Thanks to Saru for Collabing this with me [During Silas’s time alone at the gun-cutter] Silas had watched the video message from himself at least a dozen times since the rest of the group had left. It was a jarring feeling, watching one’s self die on video. It was probably the most disturbing thing he had ever experienced in the string of extraordinary events that made up his life. And that message Ley ta’auta. Let it go. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I talked about Jeb and the Martin, how I still hate the Imperials for all the evil that’s been slung my way. But it was in Eldar. I know it was so nobody else would get it, but it makes things damn difficult. “Let it go” could mean anything. Forgive them? Unload all my hate on them? Forget them? I got shot before I could finish the message. And the word “Dolatha” It doesn’t just mean hate, it means “Mindless Rage” Why use Dolatha instead of Cranatha? These thoughts and more rattled around in Silas’s head as walked around the outside of the gun-cutter trying to come up with a way to protect it from the EM field that covered the area. [Later, In Silas’s quarters in the Colonist base] The message was still haunting Silas as he set to work on his new Synthskin rig. He wanted to interweave it with his current armor and clothing, partly to keep the protection of the armored body-glove, but mostly just because these were his only set of clothes. He’d had these cargo pants for years, he placed almost as much value in them as he did his shemagh. If he did it right, there wouldn’t be any difference at all until he activated the rig, at which point he should become almost invisible. Or at least blend in to the colors around me. I have no idea how well this pre-imperial stuff actually works. Silas was interrupted from his multiple internal dilemmas by his door opening. Angel walked in, seemingly unphased by the fact that Silas was sitting there in nothing but his skivvies, and said “Get dressed. You’re coming with me” “Wha-who-where are we going?” Silas blurted, starting to toss on his clothing and gear before he had even processed what the girl had said. “You are going to teach me how to fly.” She said. “Now?”“Now.” Silas didn’t really know what had prompted this, but if it would get him out of this room and more importantly out of his own head…. “You are a saint, you know that?” He said as he followed her to the hanger where their gun-cutter was stored. ***** “A Saint? thats a bit of a leap, first Short Stack now a Saint? look I know I didn’t look that great on the Bitch but one bath doesn’t raise me to Sainthood” she stretched to crack a few backbones and ended with quick shake of the hips to loosen up, its been ages since she has had time to relax let alone have a nice long soak, that and with a new fresh set of clothes in the form of Synskin and a Chameloline Cloak no less, shame they seemed to be a size too small for her as it was more that hugging the skin, she kept fidgeting to try and get comfortable as it gripped her tightly. The door opened as they walked into the hangar towards the Gun Cutter- a Sparrowhawk- stepping up the ramp Angel stopped in frustration. “Ah, frack it” She took her sharpened nails to her bust and cut a few holes to ease the tension as her natural shape did the rest, after a more few ‘tasteful’ modifications she finally got comfortable. “Right, cockpit?” She smiled with Silas wide eyed, regardless she clambered to the main pilots seat as he finally caught up. “Oh, so why am I a Saint?” ***** “Just really need to turn my brain off for a while, forget what….what we found this morning. Good flight’s better than 10 rounds of hard-taq.” As the Gun-cutter taxied out of the hanger for V-TOL, Silas noted that the largest of the two binary stars was setting, bringing on a blue tinted semi-darkness.. I love night-flying The engines started with a harsh, climbing whine, growing higher and higher in pitch as the turboshaft motors turned over faster and faster. “OK, I’m gonna ease up on vertical, you hold the yoke steady. Keep us as level as you can until we hit at least five thousand meters.” “Why so high?” Angel asked “Cuz when you overcorrect and flip us, I want as much time as possible to fix it before we hit the ground.” They got to the five thousand meter mark and switched to pro-grade just fine. Angel handled the craft rather well. It was only after Silas started showing her how to do drift-banks that she started to have difficulty. “Easier on the stick. More throttle as you come out of it.” He told her “But listen to the engine! If I push it any harder it sounds like it will explode!” She yelled back at him. “Ships are a lot like people. They make a lot of noises, and will tell you when they like something just as often as they will tell you when to back off. Here” Silas took his yoke and started on the same maneuver. The heavy cutter whistled sideways in the air, then roared like a primeval god as the engines blazed with delight. The cockpit rattled, adrenaline shot through him, Silas was back in the OPOS leaving an Arbite squadron in a cloud of dust and smoke… “OK, Cut it out!” came the voice from the other seat. “Fine, Jeb, don’t get you’re-” Silas suddenly snapped painfully back to reality. “Oh, Frack. I’m sorry.” Silas eased down the burn, bringing the cutter back to cruising speed. “...Are you okay? we can try this another time” “No, I’m fine. Just got a little carried away.” Silas replied. then, “Hey, wanna have a little fun?” Angel’s ears pricked in curiosity Silas grinned “What-say we poke our nose into space?” ***** Oh gods what is he thinking Her ears where angled backwards with eyes closed as the Cutter was almost shaking itself to pieces from the vertical climb, the planet's gravity desperately trying to keep them from leaving. Should've said no Soon the craft angled straight and the shaking stopped, Angel opened one eye to see if nothing had broken but then was relieved when the sight of the planet below and the aura of blue on its horizon. “Right, we are free from the gravity pool, lets start with basic Maneuvers shall we? Roll us around the Z axis” Angel licked her lips when she took the controls, this was a lot better than flying in atmo, the engines were silent and a kind of serenity was found in the emptiness of the void. The hour passed surprisingly quickly when Silas spoke again after giving her a full run down on maneuvers and controls. “We should head back, save as much fuel as we can” “Oh, right right… How did I do?” “Sloppy, but better than I did first time out. That is to say, we didn’t die.” “Ouch, do you talk to all co-pilots like that or just Jeb?” Silas went silent. “So what was that about back there? and you still haven’t told me why i’m a Saint” Why you acting so off? sure this morning was… difficult, but this is something else. ***** “That was… A real old wound that got tore open today. I never told you where me and Jeb came from. I was just a kid when the Ad-Mech hit our ship. the Gadston Martin. I watched everyone I knew die there. Everyone but Jeb. And just a few months ago, an Inquisitor put a las-bolt through his head.” Silas was desperately trying to hold it together. Break down in front of Short-Stack? that would be the one to put him out an airlock. “And today, that message. You heard the end? where I-” He blanched at the mind-bending notion again “I started talking in Eldar? I was telling me to forgive them. Forgive the Imperials, stop hating them. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do that.” He looked up at Angel “You are a saint. Because you get me out of my own skull. When I’m with you I forget about it, about all the hell I’ve seen. That scares the shit out of me, but...I think...I think it’s a good thing.” ***** Angel didn’t act much when Silas made that comment, instead she tapped a few keys on the console and powered down the engines and unbuckled herself, she took a few steps down to be next to Silas in the main pilots seat who was at a loss for words, honestly she couldn’t think of what to say either. “Lets get back to the-” Silas said as he reached to reactivate the engines only to get pushed back into the seat by Angel who then fully sat on Silas’s lap and put her arms around his head, and pulling herself close. “We can stay up here for a few minutes”
