The Facility that made Ember and all of the preceding clones remained in operation for many decades after her escape. The person known as Ember faded to little more than rumors. As multiple races with multiple race specific abilities existed; She was just One less highly powered entity in the galaxy. It was unknown what her actual intentions were, it wasn't like they asked her directly. She was after all-only a product of their efforts.
One of the strongest races that ever existed was the Intergalactic Nevick Empire. As Cred and his Family were from within The Empires reach; a longevity vaccine was administered to all subjects granting them extended years
With vast Armadas of intergalactic cruisers and destroyers; Peace was swift. Ironically Violence against sentient life was expressively forbidden. But as true in the nature of humans in any galaxy; Humans excelled at harming humans. Which kept the Nevick Hunters Active.
The Nevick Empire was meant as a protection rather than Law enforcement. Those who chose violence were hunted by Nevick Bounty Hunters. The price for breaking the law of Violence? Unconditional Allegiance and indoctrination as a Nevick Bounty Hunter.
The galaxies had peace. The only annoyance that slowed the progress of peace was a small group of freelance Bounty Hunters. They were not endorsed by the empire.
It was known by all and any who served The Empire; All hunters are subjected to a memory wipe. Who they were, the lives they lived, and even the crimes they committed; all vanished from memory. There were some who willfully volunteered to sever The Empire; those few kept their identity and their memories.
The AirLock Cycled as a small child ran towards the lush tropical planet. Her loud voice washed against the crashing waves. She happily laughed and played among the shells and debris on the shore. From the same transport a second passenger departed. All the while; The transport continued to fire its main drive power. Once the figure was clear of the door and landing struts, it turned and angled upwards and roared away.
In times of war this maneuver was common. This was a peaceful water planet. There was no one to harm the transport here. Undeterred the sonic boom clapped their ears and echoed across the endless sea.
The figure only watched as the child played and played. Never once speaking to her escort. Never once looking at him. Many hours passed until nightfall. The child appeared to be very young- possibly 4 standard years old. Standing close to a large tropical tree, the escort only stood at ease silently in the growing red moon light.
Gradually A group of humanoids slowly surfaced and marched towards the shore. The large red moons of this planet bathed the night side of the planet in a warm red glow. In this glow, 7 battle ready Laquins watched the escort and child.
Few encounters with Laquins were ever recorded before this time. As enigmatic as the Laquins could bel; they were known to be fierce warriors. Violence may have been outlawed; but it was The Nevicks that enforced it. They simply could not respond to every single act of violence. A fact many races were aware of; where as some even exploited that fact.
Standing at attention the escort removed his hood and bowed slightly. "My Lady; i present to-"
"Im not her." Her words stopped the escort in confusion.
"Im not her mother," She smiled remembering that perhaps she needs to say this with the softest of words "But im willing to help her." She said looking at the small child. The escort frowned. "I beg your pardon Lady Van-Drow, but that wasn't the agreement." He said allowing his clutched arms to drop, which allowed his robe to open. This also revealed under his robe he was wearing full armor but only his helmet was not engaged.
A helmet sprouted from behind the escorts head. Within an instant the once "escort" was now a fairly popular freelance bounty hunter. His Full body armor had a small red fabric Sash around his hips. The devices used to summon weapons flashed two High velocity weapons into his hands. He wasn't going to leave without a fight it appeared.
"Cred." A voice said with no hint of surprise. He looked to Van-Drow. She smiled as her blue eyes glowed purple under the moon light.
"Why? Why do you think that drawing your weapons is going to help in this situation my friend..." the woman spoke and then she trailed off looking at the girl.
Lady Van-Drow was the leader of her people. Revered as royalty. Yet her Armor was very similar to a common Laquin Solider. A small blocklike triangle tattoo under her left eye displayed her House Glyph. It became visible as her helmet rolled back from her face on its own.
She squinted slightly and then made eye contact with Cred. "Who's this?"
"This is my passenger." Cred said evasively and recalled the girl to his side. Not using her name.
The small figure had a type of armor protecting her too.
The woman looked up to creds eyes and then back down to the girl.
"Does she know?" the woman said softer as she stood the closest to Cred.
"No. Ember changed the deal!" He grunted just over a whisper. His hands trembled.
There was a long pause as the girl and the woman looked each other over. She whispered quietly "I'm so sorry." Taking a deep breath, she faked a smile and turned to the girl.
"Come on little one, I have something very very interesting to show you." The girl looked up to the Man for direction. He looked down and knew what he should do...But an unseen war of the right thing to do, and the wrong thing; waged in his mind.
So rather than making a choice; he solidified. Emotionless He could only stare blankly at her face plate. Behind it he knew the beauty of her wide silver eyes. Regret took hold of his heart and there was nothing he could do about it.
As his indecision was his decision; the little girl walked away with the woman. The 6 warriors that arrived with the woman, watched him closely. One that was standing next to Cred as they one by one filed into the sea; spoke.
"It might not mean anything to you commander; but you did the best you can with what you got." The persons face that spoke these words was hidden. As was Creds Distain.
"Trooper," He said unmoved by his honest reassurance; "I believe you are under orders to depart to the ocean; i understand that to mean; you would do so in "silent" obedience." nodding slowly the trooper re-joined his squad-mates. A sonic boom cracked over the hunter's head, as he sat in his thoughts.
A small Swallow Class Vessel landed behind him as he stood there looking at where she walked away. His world now burning inside his mind he only silently stared and wished and wished he had done something better. Looking down he told himself it was safer for her. But really, he knew that thought just made HIM feel better.
He would return to hunting Ember for some 20 years later. In that time the Little girl grew in the knowledge and training that only the Laquin Advance Special Forces could give her. In a word: it was "Hard" for her. Cred knew as much as little Zephyr knew. She would not forgive her dad for this.
The AI system Chimed as the docking ring opened. The Air balanced and hissed as a woman strolled onto her vessel. "Good morning, Zephyr." The Ai pleasantly greeted her. Without missing a step, she made her way to the bridge. Again, the AI greeted her. And yet again, the woman marched with irregular pattern. "Zephyr are you alright?" Seemingly there was something wrong. Convulsing she fell to the floor. Small what seemed to be like insects filtered through the air. gradually like snow accumulating, an android formed.
"Zepher!" MIA the AI now in android form, cradled her as she fell. Exhausted she laid in MIAs arms. Flickering blue sparkle like orbs smaller than small flies flaked off of her exhausted body. Her cellular structure was editing. Almost a defeated look crept across the black-haired silver and black-eyed androids face.
The two had been exploring trying to stay "out of trouble." in the process they did much worse than that. However, in this moment in time; the young commander had just arrived back from her mission. A mission even SHE didn't quite remember all the details.
An Atomical Anomaly known little by few had infected Zypher. At this stage she suffered from black outs. Mia an Android with its own advance AI operating systems could see a steady decline in her health.
From outside of Zyphers Ship "The Enigma" Cred scanned towards the ship possibly hoping to check on her. The large docking port of New Riddia could dock upwards of 20 Captial ships. The average sized Enigma was both feared and respected. It was a Reaper Class Vessel. Build for speed and Evasion. The weapons systems were formidable however rarely used.
From behind Cred an NCO (Non-commissioned Operative) Stood at attention. "Sir. Most excellent to see you have made it back to the fleet. I trust the mission went well."
Cred thought back to the mission step by step. It started with a Halo drop- then he was to disable all who stood in his way. Rescued an operative, flee said planet of incursion, stay alive long enough to make it into another vessel only to be shot down on a slave planet. Freed slaves and sabotaged enemy equipment. Stole another ship and fled that planet and made it back to the bright world of New Riddia.
He took his time trying to form and choose the right words. So, he took a deep breath and smiled;
'Without a hitch..." He turned his back and walked away from the crewman. Ignorance is just poor information. It was likely that or; Cred honestly really didn't feel like talking at the moment.