The huge warship was decelerating and slowing down its pace as it was approaching the planet of Nar-Sal. An elongated, cylindrical shaped starship, the ‘Starfall’ was one of the less aesthetically pleasing starships but also one of the more advanced ones. An X-Corp prototype, it was equipped with fifteen laser and six plasma cannons, and an XD-47 engine. Its reinforced hull plating was constructed using the toughest metals from the mines of Al-Kwad. It could accelerate and decelerate much faster than the average starship, giving it an edge on space travel.

The inside of Starfall was equally unaesthetic, with long, grey metallic corridors that all looked the same. Whereas other starships usually tried to find a balance between practicality and aesthetics, for the sake of their crews, the Starfall was all about practicality and stripped of all luxuries.

Even the personal quarters of the man currently in command of the ship, X-Corp CEO Walden von Weber, were a simple grey room containing a single bed and a wide glass desk with a small computer upon it. Walden had no use for luxuries. He desired for his quarters only the absolutely necessary furniture.

Riiing!

“Come in,” Walden answered the ringing. He was sitting behind his glass desk; he had been reading some reports on his computer.

Sergeant Mike Roberts made his way inside the room. He saluted the CEO with a military greeting, even though he was a civilian. “Sergeant Mike Roberts, reporting for duty!”

Walden smirked. “I’ve heard a lot about you, sergeant. A veteran of the battle of Austerland and the war in Vandana. The man who single-handedly blew up an entire Alliance asteroid facility in the AKL-89 region… impressive feats. More impressive that you survived in Frazzar an encounter with a sorcerer. Not many people have gone against sorcerers on their own and come out of it in one piece, much less so if they also had to deal with more than a dozen gangsters at the same time.”

“I was simply doing my job, sir. Admiral Heinrich has instructed me to follow your commands, and that is what I will be doing.”

“And I am grateful to the admiral for transferring you to my command. This mission we are undertaking is perhaps the most important in the history of mankind. Not many in Starfall’s crew know about the true nature of this operation, you know…”

“Whatever the operation is,” Mike replied, “I will do my best to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. I’ve undertaken before missions without knowing all the details about them; it is no problem for me.”

“Considering the role you will play in this particular operation, you need to learn more about what this mission is all about. You will be one of the few aboard Starfall with knowledge of it, and I expect you to keep it that way.” Mike nodded in agreement and Walden continued, “I always had an interest in the ancient Elves. Their technological superiority fascinated me! So ancient, and yet so advanced… Wanting X-Corp to be at the forefront of technological innovation, I funded more than a dozen research projects on Elf technology, hoping that one day I could unlock their secrets. One of those projects discovered an ancient Elfish text, which I only recently managed to translate thanks to the work of Professor Jay. It provides coordinates to an ancient Elf shrine on Nar-Sal, somewhere in the midst of this never-ending desert. The mission is to head there with a small group of experts and elite soldiers, and discover the secrets of that shrine. You will be in command of the soldiers in that group. I count on you to ensure that we safely traverse the dunes of Nar-Sal and deal with the desert beasts, so that we can reach in one piece the shrine.”

“You can count on me, sir. I will need, though, to be informed of the men and women that will be under my command. It is best if I get to know them better before the operation, for maximum efficiency.”

Walden handed over a data pad. “Here is a list of their names. We will be landing on Nar-Sal tomorrow.”

John was lying on his bed in his quarters. It was the fifth day of the journey to Nar-Sal, and the Eagle needed only two more days to reach the desert planet. John’s quarters were actually a tiny room whose only furniture was a small metal bed with white sheets. John couldn’t complain though; it was a lot more comfortable than a lot of places he had been in.

He was looking at a recording device handed to him by Alexander. “It helps to talk about your emotions,” Alexander had said when he handed over the device. John hadn’t done anything similar before. He wasn’t the type of person to want to record himself talking about his feelings. Yet, he decided to give it a try.

“This is the right icon, I guess…” he said, as he pressed one of the many icons on the device’s touchscreen to begin the recording. “Personal log, entry one. My name is John Haidt. I grew up in the world of Br- Actually, delete this.”

John sighed and rose from his bed. He began to pace up and down the room. ‘This should be about my feelings, not a biographical recording. But how does one go about speaking about his feelings…?’.

“ Restart!” he shouted and the device beeped. “Personal log, entry one. My name is John Haidt and I am a sorcerer. I am on a mission to find out about a shrine th- I mean an ancient Elf shrine that- Screw this! Delete!”

John was silent for a minute, pondering over what he would say. Finally, he decided to give it one last try. “Restart! Personal log, entry one. My name is John Haidt. A few months ago, I would have been unable to make such an entry. I was too afraid to discuss my feelings. I was afraid that my fears, regrets and self-loathing would overtake me and paralyze me completely. I blamed myself for the death of my parents. I blamed myself for the destruction of Arcadis. I felt personally responsible for all that destruction and death. I was the one who provoked the Helians into committing those atrocities. I was the one who was too weak to stop them. At least, that was what I was thinking. Gradually, I realized that if I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity and doubt, pondering constantly over the past, I would be unable to protect my friends and to fight back against those murderous tyrants. I…”

John let out a deep breath and continued, “I have made considerable progress but I am still not sure if I have fully confronted those emotions deep inside me. Occasionally, I am haunted by nightmares about Arcadis or my parents. I still sometimes blame myself. I guess I will never be able to be the carefree person I was when I was a simple farmboy…”

John chuckled. ‘Farmboy…’ “But what troubles me the most is that while I’ve managed to deal with those negative emotions, now I am again facing emotional turmoil. I’m having visions of an ancient Elf sorcerer and I am… confused. Why me? Why am I the one who has been chosen to witness those visions? What do they mean? It is all so much beyond my comprehension. But I know this; this time, I shall not let my fears and doubts hold me down. I won’t let them control me. Entry stop.”

John stared deeply at the recording device, his finger oscillating between the save and delete icons on its touchscreen. “Save!”. A loud beeping sound was heard as he pressed that icon.

Buzz!

The door buzzed loudly.

“Come in!” Darren replied. He was sitting behind a lean metallic desk. His quarters were comfortable compared to the tiny rooms afforded to the rest of the crew, but still austere compared to captain’s quarters in other starships. Aside from his desk, the room was furnished with a metal bed and a locker containing Darren’s personal armor and weapons.

D-4009 made his way inside the room and greeted his commander. “Commander Darren, I arrived here as you’ve requested.”

“I called you here for a very specific reason,” Darren admitted. “I want you to begin work on a tactical analysis for a battle above Nar-Sal. I am fairly certain that we will be facing resistance when we will be trying to leave the planet – after first finding the shrine, hopefully – and I want us to be ready for just such a space battle. I don’t want us improvising at last minute.”

“My programming includes more than one thousand tactical scenarios. I will analyze the conditions on Nar-Sal, attempt to predict what resistance we are likely to be facing and will then select the most appropriate tactical scenarios for implementation, if needed that is.”

Darren nodded. “Good. I want you to start as soon as possible. Nar-Sal is only two days away; we’ve already began the deceleration process.”

“Understood, sir. Is there anything else?”

“No, you are free to leave.”

With D-4009 out of the room, Darren stood up from his desk and headed to his locker. He pressed a four digits code, opened it and grabbed a laser pistol he was keeping inside. He held it firmly. He could feel the weight of the pistol in his hands. He caressed it; it felt cold, yet familiar. “It feels good to be back on active duty…” he said to himself. “All that paperwork and strategizing had really gotten to me… I am a man of action. I know those tasks are necessary for the success of the Alliance, but damn, I really missed holding a gun!”

Chief Engineer Kim was checking one of the many control panels of the Eagle’s XD-45 engine. The engine was emitting a relaxing, low thrumming sound; it was much more pleasant to the ears than the heavier sound of other engines. “Everything alright?” he suddenly heard a female voice ask. He turned around to see that it was Sara.

“Everything great here,” Kim was quick to reply. “This engine is just something else entirely. It so much advanced compared to the engines of all other Alliance starships I’ve served.”

“Yup, I know firsthand,” Sara said. “I’ve flown this thing. It can accelerate at truly incredible speeds.”

“And it also burns much less hydroastrian spice than other engines while doing so, which is a big plus.” Kim paused for a few seconds, as if he was unsure about whether to state what was on his mind. “Was just meaning to ask you… how is it being a sorceress? I don’t meant to intrude in your personal life or make you uncomfortable or to m-“

Sara couldn’t stop laughing. “Relax, I won’t space you of the ship because of a question. I know I have a reputation of being a bitch, but I am not that much of a bitch.”

“I didn’t know you had-“

“It is an inside joke among us sorcerers,” Sara explained. “Being a sorceress is… just the same as being any other Alliance operative I guess. I mean, sure, we spend a lot of time meditating and we can use magic when in trouble, but otherwise we are not much different. We enjoy good company, food and entertainment as much as you or any other person.”

“You know, I was always dreaming of meeting the mythical sorcerers who with their magical abilities could wreck whole armies and tip the balance of the war in our favor… and I was a bit disappointed to see that you were so… normal? Yes, normal.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Sara said in mock offense.

“No, I didn’t mean it that way. I am not… well, yeah, I was disappointed but now I am glad that you are actual people. If you were the sort of mythical beings I was imagining, there would be no chance of us actually becoming friends.”

“Who said we are friends?” Sara teased him.

“We ar- I… I mean… I didn’t imply… mean to imply…”

The sorceress chuckled. “You are really funny when you get flustered. You really need to stop being so timid, friend.”

Kim flashed a wide grin upon hearing Sara calling him friend. “Yes, you are right. I need to be more self-confident. I will follow your advice, friend.”

John and Iris were in the Eagle’s cargo hold, sitting cross-legged on the floor and meditating. In the absence of a meditation chamber, this was the best place on the starship to meditate, away from the distractions found in the other parts of the ship. For the past few days, John had been mostly meditating with Alexander as Iris was too busy with preparing for the upcoming mission, but that day Iris had found the free time to meditate with her student.

John found it hard to concentrate on his meditation with Iris standing next to him. ‘I don’t understand, I’ve never had such a problem before…’ He simply shrugged it off and tried to focus harder on clearing his mind of all thoughts. ‘Is it so difficult because of my feelings for her? Because of that dinner? I need to put all of this behind me and focus on the present.’

“You seem unable to concentrate,” Iris observed, her voice soft. “Is there anything wrong?”

“No,” John lied. “I am just thinking about the mission. Have you ever been to an Elf shrine before?”

Iris shook her head. “No, unfortunately. Those shrines belonged to the old religion, the faith of the Creators. We now worship harmony with the Qi of the natural world. There used to be some temples with the purpose of helping the elves purify themselves of unsettling thoughts and to come in harmony with the world around them, but by the time I was born they had all been closed down by the Helian government. I never got to visit those houses of worship and wisdom of my ancestors…”

“I'm sorry. At least you will now get a chance to visit this ancient shrine…” John tried to comfort her.

“That’s why this journey is so important to me. It isn’t just a mission to find some old piece of technology, it is something deeply spiritual.” Iris closed her eyes for a few, brief seconds. She could visualize her parents and other elves, free of oppression worshiping in the shrine. “I finally get a chance to connect with my ancestors, to connect with what I am.”

Two long days had passed before the Eagle finally reached the desert world of Nar-Sal. With the ship so close to the planet, an alarm ring notified Darren to come to the cockpit. The commander rushed there and took his seat. Resting comfortably, he asked “Status?”.

Xar checked one of the viewscreen on the control panel. “We will be reaching Nar-Sal in about five minutes.”

“Captain,” D-4009, who was seated next to Xar, spoke. “As Tactical Officer, it is my recommendation that the crew is alerted, so as to begin preparations for landing.”

“That’s a given, D-4009. It’s standard procedure to do so,” Darren replied as he pressed a button on his armchair to activate the ship’s comn system. “Everyone, we are about to land. Take a seat and inject yourselves for the descent.”

Darren injected himself with the two needles, so that he could withstand the pressure of g-forces during the planetary entry. The rest of the crew followed suit, with the exception of D-009 who as an android had no such problems.

“Xar, take us down!” Darren ordered.

“Aye, cap!” the orc pilot replied as he pulled a lever.

The Eagle made a sharp dive toward the planetary atmosphere. The starship was shaking and heating as it made its entry, glowing brightly like a falling star on Nar-Sal’s sky. Xar pressed two buttons to lower ship-wide temperature to compensate for the heat. The Eagle gradually slowed down as it approached the surface, and landed on a sand dune.

“Another successful landing,” Xar boasted.

Darren laughed. He then pressed a button on his armchair to activate once again the comn system. “Everyone, head to the operations room.”

The operations room was opposite to the crew’s quarters. It boasted only a large metallic round table, with a holographic projector placed on the middle of it. It was the place where the crew would meet to take orders and talk about upcoming operations. All the crew members were already there when Darren made his way inside the room.

“Everyone!” Darren barked. “I need your attention. I will be taking a small party for this mission, because the dunes of Nar-Sal are not suitable for a large party that will need great quantities of supplies. We also need people here in case we need to make a quick escape. Xar, D-4009, Beck, Kim and Sara, you shall remain here to ensure that the ship is ready for takeoff when needed. Iris, John, Alexander and Professor Sean, you shall be joining me in the search for the shrine.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “Good,” the commander smiled. “We will be heading out in about ten minutes, so those of you who will be coming with me into the dunes, prepare. Dismissed!”

As the others left the room, Darren upholstered his laser pistol and caressed it. “Time to use you again, my old friend.”