1:2:1 Illia (Part 1)

Yawning. Char hadn’t even left the bridge but it was obvious she was more tired than she had let on. Staggering in her sightlessness, she retired to their room. Lore however was wide awake. They sat alone on the bridge. Silent. Destiny had returned wherever she lived leaving Lore alone with their thoughts. They rapped their fingertips against the arm of their chair, gazing out into space, watching the stars flit past mesmerised.
“You still there Destiny?” Lore made themselves a little more comfortable in their chair.
“Of course Lore.” A wireframe model of her face filled the viewscreen. “How can I be of assistance?”
“What can you tell me about Illia?” Lore scrolled through their job list for the planet. “Who’s this Undulia?”
“Any data I do have is ten years out of date but info is info. Misha Undulia. A junior officer of the Celreagan Military Guild, hover detachment. Her protectorate file indicates that she was an individual of promise… Whatever that means.”
“It means they were watching her very closely.” Lore studied the picture. Her face shared the same familiarity that Crait’s had. “I’m guessing this is the most up to date picture too? Why?”
“No one is quite sure but The Protectorate established a series of warning buoys in orbit of the planet around the same time. Since then, Illia hasn’t made external contact with any other ships or colonies. The population as of last recording was large enough to support itself both in terms of food and genetic diversity for a significantly longer period and there were no records of disease that would usually trigger such a quarantine so it remains a mystery. Any ships that have attempted to breach the buoys have been repelled then destroyed.”
“So how do we get in?” Lore sat up straighter.
“I have been programmed with all of your Inquisitor codes. Given the lockdown, they should work a treat.” Then it hit them.
“’Don’t let Undulia catch on…’  Ten years of lockdown… I’m guessing the plan is sneak in as an Inquisitor, get what we need then hightail it out of there leaving everyone none the wiser.”
“Sounds about right.” Destiny replaced Undulia’s face with her own, nodding.
“Well, if that’s the plan, I need to know who I’m emulating.” There was a second wave of realisation. “Char.”
“What about her?”
“She isn’t exactly human passing.”
“Ah.” Destiny disappeared and replaced herself with a spinning blue circle. After a moment or two, she returned. “Due to Illia’s proximity to Earth, it was not part of the gains made due to the destruction of Quatarr and therefore, Undulia and the local population likely have never seen a Quatarrian. Plus, her skin is almost a human colour. It appears similar to a look that was ‘all the rage’ on Earth, Essex in the early twenty first century.” The screen filled with several examples of women and men with extremely white teeth and orange skin. “These people used chemicals to hide their natural skin tone.” Destiny began.
“That’s it. We could paint her.” Lore interjected.
“Or not.” The pictures minimised returning the viewscreen to Undulia’s file. “She should be fine with her natural skin tone.” Destiny sounded odd when using a more paternal tone. “Back to you…” A more masculine picture of Lore appeared on screen. Lore didn’t even recognise it as them. Beside it, a scan of a handwritten document. Black bars disguised most of the text but made what remained easier to focus on. The name attached, Loren, burnt in Lore’s mind. It made them sick to even look at but they didn’t want to inconvenience Destiny further so they swallowed their feelings and began reading the segments that were still legible.

Loren appears to exhibit mild anxiety and confusingly both an inferiority and superiority complex; this balance, in practice, is seen with them being extremely confident in their abilities yet highly critical of their performance and achievements, humbling themselves far past the point of self-deprecation. This confidence comes across well in their work as, regardless of the situation and their feelings, they remain in control and emotionally detached. Operatives they have commanded before have noted this detachment, coupled with their awkwardness in conversation and conduct and lack of eye contact is effective in maintaining the air of intimidation expected of an Inquisitor.

“I sound like an utter psycho.” Lore was stunned by what they had managed to read between the redacted lines.
“Now is a good time to remind you that you hadn’t even been conceived of as a concept when this was written. This document refers to the conduct of your creators… Our creators.” Destiny sounded confused. “Hmm. I’d never actually read this. They were not like that when I met them.”
“So far I think I can match most of this.” Lore scanned the fragmented text again. “The emotional detachment’s going to be hard.”
Destiny manifested a pair of shoulders and shrugged, “ten years is a long time. Things change.”
“Fair enough. I’ll still try though.” Lore neutralised their expression. Staring emotionlessly at Destiny’s avatar they asked that she returned the data on Illia and Undulia to the viewscreen.
“Chills. Literal chills.” She smiled.

Four hours of studying later, Lore decided it was time to retire for the night. Not wanting to seem too forward and certainly not wanting to disturb Char, they opted to use one of the other rooms. They configured it to create a second bedroom and fell into the slightly too soft embrace of a newly created mattress. Sleep welcomed them with false warmth. Their vision was black until it wasn’t. The warmth felt pleasant until they realised where it was coming from. Their eyes were ablur with red sands, their ears ringing with the sounds of the screams of the injured and the weapons that harmed them. They moved their arms to defend themselves but all it did was obscure their demise. There was a loud bang and a return to darkness. They woke up on the floor. Their Breacher congratulated them on their two hour sleep before cheering them on to reach their five hour target. Lore shook off the grogginess, stretched out their back and closed their eyes before transitioning from the darkness of the bedroom to the relative blinding lights of the corridor. They slowly peeked through their eyelashes as they returned to the bridge. Their eyes still not fully open, they moved straight to their chair and sat down.
“Hey! Hey!” Char protested.
Lore’s eyes bolted open. Light flooded in. “You’re up.” They couldn’t get their words out. Bewilderment became them.
“That I am.” She stood and offered them their chair back. “All warmed up for you.” She chuckled but Lore was over in the corner of the room.
“Tea, drinking temperature. Three sugars and a splash of milk.” They spoke to the fabricator. Not wanting to show them up, Destiny inputted the order and the device returned the tea. “Thanks Destiny.” Lore took their cup and sat. “How far are we now?”
“About eight hours or so by conventional drives. At our current velocity, activating the K.A.D.S. would get us to Illia in thirty seconds.”
“Right.” Lore took a sip from their mug. “Let’s get going then.”
“Place your Breacher and arm between the rings on the right arm of your chair.” A star chart of the Trithead system appeared. Destiny then focussed on Illia. “I lied. Due to the satellite blockade in orbit of Illia, we are going to have to travel the last five minutes at sub-light speeds.”
“Well, we’ll have time to go over Illia.” Char turned to Lore. “I’ve never actually been out this far into human territory .” She paused. “I mean, I’ve been to Earth but that was Breaching so it doesn’t count. Neither I, nor my memories, have ever been to a human colony before. Would be nice to know what to expect.”
“That can be arranged. But I must warn you: my data is slightly outdated.” Destiny winked at Lore. They smiled into their mug. “Please depress the lever on the left arm of your chair.” Lore did as instructed. A whirring sound began. “Secure yourselves and prepare to jump.” The whole ship began to rattle. “Bring the lever forwards rapidly when ready.” The shaking continued.