Private The Last Supper

[Nuruodo'kal'brast]

The Last Supper

- I -
BEING CHISS
Last Hour, Final Act -- Epilogue

And finally, they are no more. No more soldiers, nor women, nor men -- Human, Chiss. Nothing to remember -- and no one to remember them. Only their path in the records. The 117th is nothing anymore -- nor The Invincible, nor the Ascendancy Shield. Noris will remember their fights, but with memories that no one can see.

Back on Ansion, our protagonist met an agent. She was called by the COMPNOR, asking for an interview about what happened on Noris. The consequences were as terrible as possible, both for herself and for his brothers and sisters in the Empire. But she didn’t have the right to decide what she wanted to do. She managed to not be caught in a trap. This moment was decisive but, finally, she could now join Scimitar.
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- III -
THE BLUE SHADOW
The Last Supper​

Dokal had been sitting in front of an officer, or something similar to this type of person -- someone important, she thought. The man took several looks, interspersed by glances given to the twelve-year-old Chiss who faced him. He tries to make me believe that he’s discovering my folder. His face muscles appear tense. He doesn’t know how to process. She leaned back in her chair, trying to give an opportunity for the Imperial to start his questioning; he took it.

“Your name’s Nuruodo’kal’brast. Do you confirm?” he first asked.

Good work. He’s not bad at hiding what he’s thinking. In front of a Human, at least. Dokal shook her head while leaning forward to get closer to the officer. “It’s more like, Nuruodo’kal’brast, officer.”

“Yes. Nuruodo’kal’brast. That’s what I said.”

Dokal shook her head again, only answering: “That’s not bad, but not exactly that. You can call me Dokal, officer. We are used to this behaviour.”

His jaws clench as he hears my words. He first tries to figure out what’s going on with his pronunciation but then throws in the towel. His eyes go to the next line of the folder he’s reading. “So… Also known as SC-84/92-6403, Pulsar or Nern-Actual. Do you confirm?” he continued.

“Yes, officer.”

“Good. No pronunciation problem this time.” His glance suddenly changes; it seems that he’s reaching the point he likes the most. I let him talk, and he will. “Do you know why I am here, Dokal?”

Dokal shook her head for the third time in the interview. He thinks he now has the advantage of the discussion. “To be honest with you, sir, I don’t know. Are you able to tell me that?”

“Not now, Dokal,” he declared as a little smile appeared on his face. He leaned his chair back and stood up, without his datapad, looking at objects all around the room. He tries to make me think that I can talk to him friendly. But Dokal’s friends all rested on Noris, for now. Except for Rear. Poor Rear. “That’s a really good CV you’ve got here. I mean ten years for the CA Defence Force. Six years as a commando. Not bad, to be honest. Even those last three months…” Did I hear a ‘but’? “... But, your folder isn’t clear.” He turned over, now facing Dokal, managing to take the high ground on her. He did two steps in her direction, in an amiable move. “Dokal. Why were you on Noris? Is this for the Empire? Or for you? I need you to answer this question.”

“Sir…” Maybe it will help him to calm down.

“Dokal: answer the question.” He did one more step to face Dokal eye-to-eye. “I want to know. And the COMPNOR wants to know. Don’t you think that it’s a good reason to tell me this?”

He's letting the cat out of the bag, maybe intentionally. “Officer, this is very tricky. I-... I wanted to help the Empire as much as I could. More than I did before…!” False begging. Amateur techniques, but it always works. Even a little. He takes a step back. Now that he’s a bit frightened, I can attack. “I took Shorty with me, and Mirinda Rites, and Rear. All of them.” He’s not surprised, nor caught off guard. I know he already read it in my folder. “To be honest with you, officer, I did this for my people… But also for the Empire. The mission I took was for both the Chiss and the Imperials.”

The agent nodded. He knew all the details Dokal gave to him but wanted to be sure that she was the excellent choice. He put his two hands on the desk, putting his nose at twenty centimetres from the Chiss. “Dokal. I received a word from agent Scimitar. I know you met him. Your situation is bad. Your last operation had been a disaster for your division. It will take several months before the 117th reforms -- and even when it will be, I cannot assure you that you will be assigned to missions and operations.” He leaned back in his chair. He’s honest now. “Dokal, please: accept my proposal. A ship is waiting for you, on the landing pad. Follow me, forget Shorty, Rites, Rear. Abandon your rank in the StormCorps. You will be declared as kill-in-action on Noris, and you will be an agent. Alongside Scimitar.”

Dokal took the time to think about this. On one hand, part of her wanted to keep this place in the 117th. She wanted to help the Invincible to reform, to be a support for Rear and Rites. But, on the other hand, she didn’t have Hukor anymore -- now that he was dead on Noris. In a way, she would join him in death.

“I have to tell you that most of your peop-…”

“That’s okay.”

“Excuse me?”

“That's. Okay.”

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