July 13th, 2486 - The Imperial Flagship ‘The Phoenix’

No-one was used to sharing a roof with the Emperor, least of all Olivia. She caught sight of him occasionally, in the hallways; always guarded by three enormous soldiers clad in black uniforms, with shaved heads and plasma rifles. Her heartrate shot through the roof on every one of those occasions. For the good of her health, Olivia often confined herself to the mess hall, where her subordinates stared at her with envy, awe, and occasionally fear.

‘That’s the one that killed Jokbaala!’ they would say.

‘Impossible’, their friends would reply. ‘That little girl? How long has she even been in service?’

‘It’s true!’ the first one would insist. ‘Her whole team died—she was the only one left. She shot him in the head from the other side of a city… that’s how she got the position of bodyguard to the princess.’

‘If she’s the princess’s bodyguard, what’s she doing here, commanding us then? Their friend would ask.

Olivia never stuck around for long enough to learn the answer. Everyone would have a different version of events, and she was too preoccupied to care. The dinner with Yared had gone well. She learned that he loved swimming, and hated skiing, that he was a strict vegetarian but enjoyed confectionary. He didn’t ask her anything about herself, and she offered very little. She chalked it up to feeling the intimidation of his presence, but found it more than a little strange that he seemed so uninterested in learning about her. She hadn’t seen him since; she knew that he was holed up in the gym, training non-stop. Still, the dinner had been a pleasant distraction from what she knew was to come. The mission briefing had been simple: seize all rebel assets, dispatch any opposition with extreme prejudice. It was nothing new to Olivia. When she closed her eyes, sometimes she could still feel the black sand of planet Vizran between her fingers, feel the biting cold air and hear the screams of her comrades. She would try to sleep, and she would not succeed for many, many, agonising hours.

July 13th, 2486 - Frontier Space, a Nameless Planetoid

‘What are we going to do, Dei?’ Grace asked, her grey eyes wide and shimmering.

‘All we can do is pray’, Dei replied, narrowing her eyes.

The shadow engulfed them, drowning the garden in darkness. It covered the sun, a monolithic, black shape moving across the surface of their nameless planetoid. There were letters, inscribed in white paint, thousands of miles in length, across the bow of the beast;

IF-001 - The Phoenix

Grace squeezed the sleeve of Dei’s robe tightly. Dei clenched her jaw and grimaced, desperately trying to ignore the sensation of nausea rising from her gut.

*

They congregated in the chapel; all twenty-seven sisters of Ulgara, and their Holy Mother, in the shadow of their sacred stone. There was some murmuring and uneasy fidgeting amongst the younger girls, but the older girls stood stock still, in stoic silence. Some of the girls were as young as seventeen; the oldest, barely twenty. The Holy Mother took to the pulpit, and regarded her sisters with eyes of stone. She did not let any unnecessary emotion slip through.

‘O my children’, the Holy Mother began. ‘The enemy is upon us. Do not despair; for the enemy is walking barefoot into a nest of serpents. We must destroy them.’ She raised a hand, and her voice warbled with pathos. ‘Do not let them enter the chapel! Repel them at all cost! You are all trained in the Mystik Arts! I have trained you for this moment! Believe in me, and in the power of Ulgara, and you shall not be defeated! It is the will of Ulgara; and so it shall be done!’

July 13th, 2486 - Frontier Space, Imperial Dropship ‘Sparrowhawk R-17’

In the cramped hanger of the C-Class dropship, Olivia pressed her finger to the back of her ear, activating her comms-link and heads up display. Green light flashed across her vision, displaying her ammo count and heart rate, sending out an invisible beam that scanned the interior; where eighteen soldiers sat strapped into their seats, the butts of their plasma rifles facing the ceiling. She saw their names and ranks suspend above their heads in flickering green lettering. There was the shy but capable Lt. Yordo, the brash yet sensitive Lt. Dondolah, the intelligent and cynical Lt. Larson and the quiet but aggressive Sgt. Hammerdain, among others. They all wore the green battle armour of the Marine Corps, their peaked helmets secured firmly by a clasp at their chin.

‘This is Alpha Team Leader, Bravo Team, do you copy?’ Olivia asked, speaking into the microphone beside her mouth.

‘This is Bravo Team leader, we copy Alpha Team Leader’, a voice replied, coming from the other dropship. Bravo Team’s dropship was descending on the opposite side of the ancient church, and was led by Commander Fay La Dorha, a cocky Onfirdian woman with eyes like a shark and muscle like an Alcorna. ‘…I would have liked a bit more intel to be honest, Alpha Team Leader.’

‘It’s not for us to question the Emperor’, Olivia replied. ‘We’ll execute a standard pincer attack; Alpha Team breach’s the main entrance, Bravo Team takes the rear. Any questions?’

‘Never. Bravo Team is ready and able to kick terrorist butt, anytime, anywhere!’

There was a roar of static from the earpiece, as Bravo Team erupted into a battle chant.

‘See you on the other side Commander’, Olivia said, her voice calm. She pouted gravely.