s instability caused its implosion.

“I’ll send you a postcard…,” he said, trying to find humour in a dark time.

There was every risk the wormhole would close, he might meet his old self, or that the temptation to be shot of a war-torn galaxy would get the better of him. There was also every risk he could cause a paradox, his A.R.I.A system alone would, if discovered, accelerate technological growth at unsatisfactory levels. There was every chance this mission to ‘explore’ could in turn destroy.

“As long as it’s not from Alerar,” she pursed her lips. “If the history books are true,” she added. She finished her drink, smacked her lips, and pointed over Duffy’s shoulder to the canteen doors. They were open. Sei Orlouge stood in the portal, eyes narrowed, and hands full of dossiers and documents.

“He’s here, isn’t he…,” Duffy asked wearily. He sighed. He set down his fork. He pushed the plate away. “Well, I’ll be back in a while.” He pushed himself up from the table, nodded politely, and turned to meet his superior officer. “Captain Orlouge, I see you’ve taken to your new station in fine form.” He tried to smile, but as he crossed the polished steel floor, he was distinctly aware of shot daggers from both sides.

“If my being here offends you, Agent 492, file a complaint with the Administrate. For now, I’m too brief you on the reasons for our mission, and then you’re going to tell me a thousand times how you won’t…under any circumstances, do anything to change history.”

Duffy shrugged with a cheeky grin. “Why the hell would I want to see what your ancestors looked like?” he clucked. The thought, on the hand, of meeting Sei’s ‘heroic’ kin had been on his mind ever since he had spied the M class planet through the glistening tear in space.

“They’ll shoot you, just like I did,” came the reply.

The two men departed, leaving Lillith worried, half-cut, and unblemished by the implications of sending the galaxy’s most dangerous man back in time to the world’s most dangerous age.

“A world with two Duffy,” she said with a shudder. “Law save us all…”

[Akiv Orlouge]

His stomach rumbled in disapproval. The boy looked tothe sky, doing his best to remember just what time the moon hid completely behind the north tower. It must be half past ten, it just has to be. He jostled his pole arm from on hand to the other, closing and opening his fingers to work out the stiffness. The teen cursed under his breath, why did he struggle so much with just keeping his mouth shut?

It had been a normal morning, he had awoken and dressed for training. As usual he skipped breakfast save an apple that he grabbed off the cart headed for Sei's room. It crunched beneath his teeth as he hit the cool morning air, the juice dripping to his chin before the wind dried it away. Steppenwolf had given no quarter during the session and the boy's body soon felt it. The half-orc had waved him toward the water station and the boy willingly complied. Several minutes later the rest of the men were dismissed, their splotched purple faces mirroring his own. They dissipated slowly, several grabbing a cup of water before heading into the castle just in time for lunch.

"Well, if it isn't the mystic prince."


Akiv inhaled deeply, wishing he'd chosen to go in rather than wait for his uncle. He didn't have to turn around to see the young man who spoke. "I'm not a prince." His voice or flat, hiding the frustration that was already rising beneath his skin.

The man whistled as he made his way around the boy followed by three buddies. "I dunno, seems to me like your family has a castle." He gestured toward the building as though it had miraculously appeared from thin air.

The boy gave a grin, hoping to quell the tension. "And you live here same as me." His eyebrow raised as his unkempt hair blew with the breeze. "So, Prince Emery, care for some lunch?"

With that he turned and headed toward the castle, the smell of freshly baked bread the only reason he didn't go immediately to his room.

Soon Emery and crew were beside him once more, their pace matching his perfectly.

"Nah, its a bit different. You see, my daddy don't own a castle. My daddy died in the mystic war, got himself caught up in the resistance and took a bullet to the head." His voice was sickly sweet, uncaring.

The mystic paused just for a second as he reached for the large oak door that led to the dining hall. One of the lackys reached ahead and opened it, gesturing for Akiv to enter. "After you your highness."

The boy stiffened slightly but entered, quickly joining the line and hoping someone would approach and give him a way out. "Sei is not my father."

"Oh," Emery laughed heartily, "I'd almost forgotten. Your dad was the one who destroyed the mystics huh?" He glanced around, checking that no one was within earshot. "Tell me Akiv, what are the odds of a genocidal maniac and a crazy woman getting together and creating a useless little--"

His words were cut short as the mystic charged, shoving the man into a wall with all his strength. He was a head shorter but Akiv's eyes burned with hatred. "Don't you say a word about her. I will kill you where you stand." Neither moved for a moment, the boy's eyes never wavering as he held the man against the stone wall.

"Is there a problem here?" Tobias' voice filled the air. Akiv released his grip, taking a step back with his eyes still focused on Emery's.

The man smiled, wiping his dusty clothes and looking to the trainer. "No problem at all ma'am." He turned to his followers, "Come on, we'll eat once the place clears out a bit."

Akiv watched as the group walked away, snickering and bumping into each other. They were your typical new recruits, men who had nothing and needed the Ixian Knights to provide food and shelter. Their allegiance was to none other than themselves. Tobias placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I think Sei wants a word."

Now here he stood on day one of fourteen nights of guard duty. Fighting was strictly forbidden in all common areas of Ixian Castle. He could have turned on Emery and lightened his own load, but the last thing he needed was more reason for the men to hate him. No, he would suck it up and be off punishment just in time for his fifteenth birthday. He studied the stars absentmindedly when a bright flash caught his eye. Thinking it a shooting star the boy made an early birthday wish.

"Let me escape the shadow of my family." The whispered words disappeared into the night.

[Lucius]

The glowing blue screen of Duffy’s communication panel woke him from a deep sleep. With groggy senses, he worked his way hastily over the desk, and pressed the activation button. A hologram flickered into view over the black box, a miniature version of Sei Orlouge.

“I see you’re being productive,” he jested.

Duffy sat upright, felt his spine click, and winced. He was, to say the least, having a rough time on Althanas. His eyes with sunken, his skin pale, and his hair dishevelled. Though he had kept showered during his three days, he still smelt sour, and the cabin of his drop pod was a sea of misery and a sore reminder of the home he had left behind.

“Captain Orlouge, forgive me. I have yet to adjust to the time different and the seasons of Corone.”

“I did warn you the days were longer.” Sei smiled. Despite his amusement at Duffy’s discomfort, his hologram remained officious stood in salute. “Status report?”

With a wistful extension of his arms across the table, Duffy entered a brief series of commands into the tech panel. It conjured another hologram, which Sei turned to analyse, and did much of the talking on Agent 492’s behalf. The lights of the pod, a small command room fifty feet by fifty flickered as power drained further. His time, and resources, were beginning to run out.

“I have yet to find anything in Salvar or the elven kingdoms that indicates an anomaly has occurred in this time zone.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and felt his scalp. It was dry, cracked, and bleeding. His fingernails came away with dandruff. His nose ran. His eyes were sore. Whatever was happening here, it was playing havoc with his body. “I’m running out of options.”

Sei frowned. “I think I worked it out…” His tone weakened from military to manly, and fawning to friendly. “Your previous report specified Kyla was alive, correct?”

Duffy nodded. “The Cell happened not three months ago, from the word in Corone. I don’t think people have stopped talking about it yet, it’s insidious.” He shook his head. One of his few memories from his former lives was the last time he watched Arden fight before… He let his thoughts trail off, and returned to the room. “Is that relevant?”

The drop pod lights flickered for a second time. A dull hum turned into a loud crackle, and then died. Duffy glanced over his shoulder, made a mental note to repair the solar panels, and turned back to Sei.

“I believe you are roughly around the time of Kyla Orlouge’s death.” The deadpan delivery told Duffy all he needed to know. This was a serious turning point in the history of Althanas. He thought to himself whilst Sei continued. “Akiv plays a major part in the coming events, so I think if there’s a catalyst for the wormhole, it’s with him.”

“Akiv?” Duffy frowned. He knew the Orlouge family line back through millennia. Despite his knowledge, had never heard of Akiv Orlouge. “I’m sorry; I’m not familiar with that one.” ‘That one’ referred to the Mystics.

Sei smiled wearily. “You were…occupied elsewhere in those days.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Duffy sighed. Awake now, he began to stretch in his seat, and checked his cybernetic implants. “How do you think I should proceed?”

“You must investigate Akiv, and avoid Sei at all costs.” It was a simple enough command, but Duffy felt something was amiss. This was not the time to question his commanding officer. “Do you remember where the castle is?”

Duffy nodded. He had tried to forget, but visions and nightmares of Althanas followed him through eternity. He was as much a part of this world as he was its downfall. He ran a finger over the table wistfully, and looked away from the hologram. The silence that followed was deafening. Sei, taking the moral high ground, broke it first.

“You have three days left Duffy. If you cannot discover the cause of the wormhole, we’re pulling you back through.”

“Three days is not a long time…”

Sei waved an aide away, and picked up a dossier from the phantasmal desk in front of his hologram.

“I appreciate that. We, and the Administrate, cannot afford to lose one of our best agents to a scientific mishap. The wormhole has little strength as is. Prolonging its radial any longer than 72 hours risks more than just your life. We saw what happened in Raiaeran air space after they tried to improve space warp drives.”

Duffy nodded solemnly, saluted, and closed the uplink. The drop pod became a room for one again, and no, sooner than the hologram faded, the ARIA awoke.

“Do you wish to instigate flashlight?”

Duffy chuckled. “Yes, alright. Can you augment musculature using a photon charge as well? I’m starting to feel the effects of low gravity and if I’m going anywhere near the mystic clan…I want to be ready.”

Agent 492 stood up. He adjusted his attire, recalibrated his arm shielding, and saluted. With a quirky smile, he watched the steel innards of his ship vanish, replaced instead by a tree line as thick and ancient as a dragon’s hide. He instantly recognised the building on the horizon, protruding up through the canopy in a medley of towers and sky bridges. He sighed.

“We meet again, Castle Orlouge.” He began to walk towards the walls, the plan how to cross them not quite ready in his mind. All he knew, as he put on his cap and tucked his fringe beneath it, was that he was running out of time. Whoever this ‘Akiv’ was, he better had answers as to way the fabric of the universe was coming undone. With birdsong and winter’s morn keeping him alert, Duffy trudged on through the thicket.