A Traitorous House on Traitorous Earth: Shattered Past Book 3

Winter's Fall

Lakshmi and other members of the Future War Cult were in the process of loading up some hawk dropships with supplies. "Lakshmi, may I ask you something?" An Exo asked placing a large crate on one of the ships. 

"Go ahead Ash," Lakshmi replied to her. 

"Why were you so eager to aid the Fallen? They tried to destroy the City more than once." She replied looking at her. Ash was a black exo with green eyes and some green accents on her body. She's a medium build, 164 centimeters tall, with no additional accents on her face other than a symbol associated with an old faction of the City, one that tried to overthrow the consensus long ago. Ash-09 was a part of that faction and is perhaps the only remnant of it. 

"So did you, Ash," Lakshmi replied. "The reason is that of the visions, the war will come, and when it does we will need their aid to prevent the destruction of us both," 

"But what if uniting with the Fallen is a cause for the war?" 

"We cannot be sure. However, it is important that we bridge these ties as soon as we can. We need them, Ash. And right now they need our help; they aren't all soldiers down there." 

"What do you mean?" 

"They're farmers, builders, artisans, and children." She replied placing a crate on the next ship. "They were innocent, and they are starving because of the poor leadership of a Kell who ruled with an iron fist." 

"I didn't know that." 

"Not a lot of people do," She replied boarding the hawk. "Come, let me show you." She said gesturing to Ash. 

"Yes, ma'am." She replied stepping on the ship. The hawk's doors shut and the two Exo's climbed into the spare seats at the front of the ship. "Pilot are we ready to go?" She asked the young man sitting in the pilot's seat. 

"Rodger that, I'm just getting clearance for take off. Tower Control, this is Raptor One One requesting permission for take off." 

"Permission granted One One," 

The Hawk's VTOL engines raised the ship off the ground and rotated forwards to head off in the direction of Germany. "Ma'am, may I ask why I had those memories implanted?" Ash asked Lakshmi. 

"The memories you had placed in your head were there because Lysander wanted them to be. You were constructed to be one of his soldiers; he didn't give you free will. He broke the law to raise an army against the City." 

"Oh yeah, I remember that it was horrific. While the other factions were fighting each other in the streets Lysander's Army, as they were called came in and tried to take control. The guardians got involved and fought with the other factions and banded them together to fight Lysander. Once that was over, the factions got back to fighting each other, then the guardians got involved again and ended the conflict." 

"So the memories were placed because he wanted a soldier who was loyal to his cause?" Ash asked Lakshmi. 

"Exactly, pilot how long until we land?" 

"We've got another ten minutes." He replied. The group sat there in silence; Ash was looking out the window of the hawk to the fields below, she felt like a little kid again, looking at such a large amount of green was awe-inspiring to her. She grew more excited by the minute as they continued flying ahead. "Alright, we should be approaching the drop zone now," The pilot remarked as he flicked the switches to the ships VTOL engines. Ash stepped out of the ship to look around. The Eliksni were in the process of getting some shelters set up for them to live in. Most were eating some of the rations that the War Cult dropped off for them. The smaller children were running around playing in the grass. Ash couldn't help but smile; she honestly wanted to join them.