Familiar Faces

Sobbing. Their cries were being heard by the whole fleet. Most had joined them. Lore sat in silence, guiding the weary ships to the given co-ordinates. It was a while before anyone talked. It was Sky who broke the silence. They gave a brief and heartfelt eulogy to their fallen grandparent which ended with a rallying call to action which reassured the trust and loyalty of their fleet. Lore chose not to speak, simply listening as the crews took turns to talk of Mauve’s exploits and adventures. There was a central theme to which Lore could relate, beside Mauve, them. Most of the speakers mentioned Lore in their retelling of Mauve’s life; Lore only wished it was them that they were talking about. It was unusual for a trip to last as long as this one but the fleet had to limit it’s speed to that of its slowest ship, and The Destiny was far from that. It took an hour for them to reach their target and as they did, the tablet sparked to life.
“Try to stay calm?” Char looked to the tablet then back to Lore. “What do you reckon that means?” But before Lore could respond, a cascade of sirens descended.
“I think it means that.” Lore pointed to the viewscreen at the sizable ship before them. They couldn’t do anything to change their fate at this point, The Destiny and Vanguard were being drawn towards the unknown ship’s hangar bay. Lore relayed the tablet’s instructions to The Vanguard’s crew and sat back in their chair.
The interior was familiar. Waterfalls of bronze held in place on slate walls. Different yet familiar.
“I need you ready should this turn out to be a trap.” Lore nodded to Ace.
“We’re one short but I’m sure we’ll manage.” Ace nodded to their troops. “We’ll be there, just give us the signal.”
“Lets go then.” Lore rubbed their hands together in anticipation as they alighted from the docking ramp.
Char held her hand at their side. Lore took it. They met with Sky at the foot of The Vengeance. They gave a solemn nod and joined the couple as they traversed the expansive yet completely empty hangar bay. As they reached the nearest door, it slid open. Behind it, an army of troopers adorned in armour Lore thought unique.
“Clones?” Lore turned to Char. “These aren’t ours but that’s our armour.”
“Follow us.” The leader pushed the trio to the front as they marched further into the belly of the beast.
“Reminds me of being back home.” Char whispered.
“The bulkhead designs are similar to on The Vengeance.” Sky added.
Then it clicked. Lore kept their revelation to themselves, not wanting to raise Char’s hopes before a potential execution. After a few minutes of walking, the troopers stopped. The leader carried on and gestured for the group to do so. Hesitantly, they joined them. The last door slid aside. The majority of the room was filled with a torus shaped table and chairs. It had an opening in line with the doors. The Clone led them to the centre before leaving the room. The reveal was complete. The chair directly in front of them swivelled to face them. Sat in the char was a slightly older looking individual but despite their advanced age, it was undeniable that that individual was Lore. They tried their hardest not to smile but they simply couldn’t do it.
“Thirteen times… You would have thought that after thirteen practice runs I would be able to nail it but no. You can all turn around now.” With that, the remaining forty nine chairs revolved to reveal various different Lore’s and Chars. “Welcome to the Council. Now you’ve probably got questions. Trust me, they all did but at the moment we have bigger things to worry about than this.” The First Lore paused. “It’s pretty cool though. Anyway. Since you woke up in that cave, we’ve been working our hardest to make sure you had everything you needed to get things right this time. I know this isn’t the best time but there won’t be a better one, trust me, this is my twenty fifth time round.”
After introducing themselves, a redundant and pointless activity, The First Lore offered Lore and Char their seats. Sky retreated to the side behind them as a hologram appeared in the centre of the room. “You stand in what remains of Quatarr.” The First Lore gestured widely. The hologram displayed the citadel ship. “The bastion of an endangered people.”
“Age has certainly matured you.” Char turned to Lore.
“Well, we’ve done our best to make it less of a refugee camp. In fact, you can see for yourselves, the briefing can wait a few hours.” They had been where Lore was now. It wasn’t the time. The First Lore tapped at their Breacher. The door opened and four clones came marching in. “I believe you’re familiar with our clones. Allow me to introduce Commander Aloe, Edge, Blindside and Outlier.” As their names were said, the respective clone nodded. “I won’t overwhelm you with the rest but as you’ve no doubt realised, every pair at this table has with them a similar group.” Lore smiled at the realisation. Between them they had a small army.
The meeting soon convened with The First Lore believing their grand plan could wait for now and gave the group free reign of the ship. Sky chose to return to The Vengeance to escape from the ‘Creepy Doppelgangers’, leaving Lore and Char alone to explore. The clones led them to a grand hall, at the end of which stood a tall and imposing doorway. The council, now disbanded were also making their ways to the central section of the ship. Their faces weren’t the only familiar ones. Before they could enter the main chamber of the city ship they were ambushed by another.
“Hope I didn’t spoil the surprise.” Brian smiled. “I’ve had to keep quiet about this since you limped into the medlab.” Lore looked at him puzzled. “Oh yeah. No one ever mentions poor old Brian. You wouldn’t believe the paperwork and planning that goes into hiding an Inquisitor in the central medlab.” He shook his head. “The amount of triage forms I had to forge to keep the doctors away long enough for me to delete your sign in file was unbelievable. I had to memorise every on duty doctor and nurses work patterns to be sure but after thirteen simulations, I don’t mind patting myself on the back.” Brian smiled.
“Then, if I never have, thank you.” Lore tapped his shoulder. He turned away and began tapping at a tablet affixed to the wall beside the door. Whirring into action, the doors began to open. Burnt red sand spilt from the next room, lightly tapping Lore’s shoes. The Republic.