1:2:1 Illia (Part 2)

Destiny was suspiciously quiet. Lore looked over to Char, they were both braced. Char nodded and Lore activated the drive. And then they were there. No shaking, no sound, no banging just arrival. “That was anticlimactic.” They said in unison.
Destiny was doubled over in laughter.
“I don’t quite know what I was expecting. Just more than that.” Char said.
“Was all that really necessary or were you trying to scare us?” Lore nearly spilled their tea gesturing with it.
“In the future, I will disable immersive K.A.D.S effects.”
“Thank you.” Lore returned to the fabricator to get something to mop up the mess they had made before the jump. “The Illia data please.”
They needn’t have bothered as the data onscreen became quickly redundant as they reached the buoy ring. Barely a feather ruffled as Destiny made her way through into the lower atmosphere. The planet below was a frozen wasteland; mountains of ice pierced the clouds and below them, frozen seas stretched on forever. Destiny continued, scouring the wasteland for any sign of civilisation. Then it came. Alone in the ice, encased in a glass hemisphere kilometres wide, The first city.
“This is Celreagaire boarder post four. Unidentified craft, power down your engines and prepare to be boarded. Stow away any weaponry and prepare full ship and personal Identification for verification for all individuals onboard.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Lore was an entirely different person. “You are to open the sphere and allow us entry on the jurisdiction of The Fifty Second Order of Inquisitors.” They punched at their control panel. “Authorisation L052Ω.”
There was a brief moment of static as the dome opened. “My apologies Inquisitor. Your ship isn’t in our registry. Please follow the signs to docking bay one. Welcome and apologies for the hold up.”
“As per inquisitorial orders, you are to wipe any and all records of this engagement and continue as though we were never here. Failure to comply will result in your imprisonment.”
“Understood. I’m so sorry.” He sounded terrified. Char shared the sentiment.
“Take us in. I’m going to get changed.” Lore shot up and stormed towards their room.
They stood in the corridor for a moment, back to the door and searched their jacket. On the lower left side, a zip; they ran the zipper along the bottom of their jacket. The leather extended from their hips to just above their knee. They quickly neutralised their expression, adding what they thought would be a sadistic smirk but ended up feeling like too much as they returned to the bridge.
Char kept blinking, expecting the view to change but it disobeyed; Lore stood straighter than she had ever seen and for a brief moment, she was reminded of the one who brought her into this mess. Then they smiled. Lore twirled on their heels. “Handsome, smart? I think it’s a little too much but apparently it’s protocol for all Inquisitors to wear their jackets like this when traveling through hostile environments.” They shrugged.
“It’s alright.” She looked them up and down. “Do I get an outfit too?”
“Well, you can get something from the fabricator but we thought that putting you in uniform would be less camouflage and more painting a target on you.” Lore tried to think of a tactful way of putting their next sentiment. “There aren’t any alien Inquisitors.”
She feigned offence. “Fine. I’ll see if I’ve got any cold weather gear then.”
“But not too cold, the ambient temperature of Celreagaire is quite comfortable. There’s supposed to be an underlayer with this but I doubt it’ll get cold enough to justify it.”
“You’re going to regret saying that.” Char chuckled as she left to get changed.
The planet flew by below them. They were a few kilometres from the city, below them, a field of algae, floating above brilliant blue water worked hard to provide the oxygen for the settlement. Trees and grassy plains snaked between the pools. Occasionally, a worker could be seen taking a break, enjoying the relative silence as Destiny floated overhead. The gradient increased slowly and steadily as they approached the inner wall. Holographic arrows appeared before them telling them to head left. Destiny obliged and followed the wall to the left until instructed otherwise. They couldn’t see much of the city but from what they had seen, it was utopia. White streets and white buildings highlighted in silver with mirrored windows reflecting The Destiny as she passed; strips of emerald and sapphire filled the empty streets with colour. Originally, Lore had thought the city had been built in a perfect circle but there appeared to be an outcropping. The wall bulged slightly but the reason was not immediately apparent. In the space created by the anomaly, nothing; just more white paving. Nearby, Lore got their first glimpse at the local life, an open square and what appeared to be an art exhibition. The locals attire formed a homogeneous blur of whitish-purple which only seemed to grow. The holographic arrow returned to tell them to continue to follow the wall. Char returned in a ridiculously puffy jacket. To her credit, it would blend well, if what Lore had seen in the square was an accurate representation of Illia’s fashion scene. She smiled before pulling a drawstring attached to her hood. With that, the arms tightened to her skin and the torso deflated, stopping reasonably short of being too tight. The jacket retained its style without the bulk.
“Better?” As Lore had before, she twirled.
“Definitely. I think you’ve chosen well, the locals seem to favour that colour.” Lore had dropped the act for now. “Where are they taking us?”
“We’ve nearly completed a loop of the city. It would have been more efficient for them to have sent us right instead at this point.”
“They’re stalling.” Char took her chair. “Simple as. Ten years with no visitors, I’d make sure everything was ready when one showed up.”
“Agreed.” Lore tapped at their shoulders. Tendrils of metal appeared from the corner and affixed two shoulder pads to their coat. The one on the right bore the standard of The Protectorate, embossed on the black polymer. The left was primarily empty save for the number fifty two recessed in crimson font. “After this mission, can we change the colour of this armour. The red with the blue undershirt…” Lore’s neck snapped to the right. “It’s not comfortable. Why doesn’t it match?”
“A Lore left a spare combat outfit in the locker in case you lost, damaged or required additional equipment for eventualities like this.” They were told to pick their favourite colour. Most of the Lore’s prefer the red. More Quatarrian than The Protectorate blue.”
“We can change it now if you’re quick.” Char manhandled Lore’s shirt, looking for a tag. “Here we are.” She pressed it twice. “Right. What colours were you thinking?”
“We keep the jacket black but replace the red with…” Lore was stopped in their tracks as a colour wheel appeared before them. They zoomed in on the blues and scanned the various shades. “Aegean.” The red instantly softened and shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum. When it reached blue, it was as if the black of their armour was blending. The blue darkened until it matched the desired shade leaving a pale grey with a hint of blue in its stead, completely replacing the red. “I hate that blue is associated with The Protectorate. Still, may come in handy. Shame we can’t change these.” Lore held up their wrists. Crait’s mismatched bracers.
“Can’t do anything with them I’m afraid. We’ll get you some new ones. Illia’s bound to have a few spare pairs. If not, we’ve got a spare pair here.”
“We don’t…” Lore removed a small folded sheet from their pocket. “They left me an I owe you.”
“Couldn’t find mine. Will replace ASAP…” Char read. “Wow. Rude.”
“Destiny, this is the Celreagaire docking authority.” A breathy voice came over the speakers. “Please proceed to docking bay two.” He took another deep breath. “We apologise for any inconveniences caused.”
Destiny landed in the assigned space. While her rear section fit perfectly between the lines, the spearhead from which the ship took its classification did not, reaching into the adjacent bays. Neither was occupied. Destiny was the only ship using the dock.

Landed, engines off and handbrake on, Lore and Char made sure they were ready to begin their adventure. Lore was about to grab the tablet from the front console when Destiny’s hand beat them to it; rising from below and taking it for herself. Her appearance was much the same as it had been when they met but this time she was sporting a new outfit.
“You two got to change.” She had noticed Lore and Char staring. “Trust me, it’ll help.”
She stood before them, tablet in hand, dressed in a navy and black uniform. One Lore had seen enough of to last a life time. Destiny now looked nearly indistinguishable from the soldiers Crait had sent to execute them.
“It’s a little unsettling.” Char began.
“And incredibly accurate.” Lore stepped closer to feel her sleeve. Destiny gave her blessing and so Lore pinched her sleeve and rubbed it between their fingers. “That feels like real cotton-polyester.”
“That’s because it is. Being a biomech has its perks; my macrocomps use similar technology to the ship so they can store any outfits I think I may need.”
“Let’s get going then.” Lore led the charge down the stairs and into the cargo bay. They stopped dead. “How do you open the airlock?”
Char shrugged. Destiny pushed past and entered her key into the slot by the door. With a hiss, it opened but instead of sliding to one side, it fell forwards, creating a ramp.

They had expected the Illian air to be cold and harsh but within the dome, they were only half wrong. Temperature wise, they couldn’t ask for a better ambient temperature but the smell coming from the docking bay was atrocious. Lore looked to Char and then to Destiny. Both replied with the same confused expression. The entire dock smelled as though it had only just been cleaned and cleaned by someone who could read labels but had never actually cleaned before. The stench of bleach was overpowering to the point of being a borderline biohazard. A figure joined them on the dock. Taller than Lore by a head and dressed in shining white armour, she marched from the shadows and into the open. She tried to maintain her cool demeanour but even she was weakened by the barrage of bleach her people had subjected the dock to. She stopped a metre before Lore and slammed her heels together. Her arm moved from her hip to the side of her head faster than Lore thought possible.
“Commander Misha Undulia of the Celreagaire Military guild.” She shouted. “Welcome to Illia sir.” Her face had held the same stony expression even when she spoke. Her scowl remained for a few seconds longer as she stared at Lore and they stared back. The fumes became too much. A cough shook aside her seriousness as a smile was revealed. “Inquisitor Loren… or should I say Head Inquisitor Loren. It’s been too long.” She closed the gap and had Lore ensnared before Char knew what was going on. She planted a kiss on their lips before lessening her grasp. “You haven’t aged a day.” She set them down. “I am sorry about the smell. We’ve not really had any VIPs visit us for a while. In fact, your inspection has caught us quite off guard so well done but I have prepared a contingent of my best officers for you should you need them.”
“This isn’t an inspection.” Lore’s voice had dropped a few octaves and their face was once again a clean slate of emotion.
“So what or who,” She ran her finger through her hair. It was too short for it to make a visual impact but Char knew what she meant. Lore didn’t. “are you here for then?”
“We are on a mission.” They paused, realising what she meant. “But I suppose there are three of us so…” Lore was about to continue but Undulia’s expression told them that they had struck gold. Char nudged at Lore subtly. “I expect you’ve got a transport waiting to take us to your headquarters?” Undulia nodded. “Could we have a moment?”
“Of course. It’s just down the stairs. I’ll see you down there.” She departed as quickly as she had arrived.
“Ok.” Char began as soon as she left earshot. “What on Illia was that? Who are you? And who is she?”
“She is Misha Undulia. She was a low ranking member of the local law enforcement that one of the Lores had a brief fling with before fighting in the three year month. They always promised they would return but they never did. Using that relationship is probably going to be the best way to get around this settlement and find out what we need to. Plus we probably don’t want to piss her off.” Lore gestured for Destiny to hand them the tablet. They highlighted an objective. “She can’t know.”
“Fair enough but when did you get so good at this? We had like half an hour to get ready and she wasn’t mentioned in any of the files.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” Lore left it there, returned the tablet to Destiny and made their way to Undulia. Destiny secured the ship before catching up with Char and Lore.
The bottom of the staircase opened up into a huge, empty, open space with sheet glass walls allowing it to be illuminated by the suns outside. Through the walls, Lore saw something that gave them cause for concern. Parked in a double file precession, a series of police vehicles. There were five vehicles in the motorcade. Two hover scooters in front, two police hovercars at the rear and, with Undulia stood by the open door, the VIP vehicle in the middle.
“Here we go.” Lore whispered as they slid into the car.
“Welcome back.” Undulia kissed them once more. Re-introductions.