1:1:7 Clarity (Part 2)

Lore returned to Loren’s body. He was addressing the group but his mumbling made it sound as if he were talking to himself. “If I take the Tempora crystal from my Breacher and do a little jiggery pokery. Useful bit of knowledge but if you ever need a little more time, a Breacher and a transmitter can be rigged to create a temporal looper. And there we go.” He turned and smiled, his Breacher connected by no less than fourteen wires to Gideon’s central console. “Gideon, activate number three beam then deploy the tether.”
The ground quaked.
“What are you doing?” Silus had been snooping around the ship. They poked their head onto the cockpit. “If you hit the Tempora, you get your wish, we all die.”
“It’s fine, the ships beams are designed for ship on ship combat and precision mining; more specifically, they’re designed to disable ships with advanced drive cores, like the ones found in most human ships. Powered by Tempora cyclers. They’re polarised so as not to interact. We’re fine.” There was a second quake as the ship’s grappling hook was launched. Loren held his hand in the air. As the third quake hit. “It’s go time.” Loren looked around. “Are we ready because we are the only ones who will know about this. I hope we don’t fall out.” Loren chuckled nervously. Everyone in the room nodded. “Then here we go.”
The button was pressed and the loop created. Unbeknownst to their enemy, the three year war had begun.

The ship melted around them revealing a trench in the red sands outside Tarrquu. Lore found themselves behind Loren, sat in a dugout with Allana, Silus and Luscillus. The suns were yet to rise as they approached the beginning of the new days fight. Lore’s head throbbed as two months’ worth of memories were crammed through their short term memory on their way to the long term. Conflict flashed before their eyes as they watched every attempt and every success of the last sixty days. They looked to Loren’s Breacher. They had just checked on the time loop’s integrity. It was only day nine. Lore merged with Loren and the memory began playback.
“Morning ‘Ren. What’s the weather like out there?” Allana smirked as they grabbed their breakfast from the fabricator.
“Not too bad.” He said breathlessly. “Just been around the bunks. Yesterday’s headcount was accurate so we were right to press on. In the future, we need to report in and take care of stragglers earlier though. We don’t want a medical crisis this early on.”
“Sorry.” Silus tried to swallow down as much as they could before talking. “In my defence, we didn’t know if Talin and Jenor were going to make it though.”
“Fair enough. Next time, assume not and if they do, happy bonus.” Loren moved toward the fabricator and requested a standard ration packet. A trapdoor opened as one was dispensed. Loren had said what they needed to but something had weighed heavy on their mind and they needed it addressing. “So, I know it’s going to sound weird, but it’s been eating away at me for a while now: does everyone on this planet use neutral pronouns or is it optional?”
“We all do.” Allana leant back in their chair. “Just sort of what we’ve always done.”
“Not always.” Silus set down their glass. “And not everyone. There was a time when we used gendered pronouns but then, problems arose. How do you refer to people who don’t quite fit into each category? How do you refer to someone if you don’t know their gender? So, we took a leaf from your book. We created a neutral pronoun.”
“Wait, you didn’t have a neutral pronoun before all of this? You made it to interstellar travel before inventing, or rather stealing, the neutral pronoun?”
Silus nodded. “We never thought we needed one. We just used the most popular form of address for each profession. The unemployed were masculine and our scientists were feminine. Politicians and librarians fluctuated but things worked. When we introduced the neutral pronouns, they were seen as such a time saver that most people switched over to them by default.”
“Wish something like that happened on Earth.” He looked to his Breacher again. “Ninety eight percent of The Protectorate celebrated the signing of the ‘Null no more act’ nine days ago.”
“Null?”
“A derogatory term for anyone who identified as not male or female. Since most people chose to ignore those born outside of that binary, they felt that anyone who felt as though they belonged outside of the binary should be ignored too. Aggressively ignored.”
“Were you one of the ones celebrating?” Luscillus was so far buried in the corner, Loren hadn’t realised they were even there.
“Inside I was but on the outside I couldn’t. I was on one of the two planets which hadn’t signed. My ex, they were a huge proponent for the act. Got the protectorate to change the rules for high ranking individuals then started working their way back. It hurt me to be there as they did it. Their first transition was hard enough on them, the stuff they went through, the hoops and tape… But this, I mean, it was slightly easier but instead of having a closed community hating you, they had people they’d never even met sending them, trying to send them, death threats.”
“Why?” Luscillus leant forwards slightly, a fresh drop of sunlight illuminated a streak of their hair that crossed their face.
Loren looked around, eyes wide, checking for something. “I don’t know why, and I don’t think I ever will but, listening to the advocates for the bill speak, hel even listening to Crait speak about their experiences, I think I realised that I don’t fit into either box. I don’t think I ever did.”
“Well, what’s a time loop for, apart from winning, if not for trying things out?” Allana had, at some point moved closer to Loren. “How about, for the next few days, we call you something different, treat you like one of us and we’ll see how you like it?”
“I’m down.” Loren shrugged.
Allana popcorned. “I’ve got the perfect name for you: Sha’tara! It means… It means… Well, it loses all meaning in the translations. It’s a modernisation of an ancient word.”
Loren sighed. “What does it mean?” He turned to Luscillus and Silus.
Silus just shook their head and shrugged, Luscillus’ face transitioned from shocked to acceptance before they responded. “Sha’tara was the name given to our ancestors by the first outside visitor to Quatarr. We don’t know who they were but their name went on to mean a great many things. One of them being noble warrior. I think anyone who would risk themselves for another planet’s salvation deserves a chance to properly earn that title?”
“Sha’tara…” Loren repeated. “I kind of like it.”
Whether they liked it or not, their new name saw use nearly immediately. “Tara” was all that they heard Allana eek out as the foxhole collapsed around them. Their vision went black for a while but when they came to, they were on the battlefield.

Allana and Luscillus were in their peripherals, Silus ran slightly ahead. Lore was now wearing their full battle gear and they realised where the red sand had come from. On their wrists, now slightly less battle worn, a pair of black and white gauntlets. They brandished their staff and continued their charge. The tips began to glow with a golden light as they neared the enemy. Silus disappeared suddenly. The reason became apparent as Sha’tara fell too. They had entered the enemy trench. It was similar to their own but filled with the enemy. Sha’tara’s powers of observation were unrivalled. Before their attackers had even made up their minds, Sha’tara was already beginning their assault. Their victims were focussing on Silus but Sha’tara changed that. The glowing end melted to the face of the enemy soldier; Sha’tara pulled them towards them. They jabbed their second would be attacker, skewering them through their eye. The wound cauterised instantly. Now with two live bodies attached to either end of their staff, Sha’tara had a decision to make. They spun their staff, aiming one of their victims at Silus. They turned around and shot at Sha’tara’s closest captive. As their body grew limp, Sha’tara rotated the staff and presented Silus a second kill. The golden glow dissipated as Sha’tara twisted their staff. The two, blaster burn riddled, bodies fell to the floor. They proceeded through the trench, Sha’tara’s staff wreathed in a golden glow, decimating the enemy forces; searching for a crucial piece of intel. Through a killer combination of brute force, stealth and sheer luck, they managed to infiltrate the Eastern camp’s communication centre.
“This is Loren. I’ve got the intel. Retreat to base and tell all forces to return to defensive positions.” Sha’tara turned and ran. The way back to their base had repopulated quickly but it posed little issue. Spinning their staff ahead of them, they ran. The golden glow spread counterintuitively as the spinning grew faster, creating a shield of light before them. With their front protected, they ran. Their heart was beating out of their chest and their vision blackening by the moment but that didn’t stop them, it barely slowed them. They just kept running. What did slow them down however was a lucky shot from one of the enemies their shield had downed. A glancing blow to their left side caused by the slug being reflected back into them by their own staff created two superficial but painful incisions across their bottom rib. They faltered but tried to keep themselves together, zone out the world. Lore’s vision went black completely as they found themselves transported back to their camp at the end of the day. Sha’tara’s wounds had been attended to and the four leaders were in a new foxhole discussing the day.
“We lost far too many with our assault today, we can’t justify moving ahead.” Sha’tara shook their head at the numbers.
“How many?” Silus lowered their head.
“It doesn’t really matter, it won’t be happening again and by tomorrow, they’ll be back.”
“Was it worth it?”
“If we weren’t in a time loop, if we could draft reinforcements from Tarrquu, then I would say yes. With such a finite resource, no.”
“What did we even get?” Allana nursed Luscillus’ bruised knee.
“The rumours are true. The Eastern Quatarrii have managed to communicate with the outside world.”
“And?” All present’s ears pricked up.
“The fighting is still going on outside but has nearly ground to a halt as both sides are looking for a way to support their troops within the loop.”
“So this is the deciding battle then.” Silus got up. “Anything else?”
“Well, only information regarding what the East has planned for their assistance. Nothing about our plans obviously.”
“We should make contact too.”
“First thing in the morning, after the reset.” Sha’tara began. “I’m not sure our side is going to be able to offer us anything as good as what the Easterners are planning.” There was a solemn silence. “If they can time it correctly, which they will be able to, they’re planning a care package drop.”
“How can it pass through the barrier?”
“Non-organic matter can pass through just fine.” Sha’tara shook their head. “And this matter is going to change everything.” They displayed the stolen data on their Breacher. A wireframe image flickered above their wrist. Sha’tara made it larger then pushed it down, around their arm. “It’s a next generation Rejuvenator weapon. Instead of being linked by tube, this takes directly from the source. Its larger size allows for greater storage. It’s like having a small rocket launcher for an arm.”
“When can we expect to see them?” Silus’ voice waivered.
“Day fourteen so we have time to prepare and we have an advantage: We can send a message every time we restart a day, they can’t.”
“Five days… Seems so close.”
“I wouldn’t worry. If we don’t see the right numbers, it could be months away.” As their sentence ended, the world faded away.

They found themselves floating above the battlefield, soldier ants darted around firing golden blasts. The war was playing out before them. The suns rose and set and rose again. After a few identical sun cycles, a new one started. After a few of those, something else new happened. The borders of the battlefield grew.
“Day fifteen brought hope.” The doppelganger spoke. “The enemy got their hands on new weaponry but the day after, we got a major increase in numbers.”
“I remember.” Lore looked down as the battle raged on.
“It was here I truly understood what was at stake, truly took on board the vision from the Oracles.” The doppelganger paused. “Whether I liked it or not, this war made me. I learnt the harshest lesson fighting here.”
“We fight and we win, whatever it takes.” Lore whispered.
The doppelganger looked disgusted. “NO.” Its tone became robotic and its eyes grew red. It breathed without its lungs and calmed slightly. “We learned that no matter how hard one tries, Time and Reality have a mind of their own and they run the universe on numbers. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. That is the lesson of the three year month, that is how we have to be.”
“Then we are wrong!” Lore looked down, watching the soldiers, on both sides, fall like dominoes. “Look at that! How can any rational individual condone that, consider that justified?”
“WARNING: Mission cube should be viewed immediately. Memory replay terminated.”

Despite what it said, a new memory was added to Lore’s mind. Visions of the end of the war, an award ceremony and the sacking of Quatarr. Their eyes opened; they found themselves back in the bathtub, drenched in a cold sweat. They took a breath. They quivered as they did; they had gotten used to the heat of the Quatarrian suns. They waited for a moment, it could have been longer but they didn’t know, they just waited in silence, absorbing what they had just seen. They took the second cube from the box, replacing the first, and held it over their chest.
“If everything I am came from that war, I wonder what I put in you?” They pressed the cube to their temple and inhaled. Context.