The Stellar Engine (Novel)

The Stellar Engine is a novel by Ciarán Simpson. It follows the events of the second phase of the Octavianist Crisis, primarily following Johannes Spire, Jaina Donlo and Sam Finnel.

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### Prologue

Over eight-hundred centuries ago, mankind held unchallenged dominion over the galaxy, perhaps even beyond. A hundred trillion legions marched across a hundred trillion worlds, subjugating what could be subjugated, and exterminating what could not be.

Millions of intelligent species where crushed and vanquished beneath the steel boot of Mankind, and nothing was safe from their exploitation.

It is said, that even the stars themselves where used, not for energy, but as weapons.

Ancient Man developed blasphemous ways to move stellar bodies; The stars themselves, and they could harness the forces of them to destroy worlds.

No one truly knows how they did it, or if they ever actually did, but legends say a few of these so-called Stellar Engines still exist to this day.

But this was before the Fall of Man; the end of the first run of Human civilization. Many relics still exist, magical, to current civilization.

But even in the current age, many errant fools have ventured out to find the Stellar Engine, but none have ever returned, for the Cosmic Void is merciless and maddening. Many good souls have been driven to depraved acts by the endless silence, and even worse fates fall to those to suffer the wrath of the dreaded horror realm that is The Pervorsitum, the only known means to travel space in any practical span of time.

The indomitable Terran Empire had stood strong for one-hundred and two years, and the Emperor, Julianus Pompey found himself in a crisis. His bastard son, the Lesser Prince Octavian Pompey had decided the throne was better in his hands, and the Empire had fallen into a state of conflict. The Octavianist Crisis was now starting to die down, but the Kopro Sector was now a battleground between two Imperial factions, with few ways to tell them apart.

The Imperialists, led by Julianus himself and his mysteries Enforcer, seeking to make the Imperial Throne once again secure; Then there where the Octavianists, seeking to depose the Emperor simply because that is what their liege, Octavian Pompey, commanded.

The future seemed grim in the Kopro Sector, as previously ignored worlds get enslaved to further the great Imperial War Machine for either side, and soon, even ancient legends may soon become promising leads…

### Chapter 1

Footsteps echoed loudly down the hall, as a man in a black and gold uniform walked briskly down the well-lit corridor. His black and crimson cape, draping around his shoulder, flowing as he walked. On his chest, opposite the cape, was a badge with the words 'Admiral Nikolas Holder'

In amongst the occasional boom of the guns of the vessel, another man rushed up behind, speaking loudly "Admiral! Admiral!".

The Holder turned around, saying "I intend to find out Spire, I awoke to this just as you have".

"I will follow you to the Bridge then, sir" vocalised Spire in response.

The two briskly walked down the hall towards the lift leading to the Bridge, allowing the door to open they entered and allowed it to transport them to the chamber above. The lift was small but large enough for perhaps four people. The doors opened into the cylindrical chamber and the bridge was revealed, also revealing through the window a considerable amount of artillery fire, from longer range weapons from a fleet of ships many kilometres away.

The Admiral walked forward towards the front of the Bridge, shouting "What the hell’s going on here!?"

A Night Officer then spoke loudly "We're not sure sir, they just came forth from The Pervorsitum suddenly and without warning" Spire then spoke "How many are they?". Another Officer spoke "We can't tell, they seem to be hiding their signatures behind each other, the angle there at relative to us makes it hard to see anything past the ones up front on our scanners"

Spire than exclaimed "We need everyone awake"

With great haste, Admiral Holder ordered that the whole crew be awoken, such that both the night skeleton crew and the main crew be active at once. Spire rushed towards the other officers and began to try and catch up with the situation.

"Can we tell what ships they are?" He asked, glancing towards them. "Not really sir, same problem as counting them, but judging by what can be seen from the window, it's at least 4 Britannia Class ships and one of those triangular things, maybe an Imperious Class. There seems to be a lot of other generic looking ones too that it's difficult to ascertain from the distance" Spire looked at the Officer, with a concerned expression and questioned "Where are we?"

"Ranton Prime, sir"

Spire looked concerned and whispered quietly to himself "There’s no way that a fleet like that one would be just sitting on standby at Ranton Prime, it makes no sense", he paused, and said loudly "They knew we were here!"

Admiral Holder looked at Spire, and suddenly uttered "What?"

Spire explained himself "We're at Ranton Prime, it’s not particularly important to the Empire, there's no reason for there to be a fleet that large in orbit. I would expect to attract the local defence force, if they have one, but they're rarely larger than a few corvettes and maybe some light cruisers, and there is no way in hell that Ranton Prime assembled a group of battlecruisers, battleships, and whatever else they have their"

Holder spoke "Your right, it doesn't make sense, the only explanation is that they knew we would be passing by" He then asked "Arcus, can we enter the Pervorsitum?"

Arcus, the Officer of The Pervorsitum, then spoke with a cold, robotic, monotone voice "No sir. The  Pervorsitius-Shields are currently in the process of repairing after last time"

"How much longer is it?" the Admiral asked the cyborg officer, who said in the same robotic tone "Cannot say. It is impossible to tell how much damage the abominations which dwell within the Pervorsitum have done. This is the risks we take using the Pervorsitum, sir"

Indeed, just as Realspace had predators, so too did the Pervorsitum. The abominations of the Pervorsitum where little understood, but the Terrans cared little, they believed they knew enough. Enough to know that when a voidships  Pervorsitius-Shields failed, for whatever reason, the ship was rarely ever seen again, and if it was seen again, it was more often than not popping up in some record of the past, or being found in the future, as a mangled, ruined and drained husk. Indeed, such abhorrence’s must be dæmons of the highest form; At least that's what the Terran's would say.

"Repair the  Pervorsitius-Shields as fast as possible, we're horrible outclassed here" Holder said loudly, before looking to a certain officer in the left computer pit and said, "What’s the range?"

"Four-Hundred and one Kilometres and getting closer, sir" uttered the officer.

The Gunnery Officer then spoke "We're probably nearly in range of their secondary battery's, sir"

Indeed, within the next few minutes, there was a sudden increase in the volume of fire as the secondary battery's entered into range. The battlecruiser buckled under the immense energy of the shells.

Admiral Holder spoke briskly "Focus all fire on one ship at a time, leave tertiary battery's reserved for point defence"

The Primary and Secondary battery's opened fire at the largest of the enemy warships, as all other weapons fired at incoming shells and missiles.

Spire watched as a smaller cruiser was blown apart by the sheer volume of fire.

A nearby Britannia Class ship was critically damaged too, its four engines in the rear began to sizzle away.

Admiral Holder spoke, "Spire, contact that battlecruiser" Spire did so, saying into a computer "This is Britannia Class ship Enterio calling for Britannia Class ship Corax, do you read me?"

Spire got a response, "Yes Commodore, we read you, our engineers have told us that our engines are about to blow, we tried to decouple them but it’s not working. Get away from us, before we blow. Don't bother try'na get us out, we're blocked in sir."

Spire then said quickly "No! We will get out who we can"

The man on the communicator interjected "No, we have mere seconds before this whole vessel gets blown sky-high sir. It's been an honour to serve under you sir"

The communicator shut down.

Shouting, Spire commanded "Get us away from the Corax, she is going to blow!"

The many men driving made it so that the primary rear engines angled themselves away from the Corax, and the various auxiliary drives angled the ship such that it could quickly escape the blast.

Battlecruiser Corax began to explode, as energy bursted from the muzzles of the engines, shattering them. The Antimatter within annihilated, releasing a burst of catastrophic energy that vaporised everything nearby. Pods, shuttles, fighters of all sorts flew out from wherever they could, only to be shattered like glass by the energy, the men, women, and quite possibly children within, being immolated and blown apart by the energetic fury of the blast. Meanwhile, the bow of the ship was pulled inward towards the rear by some unknown eldritch force, before being violently shoved outwards in the orange fiery blast that came after the energy of the annihilation. This blast most likely killing anyone unlucky enough to survive the immediate result of the uncontrolled annihilation that took place within the primary drives.

Little was left of the Corax, and there was both not the time or need to check for survivors. It was rare for anyone to survive such tragedy.

Spire lingered on the sight of the little bits of floating rubble, a single solitary tear rolled from his eye.

With great urgency, an officer shouted "Their moving in! They're going into a meleé!"

Spire looked out towards the enemy ships, and saw they were moving in quickly. "They must be taking advantage of the fact that were out of formation after the explosion on the Corax" Spire said. Indeed, this was the case, the Octavianist forces where in a mess, Enterio herself was facing her port-side to the encroaching fleet.

Strike-Craft where coming in towards the Enterio at tremendous speeds, while shot reigned down towards the ships old worn hull.

"Prepare for close quarters engagement! Arm the Carronades and Culverin!" Admiral Holder shouted, fire then shouted, "You heard him, arm them!"

Portholes alone the sides of the vessel opened as large artillery pieces poked there muzzles out, the guns pointed towards the enemy ships and their muzzles burst with blue fire. Large shells went flying through the void, exploding on the hulls of enemy warships, leaving gaping holes filled with fire.

Aboard the gundeck, an officer shouted "Reel in and reload! Then continue to fire at will!” A large enemy warship closed in, and unleashed the fury of its guns on Enterio, blasting the broadside guns apart. The Enterio rocked and buckled under the fire. Spire fell to the ground, sliding into one of the navigator's pits. Enterio began to drift away from the enemy warship, as the force from the shells propelled it.

In the path of the veteran war vessel Enterio was the Solent, a Marvollo Class Cruiser, with a mighty cash Enterio skidded across the top of Solent, echoing an ear-piercing cry across the whole of the two vessels.

Spire, having recently got on his feet, fell to the ground blocking his ears as the scream of metal on metal echoes into the bridge.

After an agonising few seconds, Enterio had passed Solent by. Spire pulled himself to his feet again, he glanced about the bridge chamber. He saw it was mostly intact and stood up.

"We need a damage assessment, now!" Spire shouted, an officer agreed and ran down to get the men to perform the task.

Spire turned, and looked out into the darkness of the void, a fierce battle raging. Starfighter's from both sides flew by the windows.

Admiral Holder walked to Spires side, and said, "We can do nothing but hold out it seems", Spire responded "As long as the Lesser Prince remains alive our cause remains strong, Admiral"

Holder spoke "Indeed, but I don't trust them royal's, won't say it to their face but he seems to be hiding something", Spire looked at the Admiral, smirked, and said "We all know he has secrets, as all the Pompey's do, but there is no reason to presume those secrets pertain to us"

"We can only hope" uttered the Admiral...

It seemed the Admiral was not as startled as he was previously, remaining rather calm and collected in the face of war. Not a skill many possess.

Spire scanned his eyes across the battlescape, seeing strike-craft buzzing about. He saw an enemy destroyer, before his very eyes it launched several torpedoes at Enterio. A single torpedo hit could be devastating on even the heaviest ships, and Enterio was not the heaviest of ships.

Spires eyes widened and he shouted, “We need those torpedoes shot down, now!”

A younger officer said in a worried tone “The point defences are all down sir”

‘Then launch strike craft at them, shoot them down with our fighter-craft!” Spire shouted, clearly somewhat panicking. An officer ordered the launch of a strike group to neutralize the torpedoes, and so it was done.

A group of nine interceptors where quickly launched out of the portside hanger. The I-12 Interceptor’s where shaped like an uppercase T, with a long nose and horizontal wings in the back. The cockpits kept a long profile, being inline with the engine chamber. The muzzles of the engines themselves where twined, one at the base of each wing, built to achieve considerable speeds.

These particular I-12’s where painted white, many of which having decorative markings on their noses. Some had animals such as lions and sharks, some had ugly, furious looking beings of unclear origin, one had a promiscuous looking woman painted on the starboard side, holding a fantastical looking sword. All the ships had a red accent in common, A red line on the top of the nose section ahead of the cockpit.

The interceptors flew out in a triangular formation. After burning the engines a few seconds, they shut off and the momentum kept the crafts going at great speed. In the vacuum this speed could go on indefinitely.  The ships angled themselves towards the torpedoes and cancelled out their previous speed with another thrust, before burning again to intercept the torpedoes.

An enemy strike-fighter flew by, as per its role it flew in a straight line and focused all its fire on a single ship, destroying that particular interceptor and leaving them with eight craft.

The remaining interceptors-maintained formation, as warships and strike craft alike blazed around them, fighting the Battle of Ranton Prime. The interceptors got into range and immediately opened fire on the torpedoes, destroying most of them in the first run.

The Interceptors turned around, preparing to make an attack on the remaining torpedoes. Two out of the three remaining where destroyed but one survived, due to a sudden barrage of fire from the limited Anti-Strike-Fighter guns of the destroyer.

The torpedo was quickly coming closer to the dorsal side of the Enterio, armed and capable of potentially crippling the ship or even destroying it.

The interceptors came in to try and destroy this last torpedo, however it was too late, as the torpedo pierced the outer most layer of Enterio's already limited armour and exploded. The interceptor's pulled off the trajectory of the torpedo to avoid crashing into the ship, coming out of the blast with ventral sides scorched by the heat.

As the squadron decelerated in preparation for returning into the Enterio, one of the interceptor’s starboard thrusters wasn't shutting off. Clearly damaged by the explosion the interceptor, the forces of which were now unbalanced, went spinning forward, with the malfunctioning thruster as its pivot. The pilot of another one of the interceptors, a middle-aged woman, looked on at the sight in horror as she continued the manoeuvre. The pilot of the malfunctioning craft was calling for help but naught could be done, the ship was barrelling towards the Enterio's command bridge at a great speed, such that five hundred metres was covered in a few seconds. The pilots saw as the bristly Anti-Strike-Craft weapons went behind them, all piling on-top of each other is vast battery's running along the whole length of the ship.

Commodore Spire and Admiral Holder where on the bridge, recovering from the shockwave the torpedo hit sent throughout the whole ship. Spire looked up, and saw the craft coming towards the viewport and quickly shouted "DOWN!".

The interceptor hit the bridge and exploded. Piecing of metal where shoved in many directions and the outer hull was weakened very slightly in that area by the heat. Everyone on the bridge was jarred, some younger fellows where terrified, but all survived the hit. There truly was no danger of any sort of breach, rather there was a danger from the sound and light from the explosion, such things have sent Lord Admirals permanently blind and deaf.

The Interceptors manoeuvred into the Enterio's hanger bay. All but one landed smoothly, the one that didn't skid across the ground, creating sparks and the screeching sound of metal on metal. The pilot, a middle-aged woman, came out, clearly in emotional distress.

On the Bridge, Spire regained his composure and said "We need to get the Prince out of her, Admiral"

Holder spoke "Agreed, Spire, I give you command of the Corvette Shallow, get a squad and bring the Prince with you. There’s a Fringe World in the Tarsoha System, called Tarson. Nobody had heard of it. I can't guarantee you won't face the enemy there, but I seriously doubt they've bothered with that planet."

Spire spoke proudly "Yes Sir", but Holder then spoke once more before Spire could leave, placing his hand upon his shoulder "And Godspeed"

Spire ran down the halls, passing by a group of soldiers and ordering them to follow him.

Entering the Princes chambers, Spire noticed how dark it was. There was little light, and it smelled of incense.

Spire fell to his knee, and said reverently "My Lord"

A voice resonated through the room "Why have you come"

Quietly, Spire said "Forgive me my lord, my men and I have been tasked with escorting you out of the battle"

A tall, elegant man came into view, the Lesser Prince Octavian Pompey...

"Where to then?" the prince said swiftly, before Spire responded "There is a world, Tarson, few know of it. It is the Admirals wish that we go into hiding their until it is clear we are safe"

The Prince Octavian stepped out into the light. His blond hair running down his pale neck.

"I will come" he said, with great power; Such that Spires very will was broken, and he quietly, and sombrely said "Yes, my lord"

Spire, Octavian and the squad of men boarded Shallow, a Seculus Class Corvette, through a boarding tube, entering into the Portside of the warship. The Shallow undocked and accelerated forward, gunner manned the guns and warded of strike-craft. Spire made his way into the control-chamber, and informed the pilots of their destination, Tarson in the Tarsoha System.

The Corvette flew its way between the great warships of both fleets, defending itself with its guns, before opening a tear. A tear that lead into a vast, eldritch hole into the Pervorsitum. As the Shallow entered the great purple hole, it closed in on itself.

The Pervorsitum was a thick, milky purple realm of energy. Monsters beyond imagination where tearing at Shallow's Pervorsitum shields, but the shields held strong.

All around where unspeakable sounds, a chorus of a billion throats, screaming, crying, moaning. Sounds which would make even the most steadfast ecclesiarch wince. In the spaces of the hellish tunnel where vague ghosts of everything that both is and is not, breaking apart and reforming endlessly.

Spire was quietly speaking, praying, for the ship’s safety. "Oh, indomitable Imperious, protect us from the terrors of the void, as we defend your honour"

Claws of energy thrashed out, being dissipated by the vital  Pervorsitius-Shields, however with every barrage from the unceasing Pervorsitum the shields lost strength, and it seemed that area of the Pervorsitum was particularly unseemly. A great talon came out, vast and ceaseless, like a great bolt of damnable lightning, slowly coming down towards the Shallow.

The pilots looked up, with faces pale, they quickly increased speed vastly, in an attempt to reach Tarson as swiftly as possible. In front of Shallow, the tear leading out to the most distant orbit of Tarson began to open, with Shallow coming in with incredible speed.

The tear began to buckle under the stress of the Pervorsitum and began to shrink as quickly as it opened. The great talon of some unknowable beast came inching closer and closer. Shallow’s speed was increasing still, and there was now a particular pull backwards, Spire held onto whatever he could to maintain his composure, though inside he was rightly terrified. The main pilot began to scream, as the speed of the Corvette reached speeds which could be dangerous to many. Spire felt his mind move into the back of his skull; He felt weak.

The bow of the Shallow exited the Pervorsitum, but as the rest of the vessel left the great talon that had been coming closer collided with the stern of the ship. With great fortune the stern left before it could be torn from the rest of the ship, however now the ship was spinning vertically.

The pilots instinctively engaged all thrusters aboard the ship to an equal strength, as to cancel out all momentum. This process took some minutes but was successful.

Spire spoke tiredly "I'll, I'll check on the Prince, someone who can, check for any damage"

Another man then spoke in a tired tone "Yes sir" There was a general understanding as to what the crew had just endured, and everyone was not operating as they typically would.

The Prince was in fine condition, maintaining his usual aura of supremacy, though even he seemed tired. The Pervorsitum, its drained things from people, this was normal, but it was only magnified with Pervorsitius-Shields so weakened.

The Shallow flew towards the surface of Tarson, with Spire looking out the cockpit for a settlement in flat area with a place to hide the ship. After several hours a settlement similar to that was found, and so in the night they landed behind the hill, about 2 kilometres from the settlement.

### Chapter 2

A single speedercraft rode down the centre of a great overpowering canyon. The craft was cobbled together out of what was available, though it was not poorly built. It was a dense looking craft, with a pair of small wings in the rear.

The rider was a young woman. Pallid was her skin, pale, though darkened somewhat by the dust and sand. Her hair was naturally a bright copper colour, though it too had been darkened by the elements, such that it looked slightly brownish. She kept her hair as rather tight to her skull whilst riding. She found that if left untied, even in a ponytail, it could be caught in the engine. If this happened, it would at best hurt her, and act worst overheat the engine, and cause it to explode. Her brown eyes where covered with goggles to keep the elements out, and her parched mouth was covered with a bandanna for similar reasons. She was an average height, perhaps five feet and four inches tall. Her name was Jaina Donlo.

The driving of speedercraft was, by nature, quite dangerous, but with a homemade speeder it was even more so. Jaina thoroughly enjoyed anyway, she found the danger exhilarating.

She could feel the hot air on her face, and she loved it. Focusing her attention forward, she saw a cave come into view. This did not come as a shock to her, for the canyon and its caves where her personal favourite place. She had been in every cave, seen every secret. She had even seen dead bodies in them, from unprepared travellers who met grisly fates in the canyon.

She drove into the cave; Illuminated by lights on the front of her speedercraft. She followed the largest passage, knowing exactly where she was going. She went downwards into a deeper and darker tunnel, which she knew would eventually bend upwards to the surface. Jaina weaved around stone pillars in the cave, climbing slightly up the wall to avoid obstacles that if hit, would be fatal. Jaina knew this too well, she had seen a close friend of hers get killed in such an accident. Jaina in fact owned a locket, inside was an illustration of this late friend of hers.

The tunnel began to curve upwards, and Jaina carefully increased speed as she knew the rest of the tunnel was quite clear of tall formations of stone that she could collide with. Jaina began to smile, as she saw the light at the end of the cave.

The speeder came shooting out of the cave with great force, flying a couple metres into the air before coming back down again, landing on the surface. She continued to the west. The day was nearing its end and she wished to see the sunset, which she always thought was quite beautiful.

The terrain was flat, and the almost metallic orange sand reflected the sun into Jaina's eyes, though the goggles diffused most of it. She was glad she was wearing them.

Jaina rode for about forty-five minutes, to a cliff face that went up around four metres. She slid of her speeder and walked towards the edge. Jaina sat on the edge,  with her legs hanging off the cliff. She looked up, and saw the sunset, fiery and crimson was the sky, and the sun blood red. The sand below the cliff was darker and didn’t reflect the sun like the orange metallic sand did. She removed her goggles, pulling them onto her forehead. Jaina also pulled her bandanna down, revealing a large scar on her right cheek, going up towards her eye.

She began to reminisce on the past; her late friend…

Jaina and her late friend used to sit in that very spot, embraced, looking at the sunset.

The two were best friends, and they were inseparable.

Thinking about her caused Jaina’s eyes began to release tears, and she began to cry. She contemplated just leaping of the cliff, but she then looked at her locket, with the illustration of her late friend. She wanted to be with the only friend she ever really had again, but she knew that suicide was not something she would have wanted. Jaina stood up and walked back to her vehicle. She slid into the seat and looked forward, to see the last slither of the sun slip gently below the horizon.

Jaina turned on her speeder, and sighed. She gently spun in the direction of Cantos, the village she lived in. Jaina put her goggles and bandanna back on, before zooming off in the direction of Cantos.

After twenty minutes she could see her hometown in the distance, on a great plain of orange sand. The night had dawned, and few lights could be seen in the village. Sandstone was the main material used in construction, and the windows where often simple square holes in the wall. Jaina got of her speeder and removed her goggles and bandanna. She walked her vehicle into a ditch on the side of her home, where she could cover it up with some boards covered in sand at the top. Jaina had made these boards herself, to keep her prize vehicle safe from the inevitable thieves.

Removing her goggles and bandanna, Jaina began to walk towards the entrance, a small wooden door with a lock. She opened this door with her key and entered her home. Jaina sighed and rested her head on wall.

The building had few segregated rooms, Jaina's room was one of only two. This was considered unusual on Tarson, but privacy was still a concern of many, the Donlo's included. Jaina entered her chambers, which was a tiny rectangular room with a single small window by her bed. This window looked into the alley in which Jaina hid her speeder. The blue light of the Twin Moons was steaming in through this window.

Jaina let her hair run lose. The dirty copper ran down to a little below the base of her neck. Her hair was naturally a little curly and would often get become uncomfortable if she left it so close to her skull. She found it freeing to untie it.

Jaina fell into her bed, and turned onto her side, facing towards the wall. Her lower leg was flush with the wall, she found this comfortable. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but couldn't. There was noise outside, as there often was and it was unusually cold.

Jaina took the locket around her neck and moved it in front of her eyes. She looked at the bronze casing. It was shaped into a circle, with some simple engraving moving towards its centre. Jaina opened the locket, revealing an illustration of the late friend who gave it to her. She had short blonde hair, with her pale skin. Her cheeks seemed bright. Freckles dotted her cheeks and she smiled so joyfully.

Jaina began to smile, but her eyes began to cry. She had so many happy memories of the woman in the picture, but at the same time, Jaina was there when she died. Technically, it was an accident that had nothing to do with Jaina, but she still felt somehow responsible, like if she did something different her friend would still be alive.

Jaina closed her watery eyes, hoping to fall asleep at last. She wished not to stay awake all night because she just couldn't sleep, only to fall asleep in the morning and not wake up until midday, as often happened.

After some time, she could feel the weight of her body, and she could sense every breath she took, no beating of her heart was unknown to her. She felt a darkness cross over her body, she felt it grow gently colder as she became less and less aware of herself and her surroundings.

Jaina woke up. The sun had recently risen; Its pale fiery light penetrating the window's shutters. She pulled her hair out of her eyes, it glistened in the blazing morning sun.  She saw the ceiling and the wall by her head, leading up to it. The ceiling was dark and looked like bits had fallen of it, the wall looked like it may have once had white with blue stripes, but now it was heavily faded, to the point what may have been stripes where near invisible. She could smell the mustiness, and hear people outside, sometimes talking, but mostly walking. Jaina stepped out of her bed, she tied her hair into a ponytail, and put on her dark and dirty shoes.

The door stood by the wall. It was not tall, nor was it grand. Jaina slowly plodded up to the door and opened it.

Jaina saw her mother, a shorter woman with brown hair and average skin, not particularly dark or pale. She looked nothing like Jaina. The Mothers name was Andrea Donlo

“There’s a man waiting for you outside, says his engine stopped working, told him that I’ll tell you when you finally wake up” Andrea said, after saying hello.

Occasionally, some local Mob would threaten her into repairing their things, she hoped this wasn't on of those days. Last time it was a Mobster, Jaina was threatened with rape and murder before she had even said anything by a large thug with a machete.

Despite all this, Jaina uttered “Yeah I’ll, I’ll go talk to him”

She began to tread towards the front door, though the door she could smell something strange, that she wasn’t sure how to describe. This smell stopped her in her tracks for a moment as she sniffed. She slowly opened the door, before gently stepping over its threshold. She saw nothing that was not there typically, but there was still that most peculiar smell. It smelt like nothing she had ever experienced or imagined before, in an almost unpleasant way.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jaina saw a most queer man peak most sharply around a corner. Jaina glanced at the man, who started to wander towards her. “Are you the Donlo girl?” He said, half falling over himself and obviously drunk.

“Y- Yeah” Jaina said, somewhat scared of the potentially dangerous man in front of her.

The strange man walked closer to Jaina, who looked visibly uncomfortable, but the man did not seem to notice, or care. “Names Miguel.”

Miguel extended his barren and chapped hand towards Jaina, in a gesture of good faith.

Jaina shook his hand, she barely let her fingers touch his, however Miguel just grabbed her hand and shook it in a manner that could be described as distressing.

Miguel’s hair was grey and spectacularly filthy, shooting out in all sorts of directions but generally gravitating downwards. His face was difficult to forget, with an unpleasantly large nose, and deep, bagged eyes..

After a brief pause, Jaina asked “W- What do you need? Sir?”

Miguel spoke “Ah, my thing isn’t working!” He spoke in a most confusing manner, with his tone and volume going up and down.

“Your… Thing…” Jaina said slowly and confusedly. Understandably so, Miguel was giving her minimal information.

“Yes! It stopped working! So, I asked people for assistance, and they pointed me in your direction!” Miguel said, evidently becoming frustrated.

Jaina spoke, with a much annoyance in her tone “W- What IS it? That broke? What IS your thing?”

Miguel looked somewhat excited suddenly, and he then went behind the corner and said “That’s just the thing! I don’t have a jolly idea what it is!”

Looking quite puzzled, Jaina asked “Let me see it”

Miguel spun around on his toes and began to walk around the corner he had originally came from. His arms flailed every-which-way in such a way it was a hazard to anyone nearby.

He came back pulling on a peculiar wheeled green vehicle, underneath was a network's of blades and vacuums, and its purpose was completely foreign to Jaina. Indeed, their was perhaps not a soul on Tarson who would know that this vehicle was a piece of farming equipment. How it got to Tarson would be anyones guess, but it was now far, far from its home. Jaina obviously had no way of knowing this, she thought it was a unique item crafted by some eccentric collector.

She looked at it closely, and determined that it would not be cheap, she informed Miguel of this.

Miguel spun around a couple times before slapping 250 Palens into her hand. Palens being the main currency on Tarson; They where not worth very much.

Jaina did what she could for the strange vehicle, and she was able to get it to barely function, but the thing was completely foreign to her.

Miguel seemed happy with what Jaina had done, and thanked her before wondering off.

By this point the short Tarsonian day was nearing its close, Jaina went and sat down in a quiet spot, she could see the star Tarsoha Solis, in its blazing glory. It cau\sed the often deathly heat the plagued most of Tarson. In reality, it was quite vital for Human civilisation on the planet, but no-one on the world really understood that or why that was. Many cursed it, and those sects that worshipped it where viewed negatively by the general populous.

Jaina sat down and wrapped her arms around her legs, which were pulled in quite close.

### Chapter 3

Jaina watched on as the sun set on Tarson. It dipped slowly and gently below the flat sandy horizon.

Her mother often did grow worried if she stayed out too long into the night, but Jaina felt she was old enough.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Jaina Donlo
* Samuel Finnel
* Johannes Spire
* Nikolas Holder
* Octavian Pompey
* Simon Donlo
* Andrea Donlo
* Terrence Nox
* Arcus
* Mia Holt
* Unidentified Middle Aged Pilot
* The Enforcer
* Eva Smyth
* Jaina Donlo's Late Friend (Mentioned Only)
* Miguel

### Planets

* Tarson
* Ranton Prime
* Dinadon (Mentioned Only)

### Weapons

* Culverin
* Carronade
* Machete (Mentioned Only)

### Ships

* Britannia Class Battlecruiser
* Imperious Class Battleship (Mentioned Only)
* Seculus Class Corvette
* Marvollo Class Cruiser
* I-12 Interceptor
* Pallas Class Grand Cruiser
* Helegos Class Corvette

### Individual Ships

* Enterio
* Shallow
* Corax
* Legator
* Solent
* Eternal Glory

### Squadrons

* Unidentified Interceptor Squadron
* Black Squadron

### Species

* Mankind
* Tarsonian Sandwyrm (Mentioned only)

### Dimensions

* Realspace
* The Pervorsitium

### Religions & Gods

* Pantheon of Tarson (Mentioned Indirectly Only)
* Imperious

### Events

* Battle of Ranton Prime
* Fall of Man (Mentioned Only)
* Battle of Tarsoha

### Fleets

* Battlefleet Kopro
* Octavianist Fleet

### Organizations

* Tarsonian Mob
* Terran Empire
* Octavianists
* Terran Federation (Mentioned Only)